SweetDue

Ping! Powe!

2008-06-18T21:56:00.000-04:00

Consider this a tribute.

2008-06-18T13:33:00.001-04:00

Champs!

2008-06-18T01:29:00.001-04:00

Just in case y'all didn't hear, Celtics won.

:)

SweetDue, this Bud's for you!

Leon's world.

2008-06-09T11:10:00.001-04:00

So how are the Lakers going to adjust to take away Powe in Game 3?

Rondo!

2008-03-12T16:53:00.000-04:00

Celtics-Suns

2008-02-27T12:19:00.002-05:00

I got a chance to see the Celts live this past weekend, when they made their one appearance in Phoenix this year. It was definitely very festive, as Suns fans were WAY into Shaq (already lots of Shaq jerseys in the stands). Nash is always a treat to watch; Phoenix really should have won by much more than 8 points, as they fumbled away many of the brilliant opportunities Nash created with his passing.

I'm sure that I haven't been able to see as many Celts games as the Boston dwellers, but I think I must have gotten one of the Celtic's worst efforts of the year. They couldn't shoot, but more importantly, couldn't/wouldn't rebound. Rebounding was Shaq's one big contribution for the Suns in this game, but I don't think his presence was the main factor. I watched the Celtics make very little effort to even get close to the basket for offensive rebounds. I was surprised to see such passive glass play - your thoughts?

Chris

This just about sums it up.

2008-02-22T13:17:00.002-05:00

A brainteaser for someone with a little free time

2008-01-10T16:31:00.001-05:00

Who exactly is Art Garfamudis? I know the name is likely to be an anagram or something like that, but I don't have the time to figure it out.

Defensive efficiency.

2007-12-10T14:36:00.000-05:00

Matt Yglesias:

Before the season started, I thought the weakness of the Boston Celtics was going to be defense. Ray Allen seemed like a clear liability, Paul Pierce is unimpressive, and look beyond the "big three" I didn't see much of anything to help out on this end. Kevin Garnett, obviously, is brilliant defensively, but it's a team game. Boy oh boy was I wrong about that. Boston's defense is not only the best in the league, they're by far the best in the league, a fact that may be somewhat obscured by the fact that they play a middling pace whereas San Antonio and Detroit go at a crawl.

The chart plots points allowed per hundred possessions relative to the league median. The very worst teams in the league -- New York and Minnesota -- both allow 5.7 more points per hundred than the median. Boston, by contrast, allows 5.5 fewer points per hundred than does the next best team. In short, not only is Boston the best, but the gap between the best and the second best is enormous. They're leaving everyone else dead in the water.

Ye gods!

2007-12-06T14:33:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure who did what to please them, but the NBA deities sure are looking favorably on the C's these days. Check out Hollinger's playoff odds - including the odds of winning the title. I'll give you a hint - nobody else cracks 15%. Methinks green enthusiasm is running a little high.

Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

2007-11-12T16:47:00.000-05:00

#2 with a bullet.

Leaving the Chicago Fire like a fish without a bicycle kick.

2007-11-09T19:27:00.000-05:00

This is an astonishingly excellent goal by the Revolution's Taylor Twellman:

Papelbon on Letterman.

2007-11-03T19:01:00.000-04:00

Bring on the duck boats

2007-10-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

It's a good world series when my biggest disappointment is that we didn't get to watch it snow in Coors field during a game.

As tribute to one of the few men to win a championship for the Red Sox in the last century, and who will likely soon be our ex-center fielder, I offer this exerpt from Fox's 'sounds of the game'

CLAYTON: Wait, wait. You say that if somebody steals a base in the World Series...
COCO: Yeah, only one, though - the first stolen base - Taco Bell will give one taco to everybody in America.
CLAYTON: Everybody what?
COCO: In America.
CLAYTON: That day?
COCO: I don't know, it doesn't say.
CLAYTON: What the hell you talking about, it's gotta be that day.
COCO: But there are only like two more hours left in the day.
CLAYTON: So what? That's what the deal has to be. How you gonna come in and say 'I ain't got my taco'? You could go to every Taco Bell in the world and say that. 'I ain't got my taco.' How they gonna know?

Thanks for everything, Coco. A year later my wife still can't believe that's your real name, even after several dozen conversations on the topic.

Just call them Celtics Midwest

2007-10-25T11:01:00.001-04:00

Kevin McHale proving once again he bleeds green.

Jump on board.

2007-10-24T12:32:00.000-04:00

Don't miss the Kissing Suzy Kolber Guide To Being An Insufferable A--hole S--thead F--kface Fan Of Boston-Area Sports Teams.

Manny Being Manny.

2007-10-22T22:28:00.000-04:00

Amen.

Dancing, Sox-style.

2007-10-19T21:10:00.000-04:00

Papelbon is a goof:

NTTAWWT.

This just in.

2007-10-17T12:53:00.000-04:00

This just in:

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics consummated the largest trade in NBA history today, as the Lakers sent disgruntled star Kobe Bryant to the Celtics for Tony Allen, Esteban Batista, Glen Davis, Eddie House, Dahntay Jones, Jackie Manuel, Kendrick Perkins, Scot Pollard, James Posey, Leon Powe, Gabe Pruitt, Rajon Rondo, Brian Scalabrine and Brandon Wallace. Lakers owner Jerry Buss said, "Kobe Bryant has had a long and glorious career here in Los Angeles, but it's time for him to go somewhere else. Somewhere else far away."

Sources close to the Lakers confirm that the team entertained offers from other teams, some of which were more attractive, but that Buss was adamant on sending Bryant as far away as possible. At a distance of 2600 miles from Los Angeles as the crow flies, Boston is farther from Los Angeles than any other city with an NBA franchise. League sources suggest that Buss had lobbied NBA Commissioner David Stern to award an expansion franchise to Yellow Knife, Yukon, but apparently he was unwilling to put up with Bryant any longer.

At a news conference, Lakers sources proclaimed that they had received fair value in exchange for Bryant. Assistant General Manager Troy Wolters said, "We're confident that at least some of these guys belong on an NBA roster. Our training camp should be pretty interesting." Off the record, however, some members of the Lakers organization expressed embarrassment that the team had traded for Scot Pollard.

The trade leaves the Celtics with four stars in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant, but with no other players on the roster. Sources close to the Celtics confirm that the trade was held up in the final hours as the Celtics organization obtained an interpretation of NBA rules that will permit the team to place its second-round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft on the floor as a fifth player.

Happy 30th, Paul Pierce.

2007-10-13T23:06:00.000-04:00

And a happy birthday to Doc Rivers, too.

Elsewhere in the world of underperforming MLB teams

2007-09-24T10:36:00.000-04:00

To quote, I am shocked-- shocked-- to find out that Grady Little is still a lousy manager

This is the way the world ends.

2007-09-19T21:57:00.000-04:00

Between the desire, And the spasm
Between the potency, And the existence
Between the essence, And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is, Life is, For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

—T.S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men" (1925)

With critics like these, who needs friends?

2007-09-17T14:04:00.000-04:00

Alright, here’s the inevitable blog post about the great Patriots videotaping scandal. The following was mostly typed up last night, as the Pats beat the stuffing out of the Chargers on national TV.

Perhaps this reveals something unflattering about me, but the more attention this gets the less serious a story it appears to be. Specifically, the more I read people criticize Belichick and the Patriots the worse their case looks.

I will start by making a number of observations of context, and then add some speculation and opinion.

Context (all of which I believe to be factual, although I am prepared to be wrong):

1 - In the wake of the commissioner's ruling, the Patriot’s activity clearly violated league rules

2 - Every NFL team has multiple cameras taking still photographs and videotape of games in progress to help the coaching staff make real-time adjustments. I have seen what I understand to be these cameras and video recorders above the field over the end zones and above the field along the sidelines. The photos and video they produce clearly capture the opposing sidelines and the opposing team's coaches.

3 - A large number, if not all, NFL teams make at least periodic attempts to steal opposing signals and anticipate opposing plays. I have repeatedly seen NFL teams use multiple people to deliver defensive signals from the sidelines so that they can disguise who is delivering the right signals. The fact that this is regular practice would suggest to me that teams anticipate that they will be observed and have devolved routine practices to thwart these efforts. Along these lines: teams reportedly change their signals from week to week and sometimes from half to half to prevent detection

4 - At this point in his career, Bill Belichick has a clear reputation as an incredibly competitive, intelligent and driven person who is perfectly willing to defy conventional wisdom in order to gain an advantage on the field. There have been a number of things the Patriots have done over the years that have caused some NFL purists in and out of the media to cluck their tongues and complain that the team just isn't playing the game 'the right way'. One relevant example, of many: several years ago (after yet another playoff loss) a number of Colts players and coaches complained loudly about how physical Patriots DBs were playing Colts WRs near the line of scrimmage. Such activity, they observed, was against the rules and the Pats shouldn't do it. Lots of press coverage ensued focused on whether or not the Patriots were 'dirty', 'cheaters', and/or 'couldn't win if they played fair'. It also became clear that while the playbook set one standard for what DBs could do, NFL refs were overwhelmingly consistent in calling a different standard on the field. This last fact was common knowledge enough to be regularly mentioned by sports journalists.

5 - Belichick began his career as a scout and still does an unusually large amount of scouting compared to the tasks commonly done by other head coaches. When he was coming up through the ranks Belichick developed a reputation for anticipating what other teams were going to do before they did it. For years players have said things about Belichick like 'he tells us the week before the game how the other team will play in different situations and then they do exactly what he said they would' and 'our coaching staff explains the other team so well we know their game plan better then the players on the other side'. Halberstam's book on Belichick included a least one story relayed from someone who sat in the stands next to Belichick when he was a young scout and listened to him predict, play after play, exactly what the team he was scouting was going to do before it happened.

6 - There is a great deal of resentment around the league over the Pat's consistent success. There is resentment of Belichick personally among coaches and players he has defeated, resentment among those loyal to the people he has defeated, and resentment among those who dislike his poor people skills, lack of charisma, and unwillingness to schmooze his peers and the press in the manner of other coaches (within the NFL Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson and John Gruden come to mind; locally Doc Rivers seem to walk on water as far as the sports media is concerned). Belichick's (lack of) popularity on this front is not helped by his image as an intellectual in a sport whose culture can be strongly anti-intellectual. A certain number of people in the NFL don't see it as admirable to beat another team by being smarter then them. Consistently positive converage of the Pats by folks like Len Pasquarelli and John Clayton certainly are exceptions to this.

7 - Roger Goodell is both relatively new at his job in the league office and appears highly motivated to crack down on discrepancies between the official rules and what actually goes on around the league. The penalties handed down in the Pacman Jones and Michael Vick cases were both seen as severe and unprecedented given the nature of the infractions.

8 - In the wake of the NBA officiating scandal that broke a month ago the sports media is to some degree primed and attentive to stories about this kind of illicit activity.

Speculation / opinion:

A - One of the hallmarks of Belichick's time as a head coach has been his willingness to be unconventional in pursuit of on-field advantage. A number of times (e.g. the Colts example, above) Belichick appears to have observed a difference between the official rules and the rules that were enforced, and prepared his team to take advantage of the game as it was actually called, instead of the way it was supposed to be called. A certain number of Belichick's successes as a coach and a GM have been based on recognizing and acting on situations where conventional wisdom doesn't best prepare a team to win.

B - The degree to which a DB can push a WR-- or the kind of equipment a team can have on the sidelines-- both seem to me like the kinds of operating standards that are equally clear to every team. Put another way, refs and officials have not been enforcing the rules in a manner preferential to the Pats and the situations in question were entirely transparent to those paying attention. It is hard to imagine an area under more extensive observation-- by dozens of cameras and hundreds of team employees-- then a football field and sidelines during an NFL game. It is hard to see this as clandestine activity. When the story broke It appears to have been an open secret within the NFL and among sports journalists that multiple NFL teams have been doing stuff like this for years, suggesting that Belichick's actions were neither unique nor based on an un-level playing field.

C - I suspect that Belichick perceived that the rule regarding videotaping of the far sideline was poorly if ever enforced, and took advantage of the opportunity this presented. Coaches that knew the rules and were paying attention seem to have taken actions to keep this from happening (e.g. as Mangini did, calling in security to remove the cameraman; or in the reported incident in Green Bay or Minnesota last year). Those that didn't or weren't, did not (e.g. as in the Matt Millen quotes in the article linked, below). I suspect Belichick would consider this an example of the difference between coaches who are both good at their jobs and well prepared for games, and those who are not. To me, that somebody like Matt Millen remains ignorant of NFL rules at this point does more to strengthen widespread rumors of his stupidity and incompetence then they do to make Belichick look bad.

D - Goodell probably assumes that there is a lot more going on around the league then he can realistically uncover and respond to more discreetly. By coming down like the wrath of God on Belichick and the Patriots, however, he sends a powerful signal to the entire league that bending or dodging the rules will not be tolerated, whether or not those rules have been consistently monitored or enforced in the past.

E - If anything, the Patriots success over this last decade increases the incentive by Goodell to make the penalty significant. It sends the message 'nobody is above the law, not even the most successful franchise in the league'.

F - In light of all the above, the media coverage of this story feels like it has been somewhere between four and five times the noise level warranted. It has provided lots of people an opportunity to take shots at the Patriots, under the guise of 'standing up for the integrity of the game'. Some of the resulting articles (this bit of idiocy from Dr Z comes to mind, linked on Bill Simmon's page) have taken the apparent position that 'cheating was noble and admirable when the people doing it were stupid and clumsy' while using the occasion to vent what comes across as a lot of largely irrelevant anti-Belichick spite. In the Dr Z piece, for example, Zimmerman fantasizes about sending Belichick to prison for a few weeks (or alternatively having him publicly whipped and put in the stocks), gushes about how much fun he’s having fantasizing about the punishment Belichick will get from the league, and repeatedly gloats about how much he's enjoying seeing 'the mighty Patriots brought down to earth'. This while painting a rosy picture of the good old days when the person he calls 'the king of cheaters', Al Davis, pushed the envelope in all sorts of other ways. The overall picture that develops from this article is not so much of Belichick’s actions as unusual or criminal (to borrow the word in the headline), but of Paul Zimmerman as the sort of bitter hypocrite who doesn't care so much about the way the game 'ought to be played' as about whether the people he likes come out on top.

Lots of the Patriot’s critics might prefer a league in which plenty of people cheated, but only in simple-minded and feeble ways. To use an example Zimmerman fondly waxes nostalgic over: by having a large former offensive lineman get on the other team’s bus, presumably in hopes of overhearing state secrets without getting noticed. It seems to me that to these folks Belichick’s great crime is not that so much he pushes the envelope in search of ways to give his team the advantage, but that he is so intelligent and creative in how he goes about it.

Was this incident against league rules, and was Goodell right to punish the Patriots? Clearly, yes and yes. In addition, against the charges of competitiveness, intelligence and drive Belichick can only plead ‘guilty’, and I see no reason to expect any of those things to change. If the league has decided to get serious about enforcing certain rules that they have not previously paid much attention to, I expect Bill to go about beating other teams in different ways.

Get ready for another long year, guys.

Oh dear.

2007-09-14T23:57:00.000-04:00

Team salaries and performance.

2007-09-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

Check this out. Via Kottke.

Random, fun reading

2007-09-06T12:46:00.000-04:00

I am reminded today by something Kelly Dwyer mentioned that I have been meaning for a while to throw up a link to ShamSports.com, a site filled with largely run-of-the-mill NBA information (rosters, salary information, etc).

I rather like Sham largely because the person behind it, whose name I've since forgotten, has something of a sense of humor. For example, his 'contact us' page includes

Groupies: If you are writing to enquire after the availability of an NBA player that you either intend to have sex with, or just did have sex with, then please contact us at redhotgroupieloving@shamsports.com. This happens a hell of a lot more often than you may think, and it's great fun for me to read.

If you are an NBA player writing to enquire about where dem hoes at........why the hell are you asking me? Get off the net and walk into any bar/club in America. You'll find someone.

The site was launched as a place to record his personal ambition of writing up scouting reports of every player in the NBA. He's perpetually behind on this quest, and it seems that the exercise of writing so many scouting reports makes him somewhat punchy. Below, for whatever its worth, are what he has to say about various folks now on the Celtics roster:

Tony Allen

A walking turnover and the king of garbage time, Tony Allen is not afraid to gun, in more ways than one.

A far worse shooter than he thinks [he] is, Allen is a decent athlete, both strong and with good leaping ability, and a good defensive player, with offense that borders on atrocious at times, and bloody awesome at others. There's a few too many comma's in that sentence, so give it as many readthroughs as it needs. Is 'readthroughs' a word? Fuck this, I'm stuck in a grammar loop. Whatever. Proceed.

This is all changed, of course, once the game is all but over. At which point he seems to play a lot better. This can be annoying, but can also lead to the funny sight of him posing and trash talking when his team is down by 20. And that never gets old.

Tony Allen has recently learned how to dribble, which has bettered his game in a big way. This means that he can now use his athleticism to his advantage. And this means that he can now play basketball well. It's a beautiful thing

Kevin Garnett

Every now and then, players come along that are described as being able to play every position on the floor. Magic Johnson was one of the few that could, and he did this so well that he was able to go by the rather grandiose nickname of Magic without anybody calling him out on it. Boris Diaw can and has done this, although he hasn't done it well enough to get the grandiose nickname. Antoine Walker (in his prime) and Lamar Odom are two others who have done it, to some degree.

Kevin Garnett has been named in the past as one of these players. It's not true, for he cannot play the guard spots. But to even be considered as one of these players is a testament to quite how skilled he is.

A hall of famer despite his lack of silverware, Garnett is very athletic, very strong, very intense (oh Jesus is he ever intense), and supremely skilled. He can pass and initiate most of the offense. He can play from the high post, the low post, and the perimeter. He can shoot consistently out to about 20 feet, and can hit the occasional three. He has a lethal (LETHAL, I say) turnaround fallaway jumpshot from the post, that no one can block and which goes in at a tremendous rate. He's one of the game's best rebounders. He's a good defender, both on his man and when helping from the weak side. He has every skill in the book, and every fundamental. He makes his teammates and his team better.

And yet people still like to moan at him for not being "clutch", and for only advancing beyond the first round once in his career.

Some people just like to bitch, don't they?

I mean, here we have one of the most unique and gifted players to ever play the game, and all people can do is criticise, be it for his supposed lack of 'leadership' (a copout if ever there was one), or for his huge salaries over the years (is there really anybody more deserving?).

Even that guy that Garnett once accidentally hit with a ball pretended to be seriously hurt in order to piss Garnett off and force him to open his wallet for compensation, when the bastard didn't even have a mere skin contusion.

Kevin Garnett on the court is so intense and consistently amped up/angry that it looks like he might kill someone one day after a foul call. Given that all people do is rag on him mercilessly because they can, I'd say he was pretty freakin' justified.

Then again, he earns 8 figures a year and then some, so that numbs the pain a bit

Eddie House

Eddie House is something of a textbook definition of "one trick pony". House does one thing well - shoot. He can shoot set shots, off the dribble and falling away, and is an elite free throw shooter (even though he hardly takes any).

He's very small, can not get to the rim or finish, has extremely few point guard skills and is not a good defensive player.

But he can shoot. Really, really shoot. That, his very good points-per-minute average and decent quickness, has gotten him a multi-year NBA career. And there's millions of people out there that are extremely jealous.

Fun Eddie House fact that isn't strictly a fact: Eddie House has brothers called Light, Green, Haunted and Boat. Indeed, Eddie's real Christian name is "Brick Shit", but he rightly figured that having "shit" in his name would give negative implications about his game, and that "brick" wasn't the name a jumpshooter would ever want to be referred to.

Kendrick Perkins

Some fans will tell you that Kendrick Perkins is superior to Eddy Curry. Bite your thumb at this people, for these people are wrong.

Bereft of any real ability on offense, Perkins is a good rebounder and a decent post defender, with what is best described as an "ugly as fuck" jumpshot. He has not much touch around the rim and a real affinity for fouling. But he's a good rebounder on both ends, except for the days that he isn't.

So essentially, he's the polar opposite of the aforementioned Eddy Curry. All that they really have in common are extremely hot-and-cold fan bases, and similar heights. And weight problems.

And race, obviously.

Paul Pierce

Pierce is a truly gifted all around player who can pass extremely well, shoot well, rebound very well, penetrate, create, handle the ball, run the offense, and wear a headband. He does all of this from the wing, where he often has a strength advantage over players, while combining that with good athleticism and speed. He has also shown a knack for some clutch play in his career, although not so much lately.

He's not the best defender - although not bad - and his jumpshot will take the occasional night off, but as an all around player he's pretty complete.

He also has this weird knack for being in the background of photographs in one of a number of strange poses. A gift I'd like to think that I shared with Paul. Except that I do it on purpose, because I'm a twat

Scot Pollard

A surefire way to tell when somebody isn't very good at something is when you remember them for other things that they did whilst they were supposed to be doing that something. If that makes sense. Which it doesn't.

To give an example, Scot Pollard isn't very good at basketball. His shooting range is about a foot, although he's hit a few baseline jumpshots in his time. He rebounds fairly well due to his size, but fouls a lot, and his defense is basically limited to being tall and big, which means he can stay in the way of other tall and big players. It's fair to say that Scot Pollard is a very Scot Pollardy type of player.

And that's why you'll find that for the most part, people remember Scot Pollard for his hair, which fluctuates between stupid and gay.

It's nice to see an NBA player with a little pizazz and breaking-the-moldishness, which Scot appears to do. So he gets a point for that. However, that doesn't excuse the dyed blonde mohawk, or indeed some of the other things he's produced over the years, the list of which is too painful to mention.

Just Google it. You'll see.

Bad times.

Leon Powe

Leon Powe's name is pronounced to rhyme with "Show", or Po the Tellytubby, This is disappointing. It should be pronouced "POW!", as in Gasol, or a very lame 60's Batman caption. It carries more authority that way.

Pow (which I'm calling him from now on, just so's you know) is undersized for the NBA game, and has a history of knee trouble despite his young age. He takes charges, blocks shots, and rebounds a bit, but offensively has to somehow overcome the fact that he's just too bloody short for most people's tastes.

Fun Leon POW! fact: He's so anti-passing, that he won't even do a shit on game days

Brian Scalabrine

"Enigma" would be one adjective for Scalabrine. Alternatively, so would "piss poor".

Scalabrine is what you''d be left with if you took a prime Chris Webber, made him white and ginger, and also rid him of any semblance of athleticism and talent.

Brian Scalabrian is eerie in that he does a bit of everything. But you have to be very generous with the words "a bit". Because it's, very literally, a bit.

He'll make a nice pass, once a week.
He'll make a jumpshot, once a week.
He'll make a tough rebound, once a month.
And occasionally, he'll make smart basketball plays and do something correctly.

In the interim periods, though, he'll just stumble around fouling and looking sexy.

And ginger.

A propos of random JD Drew hatred

2007-09-06T10:35:00.001-04:00

Just got this from a friend who was at the Sox game last night, in apparently pretty good seats

"Have we sufficiently discussed the fact that Drew fucking sucks yet? Did the TV show the guys in the dugout rolling their eyes in disgust when Drew struck out looking with the bases loaded and one out in the 7th? When Drew came up, I said to myself, "Okay, bases loaded, 2 outs, let's see what Youks can do!" It was automatic. JD is not a popular human being. If I had to guess, I'd say that the reason no one likes him is that he fucking sucks. Not only that, he sucks the most when it matters the most. Holy fuck he sucks."

Starbury.

2007-09-04T13:00:00.001-04:00

Gilbert Arenas gives (scroll down a little) this interview with Stephon Marbury his "Interview of the Century" Hibachi Award. Says Agent Zero:

If you don’t think this is the best interview in history, something is mentally wrong with you. It was so good, I watched it 12 times just to make sure that what I was watching was actually real and I wasn’t imagining it.

He’s like, “I’m going to average 10 points, 11-12 dimes, four assists …” And I’m like, “What? Last time I checked, dimes and assists were the same thing.” Then he answers his cell phone in the middle of the interview. And at the end he just starts screaming, “Do it with me now! Do it with me!” I had to rewind it just to make sure it was really Stephon Marbury on there.

Without further ado:

(I appreciate Arenas's blogging, but would it be so hard to link to the YouTube clip?)

KG celebrates Labor Day

2007-09-04T11:20:00.000-04:00

by starting his work out at 8am instead of 7am. Because his trainer told him to.

I'm not sure it's fully sunk in with Celtics fans how much they're going to love rooting for this guy.

Also: welcome to the Globe Marc Spears. If this first piece is any indication, the KG trade is going to end up having all kinds of benefits.

Well, that went well

2007-08-30T15:56:00.000-04:00

When was the last time a team with the best record in the majors going into September looked so clearly in need of a major roster overall?

Only a few years ago that the Sox had a lineup of almost entirely .300 hitters and Jason Veritek. Yes, pitching wins in the post-season. And in baseball a seven games series is something of a coin flip. Still, it doesn't get much more frustrating then watching the Sox bats lay down game after game in front of the Yankee's awful pitching staff.

Lugo, Crisp, Drew, Varitek, Manny: when half of your lineup sucks eggs and your #4 hitter becomes relatively average it makes for a lot of 4-3 and 5-3 loses.

Of course, as long as we can play the Devil Rays in the playoffs we should be all set.

Celtics roster and projected rotation as of August 29th

2007-08-29T15:43:00.000-04:00

Our current roster, with each player slotted as of their most recent level of play. It would not be a surprise to see Perkins and Rondo come out this season and show us more then they're getting credit for here.

And with it, a projection of how minutes will be allocated this next season.

This still leaves eight minutes unaccounted for at the 5. Assuming ownership doesn't surprise us again and OK a contract for someone like Dikembe Mutumbo (hello, Finals) those minutes would likely get divided between Perkins, Pollard and Posey (with KG sliding over to C).

Just don't drive up here too fast

2007-08-29T15:02:00.000-04:00

Those of us who have been cynical about the state of the Celtics for the last two years liked to point to how little trade value Ainge's young talent was supposed to have; that is, until we traded most of it for two Hall of Famers. We furrowed our brow about ownership's apparent penny-pinching ways; that is, until they agreed to one of the larger payrolls in the league. Then we pointed to the lack of talent on the roster beyond the Big Three; that is, until the Celtics signed James Posey.

In at least one way, this move was impressive the way the trade for KG was. Since the team was over the luxury tax threshold, it would have been understandable if ownership had filled out the roster with vet minimum bodies (whose contracts are mostly paid by the league) and called it a day. Instead they ponied up an addition ~$7M salary(which will provoke an additional ~$7M in luxury tax penalties) for a starting-quality swingman with tons of playoff experience. The folks running this team had already gone above and beyond expectations by agreeing to pay the luxury tax to bring KG to town. They just did it all over again.

In terms of his on-court play, you could not script a better complement to the Big Three then Posey. He's an eight-year starter in the prime of his career whose ego doesn't care if he starts or comes off the bench, and has been happy to play in the shadows of folks like Shaq and Wade. The NBA is filled with talented players who are used to being the #1 option on every team and then can't adjust to playing a supporting role. Posey is the photo negative of this.

He is the kind of bruising, athletic, intelligent defender who will relieve Pierce and Allen from spending half the game trying to slow down the other team's best perimeter scorer. The Celtics haven't had as good a wing defender since Eric Williams left town, and even in EWill's prime Posey would have been an upgrade. Posey is also an excellent outside and three point shooter (37% last year, 40% the year before), who will make other team pay for doubling down on KG, Pierce or Allen. In addition, since Posey is 6'8" and has always been a strong rebounder (rather like Pierce) the Celtics now have a legimate up-tempo 'small ball' lineup with KG at C, Posey and Pierce at PF/SF, Allen at SG and Rondo running the point.

The following quote from Posey's press conference is an indication of how far things have come since lottery night:

"I waited patiently and I landed here in a great situation where we have an opportunity to win a championship," Posey said. "There [were] other teams out there but I wanted the best chance to win a championship. This is the place to be."

Rumors have been that Posey had offers on hand from Miami and New Jersey-- both of which were likely larger-- and picked Boston instead. He signed for perhaps a third of what he would have made in the open market if he was looking for as much money as possible. For years the Celtics have been starting bench-quality players and racking up regular season loses. This fall we're going to field a team with at least one starting-quality player coming off the bench.

Bring on November.

Here's a little of Posey, showing he would have been right at home in the rough-and-tumble NBA playoffs of the 1980s:

And the reaction of Chicago fans:

See you in the playoffs

Nothing is impossible

2007-08-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

I remember when this commercial was on the teleyvissy, but had forgotten Garnett was the principal. A good metaphore for the Boston hoops scene?

Another missing piece?

2007-08-14T14:39:00.000-04:00

Adonal Foyle now needs a new team.

Mmmm . . . . burger.

2007-08-10T15:44:00.000-04:00

I was a little surprised that the news that Wily Mo Pena had cleared revocable waivers didn't spark some trade chat here -- clearly, B. was engrossed at SoSH or something -- but this, from Bill Simmons' mailbag today, seems like the fitting response:

Q: What do you consider to be a fair trade the Red Sox can make for Wily Mo Pena? My roommate and I were discussing it, and we decided that a cheeseburger would be fair. But not just any cheeseburger… we're talking a one-pound cheddar and bacon burger from Fuddruckers. We figure once we add on the tomatoes, pickles, relish, mustard, ketchup, jalapeños, nacho cheese and onions, we'd come out on top. Your thoughts?
--James, Brighton

SG: Um, you'd come out on top if you traded Wily Mo for a single-patty McDonald's cheeseburger with nothing on it. But I like the thought of Theo Epstein announcing the deal, then holding a news conference in which he eats the Fuddrucker's burger in front of the reporters and cameraman and just repeatedly says, "Mmmmmmm … . Mmmmmmm … mmmmm, this is delicious, it almost makes up for the fact that we effectively gave away Bronson Arroyo … mmmmmm … yummmy … "

Ah, The Missing Piece of the Puzzle...

2007-08-08T19:02:00.000-04:00

... a 42 year old shooting guard.

NERVOUS!

2007-08-08T10:05:00.001-04:00

Boston 68 45 .602 - 36-20 32-25 580 454 Lost 2 5-5
NY Yankees 63 50 .558 5 37-21 26-29 674 516 Won 5 8-2

Lost in translation.

2007-08-05T00:53:00.000-04:00

How do you say disappointing en Francais?

First pitch

2007-08-02T10:44:00.001-04:00

Is he that happy to see David Ortiz again? Or to have gotten the ball over the plate?

Welcome to the House.

2007-08-01T17:01:00.000-04:00

The Celtics signed free agent guard Eddie House this afternoon to a one-year deal, apparently solving their need for a veteran backup to point guard Rajon Rondo.

In truth the 6-1 House, who averaged 8.4 points in 56 games for the Nets last year, is more of a shooter than a playmaker, which is indeed part of why Danny Ainge was attracted to him. On the positive side House shot .429 from 3-point range last season, and has indeed sunk the Celtics many times over the years from behind the circle.

On the other, he shot worse (.428) overall last season.

But House is not the only player who figures to fill in behind Rondo this season. Tony Allen, and even Ray Allen, have been discussed as point guard possibilities, in addition to rookie Gabe Pruitt out of USC.

The Celtics also signed Jackie Manuel, a 6-5 wing player who played for Los Angeles in the NBDL last season, and is considered a solid defensive player. He was named the ACC’s defensive player of the year two seasons ago while at North Carolina.

Next up in the free agent market is a big man. PJ Brown, the 37-year-old power forward who is reportedly seeking the full mid-level exception ($5.6 million) for his services, has probably priced himself out of the Celtics’ range.

The team is currently checking into the market for Dikembe Mutombo, who could fill in nicely as a backup behind Kendrick Perkins. Mutombo is currently in Africa, where he is on his annual mission at the head of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program.

Boston Herald

Reactions to the first press conference

2007-07-31T21:32:00.000-04:00

- 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

2007-07-31T16:51:00.000-04:00

Already on sale

Gagne to Sox Pen

2007-07-31T16:12:00.000-04:00

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?

2007-07-31T16:01:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-31T13:49:00.001-04:00

Insert any and all commentary here

Herald reporting the deal is done

2007-07-31T13:40:00.001-04:00

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

Early reaction from Vegas

2007-07-31T11:55:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-31T11:27:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-07-31T00:01:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-30T16:13:00.001-04:00

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.

Garnett

2007-07-30T13:35:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-07-30T11:59:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-30T10:55:00.001-04:00

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.

2007-07-28T22:50:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-27T09:25:00.001-04:00

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

2007-07-27T09:06:00.001-04:00

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?

Reason for concern?

2007-07-26T10:14:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-07-18T10:45:00.000-04:00

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?

2007-07-17T13:18:00.001-04:00

OK, that's funny.

2007-07-11T13:03:00.001-04:00

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.

Ray Allen and Allen Ray, teammates at last.

2007-06-29T17:17:00.001-04:00

If you want to inch closer to serious commentary, you can read this.

Draft coverage.

2007-06-29T17:14:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure I'm ready for serious coverage yet, so how's about this:

Yi Jianlian nickname post

2007-06-28T14:22:00.002-04:00

In order to prepare what lots are saying is the most likely outcome for tonight's draft, place your nominations for nicknames for Yi here

I can only take credit for a few of these:

Ancient Chinese Secret
Yi-Money (Gerald Green reference)
Chairman Yi (in honor of his workout partner)
Yi Doc Gone
Year of the Dog
The Hick From Shenzhen Provence
Red II
Feng Shui-tness

A card for Danny Ainge.

2007-06-28T14:22:00.001-04:00

If only it were true.

The heir to Tim Wakefield?

2007-06-28T10:08:00.001-04:00

While we kill time waiting for tonight's excitement, the Bangor Daily News has a story on Clay Buchholz. He has a knuckleball, though he says he rarely throws it.

Must-read draft coverage.

2007-06-27T13:04:00.000-04:00

This piece by recent Penn forward Stephen Danley is worth a look, although his comments about Jeff Green seem calculated to tell you that Danley won two jump balls against Green rather than to explain why Green should be drafted.

Not the end of the beginning, but the beginning of the end?

2007-06-26T15:46:00.000-04:00

For the last four years, Ainge's critics have repeatedly questioned his ability to restock the team with young talent while simultaneously fielding a winning playoff team built around Paul Pierce. In response, Ainge's defenders usually call for patience: 'our youth are on the verge of significant improvement', 'the team is in a great position to deal for an All Star vet', one step backward to take two steps forward, etc etc

Three straight years of declining win totals and few signs of starting-quality talent in our youth have started to lend a sort of reverse boy-who-cried-wolf air to this optimism. Except, of course, there has always been a real threat hanging over the C's: the prospect that Pierce would finally get sick of all the losing and demand out of Boston. The rumblings have gotten louder over the last two years, and plenty of folks now speculate that the balance of Pierce's effective patience can be measured in either weeks or months, but not years.

Needless to say, it doesn't make anyone feel better to have long-time NBA beat writer Adrian Wojnarowski say that Pierce's deadline is basicly Thursday night

As much as Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge wanted a bigger return for Al Jefferson and the No. 5 pick in the flat-lined, four-team blockbuster trade proposal that died on Monday, little was done for the franchise's trampled image when Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal turned out to be one more star privately disclosing disdain over the prospects of playing for the Celtics.

First, it was Phoenix's Shawn Marion insisting that he didn't want to go to Boston.

Then it was Minnesota's Kevin Garnett.

And now it's O'Neal.

Here's the problem for Ainge: According to a league executive, Paul Pierce has finally told team management that unless the Celtics come out of this week with a talented veteran co-star for him, they should expect him to make a public declaration soon after Thursday's draft that he wants a trade.

"Danny is under tremendous pressure, from inside and outside, to get a deal for someone done this week," one league executive said.

As hard as the Celtics, Pacers, Timberwolves and Lakers worked on the collapsed deal that would've sent Kevin Garnett to Los Angeles, Boston and Indiana couldn't come to terms with what they were to receive. The Pacers were uncomfortable with Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom without minimally the Lakers' pick at 19, just as the Celtics believed they had to get more back for sending Jefferson, the emerging forward, and the fifth pick to Minnesota.

Here's one real risk to all this: that in the next few days Danny makes a spectacularly bad trade-- one that hurts the franchise for years to come-- in order to keep Pierce happy and save his job. Indeed, the worst trades of Danny's tenure (the original 'Toine for Raef deal, the trade for Szczerbiak) have been made with the aspirational and in retrospect unwise goal of trying to compete while rebuilding. Celtics fans have seen enough awful trades in recent years (the draft right to Shawn Marion for Vitaly Potapenko, Joe Johnson for Tony Delk/Rodney Rodgers, Chauncey Billups for Kenny Anderson) to know how long they set back a franchise. Will we soon add an Al Jefferson and the #5 pick for [fill in name of 30-year-old former All Star here] to the list? I suspect the odds are at least 50/50.

Ainge has largely himself to blame for the situation he's in. All the ego-driven rhetoric he's put in the papers (e.g. 'we're going to be in the playoff's next year, no matter what') might work with casual fans. NBA GMs, however, appear to be circling the Celtics like sharks when there's blood in the water. Looking across the offers the Celtics are getting the general assumption seems to be that someone is going to make out like a bandit and screw the Celtics over, and every NBA GM with a vet they need to move wants to be that team. I won't be surprised if one of them gets lucky.

The worst time to make a deal is when you're desperate. The Celtics may no longer have any choice. Deal for a veteran now, and screw the future of the franchise yet again, or deal Pierce this summer for pennies on the dollar and give up the dream of being competitive for the next two-three years. The second might be the best remaining outcome possible for Celtics fans, but it certainly isn't for Ainge.

That long tail.

2007-06-26T13:26:00.001-04:00

As a kid, I listened over and over to Impossible Dream, a LP about the 1967 Red Sox team. For a while now, I've been keeping my eyes open for a copy, and there was one auctioned in the last few days on eBay, but I was distracted and didn't get my bid in, alas. It turns out, though, that the original recordings have been digitized and are on sale as CDs. I didn't wait -- my order is in. If you want your copy, click on the photo above, or check out these recordings about sports teams from the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s (Celtics fans, take note).

(Cross-posted at AIP.)

Whatever happened to Jose Offerman?

2007-06-21T23:01:00.001-04:00

He's with Ed Yarnall and Carl Everett on Long Island.

Ummmm, about that strategy

2007-06-21T18:31:00.000-04:00

Ainge and the Celtics have supposedly be in the process of hoarding young players in hopes of packaging them together for a talented veteran to pair with Paul Pierce. At least this is the version of events we've been hearing for the last year, once it became clear that the previous group of veterans Ainge had assembled (Davis, Blount, Raef) collectively stank.

This strategy doesn't appear to have gone to well, perhaps in part because trading unproven youth for an All Star appears to 1) require taking advantage of another GM in a trade, 2) has been broadcast all over the league with a bullhorn, and 3) has been accompanied by such lousy play that most people assume Ainge's job is in jeapordy. Last year folks following the team got to watch the Celtics appear to repeatedly fail to get teams like Memphis and Philadelphia to take basically anything they wanted from our roster in exchange for Pau Gasol and Allen Iverson.

This last week the rumors have been all about the Celtics bids for Kevin Garnett and/or Shawn Marion, in which one of Boston's first offers out of the gate was apparently everything remotely of trade value on our roster. Today comes word that neither Garnett nor Marion are willing to play for Boston.

I'm getting the sense that the 'trade youth for an impact vet' part of the strategy doesn't go too well when combined with 'assemble mediocre youth of little trade value' and 'make your team a laughingstock reeking of such losing and pathetic incompetence that no self-respecting talented NBA player would want to waste part of their career in your own version of Siberia'

So, what's next?

CF.

2007-06-20T23:35:00.000-04:00

A comparison:

Note the similarities across offensive categories (except for OBP), and the massive difference in salaries. Then think about Damon's ribs, which are about to put him on the DL. And then think about Crisp's catch of Hudson's gapper last night.

"It's like Bill has a new toy."

2007-06-13T13:35:00.000-04:00

Can Adalius Thomas possibly live up to the hype?

Chad Ford speculates about the Suns

2007-06-08T17:08:00.000-04:00

In the middle of some mid-draft rumoring, Chad provides this set of observations about the on-going Yi drama:

The Celtics' Danny Ainge traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to take a look at Yi Jianlian in a private workout. Yi worked out for nearly two hours in a gym by himself and then spent several hours with Ainge.

The same drill was repeated on Thursday with the Atlanta Hawks GM Billy Knight. On Saturday the Bulls will get a look at Yi.

The feedback from the workouts has been positive. Yi looks great in that environment. The question is whether he has the toughness to play that way when you put nine other players on the floor.

Next, Yi's camp will sit back and gauge feedback. If none of those teams commit to drafting Yi, then Sacramento likely will be the next team to visit.

If Boston is passing on Yi, I think that means we might see a trade coming. There's talk that the Suns -- to slash payroll -- might be willing to take the No. 5 pick, Theo Ratliff's expiring contract and Delonte West for Shawn Marion. That would make Paul Pierce happy.

With the No. 5 pick, the Suns could replace Marion with Yi, Jeff Green or Al Thornton. In the Suns' system, all three of those guys could play the four.

Another dark horse in the Yi sweepstakes might be Portland, which is trying to get another top 10 draft pick. As I've mentioned before, the Bulls seem like a possible trading partner, with Zach Randolph involved

A Marion trade along these lines is unlikely, because it would kick the Celtics at least $10M into the luxury tax threshold next year, assuming Al Jefferson signs an extension for something on the order of ~$12M/year.

If such a trade were to go down it would fantastic news, both because Marion is an All Star talent and because it indicates the owners are willing to lose money, short term, in order to win more games.

Pride and joy and greed and sex, That's what makes our town the best.

2007-06-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

Does Kevin Youkilis shatter more bats than the next fellow?

Fenway Park West.

2007-06-05T12:28:00.000-04:00

It's in Oaktown:

Some of the A's younger players had to be shocked at the sight of it, let alone the sound. It was the bottom of the ninth inning Monday night. A promising threat had suddenly died on Bobby Crosby's double-play grounder, forcing extra innings. And the place went absolutely nuts. Sheer bedlam among the 20,000-odd fans still in attendance.
Pro-Boston crowds have been a staple in Oakland since the A's moved west in 1968, just a year after Jim Lonborg and Carl Yastrzemski carried the Red Sox into the World Series, but this was radical. This might as well have been Fenway. There can't be another fan base in the country, at any level, where the sentiment shifts so thoroughly for an opposing team based some 3,000 miles away.

Bruce Jenkins in the SF Chronicle.

In his pre-Cosmos days.

2007-06-05T10:21:00.000-04:00

Pele!

Fix the Celtics, part 2

2007-06-05T00:05:00.001-04:00

Don't like big, elaborate trade proposals that involve multiple teams and have close to no chance of ever happening? Here's a less complicated trade proposal that makes the Celtics significantly better next year

Background: the trade stems from the persistent rumors that the Utah Jazz are looking to move Andre Kirilenko. AK is several years removed from his insane peak when he led the Jazz in basically every statistical category and became the second player in NBA history to be top 5 in the league in both steals and blocks (first: David Robinson). At the time AK was both an All Star and voted to the All-NBA defensive team. Since that time the Jazz gave him a max contract (currently four more years at ~$15M per) and then signed someone who plays his same position. To say that AK has struggled since the team moved him to SF upon the arrival of Carlos Boozer is an understatement. His play has declined, his stats are way down across the board, and everyone in the league believes he's frustrated as hell. It’s a sign of the team’s respect for him that they thought he could shift positions without missing a beat, but in retrospect it’s obviously been a big failure.

AK appears to be the walking definition of a player who needs a change of scenery. He's clearly a PF, although one that can play away from the basket on offense and defense. His relationship with Jerry Sloan and the Jazz front office may be permanently damaged after what AK seems to consider two years of mistreatment. The latest rumors are that a good faction of the locker room (Boozer, Deron Williams, Derek Fischer) don't like him personally are would be happy to see him gone. Unfortunately for Utah this is a summer when teams will be holding out to try and trade for lots of big names (KG, Jermaine O'Neal, Gasol, Ray Allen, etc). The buyers in the trade market are likely to put AK well down their wish lists. Regardless of what Utah wants, they're going to have to settle for what they can get.

When AK was playing well he was the greatest example in the last decade of a player who can dramatically influence the game without needing the ball in his hands. Think of a more talented and productive Dennis Rodman without the crazy. If he played at 80% of his peak in Boston he'd be a huge addition between Jefferson at C and Pierce at PF.

Boston gives - Wally Szczerbiak, Gerald Green, #31
Boston gets - Andre Kirilenko

Utah gives - Kirilenko
Utah gets - Szczerbiak, Green, #31

Why for Utah: AK takes up a huge part of their salary cap and hasn't made the shift to SF they way they hoped. Now there appear to be rifts developing between him, his teammates and the coaching staff. Wally and Gerald give them two natural SFs, one for now and one for later. Wally’s no more than an average-starting SF at this point, but so was Kirilenko playing out of position the last two years. Wally's contract comes off the books in two years, just when Utah will need to resign Deron Williams. The Jazz save ~$35M total on the deal, which should make their car salesman owner happy.

Why for Boston: Along with this deal the Celtics sit on the #5 pick and take Corey Brewer. A lineup of AK, Brewer and Rondo would be incredibly disruptive defensively with plenty of efficient scoring from Jefferson and Pierce. Under Doc 'I don't know what the hell I'm doing, do I have any time before the game to figure it out?' Rivers, AK would be free to run all over the court and wreck havoc. If the Celtics believe they can get Brewer later in the top 10 they could explore trading down with Minnesota (Trenton Hassell) or Chicago (Chris Duhon/Thabo Sefolosha) to get another good-defensive vet win or backup PG for roster balance and depth.

Extra bonus trade variant: If this trade for a plus-defending vet All Star doesn't work out there's always version 2.0: Ron Artest. The Kings have all but printed press releases stating that Artest will be moved this summer. The number of teams willing to take him on will likely fall somewhere between none and almost none. Sadly, this probably includes the Celtics since our ownership seems more concerned with good behavior then actually winning games. At the same time, if the Cs are going to get better they need to be prepared to take calculated risks. Nobody is going to offer them a vet All Star for nothing. Artest’s contract and on-court play are both incredibly attractive. His price will likely be even less than AK's. Even if we consummated a deal with Utah, I'd consider moving Theo Ratliff's expiring and insurance-paid deal for Artest and filler.

Ron-ron is a loose canon on the best of days. He's also only got two years left on a very reasonable contract and still as productive (although much less popular with voters) as when he was an All Star and All-NBA defensive player.

The roster below does some serious damage in the East, combining one of the best half-court defensive rotations in the league with inside-out scoring

The 07-08 Celtics

1 – Rondo, Duhon?
2/3 - Pierce, Artest, Corey Brewer, Tony Allen, Delonte West
4/5 - Jefferson, AK, Gomes, Perkins

Fix the Celtics, part 1

2007-06-04T16:41:00.000-04:00

With all the complaining I've been doing the last 12-18 months, you'd think I would step up at some point and propose what ought to be done differently. Consider this a post towards that end.

This scenario presumes that Kevin Garnett has already picked this summer to force his way out of Minnesota, and that the Lakers are finally motivated enough by Kobe to close the deal. In this case, the Celtics help facilitate the trade and come away with some improvements that hold less value to the other teams.

BOS gives - #5, #31, MN's future first-round pick, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Veal, Powe
BOS gets - #19, Lamar Odom, Trenton Hassell

LAL gives - #19, '08 #1, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown
LAL gets - #31, Kevin Garnett, Mike James, Delonte West, Leon Powe

MN gives - Kevin Garnett, Mike James, Trenton Hassell
MN gets - #5, LA 08#1, MN pick, Andrew Bynum, Wally Szczerbiak, Kwame Brown, Veal

According to the ESPN trade machine, the salaries work.

Why for MN: If they're trading KG then the TWolves presumptive motivation will be to move some of their other long-term contracts, pick up picks to rebuild with, and retain some positive angle they can sell to ticket holders. In this deal MN manages to ditch two contracts (Mike James, Trenton Hassell) they've already decided to replace with younger players already on the roster (Foye, McCants). In return they get back a young lottery-talent big (Bynum), the #5 for their rumored binky Yi Jianlian, and three other draft picks. By many accounts Wally remains incredibly popular with casual basketball fans in the twin cities, providing the team with a marketing tool on a short contract. Kwame expires at the end of the year.

Why for LA: KG and Mike James help Kobe win now. Delonte is an outside-shooting guard, in the Steve Kerr mold, well suited for the triangle offense. Leon Powe provides some throw-in front-court bench depth. They can use the #31 to try and get another backup PF/C or use it in a package for someone like Nazr Mohammed. With Kobe and KG the Lakers are instant contenders out West and will have a long line of veterans willing to take short money to fill in the gaps in the roster.

Why for the Celtics: The only thing of real value the Celtic give up is the #5 pick. In return, Lamar Odom provides a great high-post complement to Jefferson on the front line and gives the Celtics someone other than Pierce to run our half-court offense through. He takes pressure off Rondo by drawing his defender away from the basket and playing the role of top-of-the-key decision-maker that that Blount and Raef filled rather ably while here. Trenton Hassell increases from zero to one the number of athletic veterans on the team who can defend multiple wing positions. He immediately relieves Pierce from spending the whole game carrying our offense while also chasing the other team's best scorer around the perimeter. With the #19 pick we take the best player available, potentially a PG prospect like Javaris Crittendon or a wing slider like Thad Young.

New Celtics lineup

starters
1 - Rondo
2/3 - Pierce, Hassell
4/5 - Jefferson, Odom

bench
1 -
2/3 - Allen, Green
4/5 - Gomes, Perk

add a vet PG signing with the LLE to spell Rondo (Chucky Atkins?) plus with the #19: Crittenton? Young?

With Pierce/Odom/Jefferson the Celtics have a front line that should be able to score consistently on anyone in the East. Rondo/Hassell/Allen/Perk should complement them with enough defense to slow down all but the best of opponents. In the East that doesn't take much. That looks to me like a 45-50 win team likely good for second-round of the playoffs

Jackie goes multimedia

2007-05-26T14:23:00.000-04:00

The text is largely from the piece MacMullan wrote the other day, but this slideshow adds photos to all the lousy moves the team has made in the last decade.

Jackie weighs in

2007-05-25T09:46:00.001-04:00

Jackie MacMullan provides her first post-lottery commentary with the rather appropriate message: suck it up

Boston is cursed, all right -- with bad decisions. The blame can be shared among many. Former CEO Dave Gavitt drafted Earl. M.L. Carr presided over the Montross years. Pitino hastily dumped Billups and a list of others. Wallace pulled the trigger on the Baker deal. Even the master, Red Auerbach, erred by insisting on drafting Smith in 1989 and Joseph Forte in 2001.

Every team makes mistakes. Yet Boston's peers have recovered much quicker.

The Lakers, dominant in the '80s alongside the Celtics, won three additional titles from 2000-02. The Detroit Pistons won back-to-back championships in '89 and '90, reloaded, and won again in 2004, thanks, in part, to the Celtics, who arranged a three-way deal that delivered Rasheed Wallace to the Pistons and netted Boston Chucky Atkins and a draft pick.

After Michael Jordan retired, the Bulls endured rocky moments, but made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals this season and are encouraged by a young nucleus that includes Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, and Kirk Hinrich.

The Celtics have a young nucleus, too. Danny Ainge's finest moment was in the 2004 draft, when he grabbed Jefferson, Delonte West, and Tony Allen, all in the first round.

But Ainge's questionable trades have hampered his team. The addition of Wally Szczerbiak left Boston with a high-salaried, injury-prone shooter whose game is incompatible with that of Pierce's and makes the Celtics dangerously deficient on the defensive end.

Ainge's fascination with Sebastian Telfair has been disastrous. He acquired him from Portland along with Theo Ratliff and traded Raef LaFrentz, Dan Dickau, and the No. 7 pick, which turned out to be Brandon Roy, who, in case you missed it, was Rookie of the Year this season.

Roy went to Secaucus this week to represent Portland in the draft lottery. His team had a 5.3 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick, and he brought it home.

You might say Roy is a very lucky young man.

You might believe the Celtics are cursed for passing on him, then watching him win the Oden sweepstakes for his team.

But good teams don't rely on luck. They make their own luck.

It's long past the time for the Boston Celtics to do just that.

Well put

You want a reason for hope?

2007-05-22T23:47:00.002-04:00

This is all I got right now:

1. James
2. Milicic
3. Anthony
4. Bosh
5. Wade

Let's not talk about the NBA draft.

2007-05-22T23:04:00.001-04:00

Some fun with Excel.

Here are the teams in AL, ranked by winning percentage:

BOS 0.689
CLE 0.643
DET 0.614
LAA 0.609
CWS 0.537
OAK 0.500
SEA 0.488
MIN 0.467
NYY 0.455
TOR 0.455
BAL 0.444
TAM 0.409
TEX 0.391
KAN 0.378

Now, here are the teams ranked by runs scored/runs allowed differential:

BOS 241 165 76
LAA 211 169 42
OAK 200 163 37
CLE 233 197 36
DET 240 211 29
NYY 236 209 27
MIN 204 202 2
TOR 201 206 -5
CWS 168 182 -14
BAL 192 207 -15
SEA 180 203 -23
TEX 232 257 -25
KAN 183 227 -44
TAM 195 262 -67

And now, here are the AL teams ranked by the degree to which they're outperforming their differential:

CWS 0.075
CLE 0.052
DET 0.045
SEA 0.045
TAM 0.037
LAA -0.015
BAL -0.020
KAN -0.025
TOR -0.033
MIN -0.038
BOS -0.041
TEX -0.060
NYY -0.110
OAK -0.113

Got that? Based solely on runs scored and allowed, the Red Sox should be winning even more games. But so should the Yankees and A's.

What a miserable night

2007-05-22T21:45:00.000-04:00

Having gone through this with Duncan ten years ago, we now get to go through it again with Oden and Durant.

Can we finally fire Ainge?

Which of the following odds are now greater:

- Pierce demands a trade this summer, his value tanks, the Celtics are forced to move him for pennies on the dollar (e.g. Corey Maggette and drek), and we're all handicapping the odds of drafting OJ Mayo in twelve months

- Ainge drafts the Chinese Darko Milicic with the 5th pick and we watch him turn into a borderline starter at the only position where we already have an above-average young player

Why am I still a Celtics fan? How much abuse do we get to take before this turns around?

So, what qualifies as failure?

2007-05-10T20:27:00.000-04:00

This last season Doc Rivers led the Celtics to the second-worst record in franchise history, oversaw a franchise-record 18 game losing streak, failed to implement anything like a coherent offensive scheme for yet another year, ran a team that played lousy defense most nights and failed to significantly develop any young player other than Al Jefferson.

So the team gives him an extension.

I'm really curious here: what would be grounds for getting fired?

When Pete Carroll was fired from the Patriots, Bob Kraft stood up at a semi-emotional press conference and spent the entire time talking about how much he admired Carroll as a person and as a coach. 80% of what came out of his mouth was positive things about Carroll. But he also said very clearly: this is a result-based, accountability business and the Patriots had put together three straight years of declining win totals. Kraft made it clear: if you don't deliver the results, you're gone.

The Celtics just finished their third straight year of declining win totals, with this last being a historic train wreck. Who is accountable? I gather the team doesn't consider the coach responsible for the team's performance, since they just extended him.

Here's an easy prediction: conspiracy theorists will say this was Doc's pre-arranged reward for throwing games this season and increasing the team's lottery chances. The sad thing is that this almost casts ownership in a better light than the alternative.

Hey, thank god we have Tony Allen

2007-04-30T11:08:00.000-04:00

Two and a half years ago the Celtics were close to closing on a trade with the New Orleans Hornets for All Star PG Baron Davis, a close friend of Paul Pierce's since their days playing AAU ball together as kids. By all accounts the team balked at the prospect of taking on Davis' uninsured max contract and bad knees, not wanting to pay big bucks for a guard that only gave you an average of 55 games a year. So instead of swapping Tony Allen and expiring contracts for Davis we did a seperate deal with the Atlanta Hawks to bring back Antoine Walker for a two-month rental and first-round playoff elimination.

Davis may rarely play a full season any more, but when he does play he's pretty impressive. Baron has been abusing Jason Terry and Devin Harris all series, and has #8 seed Golden State up 3-1 over the team with the best regular-season record in the league. Baron is playing like he could win the matchup with most guards in the league from a wheelchair, and from this living room looks like easily the best player on either team in the series (specifically including the Mavs' supposed MVP candidate).

As for the Celtics, they decided to tie up salary equal to Baron's in such healthy, productive vets as Brian Scalanbrine and Wally Sczcerbiak. So at least we got that going for us.

See you in Foxborough

2007-04-30T10:51:00.000-04:00

To summarize: the Patriots traded Deion Branch to Seattle in exchange for moving up four spots in the first round (#28 to #24), a first round selection next year (from the mediocre 49ers; likely middle-top of the first round) and Randy Moss.

Legalized robbery.

It's the pitching, stupid.

2007-04-26T23:33:00.000-04:00

A glance at the standings tonight reflects that the Red Sox have surrendered 73 runs, the least of an American League team and trailing only the Mets and Giants. While the season is still young, this seems like a very good sign.

Uncoordinated but identical criticism

2007-04-22T11:27:00.000-04:00

Was it only three and four years ago that I was regularly criticizing Peter May for being overly critical of Ainge while being sloppy with the facts? It's a sign of how far things have come that we're now largely in agreement on the former. This from this morning's basketball notes column:

A healthy disregard for the facts

Revisionist history is already in full force in Boston. The comments that the Celtics would have made the playoffs "had they been healthy" are almost laughable.

First, every team has injuries, and it's the playoff-caliber teams that respond to that that make the playoffs. Consider that Houston went 20-12 without Yao Ming or that Miami went 16-7 without Dwyane Wade. The Rockets and Heat are going to the playoffs. The Celtics went 4-31 without Paul Pierce. That's astonishing. (Actually, they went 4-29 and threw two others.) Atlanta won twice as many games without Joe Johnson.

And, yes, other guys got hurt, too. But other guys got hurt in Memphis, which went 5-22 without Pau Gasol. And other guys got hurt in Milwaukee, which went 3-17 without Michael Redd. Those teams aren't trying to rewrite history and claiming they'd be playoff teams had they stayed healthy.

It's all part of the "Yeah, But We Really Weren't That Bad" spin. This was, at best, a mid- to high-30-win team. The Celtics were 10-14 after the Golden State game in which Pierce got hurt, having played the easiest schedule in the league. Their much-ballyhooed five-game winning streak had come against the Nets, Knicks, Sixers, pre-Allen Iverson Nuggets, and Bobcats. They had yet to play a single road game against a Western Conference team. They had yet to play Miami. They had lost to Memphis at home.

If you want to believe the Celtics, fine. If you want to believe they can bring back the same team next year and make the playoffs, fine. Maybe they can. But the team this year wasn't good enough, healthy or otherwise, and they should admit it.

There has been a sometime chorus of Celtics loyalists in Boston this winter repeating different versions of 'when the best players on your team get injured you're bound to lose a lot of games'. In addition to the examples May mentions above, there is the obvious counter-example of the 2004-05 Indiana Pacers, a team that lost their two best players (Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest) for much of the season and still won 44 games and made the second round of the playoffs.

What does it say about Ainge that-- four years into his management of the team-- when the only player he didn't add to the roster (Pierce) goes down with an injury the remainder of the roster plummets to a record-setting awful record?

Grading the Celtics

2007-04-21T17:10:00.000-04:00

To borrow a device from Steve Bulpett's end-of-year story in the Herald, here are individual grades for the different players on the team. Is this exactly aligned with the way the team is depicted in the previous post? No, because I'm grading different players to different standards. If you don't like it, make your own ranking.

Paul Pierce: A Still the man
Al Jefferson: A- Last year at this time there were serious questions about almost every aspect of Al's game: could he stay in shape and out of foul trouble enough to play 35 minutes a night? Could he get good enough at individual and team defense to not be a huge liability at that end of the court? When would he learn more than the two low-post moves that he went to every time? A year later he's put all these questions and others to rest. He's been averaging 18/12 with a 55% FG% since the All Star break and has been rock solid consistent for the last 80% of the season. The number of 21-year-old low post players who have put up his kind of numbers and not gone on to multiple All Star games is exactly zero. How he responds after his big contract extension is as important to this franchise as what happens on May 22. We need something close to a best case scenario out of both

Rajon Rondo: B Played about as well as I can imagine any rookie PG playing not at the Kidd/Bibby/Isiah/Chris Paul level. Hollinger recently rated him the second-bast defensive PG in the league, the only rookie to sniff that list. We all knew coming in he couldn't shoot. Yet he ended the year with a 42% FG%, which is on par with a lot of starting PGs. If his biggest weakness long term ends up being that he's average at something, the future is bright
Kendrick Perkins: B- Still the same basic physical package of athletic abilities and limitations which make him a perfect roster fit for the 1992-4 New York Knicks. A wide-shouldered, slow-footed bruiser who's future floor is probably a moderately better Etan Thomas. The encouraging news here is that he signed an extremely reasonable contract (4/$16M) and promptly 1) played hard all year, 2) played through foot injuries the visibly limited his reaction times and leaping ability, 3) showed better low-post moves on offense (even if he still has no touch) and 4) played very effective defense against some of the best big men in the league: Garnett, Duncan, JO'Neal, Howard. His work ethic, commitment and improved skills on both ends make me far more encouraged for his future than the short-term injuries. The guys is only 21. In optimistic moments like this one I'm still expecting him to be a good starting-quality NBA center in a few years

Delonte West: C+ You have to be a little dead not to root for Delonte-- a very intelligent and constantly hustling player. That said, he is what he is. His game has not improved in any noticeable way in the last three years. He can't play the traditional point guard role, since he's too slow-footed to create dribble penetration and has absolutely no right hand at all. Nor can he create his own shot against a decent defender, which is close to a non-negotiable for starting NBA SGs. He's both small and slow enough to be a defensive liability against quicker point guards and taller, more athletic shooting guards. His FG% last year (playing off double-teams of Pierce and Davis) was one of the best in the league among PGs. His FG% this year was close to the worst in the league for SGs. His ideal role on a good team is most likely a 10-15mpg stand-still shooter off the bench. Unfortunately, he's looked his worst in his career when asked to play fewer minutes behind people like Payton and Sczcerbiak. Needs to play better in short minutes. Needs to shoot better. Needs to settle for a Perk-esque, sub-MLE contract
Ryan Gomes: C+ See Delonte. The best players in the league do multiple things very well. The role players who stick for ten years often have a single exemplary skill (Bruce Bowen: defense; Kyle Korver: shooting; etc) that earns their place in a rotation. Gomes is decent at every aspect of basketball but really good at nothing. If he can add a three-point shot, defend SFs better on the perimeter and/or defend PFs better in the paint, then his value goes up. Currently on track for a solid, Kenny Thomas-like career (someone else who has only ever started on lottery teams)
Wally Sczcerbiak: C Played lousy team basketball all year, even when he wasn't injured. Invariably looked for his own shot, despite shooting like crap. Seemed to believe he could do things like take good NBA perimeter defenders off the dribble. Mugged for the camera after every made FG, waving his arms and yelling at his team-mates as if he was the only guy who was trying. An absolute turnstile on defense. Showed signs of either a very low BBIQ, megalomania, or both. The word around Boston is that he is a complete ahole as a teammate. Completely failed at his one job: playing well and staying healthy so that he'd have some trade value this off season. If it wasn't for his talent and experience he'd be graded lower. Wally is a perfect checklist for everything that Boston sports journalists traditionally despise in a pro basketball player, except that he's white and looks like a GQ model
Brian Scalibrine: C One of the few post-rookie-deal players on the squad who actually played up to his contract. Since this is Veal's ceiling, consider this grade a compliment and a sign of appreciation for a relatively good season. When Brian Scalibrine is your over-achieving vet and arguably your best acquisition in recent years, your team is in lots of trouble.
Tony Allen: C- Before his potential career-ending injury, his best run of play this year showed he could be the #1 perimeter offensive option on a horrible team. This will be very helpful for him 1) if he can get his NCAA eligibility reinstated, or 2) in Greece. He played the worst basketball of his career (selfish, dumb, inconsistent) early in the season before the better players around him got injured. If he can come back healthy can he play effectively as the forth option with Pierce, Jefferson and Wally? Will he still accept a role as defensive stopper and role player off the bench? If so, he'd have some value

Leon Powe: D+ Borderline NBA player. Small PF who can't play away from the basket at all. Hustles constantly, which allows him to look good in games when nobody on the other team cares at all or bothers with things like boxing out. Good guy to have around if you're trying to keep some fans entertained while throwing games
Gerald Green: D This year he was only the worst player on the court most nights. Last year he wasn't even very good by NBADL standards. Right now his ceiling is probably somebody like Rashard Lewis, another athletic phenom with a fantastic outside shot who went from high school to the pros and took several years to learn how to play basketball. A more likely comp is probably something close to the next Jamal Crawford: a player who can put up a ton of points in a hurry when his shot is falling but who contributes absolutely nothing and is easily the worst player on the court when its not. Gerald may be severely learning disabled, or there may be other reason why at age 21 he still looks completely lost trying to play team basketball. Friends with season tickets this year have told me that Doc, the assistant coaches and his teammates spend almost every play telling Gerald where to go and what to do. His biggest strength is supposedly shooting and yet his FG% was close to the worst among NBA SGs
Bassy Telfair: D- Barely an NBA player. Appears sincerely interested in playing team basketball, only he's not good at it. Is very encouraging of the rest of the team from the bench. Needs to stop giving interviews
Allan Ray: F I feel a little bad giving someone a low grade because a lousy team gave them a shot. Does not have a single skill that is NBA quality: can't shoot, lousy handle, awful perimeter defender, no apparent ability to recognize when teammates have a better shot and make the appropriate pass. After watching a couple weeks of preseason games I couldn't believe he was still on the team. I still can't.
Michael Olowokandi: A+ Anyone with 'Kandi's career who can still talk an NBA team into signing him to guaranteed money is clearly a brilliant brilliant motherfucker. Normally, a big man in a contract year will need to play well in a playoff series or two before a dumb team will throw money at them. 'Kandi broke a sweat in exactly two preseason games. I love that the second the team needed him to play actual minutes he came up with a random abdomen injury (he supposedly strained a stomach muscle shifting gears while driving) so he could spend the rest of the season watching TV from his beach pavilion in the Caribbean. Hands down the smartest, most successful person associated with the 06-07 Boston Celtics

Doc Rivers: C+ Not great. Not horrible. Spent another season taking chicken shit and experimenting with different poorly thought-through recipes for chicken salad that he'd then consistently botch when preparing
Clifford Ray: B+ Don't know how much credit he gets for Jefferson, but if he's responsible for even 10% of the improvement we've seen he should get an immediate 10-year extension
Danny Ainge: F See above

An end-- or just a suspension?-- of misery

2007-04-21T16:06:00.000-04:00

It's the kind of franchise that the Celtics are these days that a highlight of the basketball season is when they finally go home for the summer and the good teams all duke it out in the playoffs. With the regular season over and a month to wait until the NBA lottery order is determined, its as good a time as any to summarize the train wreck that was the 2006-2007 season

The Celtics finished 24-58 (.293 winning percentage) which made them officially the second-worst Celtics team of all time. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, only the absolutely pathetic ML Carr 19-win squad a decade ago had a lower winning percentage than this year's group of supposedly professional basketball players.

We can debate how much criticism for all this losing the front office should take, now that the team is headed for the top of a historically good draft and revisionist history is pouring out of Causeway Street in waves. It doesn't look good for Ainge, however, that he spent six months before this season adamantly insisting this was a playoff squad. Nor that the players he had assembled fell flat on their faces at the start of the year, well before injuries shortened the rotation. Playing one of the easiest early-season schedules in the league—including a majority of their games at home against non-playoff teams— the Cs plummeted to an NBA-worst 5-13 by early December. This was all before Pierce’s “injuries” and the to the historic 18-game losing streak.

So what kind of assets do we have on our roster? Where are our strengths and where are the holes? The following assessment is not based on potential, or trade value, but strictly each player's most recent production on the court. Players that are not starting-quality, but who are good enough to be the first off the bench at their position (point, wing, post) get slotted as 'rotation'. If you're not even that good you're 'bench'. If your medical future is sufficiently uncertain then you're 'unfit or unknown'.

I'll add to this a couple observations

- First, whether or not someone starts is obviously not always correlated with whether they are 'starting quality'. Lots of lottery teams start players out of desperation that would only play 5-10 minutes a night on a 55-win playoff squad. Lots of strong playoff teams have starting-quality talent coming off the bench.
- Second, he best players on your team by and large determine how many games you win in the NBA. Having a really good 9th or 10th man is nice, but not nearly as important as how many and how good the starting quality (or better) players are. This becomes even more true in the playoffs. As the Celtics found out this year, when you don’t have much in the way of top talent, you do a whole lot of losing. During the brief window at the end of the season when Pierce and Jefferson healthy and allowed to play the Celtics won three road games against playoff teams in a week (San Antonio, Toronto and Orlando). Without Pierce the team didn't win for over a month.

Player-by-player assessments to follow in the next post

Bill Simmons Media Criticism Dept.

2007-04-12T18:00:00.000-04:00

By the way, I'd pay at least $500 to have someone who gives a crap like Seiko Smith covering the Boston Celtics. I'm not kidding. Something tells me he wouldn't be regurgitating the "young players have really improved under Doc!" (a bold-faced lie, by the way -- the only one who's gotten better is Al Jefferson) and "you never want to enter a season with a lame duck coach" B.S. (really, the players give a crap if their coach is in the final year of his contract?) and hoping Doc Rivers comes back just because another season of Doc makes their job easier. The way the Celtics have been covered over the past few years makes me want to throw up. Shame on everyone. This team has changed its long-term plan four times in four seasons, they don't play defense, they have one guy who's gotten better in three seasons, they're the second-worst team in the NBA ... and every Boston media member is fine with the coach and GM coming back? Nobody's even questioning it?

link

Tanking.

2007-04-12T16:12:00.000-04:00

Further to my lunchtime conversation with B., consider this post on why the NBA sees more late-season tanking than other leagues.

A Dice-K scouting report.

2007-04-12T16:02:00.000-04:00

It's time for our Dice-K scouting report of the week. "If [Jason] Varitek has trouble catching him, because the ball moves so much, you know the hitters have their work cut out trying to hit him," says one scout. "He doesn't have any pattern. He has all that movement. And he throws so many different pitches with command. This guy is farther along in his first year in the big leagues than [Hideo] Nomo was. He has a much better arm, for one thing. And he has a chance to have more staying power, because he doesn't have all the gyrations Nomo had in his delivery. So this guy is going to win a lot of games, and he's going to have a huge impact."

ESPN.com.

Stick around, Al.

2007-04-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

Jackie MacMullen has a piece on ESPN.com about the prospect that the Celtics will draft Greg Oden or Kevin Durant and then trade Al Jefferson, who doesn't think the C's need another big man:

Pierce continues to lobby for Boston to bring a proven veteran to the Celtics. He recognizes the price could be steep. The team's bargaining chips include the lottery pick that will be coming the team's way in the June draft, Theo Ratliff, whose expiring contract is worth $11.66 million and is attractive to teams looking to carve out salary cap space, and a collection of young, unrefined talent that Danny Ainge, the Celtics' head of basketball operations, has been stockpiling.

It's no great mystery which of the youngsters will draw the most interest -- Jefferson -- and while Pierce prefers to rebuild with Big Al in tow, he acknowledged the price of acquiring a high level talent like Kevin Garnett or Pau Gasol might require parting with the young forward.

Team sources confirmed that if the Celtics end up with either the No. 1 or 2 pick (which would land them either Ohio State's Greg Oden or Texas' Kevin Durant, in that preferred order), they will not trade it. That would leave Jefferson, who was averaging 15.8 points and 10.9 rebounds a game before being sidelined with a bruised knee, as the major bait for a major veteran.

Big Al, meanwhile, consistently has chafed at the incessant talk of Oden in Celtics green.

"We don't need a big man," he sniffed recently. "We already have one.

"I just hope and pray Danny believes that me and Paul are the ones who can get us to the playoffs."

Assume that the Celtics draft Oden. Wouldn't both Oden and Jefferson be a lot better with each other, offensively and defensively? And the same is true, to a lesser extent, with Durant. Who would you give up Jefferson to get?

The benefits of plagiarism

2007-03-25T06:49:00.000-04:00

Not to wallow in Ron Borges's problems, but one of the fringe benefits of his suspension is this week's Boston Globe Football Notes column where Mike Reiss talks to Bill Belichick about some of the proposed rule changes in the NFL this year. The answers aren't what I would have expected. Somehow I can't picture Borges doing the same piece.

Oh monsieur!

2007-03-21T17:27:00.001-04:00

Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

It's not easy being green.

2007-03-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

Whoever decided that the Bulls should wear green uniforms last night should be taken out and shot. Or buried under several tons of potatoes, and then drowned in Guiness.

If there is any justice, those had better be some ugly, old-skool shoes.

2007-03-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

According to today's Globe:

Adidas and the Celtics announced they will team to launch a commemorative, limited-edition line of jerseys and shoes to honor the late Red Auerbach. The merchandise will be available at the Garden Pro Shop, on Celtics.com, NBAStore.com, shopadidas.com, and at select stores.

Make of this what you will

2007-03-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

During the Texas - OSU rematch grudge match this afternoon there were multiple camera shots of Danny Ainge sitting in the stands with Kevin Durant's mother and grandmother. They appeared to be having a jolly old time, watching Durant do everything but walk on water.

Anyone who hasn't taken the chance to watch this kid shred the NCAAs this year is missing something really special. Durant is making Carmelo Anthony's freshman season look ho-hum.