Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

One big man the Boston Celtics figure to take a long, hard look at before the trading deadline in February is Robin Lopez, a center for the New Orleans Hornets.  The Celtics have been long time fans of Lopez ever since he entered the league as a rookie out of Stanford.  Lopez is an excellent running big man and would give the team legitimate size off its bench.  New Orleans is going nowhere this season and it wouldn’t hurt the Celtics to at least explore the possibility of acquiring him in a trade.  He is making roughly the full mid level exception, so the Celtics would have to match salaries in order to make a deal work.

Would Brandon Bass for Lopez work for both teams?  I think the Celtics would do this deal, as they already have a player on their roster who shares many similarities with Bass in Jared Sullinger.  I am really not sure if the Hornets would do this with Ryan Anderson already occupying most of the power forward minutes.  They want to ease rookie Anthony Davis into the lineup and would prefer to play him more at the power forward spot with Anderson sometimes coming off the bench.  Since Bass makes a similar salary, it would certainly be something the Hornets would have to take a serious look at.

Lopez is signed for three more years at about $5 million per.  He is still young and would offer another athletic presence to run the floor with point guard Rajon Rondo.  It will be interesting to see if the Celtics pursue these types of deals given that they are well stocked at the four position and could use some more size in the front-court.

Rob Lunder covers the Boston Celtics for Rant Sports.  For all Celtics news go to the team homepage on Rant Sports.  Follow him on Twitter @rlunder18