It seems to be taking a while to get used to, but the Boston Celtics have probably signed Brazilian center Vitor Faverani, who has spent the last 8 years playing basketball in Spain.

According to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald, Faverani’s team of the last two seasons, Valencia, have announced that he has signed a three-year deal with the Boston Celtics worth $6 million, which means Boston are now $1.4 million over the tax line, although by trading away Jordan Crawford (on the books for $2.1 million) could go under it if it happens until the trade deadline.

Faverani went undrafted in 2009, but the 7-footer has shown quite a lot of improvement over the last few seasons with Valencia, averaging 8.6 points per game last season in 16.8 minutes of basketball every night.

The Celtics still haven’t completed the deal, having to workout a buyout clause with the Spanish team. Faverani becomes yet another center on a team filled with big men, which includes Kelly Olynyk, Colton Iverson and Fab Melo, while Kris Humphries and Shavlik Randolph can also be thrown into that equation.

Faverani is 25, which means he’s not exactly a long term project. The contract he got is further proof of that. Betting on players who have spent their entire career in Europe is usually quite a gamble, but it probably provides more insight on how much the Celtics don’t plan to succeed this season. It also shows that Danny Ainge, without lucky help from other GMs around the league, might not be the best decision maker in the NBA.

With the roster assembled, it’s hard to see the Celtics pose any kind of threat in the Eastern conference, probably ending their streak of making the playoffs for six consecutive years, even if Rajon Rondo is 100% back from his ACL tear and Jeff Green plays like a number one go-to-guy. There just isn’t enough around them to be optimistic about.

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