House's decision - a difficult one that was influenced by an economically strapped league which is expected to cut the salary cap by approximately $3 million - may also give the Celtics extra cash to spend elsewhere, though they had other candidates in mind if the guard priced himself out of their range.

For House, the choice was hard but realistic.

``Eddie and I talked at length about it,'' said his agent, Mark Bartelstein. ``He had two great years for the Celtics and his value showed through at some great times.

``But there's a lot of uncertainty out there. And with the Celtics , he has something he doesn't want to walk away from for a questionable situation. He loves playing for Doc (Rivers), and playing with his teammates.

``Unless there was a home run out there for him, it made better sense for him to go back.''

And from what Bartelstein could tell, there will be very few opportunities for a free agent - especially a role player - to go yard this summer.

Hedo Turkoglu, for instance, has visions of a much larger deal (reportedly a starting point of $11 million per season) after rejecting his option with Orlando.

But his true value may be closer to the $5.8 million mid-level exception that the Celtics are carrying into the marketplace.

There are a lot of free agent role players - backup big men like Marcin Gortat and Zaza Pachulia, for example - who currently consider themselves mid-level material.

By August they could be lucky to bring home the $3 million that House just secured.

Thankfully, the House negotiation is one Danny Ainge doesn't have to worry about in what is stacking up as a busy summer.

That's good news for Ainge, who may have to split his mid-level exception between two players.

The Celtics director of Basketball operations has a long list, filled with frontline candidates as well as contingency types he may have to sign if the price on some of the more desirable players doesn't drop.

Or perhaps someone, as Ainge likes to say, will fall through the cracks, and settle for less.

For that reason, House wasn't alone in playing it safe.

Utah forward Carlos Boozer - one of the most highly anticipated free agents this summer - instead picked up his $12.7 million option yesterday and will stay with the Jazz.

So now the C's simply have to wait for the prices to drop in what is already stacking up as a bear market.

It seems to have worked that way for House, though Bartelstein points to more than the market as a factor.

``If he was going to walk away from that situation, then he wanted there to be no question of where he was going, and it was impossible to know that,'' Bartelstein said.

The Celtics are very much in the same boat. Right now it's important to keep things simple. ``The most important thing is that we have our player coming back,'' Ainge said. ``He knows who he is, and our players know who he is. That's important.''

- mrmurphy@bostonherald.com