Category Archives: Celtics

Celtics Player Preview: Brandon Bass

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Since the Celtics begin camp on Friday, I thought we’d take a look at each of the projected starters that should be suiting up for the Green and White this season. First, we will start with the Power Forward position: Brandon Bass.

Brandon Bass had a breakthrough season for the Celtics in 2011. Danny Ainge went outside the box and traded Glen Davis. Although many people barely heard of Bass prior to the trade with Orlando, he quickly made a name for himself on the Celts. I think it was the most underrated move we made last season.

John Hollinger of ESPN has predicted that he will score 15.7 PPG and 7.8 RPG. He was recently ranked as the 97th best player in the NBA.

Below are Bass’ stats for his 7 seasons in the NBA. Brandon averaged the most points, rebounds, assist, steals, blocks, and minutes played of his career.

SEASON TEAM GP GS MIN FT% OR DR REB AST BLK STL PTS
’05-’06 NO 29 1 9.2 0.632 0.6 1.7 2.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 2.3
’06-’07 NO 21 3 7.7 0.75 0.6 1.4 2 0.1 0.1 0.1 2
’07-’08 DAL 79 1 19.7 0.822 1.5 2.9 4.4 0.7 0.6 0.3 8.3
’08-’09 DAL 81 0 19.4 0.867 1.6 2.9 4.5 0.5 0.7 0.3 8.5
’09-’10 ORL 50 3 13 0.825 1.1 1.5 2.6 0.4 0.5 0.2 5.8
’10-’11 ORL 76 51 26.1 0.815 1.8 3.8 5.6 0.8 0.7 0.4 11.2
’11-’12 BOS 59 39 31.7 0.81 1.6 4.6 6.2 0.9 0.9 0.6 12.5

Are the Celts Better Than 2008?

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Although it is impossible to predict the NBA season already, I think it is safe to say that the team that Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers assembled this summer could be the best one that we have seen in at least 4 years, maybe even longer. Sure, we lost the best shooter the game has ever seen and KG and Pierce are that much older, but we brought in the perfect kind of players to fit into our system. Pierce averaged roughly the same PPG last season (19.4) as the year we won it in 2008 (19.6). Garnett’s numbers are significantly different and he is not feared by every player breaking through the lane anymore, but he is still a leader on this veteran team.

In 2008, Leon Powe  and James Posey were arguably our best bench players, both averaging about 7.5 PPG. I am willing to bet that Jeff Green, Jason Terry and Courtney Lee will all average above 10, or close to it. And with their amount of energy, experience, and Lee’s outstanding defense, they will be one of the most feared guard groups in the league, especially once Bradley is back.

There is one other major difference between the then-and-now teams, and that is Rajon Rondo. He averaged 10.6 PPG, 5.1 APG, and 4.2 RPG in the 07-08 Season.  Last year, he averaged 11.9 PPG, 11.7 APG, and 4.8 RPG. He has also developed into one of the best point guards in the league and a leader on a team that is mostly older than he.

Chris Wilcox is a solid bench player who was having a great season before getting injured. Jared Sullinger will play right away, and Brandon Bass will pick up right where he left off last season (12.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG). Not to mention Christmas, Joseph, Fab, Collins, and Smith who have all had great summer sessions and are prepared to fight for the last few spots. Plus we signed Darko Milicic who is 7’1. For those of you who don’t know him, he was selected #2 in the 2003 draft behind LeBron but ahead of Melo, Bosh, and Wade. Talk about a great pick up by the Pistons…

Although we have clearly re-fueled our roster, other teams have also gotten better. The Heat are obviously the team to beat, the Lakers had a huge summer trading for Howard and picking up Nash, and the Thunder are one year more experienced. The Spurs are always good and our division just got tougher with the new Brooklyn Nets. For anyone who thinks the Knicks are finally going to be good are mistaken. It should be an interesting season, as long as we can stay healthy for a change.

Lockout Talk

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Well, the NHL lockout is upon us and who knows when it’s going to end. Unlike last year’s NBA lockout, I’m putting all the blame on the owners for this one, but that’s a completely different story. Looking back at that last post about Rondo interning at GQ and seeing the above tweet from Seguin got me thinking. What would I do as a professional athlete if I were locked out of my sport? My first thought was absolutely nothing. Couch, TV, beverage, maybe sprinkle in a few vacations. But that would be too easy. I thought back to last year and did a little research to see what other athletes have done in the past during a lockout. Here are a few notable mentions.

Delonte West – Stock at Regency Furniture

Zoltan Mesko – Intern at Graham and Partners (private equity firm)

Troy Polamalu – Finished Undergrad History degree at USC

Paul Pierce – Played in Vegas’ World Series of Poker Tournament

Kobe Bryant, Chad Ochocinco – Play/Tryout for a professional soccer team

Blake Griffin – Intern for Funny or Die comedy website

Marcus Camby, Hines Ward, Pacman Jones – Get arrested

Chris Cooley – Opened a pottery studio

Kris Humphreys, Tony Romo – Get married (for no matter how long or short)

Ron Artest – Search for world peace and change name

A number of players – Travel overseas to play your sport

Clearly some athletes thought outside the box, intentionally or not. As much as it sucks, unfortunately lockouts happen. So it begs the question. As a professional athlete, what would you do with your time off during a lockout?

Rondo Interns at GQ

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Well it was a tough weekend for the Patriots coming up short to the Cardinals, topped off with the loss of Hernandez. Not that it comes to a surprise or matters to anyone around Boston at this point, but the Red Sox are officially out of the playoffs. And to continue with the enlightening Boston sports news, the NHL is in day 3 of their lockout and no signs of hope are anywhere to be found. With the disappointment of two teams currently in play and one we should be getting geared up for but aren’t, there’s not a whole lot to talk about this week. Or rather, that I want to talk about. We’re moving on with the Pats. The week 2 loss is over and we’re headed for greener pastures. The only thing to look forward to with the Sox is April 2013. And finally I just don’t think I can handle covering another professional sports lockout in under a year. Desperate times call for desperate measures. In an attempt to prematurely get excited for the Celts season and to avoid discussing this difficult week in Boston sports, here’s an irrelevant, slightly outdated video recap of Rondo’s offseason venture as GQ’s bitch, I mean intern.

The White Mamba Calls It Quits

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Well it’s official. After 11 illustrious seasons in the NBA, Brian Scalabrine is hanging up his jersey. Despite not being known particularly for his skill on the court, Scal was and will continue to be one of the most beloved players to ever sport a Celtics uniform. It’s hard not to feel bad for the guy a bit when he’s treated less like a player and more like a joke on the court, but he never lost that intense yet humble attitude, which probably contributes to his adornment to the fans. That, you gotta respect. The NBA even put together a Brian Scalabrine highlight reel in his honor. So one last time, SCAL…FOR THREEE!

Continue reading →

A New (old) Place for the NBA

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Yesterday, it was reported that a few rich guys are trying to bring the NBA back to Seattle. The SuperSonics were there for 41 years before becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder. They also are interested in buying an NHL team and moving them there as well. They aren’t strapped for cash. One of the partners included in the deal to build a $490 million arena is Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer.

They still need some approvals before it can become definite. Apparently, these guys are huge Sonics fans and have been trying to get a team back there since 2008 when they left.

Trip In The Time Machine

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Some people are still getting rich off of the merger that happened in 1976. For those of you who don’t know, this was the year that the ABA merged with the NBA. While many teams from the ABA folded, four teams moved on: Nets, Nuggets, Spurs, and Pacers. (See more on this subject in the movie Semi-Pro)

While most people know this happened they may not know the details. In 1970, when the merger began to be hyped up, there was an antitrust lawsuit challenging the NBA, filed by St. Louis Spirits’ owners Ozzie and Dan Silna (pictured below). They won the case, by the time the merger happened, because the judge decided that they were unfairly left out of the new league. That judge passed away last year.

The deal states that the brothers will make money off network television deals for those 4 teams. For all of you out there working, you will be happy to know that they sit around and have compiled over $240 million over the past 36 years. They are now bringing the case back up to a new judge saying that the NBA should have to pay them for international deals as well. The NBA has never failed to pay them, they put it in their budget each year, and this pisses off the owners for obvious reasons. What do you think?

Celtics Trade 3 Players and Pick for Courtney Lee

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The Celtics are finalizing a trade for Courtney Lee sending Jajuan Johnson, E’Twaun Moore, and Sean Williams to the Houston Rockets. E’Twaun and Sean have non-guaranteed contracts so they will most likely be cut. Johnson has stated that he will demand a trade from the Rockets immediately. Not sure how its going to work out for him, word is the Rockets are really high on him. Honestly, by the way that he has played during the summer league, he should be happy that someone is still high on him.

This is a tough blow for Moore who had said just earlier today that he expected to play the season with the Celtics and was having a great summer league. Everyone will remember his game last year where he put up 16 points in only 18 minutes against the Magic.

With this trade the Celtics roster is really starting to take shape. Props to Danny Ainge for the work that he has done this summer. I am not sure any other GM in the game could have done a better job than he did. He has balanced Celtics in a place where they are title contenders, while also building for the future.

Options for Filling out the Roster

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Player Position Height Weight DOB From Years
Brandon Bass F 6’8 250 4/30/1985 LSU 7
Avery Bradley G 6’2 180 11/26/1990 Texas 2
Kevin Garnett  F 6’11 253 5/19/1976 Farragut Academy HS (IL) 17
JaJuan Johnson F 6’10 221 2/8/1989 Purdue 1
Kris Joseph F 6’7 210 12/17/1988 Syracuse R
Fab Melo C 7’0 255 6/20/1990 Syracuse R
E’Twaun Moore G 6’4 191 2/28/1989 Purdue 1
Paul Pierce – (C) F 6’7 235 10/13/1977 Kansas 14
Rajon Rondo G 6’1 171 2/22/1986 Kentucky 6
Jared Sullinger F 6’9 260 3/4/1992 Ohio State R
Sean Williams F-C 6’10 235 9/13/1986 Boston College 4
Jamar Smith G 6’3 185 Illinois

The Celtics will probably look to add a few more players before training camp. Jamar Smith signed with the Celtics last week but it would likely be a training camp invite and not a full season guarantee. Look for the Celtics to sign a few more players from their summer league squad such as Dionte Christmas. Also previously mentioned are the potential signings of Carlos Delfino or Courtney Lee, but they both do not look promising based on the current cap situation of the Celtics, most likely you are going to see them resign Pietrus and hopefully sign Christmas to a contract. Also they may bring back Keyon Dooling for the veterans minimum as he was a big part of the locker room and gave them a lift in the playoffs.

Celtics Interested in Delfino?

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The Celtics are pursuing options talking to Carlos Delfino. After exhausting all options to doing a sign and trade with the Mavericks for Jason Terry, they ended up using their Mid-Level Exception. This only leaves the Celtics with the bi-annual exception which amounts roughly to $1.9 million per year. Unless Courtney Lee wants to take a contract under his market price, he is likely out of the Celtics price range. So the Celtics have started to look at Delfino.

Here’s a little background on Delfino

Height: 6’6″          Weight: 230         NBA Experience: 7 years, drafted 1st Rd Det 2003

  • Been consistently around 10 points a game and around 1.3 steals per game for the past 4 years.
  • Suffered from concussion problems last year
  • One of the better rebounding players at his position

On ESPN.com John Hollinger gives the scouting report of Delfino

+ Mellow, solidly built wing who likes corner 3-point shot. Rebounding tailed off.

+ Good handle and court vision but no burst or explosiveness. Runs floor well.

+ Solid defender. Average mobility but big for position with great hands.