Depending on who you ask, Grant Hill either nearly became a Celtic last summer or knew all along that he was going to remain a Sun.

Even the Phoenix swingman, who has enjoyed a late-career renaissance as a Sun, seemed a little unsure of the machinations prior to tonight’s game against the Celtics.

“Man, there was a lot going on at the time,” he said. “I was trying to gather a lot of information, trying to sort out all of the teams I was looking at. I was certainly very interested, and it was very flattering to have their interest.

“I can tell you that I have a lot of respect for Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and (Celtics owner) Steve Pagliuca, who’s a fellow Dukie, of course,” said Hill. “But (Phoenix) was just the right place. Boston has put together a great team, and they have great guys, but (Phoenix) just felt like home to me.”

Rivers, who coached Hill in 0rlando, where he mostly waited for this snakebitten star to recover from injuries, believes Hill was close to becoming a Celtic.

He also believes that Hill wasn’t ready to come off the bench, ala Rasheed Wallace or Marquis Daniels.

“We were very close,” said Rivers. “He changed his mind and decided to stay put. He just knew who they were - it was that simple. But I think at the end of the day it came down to him not being ready to come off the bench. He wanted to play a lot of minutes.”

The talk about the Celtics goal to be the best defensive team ever has become a familiar storyline throughout the early part of the season. So when Suns coach Alvin Gentry said after this morning’s shootaround at the Garden that the C’s defense ranks among the best in the history of the league, it wasn’t exactly a noteworthy statement. But Gentry’s assessment of the Celtics defense did include some interesting insight.

Gentry was effusive in his praise of  Kendrick Perkins.

“They’ve got a guy that’s probably as good a one-on-one defender as there is in the league with the big guys that he plays against,” Gentry said of Perkins. “You got a guy that can guard a Dwight Howard or Tim Duncan or any of those guys… I think he’s really made a big jump as far as improvement. He’s a strong kid, he’s still a baby really, when you think about the years he’s been in the league and the age that he is right now. I think he gives them that really tough enforcer guy that bounces around in there.” 

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 The Suns visit to Boston to play the Celtics tonight at 7:30 has given former Boston College star Jared Dudley the chance to return to the place that saw him transform from unheralded recruit to ACC Player of the Year.

Dudley should have some fans in the Garden crowd tonight, though it’s not like he’s in short supply. Anyone and everyone who is asked about the gritty reserve forward offers positively glowing reviews. Here is a sampling from the Suns shootaround this morning at the Garden:

Suns coach Alvin Gentry is one of the biggest reasons that Dudley has flourished in Phoenix. Dudley was traded from Charlotte to the Suns early last season, but saw limited minutes until Gentry was promoted from assistant to head coach after Terry Porter was fired in February.

Gentry immediately inserted Dudley into the rotation and now calls him a “coach’s dream.”

“When we weren’t using him, he sat over there, he never complained, never said a thing, he just came to practice every day and worked his butt off,” Gentry said. “Eventually those guys always seem to shine. They always seem to find a way to get into the mix.”

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According to a league spokesman, no action will be taken in regards to Sunday’s postgame confrontation between Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul.

The league reviewed the incident, which happened after a feisty game between the two point guards. Following the Celtics’ 97-87 win, Rondo and Paul exchanged words and had to be separated. Rondo has declined to comment on the incident, while Paul has downplayed it.

Overshadowed by the Celtics’ ability to reach agreement with Rajon Rondo on a five-year contract extension was the team’s decision not to pick up the option on second-year swingman J.R. Giddens, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Though Giddens obviously could return, he hasn’t done enough to force the team’s hand.

“It doesn’t mean we don’t like J.R., but J.R. hasn’t separated himself from the other players on this team,” Danny Ainge said today. “But he has made great strides.”

The chance remains that Giddens could be sent back to the NBDL, with the Celtics’ affilliate now in Portland, Me.

“Right now he’s part of the team because we have so many injuries,” said Ainge. “If we were to make that consideration, it would mean that we had a completely healthy team.”

Ainge acknowledged that he has been informed that the NBA is “looking into” Sunday’s ongoing beef between Rajon Rondo and the Hornets’ Chris Paul.

It might not be a story Celtics fans want to relive, but ESPN will be airing a documentary on Len Bias tonight at 8 as part of its critically acclaimed “30 for 30″ series. The hour-long episode will examine the sudden death of Bias from a cocaine overdose in 1986, less than two days after the C’s selected him with the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft.

Bias’ story is well-known in these parts — the Maryland star was expected to join Larry Bird and eventually carry the torch into another decade of success. Instead, the only memory of Bias with the Celtics was the photo of him sitting in a suit on draft night with a green C’s hat perched atop his head. The Celtics, who had won the championship two weeks before Bias’ death, would not win another title for 22 years, a drought that ended in 2008.

The documentary will air against the Celtics-76ers game tonight, but fans without DVR can catch a replay tomorrow night at 10 on ESPN2.

Ray Allen weighed in on the five-year, $55 million contract Rajon Rondo signed with the Celtics yesterday.

Allen has been in the league for 14 years and has achieved his big paydays. He gave Rondo advice as the 23-year-old point guard was preparing for his major raise.

“I had a conversation with him several times, that when you get paid big money, you get paid not only to play basketball,” Allen said. “It’s a responsibility to the team, the organization and the community. The team believes that you can do good things on and off the floor and he’s shown that he’s very capable of being a positive role model in this community. I think the people will enjoy him for years to come.”

Allen said one thing that stands out about Rondo is his stubbornness. Running the point alongside the Big 3 would intimidate some, but Allen says Rondo has never been afraid to stand his ground. It’s a characteristic that has served Rondo well on the court, most recently when he went toe-to-toe with Chris Paul during and after Sunday’s win over the Hornets.

“You never want a guy who is on your team that you can’t really count on or you know someone is going to walk over them,” Allen said. “You know he’s not one of those guys. He’s going to fight tooth and nail for every step, every inch. He’s doing that for us. If he was on the other team, we wouldn’t like him.”

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Writing on his Twitter page, Chris Paul is attempting to set the record straight on his postgame confrontation with Rajon Rondo after the Celtics’ 97-87 win over the Hornets on Sunday night.

Most likely responding to this account in the Associated Press game story:

“After the game, Paul pursued Rondo toward the Celtics’ locker room and had to be blocked by Boston assistant coaches.”

Paul posted this on his Twitter page (making reference to a shouting match with C’s assistant coach Tom Thibodeau):

“jus to clear this up I never came close to approaching the Celts locker room last nite not sure where thats coming from…also me n coach Thibodeau never got in a shouting match, we talked…2 much respect for him, crazy how its twisted”

Video replays of the incident seemed to back Paul’s account. He was seen speaking with Paul Pierce in front of the C’s bench when Rondo approached him and the two exchanged words. The two were quickly separated and it did not appear that Paul made any attempt to follow Rondo off the court.

Rondo has not addressed the incident, and Celtics coach Doc Rivers was clearly not pleased with it after the game.

The Celtics and Hornets next meet in New Orleans on Feb. 10.

Doc Rivers was happy that Rajon Rondo agreed to a five-year, $55 million contract extension with the Celtics, but the C’s coach was even more relieved that the saga is now in the past.

“He earned it; deserves it,” Rivers said after the team’s practice today. “And it’s great to get it in the past. Like I said before, I honestly didn’t think it would have an impact either way, if they finished it later or now. I’m glad it’s over with so we don’t have to talk about it anymore and we can just move on and play basketball.” 

Rivers has no fears that the big contract will go to Rondo’s head. Rivers said Rondo earned this contract with his work ethic and the coach doesn’t expect that to change.

“He still wants to get better, he needs to keep working on his game to improve it,” Rivers said. “He’s earned what he has, but this can’t be your defining moment of your career. Winning has to be your defining moment and just getting better has to be it. It’s a great part of your early career and that’s the way I look at it.” 

Rivers stays mostly on the sidelines with personnel matters. He recommended to general manager Danny Ainge that the team retain Rondo, but Rivers wasn’t involved in any of the contract negotiations.

“I just tell them what I think his worth is to our team – not financially, just as far as the team – and then it comes down to ownership,” Rivers said. “That’s who stepped up, to me. Danny did the deal, but ownership stepped up and told Danny he could do the deal. Without ownership doing that, this doesn’t happen.” 

Perhaps the best part of the news for Rivers is that he can count on having the 23-year-old Rondo as one of the cornerstones of the franchise long-term.

“Rondo is going to be a much better player,” Rivers said. “He’s (23) years old. He hasn’t reached his prime. He’s not even scratched that. He’s going to keep improving his shot, he’s going to keep improving his court awareness – he’s just going to keep getting better and better.”

One last note: Rondo is expected to attend Game 5 of the World Series tonight in Philadelphia to celebrate his new contract. The team is currently en route to Philly for a game with the 76ers tomorrow night. Rondo has an endorsement deal with Red Bull, as does Phillies short stop Jimmy Rollins.

Rajon Rondo’s lengthy contract extension saga is complete — almost. Rondo spoke to the media after today’s practice and said he has not yet signed his new five-year, $55 million deal, though he said was “very close” to doing so.

Though he hadn’t signed the deal yet, Rondo was speaking like a man who had just received a major raise. He said his biggest concern was providing financial security for his family.

“That’s the biggest thing for me, to take care of my family,” he said. “I’m very excited. My daughter doesn’t have to work at all. I have the right people around me so I don’t plan on losing it. I’m just very blessed with the situation.”

Though Rondo had insisted throughout the first week of the season that the contract talk wasn’t a distraction, there was clearly some relief to signing the deal before tonight’s deadline. If the sides hadn’t reached an agreement, Rondo’s fate would have been delayed until after the season when he would have become a restricted free agent.

“Anything can happen,” Rondo said of potential injury if he had waited to sign. “That was in the back of my mind. As far as my play, I wasn’t really concerned about it. It’s just staying healthy throughout the season as far as playing it out.”

The extension clearly exhibits a great amount of confidence from the Celtics in their young point guard. Rondo said several lengthy conversations with general manager Danny Ainge were a major part of this process.

“I talked to Danny a couple of times – maybe three or four times throughout the last month – and it was long conversations,” Rondo said. “I don’t really want to go in depth what we talked about, but we was in the office for about an hour each time conversing, going back and forth, expressing feelings and thoughts about the situation.”

While Rondo might have made more money had he waited to test the market after the season, he has no regrets about signing today.

“You can say that, but what I think I’m going to sign for, I don’t want to be greedy,” Rondo said. “I’m thankful what I’m signing for. It’s a lot of other things you can put in consideration with my teammates, the amount of money they make, cap room. I don’t need to take the whole thing. We need to continue to get great players in here and that’s what they’ll do. I don’t want, like I said, to take all the money, even if I think I deserve it. At times you have to sacrifice and at other times it’s about the team.”

Back shortly with Doc Rivers‘ comments on the news…