BOSTON — Plan A was executed flawlessly.

The Celtics put a full-court press on Rasheed Wallace and corralled the heavily recruited free agent without a hitch.

Plan B, aka the Grant Hill Project, did not work out.

Hill’s agent, Lon Babby, said during a conference call Friday that Hill has decided to re-sign with Phoenix.

Babby said the deal is for two years, the second at Hill’s option, and he will be paid $3 million in the first year.

Suns owner Robert Sarver, general manager Steve Kerr and coach Alvin Gentry reportedly met with Hill on Wednesday night and Thursday morning in Orlando, Fla., to try to persuade him to stay in Phoenix after it was reported that the New York Knicks had offered Hill either a $5-million, one-year deal or three years for $10 million.

Until Thursday night, the Celtics believed they were still in contention for Hill.

“We’d like him to come play for us,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said at the time.

Boston coach Doc Rivers, who had met with Hill (the two are neighbors in Orlando), said he put Boston’s Big Three on the phone with Hill to try to influence his decision.

But it didn’t work.

“They had their conversations with him,” Rivers said. “I think [Phoenix guard Steve] Nash has a better hold of him than we have, so it’s going to be interesting.”

Pierce was hoping that Hill would be his backup.

“Grant Hill is another player I guess we are looking at who could really add depth to our ball club, especially at the wing position, my position, where I don’t think we had enough depth last year due to the fact that we have guys who are up-and-coming that just didn’t have the experience yet,” Pierce said earlier in the week.

Despite failing to sign Hill, the Celtics seem to have all of the pieces in place to compete for the NBA title next year. They have at least four potential Hall of Famers on the roster in All-Stars Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rasheed Wallace, along with Rajon Rondo, who is without question one of the top 10 point guards in the NBA and is only 23 years old. Not to mention a tough and physical Kendrick Perkins, only 24, at center.

For these reasons, coming to Boston to play for the Celtics was attractive for Hill, 37, who has never won an NBA title. But in the end, he decided to stay in Phoenix and not uproot his family.

It appeared that the Knicks had the inside track on Hill by offering him the most money. He would have received the most playing time with them, and he had played for Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni when D’Antoni coached in Phoenix.

Hill’s wife, Tamia, is a Grammy-nominated R&B singer; going to New York could have boosted her career. Being from Canada, she would have also been closer to home.

The Celtics could only offer Hill only the biannual exception, about $1.9 million, after spending the full mid-level exception on Wallace. The Suns, meanwhile, reportedly had asked Hill to take the veteran’s minimum of $1.2 million, a reduction from the $1.98 million he got from Phoenix last year. They later increased their offer to $2 million before reportedly bumping it over $3 million.

Hill averaged 12.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists in nearly 30 minutes per game for Phoenix last season. He has averaged 18.5 points, 4.7 assists and 6.6 rebounds for his career.

Just because Hill is out of the picture doesn’t mean the Celtics are done looking for free agents.

“We’re not done trying to make moves,” Ainge said. “We’re not going to make a move for the sake of making a move, but we’d like to make some positive moves. We are just looking for quality players.”

Boston is still waiting on word from backup forward Glen Davis, who is seeing how much money he can get in free agency. The Celtics can match any offer that the restricted free agent gets, but may not be able to afford him if his price goes up too high.

“We would like to have him back,” Ainge said.

roblee@projo.com