We All Have A Little KG In Us

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

I don't know Kevin Garnett. I've never met him, and if I were to approach him on the street, in a restaurant or in a shopping mall, I would be just another crazed fan to him. I understand this. As big of a fan as I am, I am not blinded by the fact that I don't actually know these guys. I might know their games, but I don't know them as people. The fact that I know this sometimes makes people question even further why I dedicate such a heavy amount of time to them. Answering a question like that would mean writing something like a book, which I'm not going to do...yet.

Even so, just because I don't know Kevin Garnett doesn't mean I haven't learned something from him.

Sometimes a player's game transcends beyond the basketball court. His play takes on a life of its own. And after watching his game night in and night out for the past two seasons, I've come to a steady conclusion: We all have a little KG in us.

Stop and think about Kevin Garnett for a moment. He's not your average Joe, run of the mill basketball player. He wasn't shaped from a standard cookie cutter. And that resonates back to the court, where he doesn't have your average game. And I'm not talking about his versatility.

When you watch Kevin Garnett play basketball, you're watching a man possessed. You're watching a man at times who appears to be on the verge of mental instability. If he were to fall on his face they wouldn't wheel out a stretcher. They'd haul in the straight jacket. But in the midst of that utter craziness is a passion that we have come to admire, respect and even relate to. Because even when we're watching Kevin Garnett play on a television, hundreds and even thousands of miles away from the TD Banknorth Garden or any other arena he finds himself in, we FEEL his passion.

Allow me to give you three explicit examples:

1) "Anything is possible". When he screamed these words into the ESPN microphones after winning last year's NBA Championship, they would forever personify him. Despite a slew of feeble attempts to trash these words, whether you're a basketball fan or not, you felt those words, and for even the slightest of moments, you believed him. Man might not be able to fly and fish might not be able to walk, but when Kevin Garnett screamed that, you honestly thought they could. And you're lying to yourself if you didn't.

2) January 2, 2008: Boston Celtics 97 - Houston Rockets 93. After Garnett buried a clutch jump shot from fifteen feet out, Houston called a time-out to regroup. While the rest of the Celtics retreated to their respective huddle, Garnett erupted with emotion, ripping at his jersey, ferociously stabbing the CELTICS lettering on the front with his index finger, belting a scream at the tip top of his lungs. It was an immortal scene, one that was sure to trigger goose bumps, simply for the fact that Celtics fans hadn't seen such a will to win in well over a decade.

3) January 25, 2008: Boston Celtics 87 - Minnesota Timberwolves 86. After returning to the game after suffering what would later be diagnosed as an abdominal strain, causing him to miss the next three weeks, Kevin Garnett hounded Sebastian Telfair at the top of they key with seconds left and the Timberwolves threatening to win the game. He stuck his hand out, poked the ball away and threw himself to the floor, smothering the ball as the final buzzer sounded. The Garden erupted, but the decibels continued to rise seconds later as Garnett leaped back to his feet, screaming at the crowd, holding the chest of his jersey high and pumping his fist ferociously. (In the end, this aggressive act after the play might have been what kept him out for the next three weeks...)

After these acts, the message was clear: There is emotion, and then there is Kevin Garnett-emotion. There is passion, and then there is Kevin Garnett-passion. There is the emotion of the other superstars (Paul Pierce yelling after getting to that jump ball ahead of LeBron James in Game 7 of last year's Eastern Conference Semi-Finals), and then there is Kevin Garnett-emotion (Preseason, regular season, postseason). Emotion that reached us all, no matter where we were.

But in displaying that emotion, Kevin Garnett showed us all that it's okay to go a little crazy at times. It's perfectly fine to be excited and energized and emotional when we achieve something great. It completely contradicts the age old saying, "Act like you've been there before." Why act composed in a moment of greatness? Why hold it in? That emotion fuels our actions in the first place, so why not give testament to it by unleashing it upon achieving the very success we seek?

We all have it inside of us, even the shyest and quietest of us. I can't recall them having yet labeled that energy, that passion and that fury that resonates inside each and every one of our bodies, that we allow to erupt, whether publicly or privately. We all have our moments. Whether it's securing a promotion at work, winning at a sport you love, scaling a 25,000 foot mountain or anything else, the emotion that swells inside of us is exactly what Kevin Garnett displays for us all game in and game out. Don't be ashamed of it. Don't hide from it. Embrace it.

We all have a little KG in us.

Stay Tuned.

An Orlando Magic - Los Angeles Lakers Finals?

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

So who do I support? I suppose the answer is an obvious one, but at the same time, just because that answer is obvious doesn't mean I have to like it. Whenever the Los Angeles Lakers are playing basketball, I'm rooting against them. It's that simple. I don't care if they're playing against Al Qaeda. I'm rooting against them.

So the fact that the Orlando Magic are set to take them on for the NBA Championship means I'm hopping on the Magic bandwagon, right? Well, it's not that simple. I'm now expected to cheer for the team that knocked my guys out of the playoffs and ended our season. A team that I STILL believe we should have defeated. (So what if I'm still bitter? Sue me.)

But, nothing would ruin my day and my summer more than seeing Kobe Bryant hoist the larry O'Brien trophy over his head and then pass it over to Phil Jackson to do the same. I've read Jackson's book "The Last Season" about five times or so. It's a great basketball book, and one of the reasons I love it is because of how much he voices his displeasure for Kobe. It's a great read, even if that's all you're looking for.

Which is also why I hate seeing things like, "Kobe Doin' Work" because it portrays the two of them as having an effective coach-player relationship. Apparently the basketball therapy sessions are paying off...

But coming back to the Magic, the fact that I felt we should have ousted them in six games actually makes it somewhat easier to cheer for them. Even if they were to win this year's title, I would enter next season completely and totally unafraid of them. With Kevin Garnett back in the equation, forget it. (I can also say that about the Cavaliers now, too!) So in that regard, let's go Magic.

Another reason I'm actually somewhat excited for the Magic and Lakers to play is so I can watch the Dwight Howard-Andrew Bynum matchup - er - mismatch. Since like my junior year of high school my friend Dennis (a Lakers fan) tried to portray Bynum as God's gift to this Earth, while I conveniently kept reminding him that we had a guy named Al Jefferson, who I obviously felt was much better than Bynum. Dennis would hear none of that, but deep down, he knew I was absolutely right.

I've always said that Bynum is just your average NBA center. He's a solid role player on a good team. That's all he is now, and that's all he ever will be. People expected him to turn into a guy named Dwight Howard. He would be the Howard of the Western Conference. Well, once these two go head-to-head, we're all going to see just how average Bynum really is. And as that's happening, we're also going to see how much better a defensive player Kendrick Perkins is than Bynum, because Howard will not struggle against Bynum the way he did against Perk.

So in two or three weeks from now, nothing would make me happier than seeing Howard and co. holding the LB trophy high over their heads, smiling for the crowd and the cameras. I want the confetti, the shirts and the hats all to be blue and white with the little gold lettering. And why is this?

So that Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, Sasha Vujacic, Josh Powell, Sun Yue, Adam Morrison, Luke Walton, Didier Ilunga-Mbenga, Phil Jackson and the rest of the Lakers' brass won't get the chance to hoist that same trophy over their heads. And so I won't have to watch my television screen be bathed in purple and gold.

Stay Tuned.

Forgetting About the 58th Pick?

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

I found this piece from yesterday's Herald interesting:

“We’re interviewing anywhere from 22 to 25 people,” said Ainge, who downplayed the Celtics trading up for a higher pick. “And because we only have a second round pick, we’re not exactly going to be tops on anyone’s list. There’s 30 teams doing these interviews, so we all have to wait our turn.”

There is also a good chance that the Celts don’t even use the pick.

“We might have to use that slot on a free agent this summer,” said Ainge.

The Celtics don’t need to get younger. With a number of intriguing players about to hit free agency, they need veteran help.

I know we've picked up some pretty solid second round picks these past few years (Ryan Gomes, Leon Powe, Glen Davis), but Mark Murphy's right. As we're still in this window, it is extremely unlikely that someone we draft with the 58th pick this summer will miraculously turn into a legitimate option off the bench for Doc Rivers next season.

It does make more sense for the Celtics to try and shop the pick (possibly including it in a trade with someone like Tony Allen, Gabe Pruitt or Brian Scalabrine), for the simple sake of clearing the roster spot. The future isn't now. Let's make that clear. Right not it's about winning. You win with proven veterans, plain and simple. If you want to be exciting, you go young. If you want to win, you go old.

Stay Tuned.

This is Why I Hate the Los Angeles Lakers

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

I've decided not to wallow in self pity at the fact that the Lakers have made it back to the NBA Finals. Technically, this is where I want them to be. If Kobe Bryant is to lose, I want him to lose on the highest level possible. I want him to taste it and then have it snatched away from him. I want to see it start to unravel two games in so we see the "real" Kobe Bryant - the one who loves to tear apart his teammates on national television - not the "Kobe Doin' Work", Kobe, who laughs obnoxiously loud when things just really aren't that funny in an attempt to sound really cool...

It's impossible not to notice. You're clearly turning a deaf ear to it if you say you don't know what I'm talking about. I wonder if Spike Lee likes when Kobe does that? I wonder if he seriously sat listening to the final product and thought, "This is so incredibly obnoxious. I can't use this. But I can't go back and redo the entire thing, either...".

I do feel bad for someone though. You know who I feel bad for? I feel bad for the TRUE Los Angeles Lakers fans. The ones who are going to lose out on any tickets that might be left for the NBA Finals because the greedy celebrities and their posses will snatch them up before they're technically even on sale. I feel bad for the 40-something father who watched nothing but Lakers games growing up and wants to take his young son to his first Lakers game, recession in mind and all. I feel bad for the people who actually sat through all 82 regular season games with the Lakers (because there is a select group of these people, after all), and now lose out because Zac Efron and his aviators want a front row seat to be seen by the ESPN cameras. Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?! At night!

Maybe that's what bothers me the most about the Lakers. Maybe it's not the fact that I hate half their roster. Maybe I hate the Lakers because they turn on their real fans to accommodate the upper class. The Lakers sell out even more than those celebrities do. Who cares who gets the 200 dollar seats? If the 200 dollar seat gets sold, who cares who sits there? I bet you a 10-year old with his entire body painted purple and gold is going to cheer louder than an indifferent Efron and his aviators. Come on. Star power doesn't equal fan power.

AND if you have all of those stars, why not utilize them? I guarantee you that if Will Smith stood up and got wicked rowdy when the Lakers were trying to make a ferocious comeback, his whole section would be right behind him. But no, Smith (one of my favorite actors, so I won't bash him too bad) and his Hollywood buddies just sit there. They look flat out bored at times. Are celebrities lives really that dull to the extent that they have to attend a sporting event that they really don't care about just so they don't have to sit alone at home on a Friday or Saturday night?

Oh and you know having all the celebrities there distracts fans for at least 10 percent of the game. How many times will the average fan (not the diehards that can't get in) divert their gaze from the court to see what Alba is eating or doing with her hair? I bet you at least 7 or 8 plays per night are missed by the average fan because they're drooling over the celeb sitting next to them.

See, at least Boston has the legit celebrities. Donnie Wahlberg is a true Celtics fan. He is our Jack Nicholson, only better, because he's actually joined Mike and Tommy on the telecast and has dropped some pretty good opinions and ideas. He can legitimately talk Celtics basketball. You know what? I want Lisa Salters to march up to Alba or Efron during the NBA Finals and ask them legitimate Laker questions.

"Jessica, your last three films have grossed less than 80 million dollars total. When are you going to throw in the towel? The Magic/Cavaliers have 46 of 53 points in the paint. Why are the Lakers' big men having such difficulty defending them tonight?"

"Zac, you were the star of your basketball team in all of those High School Musical movies. Please, give us your expert insight here. Kobe Bryant is just 2-12 from the field at halftime. What do you think the Magic/Cavaliers are doing defensively that's giving him such a hard time tonight? Surely you've suffered through a similar half in your career?"

Can someone please ask them questions like that? Just once. One time!

Maybe that's why I hate the Lakers...

Stay Tuned.

76ers Name Eddie Jordan as New Head Coach

From the Globe:

ESPN.com reports Eddie Jordan is new Sixers coach. Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau was a candidate, but still has a shot at another job as he is slated to interview with the Kings on Saturday about their head coach opening in Las Vegas. If Thibodeau doesn't get Kings job, Celtics president Danny Ainge has said the free agent will have a contract offer awaiting him to return to Boston.

Really Denver?

Blah. The only thing worse than seeing the Celtics lose is seeing the Lakers win. I'll touch on their return to the NBA Finals in the morning...

Glen Davis or Antonio McDyess?

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

It's pretty safe to say that signing Leon Powe will be easier than signing Glen Davis, particularly because of Powe's recent knee injury. But, Glen Davis has been a hot topic lately. Some people deem him our number one offseason priority.

Last night, we touched on some potential free agents the Celtics should be interested in this offseason, and you will notice that Antonio McDyess held the number one spot. When Chauncey Billups was traded to the Denver Nuggets at the beginning of last season, McDyess went with him, but was then waived by Denver and subsequently returned to Detroit. Before he headed back to the Palace though, there was much speculation (and hope) that McDyess would make his way to Boston.

Obviously Detroit floundered as last season progressed, while Boston made a legitimate playoff run. Needless to say, McDyess's services would have been quite useful earlier this month.

If the Celtics do in fact give McDyess a serious look, what does that mean for Glen Davis's future? If you look at Davis and McDyess you're bound to notice some pretty distinct similarities in their styles of play.

Both players would rather step out and take a 14-foot jump shot then resort to a simple drop step in the paint. You're much more likely to see a pick-and-pop with Davis and McDyess, as opposed to a pick-and-roll. Sure, both can finish inside once they get there, but their much more likely to create their own shot further out closer to the perimeter, first. It's a wash in height, as both stand comfortable at 6'9.

You're also going to notice some similar statistics between the two players, particularly playoff statistics, a time when both players raised their games for their respective teams.

McDyess averaged 13.0 points and 8.5 rebounds this past postseason, while Davis put up a very impressive 15.8 points per game mark to go along with 5.6 rebounds per contest. Give the edge in point to Davis, but a much larger edge to McDyess in rebounding.

McDyess is clearly the better rebounder of the two, as he averaged more in the postseason, as well as the regular season, when he grabbed 9.8 boards per night compared to Davis's 4.0 mark.

While the stats are nice, we need to come back to the similarities between the two of them. It really wouldn't make too much sense for the Celtics to sign both guys, with Kevin Garnett already aboard. If that were to happen, you'd be looking at three guys who basically do exactly the same thing, with Garnett just doing it better. If you take on Davis and McDyess, both of your back up power forwards play exactly the same game and both have proven they deserve playing time. So, either way you swing it, whoever does get the time, you're left with a quality guy stuck on the bench who should also be playing.

At the same time, the Celtics will also look for a backup center this summer, so it's unlikely for Davis or McDyess to find a boatload of time at that spot on the floor. This is where Powe takes on a little bit more value because his style of play differs so greatly from McDyess and Davis's.

So, let's break it down a little bit. Who would you take and why? You can make arguments for both players, so allow me to do just that.

We've been talking all along about this "window" the Celtics find themselves in. The Big Three aren't getting any younger, so the time is obviously now. Next season will strictly be about those 82+ games and not about three or four years down the road. While Davis's value obviously stretches into the long term, which is where his main argument comes into play, McDyess would be perfect for next season and possibly (he is 34 right now) the season after.

If you go for McDyess, you're grabbing a true veteran, one of the best available right now. To make matters worse, he's a class act in the locker room. Statistics wise, you won't lose much, if anything at all in scoring, and you're bringing in a better rebounder than Davis. I mentioned before how McDyess and Davis have similar styles of play. Well, McDyess has been doing the same thing for 12 years, to Davis's two. While Davis's jump shot turned into a key asset this season, he only truly developed it this year, and he does still have some growing to do. McDyess has been playing Davis's game much longer and quite frankly, is better at it, at this point. McDyess has been taking that jump shot for 12 NBA seasons. You know it's going to fall at this point.

If the Celtics sign Davis it will most likely be a multi-year deal, past the summer of 2010, simply so the team doesn't need to worry about this again as the contracts of the Big Three and Rajon Rondo become top priority. Davis still has room for improvement, and it's not far fetched to think the Celtics could be looking at a solid core of Rondo, Perkins and Davis in three or four seasons, but Davis will be much more expensive than McDyess at this point. Also, with Davis finding so much success as a starter, how will he perform back in a bench role? Will he be more inclined to find a starting job elsewhere?

Both players earned less than a million dollars last season, but with Davis's postseason performance in mind, he's a pretty hot commodity and will demand some compensation for his services. You're much more likely to see McDyess accept a small portion of the mid-level exception, or a veteran minimum salary in order to compete for a championship. McDyess for one or two years would be a great deal for Boston, but, if the price is right, three of four years of Davis doesn't sound to bad either.

In the end, they're comparable players with contrasting price tags. If the Celtics are unwilling to accommodate Davis's asking price, McDyess could be seeing the green and white next season.

Stay Tuned.

Oh, This Free Agent Class Has Potential

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe getting knocked out by anaesthesia last week messed with me in some way that I am not yet aware of. I hadn't gone over the list of NBA free agents in any great detail yet, and I basically accepted the rumors I was hearing that it was a "weak" class, for lack of a better term. (Horrid? Despicable? Nothing to write home about?)

BUT, then I took matters into my own hands and checked the list out for myself. You can do the same, here.

As I moved through the list, I found myself getting more and more excited, like when you're scratching one of those scratch tickets that has all winners (even though they're only worth a buck each), and your eyes keep getting wider as you keep getting winners.

Look, I'll be frank, there are no superstars, but last time I checked we had four of them. Let's not get greedy. We don't want the league to fold because we hog all the superstars, after all.

What we need are quality role players and back up guys to bolster a solid bench that will give us that much needed extra push in May and June of next year. That's it. As I wrote two days ago, we have the best starting five in all of basketball. The first five will never be the problem. It's strictly the pine guys. And after looking at this list of players, there is some serious potential here.

The challenge, as always, comes back to money. Money kills sports. Seriously. Obviously everything gets bigger as the years progress, whether it be the size of televisions, the price of gas or the country's steadily increasing debt. It kills me to see these athletes reject 2 million dollars because they want 4 million. Do they not realize how many people would kill to play in the NBA for free? Anyway...let me throw this one at you:

The modern day salary cap was instituted in the 1984-85 season. It's number: 3.6 million dollars. 3.6 million! Next season's potential salary cap: 57.3 million dollars. Yeah, money kills sports. And that's not including the money we throw at the teams to actually watch the games in person. Money murders sports. But sports would be lost without money. It's a downright conundrum. It's an enigma. It will never solve itself, so we're officially stuck with it.

Anyway, let's bring Doc Rivers' thoughts into the equation. He recently said he felt the Celtics needed to add depth at the center position, the small forward spot and the point guard spot. Okay, let me throw some names at you (on top of the obvious in Glen Davis and Leon Powe). These guys would be perfect backups and they shouldn't be demanding any crazy pay days.

Quick disclaimer: Don't worry about the age of any of these guys. We're not looking for a young stud to carry us for the next ten seasons once The Big Three are done.

1) Antonio McDyess- Technically a power forward, but he's too good to pass up. At this point in his career, it seems obvious he'd take a pay cut to win a ring.

2) Rasho Nesterovic- You have to love his game, especially if you throw him in as a backup. He knocks down a consistent jump shot from the free throw line, posts up well and will block as many shots as he needs to.

3) Al Harrington- I realize this is a stretch, and a large one at that. My thinking here: He would be the perfect sixth man. He would crush second units because he loves to be the focal point of an offense and he would easily be in that role with our bench guys. My other thinking: He and Paul Pierce are neighbors in Las Vegas, apparently. We would need some heavy lobbying from Pierce, alla his work on P.J. Brown, to convince Harrington to take a major pay cut in order to compete for a Championship. The more I think about this one, the more it actual seems somewhat possible. If Pierce and Harrington are buddy buddy like they say, don't rule this one out. We just need the Knicks not to pick up his option...

4) Tyronn Lue- I have absolutely no idea why this guy doesn't play more for Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic, but Doc loves this guy. He played for Doc down in Orlando during that 2003-2004 season that stands as one of the worst in Magic history, but nonetheless he stayed in Doc's good graces.

5) Grant Hill- Another one of Doc's guys. People have knocked this possible acquisition, but Hill would be a terrific asset off the bench for this team. He appears to be healthy, as he played in every game for the Suns last season. However, he loves living in Arizona, so getting him to come to New England could prove to be tough.

6) Jason and Jarron Collins- Take your pick. They do exactly the same thing, and are both very effective at it. We're looking at two perfect backups for Perk. I'd still take Nesterovic first, but if he's off the table, give me either of these guys in a backup role.

7) Andre Miller- Another possible stretch, because he's one guy who still might demand somewhat heavy money. But if we could somehow squeeze him into a backup role, you're looking at the best backup point guard in the NBA.

8) Kareem Rush- We desperately needed some better shooting in the playoffs, especially with Ray suffering through his slump and Courtney Lee owning Eddie House. Rush has one of the best pure strokes in the league, and has been through a true playoff run with the Lakers back in '03-'04.

9) Von Wafer- He really came into his own for the Rockets this season, particularly in place of Tracy McGrady. If you recall, he buried the Celtics late, back on January 7 in Boston. He'd be a very effective scorer off the bench for us with more versatility than Rush.

10) Matt Barnes- A late addition, courtesy of one of the kind folks who commented on the blog. I for one thought he was younger and would be demanding some fairly serious money this summer, but he's 29 right now and isn't even making 800,000 dollars per year. If we throw some mid-level exception money at him, shouldn't that be enough to entice him to come to Boston? He'd be a terrific fit off the bench, possibly even better than Hill. He can knock down shots from any spot on the floor, plays great defense and can play the 3 and possibly the 4, at times. Great comment. Great suggestion.

There's a steady sample, but certainly not all the possibilities. That list has a lot of "diamonds in the rough", if you will.

One guy I have to include: Gerald Green. I have to. It would be physically impossible for me not to type his name. I loved that guy. I sat through every game of 24-58 because of him. He got me through it. I still remember when we snapped our 18-game losing streak against the Milwaukee Bucks. Gerald Green went 5-5 from three-point nation in that game and finished with 21 points. The Boston Globe's sports page the next day had the headline: Bucking the Trend and a picture of Gerald pumping his fist. I know because I pinned it to my wall. I'm looking at it right now.

There was the time he dropped 33 points on the Hawks. I was praying he scored 40 in that game. In the end I was still happy with the 33. Sorry, I need to stop now or I never will.

Anyway, contrary to popular belief, this free agent class has potential. Let's utilize it.

Stay Tuned.

The Celtics Will Face the Luxury Tax, But That's Okay

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)


By: Greg Payne

I'm steadily learning that the business side of the NBA is downright messy. This is one of the first times where I've actually had to pay attention to the finance and contract side of the Boston Celtics. I've been doing research for the past 48 hours, and have yet to come to any steady conclusions, but I'm going to try and explain this as well as I possibly can, because it directly relates to some of the possible moves we might be making this offseason.

So, according to Hoopsworld.com, back in February of this year, the NBA was projecting a salary cap of 57.3 million dollars for next season, which is a sizeable decrease from the 58.68 million mark that this most recent season was based upon.

Now, for those of you who were like me a few weeks ago, the NBA salary cap is simply the total amount of money that teams are allowed to pay their players. A salary cap is in place, of course, to limit the larger markets (New York, Los Angeles, Boston, etc.) with higher revenue from attaining the best players because they can offer the most money. The salary cap essentially gives the small guy a shot (hence why Cleveland believes it can still sign LeBron James next summer).

According to hoopshype.com the Boston Celtics will already have a total salary of 72,386,991 dollars for the 2009-2010 season. There's more bad news. That 72+ million dollars only covers Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, Tony Allen, Brian Scalabrine, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker and Eddie House and Gabe Pruitt (if their options are picked up). So, the Celtics will technically already be 15 million dollars (I rounded their salary to 72.3 million) over the salary cap heading into next season. All of this stands, even with players like Glen Davis, Leon Powe and Stephon Marbury as free agents who have yet to potentially sign new deals with the team.

Fortunately, the NBA is a league with various exceptions when it comes to exceeding the salary cap. The most notable of these is the mid-level exception, which is equal to the average NBA player salary. The Celtics used such an exception to sign James Posey two summers ago. The mid-level exception typically hovers around the 5.4 million dollar mark. Last season, the MLE was set at 5.585 million dollars.

When it comes to players like Glen Davis and Leon Powe, under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (an agreement between the NBA and the NBA Players Association that dictates things like contracts, trades and revenue), both players can demand no more than 9 million dollars, because they have not played more than six years in the NBA. It's safe to say at this point that the Celtics will most likely not be offering that much money per year to either of those players.

Now, here comes the really messy part: The luxury tax. On top of the salary cap, the league imposes a tax threshold and whenever a team exceeds that specific number, it must pay a luxury tax, which balances out to a team paying one dollar to the league for each and every dollar that exceeds the established tax threshold. The threshold for next season will reportedly be set around 70 million dollars.

Once again, we have some bad news. If that 70 million dollar figure stands, the Celtics, with their 72.3 million dollar payroll already in place (not including any free agents or acquisitions), will have to pay an extra 2.3 million dollars in luxury taxes. Hypothetically, let's say the Celtics use all of their MLE and the MLE falls at 5.4 million for next season, they will then be paying 7.7 million dollars in luxury taxes.

Many teams do their best to steer clear of the luxury tax area as it puts a significant financial burden on themselves that can last for years. Not every team can afford to pay a heavy luxury tax over a set amount of years, and that continues to be a concern for fans heading into this offseason. What will the Celtics do if their hands are tied behind their backs by the luxury tax? Will they make less moves and allow the finances to dictate their offseason plans?

Fortunately, owner Wyc Grousbeck quieted such fears on an interview with Michael Felger on Comcast Sportsnet's Sports Sunday, last Sunday. Here's what he said when asked if he would be more willing to dive into the luxury tax in terms of next season:

"I've been in the luxury tax for as long as I can remember. So, (we're willing) remain in the luxury tax. We'll be, there don't worry about it."

If you watch that video and watch Wyc as he says that, there's a complete sense of calm and understanding about him. He merely brushes it off like it's no big deal, which to me, is comforting. Based on those statements, he's obviously dealt with it before, he knows how to handle it, and since the team is in no apparent financial difficulties, recession and all, there is no plausible reason to believe that they will have any difficult dealing with it over the course of next season and beyond.

I hope this gives you all a nice vote of confidence as we head into this offseason. The Celtics have made it clear: They can't, and won't, put a price on a Championship. They are willing to do whatever it takes.

Stay Tuned.

I'll Check in Soon

I'm praying for some good news, as I have my post-operation appointment with my oral surgeon at 9:00am today. I'm banking that he'll say I can eat solid food again...

I'm going to dive into the luxury tax a little bit when I get back, using some interesting quotes from Wyc Grousbeck for support.

Stay Tuned.

You Don't Mess Up the Best Starting Five in Basketball

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

I was reading some other blogs and some other material earlier this morning and a few comments struck me. I read on one blog that, of the current make up of the Boston Celtics' roster, only Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo are untradeable. Only those two players should not be touched by Danny Ainge this offseason.

I had to comment back. I had to. Yes, I agree that Pierce and Rondo are untouchable, but when you have the opportunity to bring back the best starting five in all of basketball, you typically want to keep that nucleus in tact...

Seriously, given the steady improvements both Kendrick Perkins and Rondo made in Kevin Garnett's absence, just sit here for a second and think about this:

Rajon Rondo
Ray Allen
Paul Pierce
Kevin Garnett
Kendrick Perkins

There is NO better nucleus in basketball right now. None. Nada. Zippo. Goose Egg. We have, hands down, the best starting five in the world. So, thinking about that, I was truly flabbergasted as to why this specific individual labeled only Rondo and Pierce as untradeable.

I want to focus on Allen though, specifically. He's typically gotten the short end of the stick these past two seasons. People have been quick to put Pierce and Garnett ahead of him, especially in terms of value to the team. They've said we can afford to lose Ray Allen, but not KG or Pierce.

In case anyone's forgotten, allow me to remind you of Danny Ainge's true brilliance, whether it be purposeful or accidental. Now, he might not have had Allen and Garnett in mind at the same time. We obviously acquired Allen first and then brought in KG, but in doing so, we suddenly had the perfect three-man attack.

You've got the best versatile big man down low, who can either finish in the paint or step out and knock down a jumper from any spot on the floor. You've got the best pure shooter in basketball right now, who can bury threes off the dribble, in transition or off the catch. And then you've got your horse in Pierce, who can shoot from anywhere, drive the ball, finish at the rim, etc, etc.

So when you put them together you have the perfect combination. It's a nearly flawless fit. Say Ainge had acquired Chris Bosh and Garnett, or Stephen Jackson and Allen. Suddenly, you're still lacking in one specific area.

So, coming back to my original point, the entire starting five in untradeable. Don't touch it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Both Rondo and Perk ascended into the upper echelon of players at their position this most recent postseason. Right now, I'd say Perk is the second best defensive center in the league, and Rondo is easily a top 3 point guard at this point. Easily.

So now, we have five guys who could very easily be All-Stars and this guy says we can afford to get rid of three of them? Who would fill in for Garnett? Tim Duncan, who's ailing even worse than KG at this point? Bosh, who's a whole step down from KG? Lamar Odom? (HA!)

(I won't bring up Al Jefferson. I'll only get excited.)

The other potentially great power forwards are still too young and important to their current teams (Jefferson (okay, I brought him up!), Lamarcus Aldridge, arguably (and I stress that word) the closest young player to KG at this point and...uh...that's about it...).

And, even though he'll be 34 next season, who would be able to do Allen's job better than Allen himself? No one right now can touch Allen in terms of pure shooting. Remember All-Star Weekend's most recent three-point shootout? What a ghastly display of shooting. Not only was the shooting terrible, but the players competing aren't as versatile as Allen is. Can Daequan Cook do what Ray Allen does? Please. Can Jason Kapono? Come on. Rashard Lewis? He gets paid too much for what he tries to do...

Anyway, as we move further into this offseason, allow me to say, that the best starting five in basketball, should stay in tact.

Stay Tuned.

Celtics Circuit Home Page

Perkins to tie the knot, but will miss USA minicamp along with Rondo

Kendrick Perkins is set to tie the knot July 25th in Houston, with Rajon Rondo serving as one of his groomsmen. The date will interfere with the pair's invitation to USA Basketball mini-camp, which will be held July 22 through July 25.

Despite an invitation to Perkins's wedding, Glen Davis will take part in Team USA's minicamp.

Gut Check Time for Cleveland

By: Greg Payne

Bob Cousy was right. I couldn't find the original content, but if you remember back to earlier this season, he made comments about the Cavaliers' roster and how it would fair in the postseason. He basically said something along the lines of, "It's easy for players to hit the big shots now, but when the postseason rolls around and the pressure is really on, they'll fold". Something like that. Could be have been more right?

You see, when you're sitting pretty in first place in the Eastern Conference for most of the season, dominating a team by 15+ points and taking cute fake pictures of each other before games, everything gets easier. But sports always proves what a person is truly made of when their backs are against the wall.

Say the Cavs are up 15 points with 2:12 left in the third quarter. Delonte West hits a layup, making the lead 17. Then, the Cavs get a stop, come the other way and the ball finds Mo Williams sitting behind the three-point line. Now, he rises up and if he hits this shot it will give Cleveland a 20-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, allowing the starters to rest and relax and blah, blah blah. Either way, it's a very important shot, is it not? But it's a much simpler shot knowing you have a 17-point lead still if you miss.

Now, throw the complete opposite situation at Williams. The Cavs are down by a point with five seconds left and the ball finds him behind the three-point line (because LeBron still hides from the last shot the majority of the time). An equally important shot suddenly has so much more behind it. That's when we see what Williams and his Cavalier teammates are really made of. Apparently, they're made of bricks. And not the kind that the big bad wolf couldn't blow down.

Cleveland's swagger is gone. Their nearly flawless record at home, meaningless. Their confidence is shot, no matter what they say. LeBron cannot depend on his teammates anymore, and since he still has yet to prove he can come through in the clutch (he HAD to take that shot in Game 2. There was no other option), Cleveland is suddenly facing a major gut check.

Let's see what they've got.

Garnett Has Surgery

(Photo courtesy of batgeek on Flickr)

Celtics official press release:

The Boston Celtics announced today that forward Kevin Garnett underwent successful right knee arthroscopy and removal of posterior knee bone spurs today at the New England Baptist Hospital. The surgery was performed by Team Physician Dr. Brian McKeon and was assisted by Dr. Michael Belkin and Dr. John Richmond.

From the Globe:

The Celtics announced today that forward Kevin Garnett underwent right knee arthroscopy and removal of posterior knee bone spurs today at the New England Baptist Hospital. The surgery was performed by team physician Brian McKeon.

“After this successful surgery, Kevin can now begin to focus on rehabilitating his knee, returning to top physical shape, and fully preparing for the 2009-10 season,” said Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. Garnett will be sidelined from basketball activity for 6-8 weeks.

Thibodeau Update

From the Globe:

The Sacramento Bee reported today that the Kings will interview Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau for their head coach opening later this week at an undisclosed location.

And here's a clip from Comcast Sportnet's Sports Sunday featuring Wyc Grousback:

Rondo, Rondo, Rondo

(Photo courtesy of Steve Neimand)

By: Greg Payne

I was perusing through Mark Murphy's postseason report card and couldn't ignore his take on Rajon Rondo:

RAJON RONDO - B-minus

(16.9 ppg, 9.8 apg, 9.7 rpg, .417 FG%, 2.71 TPG)

What is it with Rondo and his tendency to play down to lesser competition? There’s no doubt that he’s one of the league’s most exciting young point guards. He put that up on a giant marquee by averaging a triple double against Chicago. But then came Orlando, with Rafer Alston and Anthony Johnson, and Rondo’s aggressiveness diminished. With Alston serving his one-game suspension in Game 3, Rondo allowed Johnson to take the lane. Alston later had his moment in Game 7, burying wide open jumpers that staked the Magic to an early lead. Rondo, as a member of the NBA’s all-defensive second team, shouldn’t have allowed either player that kind of latitude. In addition, he became turnover-prone and unable to get his team into the flow. He averaged 5.5 assists and shot 11-for-31 (32 percent) in Games 6 and 7 against the Magic - unacceptable numbers for one of the game’s exciting young talents. He has a long summer of reflection ahead.

While Murphy hit the nail on the head in terms of the matchups that Rondo did botch in the second round, we can't ignore the consistency factor, that ultimately does relate back to those matchups.

Rondo put himself in a very difficult position from Game 1 of the Chicago series by putting in 29 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He then followed that up with his first triple-double of the postseason in Game 2 of that same series with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 16 assists. Now, to us as onlookers, the bar was set. The bar was set high. Like Olympic Gold Medal high jump, high. From here on out, we expected those colossal numbers from Rondo, and the second he had a string of games that didn't resemble double-digits in every category, it was only a matter of time before the "C" word was dropped. Consistency, consistency, consistency.

So, when games like Game 7 against Chicago (7 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists) and Game 5 against Orlando (6 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) came around, we immediately looked down at Rondo. Even though both of those games were wins, had they been losses, we knew where blame would have been assessed.

Another issue that Rondo faced all season, particularly when Kevin Garnett went down, was when and when not to assert himself. While KG's absence thrust Rondo into the position of ambassador to the new "Big Three", it seemed at times that Rondo was unclear as to when he should shoot and when he should pass, particularly at times when getting other teammates going might have been more useful to the overall cause. His coach and teammates stressed that "he had the keys to the car" and "we go as Rondo goes", but it still seemed at times that Rondo wasn't completely confident in throwing the Celtics' engine into gear and taking his teammates for a coastal joy ride. The Celtics hit plenty of pot holes and road blocks along the way, with many of those coming as a result of the routes the driver chose to take.

When it was Rondo's time to shoot, which shot did he dare use? By the end of the playoffs, it seemed like he had passed on the 15-foot shot more times than he took it, and when he drove the lane, it seemed like every time he threw up a floater, it didn't quite seem to float high enough.

Of course, no one dare even utter the possibility that Rondo is expendable under any circumstances. The Celtics would be wise to sign him to a beefy extension this offseason, just so they need not worry about him testing the free agent market next summer, on top of all the other free agent hoopla the league itself will be dealing with. While some might be tempted to look past the inconsistencies Rondo faced this postseason, they could actually be looked at as building blocks, or stepping stones, towards an even greater future. As Bill Simmons writes, we might not expect every young guy to be great his first year, but we do need signs that he's heading for greatness.

If you're headed toward greatness, or even goodness, you're going to show us flashes of your ultimate destiny in your embryonic years. That's just the law. You can't go from "I am doing nothing" to "I'm an All-Star!" unless you're Jamaal Magloire (who immediately went back to nothing). It's a series of baby steps.

Needless to say, the flashes are there, the steps are being taken, and after this season, inconsistencies and all, the future for Rajon Rondo has never looked brighter.

My Life During Post-Wisdom Teeth Surgery Recovery

By: Greg Payne

Allow me to give you a taste of what my life has been like the past three days. There's been a couch, a chair, three remote controllers and a lot of yogurt. A lot of yogurt...

I've learned that sleeping is god awful when you need to lay directly on your back.

I've watched Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace (I love James Bond) back to back, as well as the Dark Knight. I need to be careful with comedies and horror movies. I can't really afford any sudden movement to the face, including laughter and gasps of sheer, utter terror. So I have to put the Superbad's and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre's on hold.

Quick Tangent: I loved Quantum of Solace, but to be completely honest, it could have been so much better. Watching those two films back to back opened my eyes to just how much better Casino Royale is. I blame Marc Forster, QOS's director. He's not exactly visionary when it comes to action, and his love for "artsy" films really interrupted the flow of the movie. Like the kitchen chase/shoot out after Bond discovers the Quantum Organization? Why keep cutting back and forth between brief glimpses of action and the opera that's going on outside? Why? It's the same thing with the horse race/foot chase in the beginning. If Martin Campbell had returned to direct, we could have been looking at some Academy Awards...

I'm not a "gamer" by any stretch of the imagination. I never really indulge in video games, unless I'm at my buddy's houses. Yeah, I'm that guy who just reaps the benefits of other people's nice things. As far as I knew going into this whole surgery thing, there were no video games in my house. But then, amidst all of the immediate post-surgery bleeding (don't you love the graphic writing?), I discovered my brother's old XBox lying next to the television in the basement.

I was pumped. I was like Kevin Garnett (On the inside. I'm convinced a full blown KG meltdown on the outside would have resulted in at least two more surgeries...). BUT, I was completely heart broken when I searched around and saw NO games next to the console. NO GAMES! How does this happen? Where are all the games?!

So, I stormed upstairs (More like stumbled...), using the railings as lifelines, marched into the kitchen, and demanded that my brother tell me where all the games were. Now, my brother moved out about a month ago, and apparently, my mother packed all of his movies AND games in one box. So he has about 25 XBox titles sitting in his living room, with no XBox to play them on...Perfect.

I was praying that Halo and Halo 2 would be lying around somewhere. For the first time in my life, I literally wanted to sit on my butt and just play Halo. I wanted that to be my life. So, when my brother said, "Oh yeah, check the XBox though, there still might be a game that was left in there", my heart rate accelerated (I think I started bleeding again...). So I tore down the stairs, nearly falling and dying three times, and dove for the console.

I pressed the "open tray" button. Why doesn't it open!? Am I not pressing it? (Slowly the light kicks on...) Power chord! Of course! I slap that bad boy into the wall, press the "open tray" button and watched for what seemed like hours as that tray slid open. It literally opened in Matrix-style slow motion. Is it Halo? Is it Halo 2!?

No. It's Driver 3. DRIVER 3! DRIVER 3?!

Just to be clear, the creators of Driver 3 got so creative, they drew up the title to read: DRIV3R. Wow. Innovation.

Anyway, this game pissed me off from the start. The action aspect is terrible. It's a dismal excuse for a third-person shooter and an equally terrible first-person shooter. The driving isn't bad, if you want to cruise around virtual Miami for a while.

Oh, and it's a poor man's Grand Theft Auto, by the way. Like, if you open the dictionary and look up, "Poor Man's Grand Theft Auto" you will see "DRIV3R". My most frustrating moment had to come when I was carrying this "explosives package" in the back of a pickup truck and I was being aggressively chased by these like 1960's Corvettes. Yeah, I have a real shot at out running these guys, and if I get hit enough, the explosives explode! (I bet you couldn't see that one coming!) It's great when the slightest of touches makes the "explosives meter" leap like three inches to the right. If the meter gets like four inches to the right, it's over. A little tap on the bumper (and I don't mean a fully revved up ram into the back of my car. I mean, a bump lighter than the love taps you give your buddies' cars as you're leaving your high school graduation) and you're done.

Then there was the time my "Ferrari knockoff" car just couldn't seem to catch what looked like a Chevy Aveo...But I digress...

My brother did bring me both Halo games though, so I was able to give up DRIV3R, which made my mouth bleed...It is now Day 4 of this whole recovery process, and I'm noticing some improvements. So, I am pleased to say I should be back to full strength soon, pending no immediate setbacks within the next day or so.

Stay Tuned.

No One Likes Sundays, Including the Celtics

By: Greg Payne

Unless you have a totally kick ass job or you LOVE to work, you typically hate Sunday. If you're in school, Sunday typically means a day spent catching up on all the work you didn't do Friday and Saturday. You usually won't go out and party, except on rare special occasions (a certain female sports team at Endicott is the rare exception to this rule...), because you most likely have a class around 10:00am the next day, or earlier.

Now, if you have a career, the weekends might seem even more sacred. Two precious days allow you to escape from payrolls and taxes and blueprints and parking garages and traffic. Two days. So when Sunday comes around, you wake up wanting to stay in bed, but the fact that Monday is just around the corner hangs over you. Yeah, we've all been there.

Well, apparently the Celtics don't appreciate Sunday, either. Maybe it's because towards the end of the season they stopped getting Sundays off, unlike the majority of us. Maybe missing out on Sunday dinner with the family or Family Guy or Nitro Circus finally took a toll on them. Either way, the Celtics, for the most part, hated playing on Sundays.

The Celtics played 8 times on Sundays from March 1, 2009 through May 17, 2009. In those 8 games, they were 2-6, with losses in the regular season coming to the Pistons on Sunday, March 1, to the Magic on Sunday, March 8, to the Bucks on Sunday, March 15 and to the Cavaliers on Sunday, April 12. Their only win on Sunday over the course of that stretch came against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, April 29.

Now, the postseason was equally cruel, as the Celtics went 1-2 on Sundays, during a time when each and every playoff game proved to be so important. They lost to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, April 26 and to the Magic, in their season ending loss on Sunday, May 17.

On Sunday, May 10, they were a Glen Davis Buzzer beater away from facing an 0-3 mark on Sundays in the postseason and a 3-1 series deficit against Orlando.

You know how NBA teams can work on certain situations, like during each practice they might set up an end of the game situation and run through three or four different looks? I don't think they can do anything like that to prepare for games on Sunday...

Is it possible to practice for a Sunday game? The Celtics might need to for next season. Or does that just come back to the Kevin Garnett effect?

Stay Tuned.

P.S: It's Day 3 of having my wisdom teeth out. Supposedly this will be the worst of the days. I'm working on my recovery and hope to be back to full strength sooner, rather than later. Let's see if Sunday is kind to me.

Not Much Is Going on Right Now

By: Greg Payne

The past couple days have been pretty slow news wise, needless to say. In terms of this blog that's actually a good thing, since I should really be horizontal right now.

I will mention LeBron James' buzzer beater last night. I was watching in my dead quiet basement with the lights off. When Hedo Turkoglu hit that jumper with a second left on the clock, my heart started racing. I couldn't yell or cheer or emit any other verbal reaction, but I could feel my heart pounding.

But then, LeBron did his thing. A fade away three-pointer over Turkoglu at the buzzer. Of course SportsCenter is going to eat this one up, since this is easily the biggest shot of his career. You'll see this shot about 100 times over the course of the next 24 hours. I promise you.

I'll check back in later. Short posts. Making my way back a little bit at a time.

My Wisdom Teeth Come Out Today

By: Greg Payne

I figure I'd do you all a favor and not include a picture for this post...

Yes, I will be out of action for the better part of today. My appointment to remove my wisdom teeth is in an hour or so, and I hope to be back home by early to mid afternoon. I don't plan on letting this keep me out for long. I'll be back writing as soon as I get home.

If you are interested, I'm not really looking at this as a big deal. I'm 19 and so far in my life I've had two gum graphs, braces, a filling, sealance and tongue surgery. So I guess this should be pretty routine for me. Apparently my mouth is my achilles heal.

Oh well, off I go. I'll have some good stuff for you all later on today.

-Greg

Sam Cassell Update...Did I Call That or What?

I wrote earlier (see below) that Sam Cassell would land a coaching gig at some point in the next two years. Little did I know it would happen today.

New Washington Wizards coach Flip Saunders has chosen Randy Wittman and Sam Cassell to be on his staff.

Wittman and Cassell were announced Thursday as the replacements for Randy Ayers and Phil Hubbard, who were assistants under fired coach Eddie Jordan and interim coach Ed Tapscott.

Should We Have Kept Sam Cassell?

(Photo courtesy of Steve Neimand)


By: Greg Payne

Someone asked me that yesterday. Should we have kept Sam Cassell? The friend who asked me was basically the conductor of the anti-Stephon Marbury railroad. He hated bringing in Marbury from the very beginning, and only after it was all said and done did Cassell's name factor back into the conversation.

I think it's an interesting question, but it is one that can only be asked now that the season is over. When we traded Sam to the Sacramento Kings back on February 17, it was obvious the Celtics were simply clearing out a roster spot, seeing as they accepted a 2nd-Round draft pick in return.

An interesting note: That 2nd-Round draft pick is good for 2015, long after this whole "Big Three" era is through (Realistically, at least. We might see Pierce trying to hang on for one last year).

So Sam leaves, ultimately ends up retiring (Why would he play for the 2008-2009 Sacramento Kings?), checks out a few Florida State Games in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and will most likely end up coaching a team at some point in the next two years.

In comes Stephon Marbury, and for the remainder of the season, we only see flashes of the player he once was. I think you deem the "Stephon Marbury Experiment" incomplete at this point, seeing as he hadn't played in over a year, etc., etc. You know his story.

But in retrospect, with the way Marbury didn't exactly meet expectations, would Cassell have been a better fit for this most recent postseason? Let's look at the positives and negatives for each player.

With Stephon Marbury you're getting a much quicker (and younger) guard, capable of effectively getting to the hole when he wants to. His penetration also makes him a more effective passer, as he will draw help defenders, allowing him to dump the ball down to a big man or find an open shooter on a wing or in the corner (Eddie House lived for this). You're also getting a better defender in Marbury, because of his size and his quickness.

But with Marbury this season, it was always hit or miss. There were rarely any consistent stretches where we would see 6+ points and 4+ assists night in and night out. Some nights he wouldn't score, some nights he would record assists and some nights he wouldn't defend.

Now, with Sam, you lose a lot in terms of quickness and defense, but you still have a guard perfectly capable of getting the ball over half court and he is a much more effective scorer than Marbury ended up being. Cassell's not shy, as you might recall, and he would have had no problem taking the offensive burden off of Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. His mid range game is lethal, and, even though he might not look like it, he can effectively create his own shot from 17 feet in. He also loves the pressure situations, something Marbury either isn't accustomed to, or isn't fond of.

The good thing about writing this in retrospect is that when it was all said and done the Celtics didn't end up playing too much defense in this postseason, as their 102 points per game allowed mark illustrates. So, in retrospect, having a guy like Cassell, not known for his defense, wouldn't have hurt too many things in the long run, considering the Celtics' had already botched their defensive principles.

This would have been extremely difficult to argue back on February 17, especially considering Kevin Garnett had yet to go down with his knee injury (this would happen two days later...), so at that time, everything else was going according to plan, so when Cassell was traded it was clear what the Celtics' intentions were.

But now, looking back on the postseason, this team needed more scoring, plain and simple. The defense was obviously going to take a huge step backward without Garnett, so one of our best options would have been to throw a more powerful offense at our opponent, and that would have included Sam Cassell.

So was it a mistake to trade him away? Absolutely not. There was no way to predict the events which occurred after the decision was made. But, looking back, could the Celtics have used Cassell's services this postseason? It sure looks that way.

Stay Tuned.

Doc Gives Offseason a Healthy Diagnosis

(Photo courtesy of Steve Neimand)

By: Greg Payne

You can exhale now. The Boston Celtics are just as concerned as you are. You are not the only one who feels this team needs an upgrade. Doc Rivers and you appear to be on the same wavelength.

He doesn’t want to ever again have the feeling he had this spring -- the insecurity of heading into the playoffs without his best team.

“We clearly have to add to our team,” he said.

So, in Doc's eyes, what does the team need? (Prepare to breathe easy)

“I’d say we have to get a (center) first, and we have to get a small forward. Then there’s the point guard situation.”

“We have to add shooting, and Paul (Pierce) needs a solid backup, which would help Paul drastically."

“One thing we have to absolutely add is a veteran. One thing that happened (following Garnett’s injury) was we got young quickly. Bringing in another veteran, having him in the locker room, helps all the young guys.

Losing P.J. (Brown), (James) Posey and Sam (Cassell from the 2007-08 championship team) took away something like 35 or 40 years of experience, and we got back zero.”

While Danny Ainge might have the final say, you will be hard pressed to find a better General Manager - Coach relationship in the NBA. With that said, Ainge will be that much more likely to take Doc's ideas and opinions into consideration. After all, it's not like Ainge is dealing with Mike Dunleavy. Rivers clearly seems to know what he's talking about.

“But every team we competed against this year -- the ones at the top -- added to their team, and we didn’t.”

Names like John Salmons, Brad Miller, Rafer Alston and Mo Williams come to mind...

And we battled those names with Mikki Moore...

Well, by all accounts, it looks like there will be help on the way. There's no way the Celtics' brass can diagnose a problem so easily and not come up with a reasonable solution.

Stay Tuned.

Garnett Would Have Played Against Cleveland

Interesting development from Gary Tanguay:

On the Late Edition of Mohegan Sun’s Sports Tonight, we talk about the Celtics injuries during the playoffs and how I was told earlier in the day that KG would’ve played in the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland. Celtics Exec. Director of Basketball Ops Danny Ainge also told me that they were "holding out hope" that Garnett would make his return at some point.

More on this tomorrow.

The Downfall of Eddie House

(Photo courtesy of CBTC on Flickr)

By: Greg Payne

Streaky shooters often garner the most love from their local fans. Eddie House is no exception here in Boston. We love Eddie, especially when he's in the midst of one of his offensive tirades from three-point nation. While he might not be known for his defense, we didn't bring him here for his defense. We brought Eddie House here to shoot, shoot again and shoot some more. It was a pretty basic job description, and Eddie more than earned his paycheck. That is, until Courtney Lee factored into the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

Lee missed the first two games of the series that ultimately proved to be the last of the Celtics' season, due to a fractured left sinus suffered in Orlando's first round matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers, but jumped back into the equation for games three through seven.

Let it be known that House averaged 18.5 points through the first two games of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, largely due to his 31-point outburst in Game 2, that propelled the Celtics to a much needed victory, especially given that Paul Pierce scored just three points in that game while playing a mere 16 minutes.

But Lee, a young, athletic, quick shooting guard proved to be House's kryptonite in Games 4 through 7. For reasons still unclear, House was able to score 15 points in Game 3, Lee's first of the series (that could be the reason), but once Lee rounded back into form for the final four games, he shut House down completely.

House sputtered out in the final four games of the series, averaging just 4.0 points per game, including a scoreless effort in Game 4, and a 2-point night in Game 7. While Eddie thrives in transition and off of screens in the halfcourt, Lee proved to be equal to every one of House's moves. Lee snuck around picks with the quickness of a fox, and before House could legitimately even face up to the hoop, Lee was in his grill, with his body square and a hand raised in House's face, ready to bother any shot House dared try and take.

House clearly is not one to create his own shot, but since he relies so heavily on the screens his teammates set, once that portion of his game was cut off by Lee, House was suddenly an offensive liability, which didn't sit well with him already being a defensive liability on the other end of the court.

It didn't take long for the House-Lee matchup to become a quiet game of chess between Doc Rivers and Stan Van Gundy. Whenever House would report to the scorer's table, Lee would rise up from the Orlando bench, strap on his protective mask and kneel down next to House, waiting to check in.

Ray Allen's shooting woes also factored into the equation, as Van Gundy was able to keep Lee on the bench to defend House, because J.J. Redick was doing an effective enough job on Allen. Had Allen shot better throughout the series, Van Gundy might have been forced to re-insert Lee into the starting line up to stick with Allen, but seeing as how Redick was handling Allen just fine, Lee was given the equally important role of shutting down Boston's best offensive bench threat.

Quite simply, Lee proved to be the Anti-Eddie House. If there was a Courtney Lee on every NBA team, House might have trouble finding work.

Stay Tuned.

The Draft Lottery Was Actually Entertaining Last Night

By: Greg Payne

I honestly forgot the NBA Draft Lottery was on last night, but when I flipped on ESPN at 8:44 p.m., there it was. I tuned in at just the right time, as well. I was spared all of the "dramatic" introductions and all that jazz. When I tuned in, they were getting right to the juicy part.

Things went in picture perfect order from picks 14-7. Phoenix, with the 14th best shot at taking home the # 1 pick, grabbed the 14th pick (They had a 0.5 percent chance of landing #1), and Golden State, with the seventh best opportunity, walked away with the seventh selection. All was normal.

But then, it actually got exciting...

I was ALMOST on the edge of my seat, as six teams that weren't stationed in Boston still had a chance at landing the # 1 pick, a.k.a. Blake Griffin.

I was quietly hoping Minnesota would sneak up and steal a higher spot (Because our guy Al Jefferson is still stuck out there), but they actually dropped to # 6, even though they came in with the fifth highest shot at landing the first spot.

Then, Washington, who, like us two years ago, had the second highest chance at landing the # 1 pick, dropped all the way to fifth. Just like we did. Unfortunately, this draft doesn't appear to be deep enough for them to take that # 5 pick and trade it for a perennial All-Star shooting guard the way we did. Oh well, better us than them.

By now, ESPN had this weird sound thing going on: The actual room where the picks were being drawn was absolutely silent, yet they had this dramatic music to go along with it for the television audience's sake. It sounded like a hybrid between the Survivor tribal meetings and the score from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It was a pretty intense situation, as the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings still had a shot at Griffin.

Then, the big one came. Sacramento, who came in with a 25 percent chance of landing the top choice (the highest percentage out of all 14 teams), fell all the way to fourth. Chris Webber, the Kings' representative, could only give a "It Figures" type of smile while shaking his head. Should we feel bad for Sacramento? And why was Chris Webber their representative? Is he supposed to be the greatest player in Sacramento history? If he is, no wonder Sacramento had such a great shot at Griffin...

Sacramento actually could have used Ricky Rubio, seeing as Beno Udrih isn't taking them anywhere fast. Then, they would actually have one of the younger, more exciting teams in the league, with Rubio, Kevin Martin and Jason Thompson as their core. You've got a guy who can run the show, an automatic 20+ point scorer, and a low post threat. But wait, Sacramento's picking fourth!

So now we're down to Oklahoma City, Memphis and the Clippers. Of course, we take the television time out. TV kills the moment sometimes. We come back from commercial and the three representatives for the three teams are now standing on a separate platform. Only ESPN. OKC goes third...then...dun dun, dun dun, dun dun...Memphis...

Wait...so...the Clippers have the # 1 pick?

I'll bet twenty bucks the following happens on draft night, since it's the Clippers and all: David Stern comes out to the microphone, Madison Square Garden boos him as usual...

"With the first pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Clippers select...Taylor Griffin from Oklahoma!"

The usual cheers erupt, and no one seems to notice that Blake Griffin's name wasn't actually called. It's too straight forward for even the Clippers to screw up, right? Well, Blake marches on up there, ten feet taller than Stern, and reaches out to shake his hand, only, Stern instead rises up on his tippy toes to mutter something in Blake's ear. It's horrifyingly similar to that scene from Zoolander, where Ben Stiller marches up to the stage thinking he's won the award, but worse, only because everyone in MSG thought Blake was chosen. Only the Clippers could screw that one up...

Actually...I'd give that about a 35 percent chance of actually happening...

Stay Tuned.

Regarding Tony Allen

(Photo courtesy of Adam on Flickr)

By: Greg Payne

Among the many questions the Boston Celtics face over the next four or five months lies one that might be swept under the rug for the immediate future. So far, no one has brought up the status of Tony Allen, and what his future with the Celtics looks like.

The team's priorities seem to be revolved around the general bill of health for the club and Glen Davis's immediate future, as well as Rajon Rondo's. So where does Allen stand in all of this? He has one year left on the five-million dollar contract extension that he signed on July 23 of last year, good for two years at the time.

At this point in time though, Allen appears to be nothing more than a bench commodity. He appeared in 10 postseason games for the Celtics this past year, but averaged a mere 6.0 minutes per game - not nearly enough to make any sort of significant impact. He averaged less than a point, a rebound and an assist per game over the course of those six minutes per game.

What could be more disturbing, in light of the recent news that his namesake, Ray Allen, was battling hamstring problems throughout the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, is the fact that T. Allen didn't receive any increase in minutes in order to spell his teammate for periods of time.

While Doc Rivers' coaching staff, as well as the team, felt that R. Allen would break out of his shooting slump, he was shooting so terrible at times, that Rivers had to at least ponder the idea of inserting the other Allen. But instead, Eddie House and Stephon Marbury were chosen for the task, which shows just how far T. Allen has apparently fallen on Rivers' depth chart.

Couple that with the fact that Allen played sparingly amid last year's championship run, and the Celtics seem to have a shooting guard who can't shoot from outside six feet, and apparently cannot be called upon during the postseason, which has now become the single most important stretch of the season for these Celtics. Seeing as Allen is not a rookie or even a second-year player, how much longer will management be patient?

Has Allen become trade bait, as the Celtics look to revamp their bench this offseason? Looking at the Celtics' roster, Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens' stock appears to still be too high to deal them, Brian Scalabrine proved this postseason he can be a valuable asset, no one will accept Leon Powe if the Celtics re-sign him until he can prove he can return from his recent ACL tear in his left knee and Davis remains a player the C's are reportedly intending to sign.

So that leaves Allen, along with fellow guard Gabe Pruitt, both of whom were used so sparingly in the postseason that one would think their time in Boston is running thin, especially with the Celtics looking to make significant moves without spending more cash. Trading for quality using equal value is not the same as dropping anywhere from two to five million more dollars on an extra player, while retaining Allen and Pruitt.

Slap a question mark on Tony Allen's back. It's very difficult to tell what this guard's future holds.

Stay Tuned.

Garnett to Have Surgery Next Week

From the Globe:

Celtics president Danny Ainge told the Globe's Frank Dellapa tonight that forward Kevin Garnett would have surgery sometime next week on his knee.

Owner Wyc Grousbeck said today that he expected Garnett to be back at full strength next season, and coach Doc Rivers has said he didn't expect Garnett to be out long following the surgery.

Regarding Glen Davis

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

To show you just how far Glen Davis has come over the past four months, here's what Bill Simmons wrote on April 28th, concerning Davis replacing Kevin Garnett.

(That reminds me, the Celtics haven't received enough credit for persevering without Garnett these past two months. Let's say San Antonio was missing Duncan instead of Ginobili. Would you think they were getting out of Round 1? No way. The 2008-09 Celtics have given the minutes of the 2007-08 Defensive Player of the Year, a career 11.1 rebounder and one of the best help defenders of all-time, to "Big Baby" Davis. That's not a downgrade, it's a freefall off a cliff.)

Well, Davis is about to freefall into a huge pile of dough. And not the Pillsbury kind. A large sum of money is awaiting Glen Davis this summer, whether it be in Boston, or some place else.

“If I was a rookie, I’d be like, ‘Man, I want to stay here,’ but now I understand that it’s a business,” Davis said. “I love the staff here. I love the coaches. I love everybody here, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Hopefully it works out. If it not, then not. If I have to go somewhere else, I’ll go somewhere else.”

While it might be a business, there are such things as pay cuts. Just because Glen Davis might deserve 5-10 million dollars, doesn't mean he has to accept that. But here, in my opinion, comes the most devastating issue in sports these days. Would Glen Davis rather win a championship or make an extra three million dollars? Would we call that putting a price on a potential championship?

Hypothetical Situation: Davis demands eight million dollars, but the Celtics are not willing to go that high. Keep in mind, these are the same Celtics who refused to pay James Posey just a year ago. The Celtics are willing to offer Glen six million dollars, maximum.

Would it be so much for Davis to accept two or three million dollars less, for the right to stay on a legitimate championship contender? Sure, with Kevin Garnett back in the picture Davis would be back on the bench. But at this point, we wouldn't be looking at him as just another bench guy. Davis would be The Guy off the bench for us. Think of some of the greatest sixth men in Celtics history: John Havlicek, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton. What's wrong with joining such an elusive and legendary club? There's no shame in being a sixth man. There's an award for it!

“I love it here –– the city, the fans," said Davis. "The coaching staff has been really important [in the development] of my game. … [I got] my first start here, and I’m always going to have a soft spot for here. We won a championship here. I hope that it works out for the best and everybody is satisfied.”

If you love it here, then stay here. Pull a Tim Duncan. Take a pay cut (if need be), and win your second and possibly even third, championship here. Hall of Fame inductions aren't determined by how many millions of dollars a player makes throughout his entire career. No one's going to look back on Davis's career and say, "Woah, he made 10 million dollars that season". Instead, they will be much more likely to look back on it and say, "He was so important to the Celtics winning those three championships".

My final point: If Davis is as good as we all think he is at this point, then he can still break bank when this "New Big Three" era has come to an end. Davis will most likely be in his prime at that point, and if the championship window has closed here in Boston, he can then put himself out on the market for a hefty contract. If the Celtics win even one more title, with Davis having a hand in that, and then he enters free agency, look at some potential eye-catchers on his resume:

2-Time (3-Time?) NBA Champion
Finished in the Top 3 in Sixth Man of the Year voting twice
Has proven he can be a very serviceable starter and bench player
Has a reliable jump shot and has been known to hit big shots
A great teammate: accepted less money to help his team win

Sounds like a deal breaker to me.

Stay Tuned.

A Taste of How Little We Actually Know

Doc Rivers was interviewed on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan earlier. An interesting tidbit that came out of it:

Ray Allen had a hamstring problem throughout the Orlando series that was not getting better. Paul had some bone spurs that may need to be removed as well. (Kendrick Perkins) may have to have a procedure on his shoulder… In Ray’s case, I thought his hamstring was bothering him a lot. That could have had an effect on him (during the Magic series).

Are these things we should want to know? Do we have the right to know these things, specifically in Pierce and Allen's cases? We knew Perk had a lingering shoulder problem, but to my knowledge, no one came out during the Magic series and said, "Yeah, Ray's hurt, by the way". The same goes for Pierce's bone spurs. The only bone spurs we knew about were the ones that Kevin Garnett is dealing with.

Should we be upset that such information is being withheld from us? Players admit to playing at less than 100 percent all the time, but isn't this a little over the top? In Paul and Ray's cases, we're talking about two potentially substantial injuries that would greatly effect their individual performances.

A hamstring injury that was not getting better? So what would have happened had we gotten past Orlando? Would Ray have shut it down as well? Here we are, as fans, trying to figure out why our team is playing so poorly, coming up with every possible reason we can think of, when the simple answer was...they were hurt.

Interesting...

I'm going to ponder this one for a little while...

Stay Tuned.

The Draft Lottery and Some Other Important Dates

If you care at all about the NBA Draft Lottery, which is set to take place tonight at 8:30pm, check out Chad Ford's piece, here. Since we're not in the Blake Griffin sweepstakes (and I prefer to keep it that way), there's no real point in breaking it down, although it could garner a comment or two later tonight or tomorrow...

Here are some other important NBA-related dates that might interest you:

June 25 - The NBA Draft - Right now we have the 58th pick, but if you remember back to the 2005 NBA Draft, we scooped up Ryan Gomes with the 50th pick. Quality guys are capable of dropping.

July 1 - July 7 - Moratorium: Players can begin negotiations with teams, but cannot sign contracts.

July 8th - NBA Free Agency begins. Contracts can be signed.

Keep an eye out for the Summer League, featuring Bill Walker, J.R. Giddens and Gabe Pruitt.

And So the Offseason Begins

Steve Bulpett gives some nice insight into the offseason. According to his report, Danny Ainge has a busy summer ahead of him.

“Well, we definitely need to improve our frontline,” he said.

No date has been set for Kevin Garnett’s right knee surgery, but the Celtics have every expectation that the forward will return to form next season. But with forward Leon Powe (torn ACL) out until at least the All-Star break -- and that’s even if they bring the restricted free agent back -- the Celts clearly will need to add tall people.

Look for them to check out point guards and wing defenders, as well.

“There are a lot of things I’m going to explore this summer,” Ainge said. “But a lot of things are based on timing and who might be available at the right time.

“Right now we’re taking a big look at the draft to see what might be there for us. We’re checking to see if there are any players we might want to trade up for.”

Technically there are no real surprises here. Every team wants a legitimate back up center and point guard, and wants a deep bench, but it typically will come down to a matter of cost. Not every team is fortunate enough to have a guy like Tim Duncan, who will gladly accept a pay cut if it means keeping or signing a player who has proven value.

I'll dive into Glen Davis's situation later on.

Stay Tuned.

Regarding Stephon Marbury

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

I supported Stephon Marbury joining the Boston Celtics. We needed a backup point guard, didn't we?

Well, looking back on it, he didn't exactly make me look like the genius like I wanted him to. But at the same time, he wasn't the Stephon Marbury that we all knew, either. Both on and off the court.

The biggest issue, of course, was his "cancer-like" personality, which would have infected the Celtics' locker room, thus destroying the team chemistry that acted as some sort of sixth man in last year's championship run. But, Ubuntu was too strong for Marbury, just like I thought it would be all along. And in the end, Ubuntu wasn't even needed. Marbury didn't show any signs of being the man he was back in New York and became immersed in Ubuntu, just like every other player. Isn't that all Marbury seems to want at this point? Just to be one of the guys?

Now, as for his on the court production, we all know he wasn't exactly "Starbury". His regular season averages with the C's of 3.8 points per game and 3.3 assists per game are less than stunning, as are his 3.7 points per game and 1.8 assists per game in the post season. To me, though, the immediate wrap on Marbury was that he would "hurt" the Celtics. I am pleased to conclude that that assumption could not be farther from the truth. In what area did Stephon Marbury "hurt" the Celtics? There is a fine line between "not helping" a team and "hurting" a team, and Marbury never crossed it.

He properly upheld the traditional point guard responsibilities. He managed to bring the ball across half court (except for that one time against Will Bynum...), he initiated the offense, often was a major factor in Eddie House heating up off the bench, and knocked down a shot every once in a while. His consistency could be questioned, but that falls into the "not helping" category, rather than the "hurting" category.

I do have one burning question though, and, depending on how this is answered, will greatly influence me on whether or not he should return next season: Did we see the real Stephon Marbury?

I could argue this all day, and I might dedicate a post to it in the near future, but is it possible that everyone in New York who hated Marbury was wrong? Were they brainwashed or disillusioned? Did they judge Marbury based on an already established reputation, thus fueling the hatred? Logic and reasonableness would suggest that they weren't and that they didn't, which is why I have to raise the following point.

Was the Stephon Marbury we saw masking his true self, immersed in a charade to get us all to believe that he has changed his ways? Was he putting up this disguise so other teams would see him in a new light for a few months, prompting a potential contract?

If that was the case, if he were to stay another season, would he develop a sense of comfort (which we want our players to have), which would ultimately lead to his "other" side coming back into full form? I couldn't deal with the Celtics wasting a whole season because one player was acting out. I'm still tempted to say the old Stephon Marbury won't resurface, but I still need to ask the question.

Now, if his dark side were truly vanquished, and he was willing to return at a reasonable price, I would be all for bringing him back. He would get to participate in a full training camp with the team, Kevin Garnett would be back in the equation and he would most likely have a completely revamped bench to work with.

He has expressed interest in returning:

"I mean I love it here, I loved playing basketball here," said Marbury. "That's where I am right now... I don't know what my future holds. I"m just going to wait and see what the future holds."

I'm in favor of bringing Steph back. I just need to see what kind of man he will be, first.

Stay Tuned.

Regarding Mikki Moore

(Photo courtesy of Steve Neimand)

By: Greg Payne

In my eyes, Mikki Moore's stint with the Boston Celtics officially came to an end midway through this most recent playoff series with the Orlando Magic. I was doing my usual post game press conference work, listening to Doc talk to the media, when I heard him utter something like, "It's tough when you only have two bigs."

He didn't consider Brian Scalabrine a big, let me make that clear. But apparently, he didn't consider Mikki Moore one, either. I knew Moore's tenure was up when Doc (a.k.a. like the nicest person on this planet) didn't include him in the conversation. Clearly, Mikki Moore was no longer part of the equation.

This was no "Eddie House of last postseason" situation, where Moore flustered out in one round, only to be reborn with a new sense of self and some credible hustle to go along with that in another round. Once the playoffs hit, Doc never uttered the phrase, "Mikki Moore will turn it around", or "Mikki Moore will get it together", or even, "Mikki Moore will be fine, guys". Nope, nothing like that. Moore came to our team with good intentions. But in the back of our minds we were accepting Mikki Moore's potential length and rebounding more than we were actually accepting Mikki Moore. We said he was no P.J. Brown. We were right.

Let me give you some final stats that show not re-signing Moore could actually be a good thing:

He played a grand total of 15 minutes against the Orlando Magic. Remember that old personal foul to block ratio I loved to harp on? The final numbers: 10 blocks...107 personal fouls. Woof.

Mikki just could never master the defensive principles that this team was built around. He was always late in his rotations, and as a result, he was always out of position, which led to all of those personals. It's tough to support Moore here, only because Glen Davis, a second year player, seemed to have the rotations down as well as anyone, but Moore, an 11-year veteran, didn't.

Finally, this year's free agent class hurts Moore's chances, let alone all of next year's inevitable hoopla. With guys like Jarron and Jason Collins and Rasho Nesterovic sitting out there (quality backups who shouldn't be demanding a ton of money) in free agency, Danny Ainge would have to be enticed to pick up one of them over Moore, right?

Backup centers can get away with averaging 20-22 minutes, 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1-2 blocks and 3 fouls. Especially since our center, Kendrick Perkins, is still a very young man, capable of playing major minutes if need be.

So, while I was one of Mikki Moore's biggest critics, I wish him well. If he were to be on this roster next season I would be dumb founded, but, like any new player that comes here, I would welcome him with open arms. Until the first game of the season when he picks up three fouls in two minutes. But I digress.

Stay Tuned.

P.S.: I just read...Mark Blount's a free agent...