Reactions to the first press conference

- Kevin Garnett is going to be incredibly popular in Boston. The man is not only an imposing physical presense-- the kind of person you end up staring at even when attention is supposed to be somewhere else-- but he has tons of charisma. He can talk about topics deserving intensity, emotion and reflection and none of it comes across as cliched or insincere. And he has a sense of humor. His dead-panned joke: "I want it known I have never been on a cruise in my life" was the funniest moment of a pretty upbeat event

- Paul Pierce might be a great player, but he has plenty of moments at events like this when he comes across like a fifteen year old: too many jokes that don't quite strike the right note, a little too much bravado, the sense that he's reading off a script. If Pierce spends less of the next few years in the spotlight I wouldn't be surprised if both he and everyone else is the happier for it.

- Little moments: KG shaking as he described how difficult it was to come to terms in the last few days with leaving Minnesota. All three standing for a jersey photograph, KG and Allen looking down and then turning their jerseys around so the side with 'Celtics' instead of their names shows for the cameras. Ainge talking matter-of-factly about how these three won't be a 'Big Three' until the win something, and all three listening with body language that suggests they've already had that conversation more than once.

- Garnett mentioned that when the trade talks got serious in the last few days he called Antoine Walker to find out about the city of Boston, and heard nothing but great things about both the city and the franchise. Same from Gary Payton. He apparently tried to call Pierce on all of his 'four phones' but Pierce didn't take the calls because he didn't recognize the area code.

- At several times KG looked like he was ready to lace up and go right there. When Doc Rivers made a joke about wanting training camp to start the next day Pierce and Allen laughed appropriately and KG just nodded seriously in agreement. The man will not lack for intensity.

- Whatever you want to say about Doc as a coach, it is easy to see why players love to play for him. He devoted most of his comments to talking about the players that were traded away, how sad he was to see them go, how much he wished for their future, and so on. All of it came across as very heartfelt and sincere. Listening to him it was easy to see how a bunch of college-aged kids thrown into the NBA could come to think he walked on water.

- Although a fair amount of the spotlight fell on Pierce and KG for obvious reasons, Ray Allen came across as the most mature, articulate and level-headed of the three. He was the only one to talk about the importance the members of the team (Rondo, Tony Allen, etc) who weren't at the press conference. He was the one to spend the most time talking about the importance of their learning to play together and of devoting themselves to receiving coaching well. It would not surprise me in the slightest if off the court Allen ends up becoming the biggest leader of this team. Pierce and KG both give you the sense that they would be happiest if they could always just put their heads down and play. Not so with Allen.

- Another funny moment: Wyc told the story about when he supposedly decided they had to keep Pierce and build around him, which he claimed was a night Pierce took a hard foul, hit the court, and 'lost several pieces of his teeth' on the parquet right in front of Wyc and his wife. Pierce is in the locker room for maybe five minutes and then comes back out and plays the rest of the game. The next morning he goes to the dentist first thing and doesn't miss a minute of shoot-around and practice. Wyc supposedly turned to his wife and said something like 'there's no way I'm getting rid of that guy'. The best part of this is that the whole time he's telling the story, starting with the losing several pieces of his teeth comment right at the beginning, Allen and Garnett are leaning forward looking over at him with 'are you freakin' shitting me?!' looks on their faces. Priceless stuff.

- Probably unnecessary note: I don't believe Wyc for a second that this was when he decided to keep Pierce. But far be it from me to stand between a man and a good story.

Introducing employee #5

Already on sale

Gagne to Sox Pen

So, who's your closer?

Gagne
2007 Season Stats
SPLIT G IP H R HR BB SO W L Sv P/GS WHIP BAA ERA
Season 34 33.1 23 8 2 12 29 2 0 16 0.0 1.05 .192 2.16
Career 332 578.2 446 226 64 195 658 27 21 177 96.0 1.11 .212 3.20

Papelbon
2007 Season Stats
SPLIT G IP H R HR BB SO W L Sv P/GS WHIP BAA ERA
Season 37 37.2 23 9 4 11 54 0 2 23 0.0 0.90 .169 2.15
Career 113 140.0 96 28 11 41 163 7 5 58 94.7 0.98 .191 1.67


Maybe, finally, the Sox can really have a "bullpen by committee" - this time, with good pitchers!


I like this day so much. Garnett to the Celts - huge! Gagne to the Sox - huge! Now all we need is for the Pats to make some sort of blockbuster deal, like land a Randy Moss...wait, they did that already!!!! Grin...

Who fills out the roster?

The Celtics are going to need some bodies now, but who? Two ideas from SI's Chris Mannix:

Veteran point guard Brevin Knight is still available, and center Dale Davis has indicated he would like to play another year. Neither player would command an exorbitant salary, and the allure of playing for a contender might be enough to sway them in Boston's direction.

Is Olowokandi around for another year? If he and Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis are all on the roster, unclear to me that Dale Davis fills a need.

Your Kevin McHale tribute post

Insert any and all commentary here

Herald reporting the deal is done

An earlier report said Gerald Green would not be part of the deal... stay tuned, sports fans.

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Early reaction from Vegas

The trade is not yet official, and the Celtics are now the favorites to win the Eastern Conference

Current odds of winning a championship:

Boston: 10-1
Detroit: 12-1
Cleveland: 14-1
Chicago: 14-1

the only teams with better odds from out west:

San Antonio: 4-1
Phoenix: 7-2
Dallas: 7-2

So as of this morning, those that are putting money down see the Celtics as having the forth best chance in the NBA of winning a title. Seeing as three months ago the team ended the regular season with the second-worst record in the NBA, that's a pretty impressive summer for Ainge and company

The inevitable Simmons column

that I'm sure you all have already read.

Strangely, the sidebars were the best part of the whole thing. Perhaps he should blog more and write full-length pieces less.

A good point:

Chicago fans, you should be bummed -- KG would have ended up in Chicago if John Paxson had simply rolled over P.J. Brown's expiring deal last February for a 2008 expiring deal to preserve that cap number

As harsh as I have been on Danny Ainge since the summer of 2005, he's been nowhere near the disaster that John Paxson has been in Chicago. Paxson had a collection of expiring contracts, top picks from the Knicks and cap space, and turned it all into the fast-declining Ben Wallace while inexplicably getting rid of the better Tyson Chandler. Boston started with a significantly worse roster, fewer assets and less talent and now has Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Credit where its due.

This is the kind of insight that makes you a New York Times sports reporter.

Ladies and gentlemen, Clifton Brown:

"Many Celtics fans seemed disappointed after the draft lottery in which Boston did not get the No. 1 or No. 2 pick and missed the chance to draft Greg Oden or Kevin Durant."

Following the Garnett talks

Shira Springer is doing a good job. She reports the obvious (Garnett's contract and Jefferson are the keys to any deal) and the not so obvious -- negotiations over Garnett's extension and trade kicker are being slowed down because he's on a cruise. We may be in for a bit of a wait.

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Garnett

It is unfortunate that this deal would involve the loss of Jefferson. But, let's step back for a moment. The existing Celtic team has been weak for a while now, but old friend Kevin McHale has been basically willing, over the past couple of years, to take the whole team from Boston -Davis, Blount, now Bassy/Green/Jefferson/Ratliff. I would not be surprised to see Wolves fans call for McHale's firing for turning the Wolves' nucleus into that of a poor Celtic team.

A Pierce-Allen-Garnett trio is going to be looking very old very quickly, but I like the chance to win in the next two years with this core. I'd like it better if Garnett is the 02-05 version of himself (~23ppg, 13+ rebounds), but his performance the last two years is really just about as good (worse fg% is the biggest change, but ft% is up, and points and rebounds are not significantly down).

I guess this means that I care less about "building" for the future. But since that doesn't seem to be working, let's try this.

Chris

Just shoot me now.

Goodbye, Al; Hello, Kevin? Am I delusional here? These folks say

basically Minnesota is getting destroyed in this deal. Like majorly. Al Jefferson could turn out to be an All-Star one day, but…man.

Done

Jefferson, Ratliff, Bassy, Gomes and Green for KG. The only remaining point of negotiations is on the length and size of Garnett's contract extension

I don't know whether to be sad that he's making so much money or happy that they have so little to show for it.

Can someone figure out for me how much the Yankees have paid Roger Clemens for each of his three wins?

David Beckham and Reggie Bush

Dozens of versions of this floating around out there. This one is one of the better edits. The best part? When Bush asks Beckham if he's right handed, and then says are you sure?

Missin' the Can

Seems we're stuck with Curt Schilling for the foreseeable future. Why couldn't one of the most interesting athletes in Red Sox history stick around?

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Reason for concern?

As of this morning the Sox are a half game up on Detroit for the best record in baseball. Hard to argue, right?

Still, watching the games these days I find myself noticing:

- Coco Crisp stops running between third and home last night and the tying run died at the plate

- Mike Lowell two nights ago failed to run out a shallow fly to left that dropped, turning a double into a single and keeping a double play opportunity alive. It didn't cost them.

- Manny appears to have been calibrating his effort in left for the last month, based on where he thinks runners will end up. Meanwhile, JD Drew has been calibrating his running after fly balls and making defiantly lazy one hand grabs. Coco Crisp, perhaps not wanting to be the only one hustling, is getting in on the one handed grabs occasionally.

- Only about 1/2 the team appears to be running out infield ground balls.

- Everyone on the team stands for the tag when strike 3 is dropped.


First week of June the Sox were 37-17, good for a 68% winning percentage over the first 2+ months of the season. Since then they have gone 24-23. Just baseball? Things evening out over time? Or a team with a great pitching staff and a lot of expensive bats that isn't doing enough to win as many games as they should.

Random NE baseball fan anxiety stat: Since June 2nd the Sox have won 50% of their games and the Yankee have won 66% of their games (31-16). If both teams continue on their post-June 2nd pace the Yankees will take over first place in the AL East about the first week of September.

Sickening

Let's review: the Phoenix - San Antonio series was tied one game apeace. Phoenix, playing on the road, goes up big early and threatens to blow the Spurs out. Then most of their best players end up in foul trouble, Nash is beat up by Bowen for the entire second half, and the Spurs pull it out in the end. The officiating is so bad that the TV announcers break the unspoken code of not criticizing the refs on air.

It all takes on a new light now



Simmons has a great column on it here

Here is a paper written this spring by a Stanford Economics student stating that point shaving has to be going on in the NBA, just from looking at betting lines and final scores from an efficient market standpoint. The paper focuses on players as the causative agents, but not for any particular reason (the proof is that the scores are being altered, the paper doesn't pretend to know the mechanism)

I'm guessing that this is going to end up going well beyond a single referee. With any luck, the fallout will be so damaging to the league that the corrective measures taken also limit the NBA's ability to throw playoff series to the more marketable teams.

As we discussed at length on the email list that predated this blog, the officiating was so bad and one-sided during the Indiana-Boston first round playoff series in 2005 that you will never be able to convince me that the league wasn't actively trying to get the Pacers into a second-round match up with the Pistons.

Remy on Simmons.

Not sure where this came from:

Jerry Remy: We’ve got all kinds of people coming out of the woodwork who want to be permanent president (of Red Sox Nation)… some of this stuff is unbelievable… these people have been writing in, we’ve had these candidates, and they’re writing in why they should be president… there’s one that really kind of irked me a little bit. Who the heck is Bill Simmons? The sports guy he calls himself. I briefly went through his ‘why he should be president’ thing… he’s always wanted to be a president… that’s No. 1, of something. He said ‘I’ve always wanted to be the president of something.'

Red Sox play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo: You’re not buying it?

Remy (shrugs): Everybody does… and he says ‘I really don’t care what it is.’ So does that mean he’s serious about this job? No. Right away he’s telling you he just wants to be a president of something, he doesn’t care what it is, anything. So be president of your trash can. OK?

And it gets worse. Second, ‘I think I can get free tickets out of this.’

Orsillo: So you’re questioning his motivation also.

Remy: He rips Mike O’Malley. Mike O’Malley just did the picnic in the park thing, for charity. He’s been subjected to seven years of Yes, Dear. In other words, he wants no part of Mike O’Malley.

Orsillo: Yes Dear’s a good show.

Remy: This guy’s running for president. This sports guy he calls himself.

Orsillo: And he’s ripping other people on the way.

Remy: And here’s the one that that bugs me. I’m not going to mention what he says about me, but he says … in other words, if he’s elected, you would never have to worry about his health. He would be able to serve out his tenure. In other words, he’s saying that physically …

Orsillo: You’re day-to-day and could die anytime?

Remy: Well who couldn’t. Everybody’s day-to-day. That really ticked me off when I read that. He’s got a lot of foolish stuff on here that just makes no sense, so Bill Simmons, the sports guy, see this:

Remy: Buh-bye … what did Coco do?

Orsillo: He struck out. He’s the second strikeout for Leo Nunez.

Remy: OK. That’s enough for one night but I’m telling you, some of this stuff is unbelievable. This Simmons goes right to the trash. The sports guy he calls himself. He wants free tickets. And he’s ripping my health. And he’s ripping Mike O’Malley of all people.

Orsillo: Yes. Obviously he has not seen you, because you’re in fantastic shape …

Remy: I don’t see him at the gym every morning. Plus I wouldn’t know him anyway if I saw him. So Simmons, your application has just been torn up and thrown in our official trash can here in the booth.

Orsillo: We have some ice cream; we have half a cookie… Who ate half this cookie? This is still a good cookie.

Remy: You know this in tongue in cheek, but this is for real. Don’t be writing in and saying you want to be president because I always wanted to be president of something. You want to be president of one of the greatest nations in the world, Red Sox Nation, you have to represent the people. He’s talking about getting free tickets. He’s ripping Mike O’Malley. He’s ripping my health. I mean, c’mon. The sports guy. There’s a lot of sports guys out there, right? Your campaign is officially over. Now he’ll rip… what does he write for again?

Orsillo: I think ESPN.

Remy: He’s gonna rip my brains out tomorrow, probably (laughing). That’s all right. He’s a good guy… He’s got no chance of being president. … See how people eliminate themselves. That’s why you don’t jump into a race too soon. People just eliminate themselves by what they do.

Orsillo: It’s a little early to be part of the smear campaign, right out of the chute…

El Guapo anyone?

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OK, that's funny.

Eric (Raleigh, NC): How did Antonie Walker prevent the robber from getting a shot off?

Bill Simmons: (12:53 PM ET ) Now THAT is a good joke.