Author Archives: leibo4

Celtics to Sign Terry Using MLE

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The Celtics GM Danny Ainge announced yesterday that the Celtics were going to sign Jason Terry using the Mid-Level Exception.  The signing of Terry is no surprise as he has already been introduced to the Boston media and has said that the is going to do everything that he can to help the Celtics win banner 18.

 

“If they need me to wash the uniforms or sweep the floors, whatever role Doc [Rivers] wants me to play, I’m here to do it at 100 percent and I’ll give it my all,” Terry said. “That’s what I’ve done my whole career. Whatever it takes to win, whatever puts us in the best position to win these games and win a championship is what I’ll be doing.”

They had tried to maneuver a sign-and-trade with the Mavericks to save the MLE to potentially use on another player such as the Rockets Courtney Lee. The Celtic’s could not find a third team to facilitate the sign-and-trade and the Mavericks signing of O.J. Mayo basically ended the talks. This means that the Celtics would have to offer the Rockets players and picks to acquire Lee as they can only fill out the rest of their roster with minimum contracts.

Pats-Welker Cant Agree, Will Play Season with Franchise Tag

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The New England Patriots and Wes Welker could not come to an agreement yesterday. He will play the next season at a 1 year contract worth $9.5 million. Now that the deadline has passed, the Patriots cannot renegotiate with Welker until after the season is over.

Other notable players such as Ray Rice (5 years $40 Million) and Matt Forte (4 years $32 Million) struck deals just before the deadline yesterday, getting the payday they deserved.

Welker, with 330 catches in the past three years, wasn’t as lucky.  He had earlier signed the franchise tender to show the Patriots faith, but by doing so may have cornered himself. The Patriots felt no reason to sign a 31 year old reciever who has previously torn his ACL to a long term contract when they have him for this season. Whether they will franchise him again next year, sign him to a longer contract, or just let him go remains to be seen.

I would have liked to see the Patriots sign Welker to a 3 year deal totally anywhere from $24-28 million. That would have been around the same contract that they gave to Randy Moss. Reward him for always being true to the Patriots and the hard work that he has given them. If he plays well anyways they are going to be on the hook for over $11 million to franchise him again, or give him a new three year contract. This just doesn’t seem to make much sense from the Patriots standpoint, unless they are counting Welker to have a down year.

Las Vegas Schedule

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The Celtics tip off the Las Vegas games tomorrow and finish up this Sunday playing ever day except for Wednesday and Friday. All games will be aired on NBA TV.

Here’s the Schedule

Atlanta vs. Boston    3 PM    Monday, July 16th

Chicago vs. Boston    10 PM   Tuesday, July 17th

Boston vs. Sacramento    10:30 PM    Thursday, July 19th

Milwaukee vs. Boston     10:30 PM     Saturday, July 21st

Boston vs. LA (Clippers)    10 PM     Sunday, July 22nd

Celtics Summer League: Orlando Review

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The Celtics led by coach Ty Lue had a bright start going 4-1 in the Orlando summer league, losing only to Detroit and beating up on the Magic, Pacers, Nets and Thunder respectively.

Player College Previous Team Position Age Height
Craig Brackins Iowa State Maine Red Claws PF 24 6-10
Dionte Christmas Temple Rethymno (Greece) SG 25 6-5
Jonathan Gibson New Mexico St Trabzonspor (Turkey) G 24 6-1
Jajuan Johnson Purdue Celtics PF 23 6-10
Kris Joseph Syracuse SF 23 6-7
Stephane Lasme Massachusetts Obradoiro (Spain) PF 29 6-8
Fab Melo Syracuse C 22 7-0
E’Twaun Moore Purdue Celtics PG 23 6-4
Jamar Smith Southern Indiana BK Prostejov (Czech) SG 25 6-3
Jared Sullinger Ohio State PF 20 6-9
Sean Williams Boston College Celtics / Mavericks PF / C 25 6-10
Larry Owens Oral Roberts Nets SF 29 6-7

Suprises in Orlando

Kris Joseph

Showed great length and wingspan (6-11), was flying all over the court. While Joseph had up and down shooting games, he found ways to make his mark by defending and hitting the glass. His shooting will improve, he has good form and is very confident on midrange jumpers, it just doesn’t extend to the three-point line yet.

Dionte Christmas

Got better and better as the week went along, finishing with his best game against the Magic with 21 points, including 19 in the first half where he had a stretch of 11 in a row. The surprise about Christmas was that he showed an all-around game. Known at Temple as a scorer and mainly a shooter, Christmas played tough defense (3 steals) and hit the boards throughout the week.

Jared Sullinger’s Passing Ability

Everyone knew Sully could play. If his back holds up and he adjusts to the size of the NBA everyone believes that he will be a steal. What we didn’t know about was his ability to pass. Faced with constant double teams, Sullinger looked and found the open man and made it easier on the guards as the Celtics looked to run their offense through him more and more throughout the week. He won’t see those double teams in the NBA, but the vision and ability to pass is only another positive to take from the first round pick.

Up and Down

E’Twaun Moore

In the one loss of the week, Moore was clearly outplayed Pistons guard Brandon Knight, seemingly struggling with the quickness. For a guy who is described as cool as extremely calm, Moore was frazzled from the start. The rest of the week Moore shined and showed his ability to run the point. He made good decisions on pick and rolls and had a great assist to turnover ratio. In the final game, he got into a little scoring battle with Christmas as they poured it on against the Magic.

Jujuan Johnson

Johnson showed that he could shoot over most players, but not much else. He hasn’t added much if any weight to his frame from his rookie season and was having a tough time on the blocks going against other players. He rebounded well during the week but was sometimes a little slow on his rotations. I’m holding Johnson to a higher standard because I expected big things from the former Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Fab Melo

Melo truly had an up and down week, shocking everyone in the gym one game with a dribble drive and dish on one play and then throwing an outlet pass to Kris Joseph while he was sitting on the bench. He had some great blocks and showed good defensive ability, but didn’t have much of an idea on how to play defense against the pick and roll. It seems that he is going to need a full year under Doc to understand the complex Boston defense and figure out the rotations.

Celtics Refs for Tonight

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Official 1 – Scott Foster

Most known for being linked to Tim Donaghy for 134 phone calls supposably related to fixing games.

Official 2 – Mike Callahan

Knickname…Duke

Official 3 – Rodney Mott

Most known for January 12, 2007, Mott was suspended for three games after making obscene gestures and using obscenities toward fans during a game

Donny Marshall on the 98.5 the Sports Hub yesterday said that from texting his NBA buddies, the NBA will let the Celtics win one of the games, but not two because they would be afraid that the Celtics could get hot. Pretty intersting bit, according to Donny and the referees given, this would be the game.

According to the Homer report about the Ref’s Scott Foster is ranked 23 out of 66, Mike Callahan is 22nd, and Rodney Mott is the #1 in the entire list. That’s right, Mott is the ref who gives the most calls to the home team out of every single ref.

Im not saying the NBA is fixed, or guided, just relaying what was said from current and former NBA players.

Below are the stats for the refs during the 2012 NBA playoffs curtesy of NBAstuffer.com.

Refs Games Home Team Point Differential Total Called Fouls Road Team Home Team Road Tech Home Tech
Type Officiated Win % (Home Team) Points Per Per Game Foul Percentage Foul Percentage Per Game Per Game
Scott Foster Head 8 0.75 8 185.3 46 54.1 45.9 1.5 1.1
Mike Callahan Crew 4 0.5 -1.3 183.8 44.3 49.1 50.8 0 0.3
Rodney Mott Crew 7 0.714 4.6 185.1 41.7 52.4 47.6 0 0
Rodney Mott Head 1 0 -10 182 42 45.2 54.8 0 0

Another Big Win For C’s

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20120410-110055.jpgThe Celtics (32-24) came up with another big win last night over the 76ers (29-27) as they won 103-79 in a game blew wide open in the second quarter. The Celtics had a balanced attack led by KG (20), Brandon Bass and Avery (18), and Pierce (17). Ray Allen came off the bench again and chipped in with 10 points on 4-9 shooting. Rajon Rondo had his 17th straight game with over 10 assists as he racked up 15 last night. The 76ers were led by Nikola Vucevic and Andre Iquodala who had 14 and 13 points. After Evan Turner exploded against the Celtics for 26 points earlier this season, they have held him to 16 points in the two games following.

Avery Alert:

Avery got the start over Ray for the second straight game, and had another solid start. He shot 6-12 from the field and made his only three. He also had 5 assists and 4 rebounds. It’s going to be interesting whether or not Doc ends up putting Ray back into the starting lineup in a few games or sticks with Avery. I’ve also heard that Pietrus may be in the mix to start when he comes back from his head injury but I find that very unlikely. In the past nine games Avery has started 8 of them. In the first quarter, when the starters play a majority of the minutes, the Celtics have given up 12, 15, 21, 20, 19, 27, 18, 19, and 22 points respectively. The only game he didn’t start was against the Spurs. The Celtics ended up giving up 27 points in that first quarter.

The Celtics take on the Heat tomorrow in Miami at 7 PM.

 

Celtics Heat Recap

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Rajon Rondo must love playing on national television. I’m sure you’ve already heard but Rondo had his 18th triple double last night. Of those 18, 14 of them have come on national television. Rondo used and abused his way around the court against Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole for 16 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.  Pierce scored 23 for the Celtics, as all the starters had double figure points for the night. The Celtics won 91-72 to move to 30-22 overall and are in 4th place now with a full game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Heat fall to 37-14 on the season,  LeBron James led the way with 23 points and Wade was 2nd with 15. Chris Bosh had only 4 points on 2-11 shooting. The Heat were -30 while LeBron James was on the floor.

The Celtics are quickly looked upon as title contenders. After weeks of talk of throwing this season away, they are now in danger of becoming overrated by the fans and ESPN. Since the injury to Ray Allen’s ankle, they have been on a 5 game winning streak. The combination of Rondo-Bradley backcourt has been phenomenal so far, and I wouldn’t be mad at Doc if he stayed with the lineup when Ray comes back. Doc has to get a lot of credit for the team this year, rolling with the punches and just continuing on.

Extra Notes:

The Heat shot 7-17 from the line; compared to 20-22 for the Celtics. Rondo has 13 consecutive games with at least 10 assists. LeBron had 0 assists for the 2nd time in his career.

Avery Bradley Alert:

Celtics are now 5-0 since Avery came into the starting lineup after Ray’s troubling ankle issues. He played Wade even last night scoring 13 points when Wade only scored 15. But Wade took seven more shots. Avery’s cutting has been big in the past few games, keeping defenders honest by back cutting and then surprising them with his ever improving jumper. His confidence just keeps growing and growing. He went 5-10 from the floor last night and 1-3 from 3.

Player Profile: Ryan Hollins

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Name: Ryan Hollins

Height:  7’0”          

Weight: 240                           

Born: Pasadena, California                                                                       

High School: John Muir                                                                    

College: UCLA

Drafted: 2006, 2nd Round, 50th overall by the Charlotte Bobcats

Previous Teams: Charlotte Bobcats, Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers

Misc: Cleared 6’10” at the Pac-10 Championships his sophomore year in the high jump, finished 9th in NCAA regionals and 6th in the Pac-10 championship

Career Stats

Year

Team

GP

GS

MPG

FG%

3P%

FT%

RPG

APG

SPG

BPG

PPG
2006–07 Charlotte

27

0

6.9

.556

.000

.600

1.1

.0

.2

.3

2.4
2007–08 Charlotte

60

1

8.9

.489

.000

.671

1.8

.2

.2

.5

2.5
2008–09 Charlotte

18

1

10.2

.543

.000

.667

2.0

.2

.2

.9

3.6
2008–09 Dallas

27

2

9.6

.525

.000

.515

2.3

.1

.2

.6

2.9
2009-10 Minnesota

73

27

16.8

.558

.000

.690

2.8

.7

.3

.5

6.1
2010-11 Cleveland

70

16

16.9

.598

.000

.681

2.7

.4

.3

.6

5.3
2011-12 Cleveland

24

7

15.1

.500

.000

.600

2.3

.3

.2

.5

3.7
Career

299

54

13.1

.554

.000

.658

2.3

.4

.2

.5

4.2

Career Highs:

Points – 19                          Rebounds – 12                                  Assists – 3

Steals – 3                             Blocks – 4

Analysis:

Hollins is obviously a poor offensive player, relying on his athleticism for most of his baskets. But he is a good defensive player who plays hard. The Cavaliers were almost ten points better per 100 defensive possessions when he was on the floor.  Even with his subpar offense, his defense made such a difference that they were a net 6 points better per 100 possessions on offense and defense when he was out there.

According to John Hollinger’s scouting report Hollins is a

  • Lean athletic big man who can run the floor and make spectacular dunks
  • Poor shooter with no post game. Can make short runners. Loses cool easily
  • Amazingly bad rebounder. Capable pick and roll defender. Lacks strength

Hollinger goes on to say that Hollins was outrebounded by every single player in the league except for Andrea Bargnani and Brian Cardinal.

He worked out all summer with Kevin Garnett and KG is a big fan of Hollins. KG talks about his work ethic and the way he approaches the game. Also apparently KG had a hard time making friends and Hollins seems to be there for him in that respect. “Summertime’s the time when you’re working on things, but for me, I don’t make a lot of friends, and I can say that I made one in him. I like the way the kid approaches the game. He wants to be more than good. You see it in his face; you see it in his work ethic. I’m a big fan of his, so I’m glad he’s here.” KG’s not the kind of guy who throws around praise about people he’s played against. I’m sure Danny Ainge factored that in when he was looking for big men to sign.

Hollins is an interesting player because he’s a high flying 7 footer who can’t rebound. He looks good running the floor, especially with Rondo running the point. He will definitely help the Celtics on the defensive end and give KG’s knees a break from banging in the post for 40 minutes every night. If he could develop some sort of offensive game or rebound a little more. He could be extremely useful to the Celtics. He sometimes needs to keep his head, he got a technical in the first two minutes of his time with the Celtics, but there nothing new for a team with Rondo and KG.

Not a bad move by the Celtics, personally I was really hoping for Fesenko, but Danny Ainge could do a hell of a lot worse.

Potential Big Men For the Celtics

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After the season ending injuries to Chris Wilcox (heart) and Jermaine O’Neal (wrist), the Celtics are in desperate need for another big man. Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass have been playing well as of late, but the Celtics need to find depth for the two injury-prone big men. People were split whether or not Danny Ainge should have made a move for a player during the trade deadline, but I am personally happy that he didn’t. These players are on the Celtics radar for late season pick-ups before the deadline this Friday.

Josh Powell

C – 6’9” – 240 lbs. – 29 years old – North Carolina State

The well-travelled Powell has played for six teams in six seasons in the NBA, the last coming with the Hawks last season. John Hollinger says that he is an effective pick-and-pop forward much similar to Brandon Bass. On shots over 15 feet he shot 43% for the season. He is a good team defender who would fit well with the Celtics but can be overmatched in one-on-one situations. Powell had the second-worst turnover ratio for power forwards. He does not get steals or blocks as he ranks in the bottom five for both categories. He is not a bad rebounder and would definitely help the Celtics on the glass for the rest of the season.

Career Stats (per game)

GP GS

MIN

FG%

FT%

OR

DR

REB

AST

BLK

STL

TO

PTS
315 28

12.5

.439

.743

1.1

1.9

3.0

0.5

0.2

0.2

0.8

3.9

Powell is an inexpensive player who fits into the regular offense with his pick-and-pop ability. He also helps with the interior rebounding and the Celtics mantra of team defense. While his athleticism is not great, he will be able to get up and down the court with Rondo.

Ronny Turiaf

C – 6’10 – 245 lbs. – 29 years old – Gonzaga

It has been a tough season for Turiaf as he has only played four games due to a broken hand suffered on New Year’s Day. He was thrown into the Nuggets – Wizards trade to balance out the deal. He was then cut to make room Wilson Chandler who came back from China to resign with the Nuggets.

Turiaf is a high energy player who is a great defensive player and hustles all around the court. He like any other Celtics big man has injury problems and struggles with rebounding. He ranked 63rd out of 67 centers in rebound rate last season. He is extremely unselfish and is known as a one of the best big man passers in the game. While he does not shoot that often, he shoots around 40% from 10 feet or more. Defensively he is the polar opposite of Powell as he ranks high in both blocks and steals per minute but struggles with rebounding.

Career Stats (per game)

GP GS

MIN

FG%

FT%

OR

DR

REB

AST

BLK

STL

TO

PTS
362 89

17.9

.529

.680

1.1

2.7

3.8

2.7

1.4

.4

0.8

5.2

Turiaf would obviously be help for the Celtics as he would provide another body that can space the floor. His passing and intensity would help, but he seems a little too similar to the other players the Celtics have signed so far. He also wants a good contract and guaranteed playing time.

Ryan Hollins

C – 7’0” – 240 lbs. – 27 Years Old – UCLA

Hollins is the most interesting player on here. He would be great in the open floor with Rondo as he stands 7 feet tall and can jump out of a building. But as it is with every big man on the market, he is a terrible rebounder. His rebounding stats are worse every other frontcourt player other than Andrea Bargani and Brian Cardinal. Per 40 minutes played, he would only average 6.6 rebounds. Rondo standing a full foot shorter averages 5 per 40 minutes. He’s not too bad of a pick and roll man, and also he is an above average defender who can go out and hedge against pick and rolls with his athleticism.

Career Stats (per game)

GP GS

MIN

FG%

FT%

OR

DR

REB

AST

BLK

STL

TO

PTS
299 54

13.1

.554

.658

1

1.3

2.2

.4

.5

.2

.8

4.2

It would be an interesting signing and definitely fun to watch Hollins run up and down the floor with Rondo. But he would have to work on his rebounding. The Celtics get outrebounded almost every game; this would add another 7 footer who doesn’t like to rebound. I wouldn’t hate the move, but not going to be the difference for the C’s.

Kyrylo Fesenko

C – 7’1” – 280 lbs. – 25 Years Old              – No College

Honestly, I haven’t figured out why the Celtics haven’t made a move for Fesenko. I love everything about him as a backup center. He struggles with foul trouble and isn’t the greatest offensive player (or really average player for that matter), but he brings size and defense to the Celtics that hasn’t been seen since we sent Perk to Oklahoma City. John Hollinger says that Fesenko’s defensive stats were the best kept secret in the NBA. Last season, the Jazz were almost 12 points better per 100 possessions with Fesenko on the floor.

Career Stats (per game)

GP GS

MIN

FG%

FT%

OR

DR

REB

AST

BLK

STL

TO

PTS
132 7

8.3

.498

.398

.7

1.3

2

.3

.4

.1

.5

2.3

I would love for the Celtics to add Fesenko. Teams have been playing just the tip with him this whole season and almost signing him, but I would love for the Celtics to give him a shot. He’s not afraid to do the dirty work and right now, we need a guy who can just do that. KG needs a guy to back up his talk like Perk used to. I want Fesenko on the Celtics. Obviously his offensive game is horrible (see free throw percentage) but can he be much worse than Shaq was with no legs last season?

Other Possibilities

Boris Diaw – Overweight, great passer, who looks like he is going to sign with either the Spurs or the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics aren’t a great fit as Diaw’s skill set doesn’t fit too much with their plans.

Chris Kaman – Everyone thought that Kaman would be bought out and heavily pursued by both the Heat and the Celtics. But Kaman is still on the Hornets and actually had 20 points with the game winning shot against the Nets. It’s looking more and more like he is going to stay with the Hornets for the remainder of the season.

In My Opinion

The best two moves for the Celtics would be to sign Turiaf and Fesenko. Hollins isn’t a bad fit either as he would get up and down the court with Rondo, but Turiaf and Fesenko are two defensive minded players who will set picks for Ray and Paul and bring some toughness back to the Celtics. The Celtics need to reestablish their identity and these two signings would be the beginning to bringing back the toughness to the Celtics.