Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Back on the Map

If you read internet basketball forums, you've read trade proposals like these a million times:

Someone with a catchy screen name with post something like-
"Danny Ainge is so stupid! Here's what I'd do: I'd trade Wally Szczerbiak, the fifth pick in the draft, and Delonte West to Seattle for Ray Allen. Then I'd turn around and do a bigger trade of Gomes, Jefferson, Telfair, Gerald Green, and Ratliff's expiring contract for Kevin Garnett. Throw in some draft picks too if you need to. Voila! Instant contender!"

You read those types of ridiculous posts, you shake your head, you wonder how in the world anyone could think something like that could really take place. You imagine the poster to have even less of a life than you have yourself...

...but then look what happened- Danny Ainge actually honestly just became the first GM to morph into a wide eyed, trade-checking fiend right before our eyes. This is the craziest, most outlandish pair of far-fetched deals ever to become a reality.

How do you react to this complete transformation of the roster? We can again look to hoop forums for the answer with a group of three letter exclamations: WOW! OMG! LOL! WHA?


Here's a few observations on the deal:

* The other shoe has dropped and it's about a size 50 EEE. This is a mammoth trade. Maybe the 3rd biggest in franchise history after Russell for Hagen and McCauley, and McHale and Parish for Joe Barry Carroll. Ainge has been collecting assets and trying to cash them in since he arrived, but nothing significant ever happened- until now. The damn dam has suddenly burst and ALL the assets just got cashed at once...

* Danny's turned two recent mid lottery picks and a bunch of mid to late rounders into two veteran hall of famers. He took the bad luck of landing the 5th pick in the lottery and didn't just accept his fate. He took it as motivation to make this enormous change.

* The owners have ponied up the cash. They did what they said they would- spend to put the team over the top.

* If people were wrong about Danny... and if people were wrong about Wyc... could it perhaps be that those same people have been wrong about Doc?

* This is a pretty decent defensive team, with Rondo, Perkins, and Garnett. It's a danged good offensive team with Pierce, Allen, and Garnett.

* Are they too old? I don't know, let's look at the other contenders (yes I sure did say "other" contenders!!): Are San Antonio, Phoenix, Detroit, and Miami too old to win a title? Most of them depend on players of similar vintage.

* The trade is good for both the Celtics and Wolves. Before both were caught in the middle between going young or putting together a contender. Now Boston's got the vets and Minnesota's got the youth, and both teams are on clear paths. It's a bold move for both Ainge and McHale.

* Special appreciation and good wishes to Al Jefferson, who has been just a fabulous guy to watch in green. I hope when he's 31 (or sooner) the Celtics can trade a bunch of kids for him and win some more titles. Thank you Al. Best of luck to you.

* The Ray Allen trade made this one both possible and necessary. Garnett refused to come here before Allen arrived, and once the Allen trade was made another had to happen. Once the first trade was done the second one had to come. It was either that or enter the season with pretty much the same team and perhaps be forced to trade Pierce by mid-year.

* As Bill Simmons pointed out, you're really only giving up two sure rotation players- Jefferson and Gomes (probably), for one big rotation player. Gerald was a maybe rotation guy.

* The darksiders who've lambasted Ainge for years- Jackie MacMullan, Peter May, Bill Simmons himself, love this deal.

* I'm on board too. I almost forgot what it felt like to go into a season with a swagger, ready to blow some teams out of their own gyms, ready to take some playoff series, ready to contend.


...It feels really good.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Quick Draft Question #3: Driving Schools and Ice Capades

This is not technically a draft related question but it leads to draft day discussion:

What goes into making a perennial champion?


If you said, "guts, pride and determination," or something like that, I'm sorry but you get a Frowny Face and an Incomplete for your unimaginitive answer. The historical facts prove that a combination of driving schools and the Ice Capades make the most successful path to a dynasty.


Yesterday's QDQ about Yi and draftee holdouts got me doing a little research (it's the only kind of research I do!). It turns out there are other guys who really didn't want to go to the team that drafted them besides Yi, Steve Francis, Danny Ferry, and Keith Van Horn. Kiki Vandeweghe did it.

So did Bob Cousy! Yes it's true.

Cousy was drafted by the Tri-cities Blackhawks of Moline, Illinois, Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa in 1950.

From Wikipedia: "It was the Tri-Cities Blackhawks which drafted Cousy, but the point guard was unenthusiastic about his new employer. Trying to establish a driving school in Worcester, Massachusetts, he did not want to move into a left field consisting of three small towns of Moline, Rock Island and Davenport. As compensation of having to give up his driving school, Cousy demanded a salary of $10,000 from Blackhawks owner Bob Kerner. When Kerner only offered him $6,000, Cousy refused to report."

Here's what happened next- Wikipedia: "(Cousy) was then picked up by the Chicago Stags, but when they folded, league Commissioner Maurice Podoloff declared three Stags available for a dispersal draft, namely Stags scoring champion Max Zaslofsky, Andy Phillips and Cousy. Walter A. Brown, owner of the Boston Celtics, was one of the three club bosses invited, and later made clear that he was hoping for Zaslofsky, would have tolerated Phillips, and LOATHED Cousy. When the Celtics drew Cousy, Brown confessed: "When I drew Cousy, I could have fallen to the floor."

Brown supposedly did almost fall out of his chair- he was so disgusted at drawing Cousy, a guy Red had passed on in that previous draft saying, "I'm supposed to win, not go after local yokels."


Then there was the 1956 draft: Auerbach and Walter Brown wanted Bill Russell, but Boston was picking too late to get him. Red traded up to the second spot by sending Ed McCauley and Cliff Hagen to the Hawks (the former Blackhawks!). Rochester had the first pick and didn't like the amount of money ($25,000) that Russell was asking for. The Ice Capades were a big deal back then and were owned by none other than Walter Brown. Brown called up Rochester and offered them a few weeks of the Ice Capades if they passed on Russell. The deal was done.

(As a side note 1956 was the single greatest draft by any team in NBA history which netted the Celtics Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn and KC Jones- three hall of famers and also three guys who went on to coach NBA champions.)


So there you have it. I don't remember what the original QDQ was, but I do know that a driving school and the Ice Capades are responsible for most of the Boston Celtic championships.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Quick Draft Question #2: Yi

Today's QDQ is about Yi, and it's simple:

Aren't you really happy this year's most agonizing and disturbing draft related event is happening to someone else?


The Yi situation is ugly. It's awful. It's like watching a car crash. I can't take my eyes off it.

Things like this have happened before: Danny Ferry, Keith Van Horn, and Steve Francis all come to mind. Each time someone involved gets hurt- the player, the drafting team, the sensitive humanitarian agent. Sometimes all of them get hurt. Once this type of thing starts going badly, it just does not ever seem to work out.
Maybe this time will be different.

In the meantime, here's a handy hint for all you clever General Managers out there: When a draft prospect tells you he's not working out for you, that he hates your team, he hates your city, he wishes he never met you, and that he'd rather play in another country than wear your uniform— THEN JUST DON"T DRAFT HIM... just don't. It's so much easier. Besides what are you losing out on? ... the next Danny Ferry, Keith Van Horn, or Steve Francis? That's a good thing isn't it?

Anyway, back to Yi: I think Yi's going to be a player, but way down the road. Not this year, maybe not next year. He moves great for a tall guy, he's got the goods, but realistically he's a few years off.

Who knows, Milwaukee may yet work everything out with him. In the meantime the building international crisis between the superpowers of China and Wisconsin is extremely tense. Emotions are strained. The entire international community- Japan, Korea, The United States, and both Dakotas are riveted by the building conflict. Other nations may be drawn in. What's next- Russia versus Montana?

It grinds on week after week. Bucks fans everywhere are in misery.


...Aren't you just absolutely delighted it's not us? (Hee hee hee.)

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Quick Draft Question

Today's QDQ is a multiple choice.


IF Mike Conley Jr. somehow turns out to be a total bust for the Memphis Grizzlies, Chris Wallace will later say:

1) It was Jerry's pick.

2) It was Red's pick.

3) It was my pick. I made a mistake.

4) I cannot comment at this time as I am busy trying to sell my Austin Croshere Celtics jersey on ebay.

5) I traded the 8th pick in the draft which would have been used to select Shawn Marion for Vitaly Potapenko. Later I turned around and traded Vitaly Potapenko for Vin Baker. Despite this, I got a huge raise in Boston and then landed the GM job in Memphis. Isn't that amazing? Wait, what was the question?

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The opposite of chemistry

I'm not talking about bad chemistry vs. good chemistry; I'm just not talking about chemistry at all for a moment. Instead this is about components- the parts that in theory anyway will add up to a tidy sum:

Kevin McHale once said in reference to the great Celtic teams of the 80s (paraphrasing): "We knew that going into each game we we're going to win most of the matchups." ...McHale was almost always going to outplay his opposite number, Parish his most nights, DJ and Ainge theirs more often than not, and Bird was going to destroy whatever poor soul stood in front of him every time. Game in game out, all those individual advantages added up to something special.

Along those lines, here's a few thoughts about the current roster and why this probably is not the roster you'll see in early November:


THE EAST is a barren landscape without any giant mountains blocking anyone's path. It's an open plain with almost every team having a shot at the playoffs, and many of those having a legitimate chance at being a league finalist. Here's a brief look at the Celtics' key players and how they might fare against their eastern rivals:

Perkins and Ratliff: It almost seems crazy to say the phrase "key players" and then list Theo Ratliff in the next sentence. But that's what the roster reads like right now and if both are healthy and here these two will eat up a lot of the minutes at center. Perkins is determined. Ratliff is in a contract year. But once again quoting the convivial McHale: "It takes more than wanting it. You can put five plumbers out there and I don't care how much they want it, they're not going to win."
The result: Most nights the two pure centers will lose their individual match up. Neither scores. Whatever else they give won't fully make up for that deficit. It's a big net minus.

Jefferson and Gomes: There are so many keys to the coming season, none bigger than Big Al himself. Will he make another leap? Based just on last season, more nights than not he's going to outperform his eastern counterpart. If we can make that MOST nights, that would go a long way to insuring a comfortable playoff spot. Gomes should be much more effective now that he doesn't have to carry a big load anymore, but rather just fills in where needed with his many skills.
The result: net plus, with a possibility of a big plus.

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce: LeBron James, Carter and Richard Jefferson, Dwyane Wade, Arenas and Butler, Hamilton and Prince, Luol Deng and other talented sorts make the wing positions a very competitive place in the east. But most nights the Celtics win here. They better.
The result: a sizable plus.

Rondo and (gulp) who else?: This is a cloudy forecast- not cloudy in the negative sense, but cloudy in the I CAN'T SEE sense. I love Rondo, but who can tell how he'll perform this season? Talented second year points often become really special like Deron Williams. They also often don't. And what happens when Rondo's out of the game?
The result: you tell me.

Everyone else: I expect Tony Allen to come along slowly, Leon Powe to play with great desire but still be short, Scalabrine to run around a lot, Gerald Green to jump very high, Big Baby to be a lot of fun, Brandon Wallace with his height and defense might actually contribute, Gabe Pruitt and Telfair right now are inadequate back up points.
The result: If you're absolutely depending on any of these guys for wins you may be pleasantly surprised or unpleasantly disappointed. It's wait and see here.


The conclusion is in no way groundbreaking. It was obvious before and it's obvious now: The Celtics are going to win big at the wings. Jefferson will very likely more than hold his own and perhaps become scary at one of the big spots. But the Celtics are going to lose the pure center battles many nights, and their point situation appears to be unstable.

They still must have a long agile big man and a veteran point. If they can shore up those two weak spots the playoffs are assured. If not, you can lump them in with a whole lot of other incomplete eastern teams vying for the same playoff positions:

Detroit, Miami, Chicago, and Cleveland are in. That's it.

Toronto had an impressive year last season and could go up or down from there. Washington and New Jersey (just like Boston) have three guys to build around. Orlando has Howard, and Rashard minus Darko is still a net plus. If Milwaukee is healthy they're a playoff possibility. New York is vulnerable but plays hard and can't be dismissed out of hand with Randolph on board.

The rest- Philly, Indiana, Charlotte, and Atlanta will likely fall short; but that still leaves seven teams to fit into four positions.


Now we will talk about chemistry, because if no other moves are made that's what it comes down to. Depending on how it goes, the Celtics as currently constructed are anywhere from having homecourt advantage in the first round to being about 10th in the conference. That's why the OTHER TRADE must happen. Too much was spent on Ray Allen in Delonte West and the 5th pick for the Celtics not to take the next critical step. They must make that second deal to insure their rise to prominence right now.

They cannot go into the season as they are presently constructed. It's not good enough.

Big names are available. The Celtics have assets to use. Make it happen. Don't just go half way.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Danger: minutes at the wing

The roster isn't set so I'm not presuming to know who will play how many minutes this coming season, but I do have a concern:

The Ray Allen trade CAN work. It's risky. Many things have to break just right: chemistry, the OTHER TRADE, Jeff Green or Yi not becoming immediate hall of famers, etc. But the most important thing that needs to be addressed is health and career longevity, and THAT MEANS limiting minutes for Ray Allen and Paul Pierce ...this has not been a strong suit for Doc Rivers.

I'm not a Doc basher (Lord knows the world does not need another one) but I was perplexed by his allocation of minutes to both Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak over the past two seasons.

I understand why Doc did it. He was trying to win, needed good vets on the court, and Wally and Paul were the ONLY ones available. But it was SO painful watching Szczerbiak out there playing minutes in the mid to high 30s range, when you just knew he wouldn't hold up. Then Pierce finally got worn down and injured too.

So now we're here. Pierce and Ray Allen are right at the crest of their careers. They are not young. If anyone intends for them to play productively into a blissful Reggie Miler twilight, their minutes must be limited and managed.


Let's look at the potential back up wings:

*You can't count on Tony Allen being available. Frankly you can't depend on him being any good at all this season— maybe he can contribute a bit after mid-year if everything goes right.
*Maybe Gerald will put it together and earn time. But you saw summer league— maybe he won't. (Hey really he's number 3 on the most likely to be traded list after Theo and Telfair.)
*Allan Ray?... if he's even on the team. I don't know about him playing anyway.
*Brandon Wallace? Maybe, I guess. That's being pretty optimistic.

So who's going to fill that extra wing time? Gomes for sure. He can play some 3 and the team certainly has other guys to fill the little-big-man role. (I think Ainge loves Ryan and will only trade him very reluctantly.)


For the first time in many years you can tell what position Paul Pierce is going to be playing: Ray Allen is a guard. That definitively makes Pierce a small forward—there's no more fudging the wing spots together.

So as things stand now provided Gerald Green doesn't improve, Ray Allen will play the 2, Paul Pierce the 3, and when Ryan Gomes subs at the 3 and Ray rests, Pierce will slide to guard.

Now IF Gerald is still here and can play, everything's easy. Green just fills those extra minutes and R. Allen and Pierce get their essential rest. But if Gerald's ineffective LOOK OUT, there is a dangerous chance that Paul and Ray will play too many minutes too early, too often, shortening their end of game effectiveness and even their careers.

Doc MUST WIN NOW. Danny must win now. The easiest way to do that is to overplay the two stars. BUT the easiest way to insure that this risky trade fails is to do just that. The situation is kind of perilous.


Everyone knows there is very likely another trade coming. I hope when it does come, it brings in a solid wing who can spell Pierce and Allen, otherwise this whole thing could easily end badly. Or else I hope for the sudden blossoming of Gerald Green— that would do it too.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Nothing happened at last year's trading deadline.

Aside from the Ray Allen and Zach Randolph trades and the Lewis signing, nothing much has happened this offseason yet. There's so much pent up pressure for major player movement, that it just feels like the whole thing is about to burst.

Eric Weiss has a comprehensive article over at Celticsblog which reminds everyone that there's still a lot of huge names poised to be moved: Jermaine ONeal, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Kirilenko, Camby and others.

The Chinese and Milwaukee are locked in a standoff that absolutely looks like Yi is going Steve Francis and forcing a trade.


In other words, there are still lots of teams that are committed or nearly commited to making major deals in the offseason. The Celtics are one of them. With the Ray Allen deal, Boston is no longer in a position to be patient; they HAVE to make another move now- or by the next trading deadline at the latest.

So this should be fun.

One other thing- it's highly likely that when the first monster trade comes down, that will open the gates for a few more megadeals to happen immediately afterwards. Everyone's waiting, seeing what they can get.

Someone will blink, and then there will be mayhem.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

10 things entering the Hoopless Season

1) Here's an important question: If Glen Davis is Big Baby... ...does that make Kendrick Perkins, Titanic Toddler? ...Leon Powe, Powerful Papoose? ...Brian Scalabrine, Jumbo Juvenile? ...and Theo Ratliff, Injured Infant?

2) The Amir Johnson signing in Detroit should remind us all of one of life's cardinal rules: Never make a draft promise to Orien Greene when you could maybe land Amir Johnson in the second round.

It's something I've always lived by, and I hope you have too.


3) Wallaces: Is anyone else suspicious about the fact that RIGHT AFTER Chris Wallace left for Memphis, suddenly Brandon Wallace shows up out of nowhere and is signed? Seems a little TOO convenient...

4) I'm in the skeptical camp on THE TRADE, but one good thing that will come out of it: The trade value of EVERYONE rises on winning teams. For example, until now Ryan Gomes has been a guy who GMs look at and halfheartedly say, "Well, he does do a lot of things."

But if the Celtics start winning, those same GMs will look at Gomes and say, "Hey, he really does a lot of things! We ought to see if we can get him!"

This rising-value-phenomenon worked well with Bird's drinking buddy Rick Robey once upon a time.


5) With summer league going on we got to watch those Foxwoods commercials again. (We're lucky!)

If the commercials are any indication, I have to ask: What is it about that casino that makes people talk about themselves in the 3rd person? (Dave refers to himself as Dave, Melvin as Melvin, etc.) Did Wade Boggs go there in the 80s and infect the place with his own unique airborne contagion?


6) The Celtics haven't been a real running team since Tommy Heinsohn lost his coaching spot. Yes the 80s teams ran opportunistically, but the halfcourt was their forte. Since then we've heard so much lip service about running we could clean out the entire Chapstick Company warehouse.

Since the 70s the Celtics have not ever consistently run again.

They won't this year either, but at least the annual offseason ruse is over— no one is saying they'll look to run first anymore. The team now possesses a highly efficient offense (no problems on THAT end), but it's a halfcourt or motion offense. It's not a RUN RUN RUN roster with four of five starters having only average or slower than average footspeed.


7) Days ago Steve Bulpett reported Theo Papaloukas signed with CSKA Moscow rather than the Celtics because despite wanting to come to Boston, the Celtics offer wasn't high enough. (I believe Papaloukas signed with the Russian team for something in the neighborhood of 4 million per.)

This brought about complaints from some corners of Celtic nation who are prone to such interpretations, saying that (once again) this proved Boston ownership was chronically, infernally and criminally cheap.

Maybe not.

I offer an alternate interpretation: The Celtics probably learned from their mistake of a few years ago when they split the mid-level and got two players who haven't done much- Scalabrine and Dickau, and didn't want to commit the same error again. Instead they wanted to leave the whole mid-level exception intact in case they could land bigger game.

So they probably offered Papaloukas the low level, since that was all they had as an alternative. Remember they were still in the Darko hunt at the time (and who knows who else they're still wooing).

...or maybe they are cheap. How the hell should I know?


8) I'm not talking draft picks here, and I'm taking the Ray Allen deal out of the equation completely because it still makes my head hurt: There has NOT been one great move made by an NBA team yet this offseason.

Every signed free agent has been either one dimensional, unproven, obscenely overpaid, or just plain bad. You know when acquiring Zach Randolph is the best thing anyone has done for their franchise, that there hasn't been much surefire headway made by anyone.


9) How come China doesn't get their own NBA team? (Aside from the fact that they're not that good yet.) They get a summer league squad. I mean I love seeing in print: CHINA VERSUS CLEVELAND. It's intrinsically funny.

...and they ought to get their own realgm forum too.



10) The "OTHER DEAL" hasn't happened yet. Did you notice? Is the whole process making you tense?

You may be suffering from Temporal Displacement Syndrome: SCIENCE has determined that while time moves at normal speed for NBA General Managers, it moves very quickly for NBA fans. So when a day goes by for a GM it actually feels like 14 days have elapsed for you and me. Yes, TDS is TWICE as powerful as Dog Year Syndrome. If no trade or free agent acquisition has taken place on any given day, it can be extremely disorienting for those affected.

This condition often results it widespread feelings of despair, frustration, and listlessness, and if untreated by a licensed TDS therapist can result in permanent insanity. One way to know if you are in the high risk group for TDS: IF YOU ARE READING THIS RIGHT NOW, YOU'RE AT HIGH RISK!

A TDS therapy session generally goes like this:

You: "Was there a trade yet?"
Therapist: "No."
You: "Was there a trade yet?"
Therapist: "No."
You: "Was there a trade yet?"
Therapist: "No."
You: "Was there a trade yet?"
Therapist: "No."
You: "How about now?"
Therapist: "No."
You: Have there been any free agent signings?
Therapist: "No."
You: Well, do you have any inside information?"
Therapist: "No."

That is followed by a series of robust electroshock treatments, after which you feel much better and no longer check for basketball news updates on the web every three minutes.

Thank you Science. Thank you.


...Bonus thing) Al Thornton is good.

Monday, July 9, 2007

On judging rookies and other young players

It's planting season, when seedlings are placed in the fertile soil of agrarian Las Vegas in hopes that they quickly grow into contributing basketball players.

Personally, I'm purposefully slow to come to final conclusions on rookies. In fact I have sort of a system -well, more like a hodepodge of factors to take into account in judging young guys as they begin their careers:


Sometimes you can tell a guy's got it right away. When Al Jefferson played in his first summer league game a few years back, I was blown away. I'd never seen him play and was worried about his unbelivably dreadful athleticism results from the combine. (Hey that's another thing!: Don't put too much faith into those speed and agility stats.)

Anyway, Big Al on day one had the magic footwork and touch. You just knew he was going to be something special.

On the other side of things, sometimes a guy looks so lost or lethargic, you know immediately he's LaRue Martin reincarnated and you can pretty much give up all hope for him. Jerome Moiso would be a good example.

THEN there's everybody else— the vast majority of players. Jeff Green had a bad first game. So what? Marco Belinelli scored 37 in his debut. Great. That may or may not translate to the league. Most guys take time to evaluate. SOME guys take years before you can pass judgement one way or the other.

When Chris Wallace turned three choices in a strong draft into Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte; no one knew how any would turn out (least of all apparently, Chris himself). Kedrick could electrically jump to the clouds. Joe looked a little young and shy. Forte seemed fairly sharp in summer league. ...You know what happened... The point is, it takes a lot of time before verdicts can be reached on young guys, and what you see at first is not necessarily what you will end up getting.

This is not like olden times when Cedric Maxwell played four years of college and could step right in his rookie season and look like a wizened vet— followed only one year later by a 5th year senior from the midwest arriving and being -ahem- even more impressive (I forget his name). But even back then, when virtually all rookies came in with four years of college, you normally expected a sizable adjustment period.


NOW most of the top talent are relatively young down to incubator status. So here are the factors I use that earn guys a longer time before deciding on whether I like them or not as players:

*IF they've got a TEMPORARY injury like a chronically pulled muscle, a slow healing twisted ankle, or Al's misdiagnosed bone chips, you can't judge them quickly. I CANNOT believe the number of Celtics fans who condemned Al Jefferson while he was obviously hurt in his second year. (Have YOU done your penance yet, you Al-misjudgers you?)

If a guy's injured like Luke Jackson and has permanently lost his athleticism (which is what made him good in the first place) well that's a different story. Feel free to judge away!

So FACTOR A: -TEMPORARY INJURIES- extra time.


*IF a guy is REALLY young, you can't judge him. This probably applies to the Celtics more than any other team, with their all time record for stockpiled high schoolers. Young guys regularly enter the league too early because the money's there or sometimes because college isn't right, and they're often not ready physically, fundamentally, and emotionally. Jermaine O'Neal took years before he put up impressive stats (or even got minutes). You have to judge young guys slowly.

FACTOR B: -YOUNG- extra time.


*This is even further stressed if a young guy is physically immature— by that I mean frail and not yet grown into his own body. The poster child for this is our own Gerald Green. I've said many times- Gerald's biggest drawback (more than the lack of a particular skill) is how easily he's knocked off balance on both ends. He looked more "grown up" against Portland the other night. ONLY AFTER he fills out will you be able to fully judge him.

Let's face it, NO ONE knows what Gerald's future is. As Steve Bulpett said in an FSN interview a few weeks back (paraphrasing): "In three years he could be a star. In three years he could be out of the league. No one knows."

Gabe Pruitt has not filled out yet physically. He needs time too.

FACTOR C: -PHYSICALLY YOUNG- extra time.


*The opposite of this is the guy who arrives out of shape. Sometimes it's a guard like UCONN's Marcus Williams, but 90% of the time it's a big guy. Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby are good examples. Out of shape players go either way- they change or eat themselves into career oblivion. Perk remade himself! It takes a long while. The player HAS to show signs of working in the right direction on this early on, lest he fade into a bloated downward spiral of tomhamiltonness.

FACTOR D: -OUT OF SHAPE WITH A TENDENCY TOWARD WEIGHT GAIN- extra time IF he begins to work on the problem immediately.


*The most obvious: points and centers tend to take longer to develop. They just do.

FACTOR E: -POSITIONS 1 OR 5- extra time.


To add some historical perspective: Under old time standards, this would have been Perkins' rookie year, Jefferson's senior year, Green's junior year, Rondo's senior year, and so on.


The Celtics have three rookies with serious chances of making the team: Pruitt, Davis, and Wallace. One has not filled out. One is not in top shape. One played out of position in college and was undrafted. It will probably take time to judge all of them.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

10 things about summer game number 1

1) Mike Gorman graciously gave us the heads up on Brandon Wallace hours before the game. He reported on FSN that Wallace has looked great in practice and the Celtics are taking a REAL look at him. Big Baby and Pruitt both looked promising but just not quite there yet- Baby being maybe a little out of NBA shape and Pruitt a little light. But the third rookie, Goldilocks-like, looked JUST RIGHT.

Brandon Wallace seems exactly like a prototype tall small forward minus the dead-eye shot. He has great athleticism, great length, great motor and great defense. Hey, great! This is no prophecy of future accomplishments or knocks on the Celtics' second rounders, but at first glance Wallace projected as the best looking Celtic rookie on the floor.

(I don't want to get too crazy here. But so far so good.)


2) In case you missed it, the seating arrangement among Celtics management in the front row was from right to left: Ainge, Wohl, Rivers, and Telfair.

3) I thought Rondo was terrific without filling up the stat sheet at all. He controlled tempo and stymied the Blazer offense before it began. That and the pounding that Mr. Powe and Mr. Baby laid on Greg Oden -keeping him off balance- were huge factors in the easy victory. (Yes it's meaningless, but it sure feels good.)

4) On the other side of the ball defensively, I was impressed with Taurean Green. He managed to stay in front of Rondo on a regular basis, and though Rondo still managed to be effective, he had to work extra hard to get into position.

5) Sergio Watch: Their Sergio had a horrible game. Our Sergio didn't play. —Advantage: nobody.

6) Back to Brandon Wallace: Bulpett reported in today's Herald that Wallace (a highly touted recruit entering college) played center for his entire career at South Carolina, yet was a small forward in high school. That makes you think... He's OBVIOUSLY a small forward. So I want to know why SC couldn't recruit better to get him into proper position? And even more, I want to know who the heck did that high school team have at power forward and center??

The Celtics have a real need for a defensive ace at the wing position. With Tony Allen possibly not being ready in November, could Wallace fill that role?


7) On Oden's poor debut: It means NOTHING.

That Portland team had probably 4 regular season starters in their lineup, but thanks to the injury plagued season that just ended, the Celtics guys came in with an abundance of recent experience and took advantage for one summer league game.

On Yi's impressive outing against Memphis: It means SOMETHING. I've warmed up to having Ray Allen around, but I still REALLY want Yi.


8) I thought Gerald Green had bulked up some and looked confident getting his shot off. With his height and jumping ability, it's just so simple for him to get a look. He just has to figure out what gives him the best percentage.

9) How many regular people would now be dead or hospitalized if they had been pounded by Big Baby and Powe for 40 minutes? Let's see some hands. (I personally would have been morgue bound after 3 minutes.)

10) The most tantalizing thing from Doc Rivers when he had the mike on during the fourth quarter: He spoke about Boston having the mid-level and bi-annual exception, and made it clear the Celtics are eager to use them... stay tuned. Something is going to happen. Something, something.



...How come they don't play 48 minutes in summer league? This is the pros now...

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

10 things about Cuban, Yi, Baby, Wallace and more

1) Mark Cuban is suing Don Nelson for utilizing "inside information" which Nelly used to defend Dirk Nowitzki in the playoffs. Sheesh, this cracks me up. I fear we have irreversibly become from top to bottom, a society of weiners. Seeing that lawsuits like this are not laughed out of existence before they even reach the courts, we might as well take the red, white and blue off the flag and replace it with a hot dog.

Will the Mavericks' owner next seek compensation from Fidel Castro for turning the name "Cuban" into an adjective?


2) Remember when Steve Francis and Keith Van Horn both forced themselves away from the teams that drafted them— only to become disappointments as pros? Now there's Yi. What a strange situation. You'd expect tensions between China and Russia or China and North Korea on occasion, but I never thought we'd witness an international incident between China and Milwaukee. I hope the two nations resolve their hostilities one way or the other without conflict. I'd hate for us to have to choose between our Chinese friends and our Milwaukee friends.

3) Big Baby was on with Gary Tanguay and Greg Dickerson, and looks almost thin! Really. He doesn't even look power forward sized anymore. I love his footwork though. If the lost weight translates to greater explosiveness, he might find a comfortable place in the rotation. (I'm now even wondering if he's too small...)

4) I have the following questions which I'd love A REAL answer to. How is Perk's foot, Tony's knee, and Ray Allen's ankles? I know Ray's ankles are "perfect," but seeing that he's on a "slow track" to getting back to playing, how does anyone ACTUALLY KNOW that? I ask this seriously. And on Perkins— right now the way the roster is, he HAS to be healthy, bouncing around and able to play more than 30 minutes a game. There's just so little dependable height on this team.

...I know: another deal is coming, another deal is coming. Any day now it will happen. I'll wait for it. I'm patient. Any time now. It's coming.


5) And while I'm asking questions— Mr. Danny, what is it with you and Robert Swift? Is this a healthy relationship? I mean is Swift gonna need a restraining order?

6) Half the proposed trades I read suggest that the Celtics should add "their 2008 draft pick." Let me interrupt. The 2008 draft is very good. DON'T under any circumstances trade out of it. If anything try to get another 08 pick.

7) Kudos to FSN for showing all the Celtics summer league games live. Why didn't this happen before? They have NO OTHER programming. Does anyone actually watch poker on television? ANYONE? I don't understand why stations like FSN don't also show D league games when a prospect is sent down, and Euroleague games too. I'd watch those things. ...and I'm not watching Best Damn Anything either. Ever.

8) I kind of like Taurean Green who was taken by Portland along with about half the other players in the draft. I wonder if he'll even make their team. Does Paul Allen get to buy extra roster spots as well as extra draft picks?

9) Chris Wallace is in Memphis for ten days and now he's moving Gasol? Really? Does Chris actually seek out skinflint NBA owners (like Mr. Gaston) or are they just drawn to him?

10) I see the Celtics have decided not to hire anyone as of now to replace Wallace, Tony Brown, and Paul Pressey. That makes sense— you know the organization is a bit top heavy when cutting a percentage of the coaching staff actually increases seating capacity in the arena. Maybe Clifford Ray can finally get a deserved courtside seat.