The Associated Press speculates that the recent sale of the Celtics may allow Larry Bird to return to the franchise. When owner Paul Gaston announced that he had sold the club for $360 million to a group led by venture capitalists Stephen Pagliuca and Wyc Grousbeck, as well as Grousbeck's father, H. Irving Grousbeck, the founder of Continental Cablevision and now a Stanford Business School professor, all of Boston wondered if the new owners might be able to lure Larry Legend to come in and run the team.

The new owners said they were interested in adding investors and would welcome Bird, who had been involved with a group trying to buy the team before moving on and trying to put a franchise in Charlotte, N.C. Bird's return would be welcome news to Celtics fans who see the former Hall of Famer as the savior for a franchise struggling through the worst title drought in its history.

It's no secret that Bird has wanted to come back to Boston -- but only if the situation was right. That wasn't going to happen as long as the team was owned by Gaston, who reportedly rebuffed attempts by Bird and Boston businessman Steve Belkin to buy the team.

Belkin told The Boston Globe that his priority now is getting a team in Charlotte, but he wouldn't rule out investing in the Celtics instead. "I wouldn't do anything without Larry,'' Belkin told the paper.