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7 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
8 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
9 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

93
9 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
13 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

42
13 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

9
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A Celtics Hub Challenge: Who Plays 2-Guard, if Not Ray?

Jeff Clark over at CelticsBlog outlined the case yesterday for trading Ray Allen. Jeff’s theory–and he makes it clear he really likes Ray–is that Allen’s trade value will never be higher than it is now, when his contract represents nearly $20 million of expiring money right when teams want their contracts to expire. Jeff also outlines some acceptable Trade Machine Deals that are mostly fair. 

I’m going to be addressing this topic in-depth in the coming days, but I wanted to get the ball rolling here by throwing out a challenge: If the Celtics decide to trade Ray Allen, who is playing the 2-guard position for this team? 

The only way this deal works is if the Celtics, either directly through the deal or through free agency or even another trade, acquire someone who can shoot three-pointers. Who’s it going to be? 

I’m not saying the Celtics need an All-World shooting guard to win the NBA title–not if they get a top-notch asset (a big man, a small forward, whatever) in this theoretical Allen deal. But I am saying they need someone besides Paul Pierce who can be on the court for 30 minutes a game and shoot three-pointers. And it would be helpful if that someone can–like Walter Ray–occasionally create his own shot in the mid-range game when teams overplay the three-point shot. 

You can’t win in the NBA right now with only one capable three-point shooter on the floor. Not with Rajon Rondo drawing defenses, and not with a team that has finished 5th and 1st in three-point shooting accuracy in the last two seasons. 

There are two main ways to get a perimeter shooter:

1) In the Allen trade, in which case it will be an older, overvalued shooter with a contract that runs beyond 2011. (Peja Stojakovic’s corpse, for instance); 

OR

2) A mid-level-exception-type player (or cheaper) the Celtics can sign during the off-season (provided the Theoretical Ray Allen Trade happens in the off-season, and, honestly, I can’t see a scenario where it goes down mid-season). 

So: Prove it to me that a Ray Allen deal is workable. Because I’m not doing it unless we somehow add a dependable three-point shooter.

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