Saturday Blizzard Notebook: Candace Parker Can’t Play in the NBA, Daniels is Out Till February and Sheed is a “Grown Man”
Posted by Zach Lowe on Dec 19, 2009
Shelden Williams may be receiving some unfriendly correspondence from David Stern, because he is not exactly on board with Stern’s idea that a woman could eventually play in the NBA. Per the Globe’s notebook today:
Shelden Williams, husband to Candace Parker, arguably the best women’s basketball player, said “it’s not something that could happen,’’ pointing to the differences in size, strength, and game play.
He also said that Parker didn’t argue.
“We’ve talked about it,’’ Williams said. “She feels the same way.’’
And then Shelden maybe went a step too far (for Stern’s liking):
Williams said of Stern’s comments, “He has to say that because he wants to promote the WNBA, but it’s not something that’s realistic.’’
I mean, I like women’s basketball (being from Connecticut and all), and even I realize this is one of the top five most ridiculous things Stern has ever said (right up there alongside, “With the 9th pick of the 1994 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics select…Eric Montross!”)
Also via the Globe’s notebook: Marquis Daniels will be out until mid-February after surgery on his left wrist. Daniels tried to play through it, and he fooled the coaches for a few games. But not for long:
“You could see it in practice. He couldn’t even hold on to the ball. It’s funny he was hiding it trying to rebound with one hand. You could see him on film passing with the opposite hand more. So eventually, even I would have noticed.’’
One last tidbit from the Globe: Lester Hudson will be back in Boston soon. As in tomorrow, for the T’Wolves game. Here’s Doc:
“The original plan was to have him play a couple, miss this one, and have him come back,’’ Rivers said.
Welcome back, kid.
After the jump, we address Sheed.
After last night’s ejection, Sheed is now up to 10 techs for the season. You know what that means: Just six until his inevitable suspension/s! Should we start a Sheed Suspension Pool now? Sheed is averaging one technical every 2.5 games; at that rate, he’ll get #16 in the team’s 40th game on Jan. 20 against the Pistons. It would be fitting for Sheed to cross the suspension line against of one his old teams.
But I say he gets a little more careful as #16 approaches. So I’m calling #16 to happen in the Feb. 3 game against the Heat, if only because an ejection would allow Sheed to get a head start on the Bacardi Postgame Party slated for that night in Boston. Drink Bacardi!
Here’s Doc on Sheed, via the Globe’s Frank Dell’Apa:
Asked if he was disappointed in the ejection, Rivers replied: “Yeah, I am. I’m disappointed when anybody gets thrown out of a game. You know, whether he’s right or wrong doesn’t matter – you’ve got to control yourself to stay in the game. But he didn’t. And I didn’t – I wasn’t going to try to stand there and talk him out of it. He’s a grown man. And, you know, at some point, it’s him – he understands his value to this team, and his teammates understand his value to the team, and I think, at some point, that’ll get to him.
“Listen, I can [talk to Wallace]. And I will a little bit. But, I’m not going to have a summit, I can tell you that. It’s too early. He’s been doing it a long time. He’s an expert at it. But we knew that when we got him, and I still love him. I think he’s great, he’s been great for our team, but he’s going to have some of these days.’’
Personally? I love this attitude. Doc is basically saying, “The guy’s a brat and I don’t really have time to deal with this in December.” Sheed needs to stop playing the martyr and accept the fact that referees treat him with a double standard—one his past behavior helped create.
There is no other way to stop the technicals. He’s going to get suspended, and his suspension will hurt the team. He just better keep his mouth shut in the playoffs.
Not surprisingly, no one is happy with the team’s play last night against Philly, and people are starting to wonder about the C’s apparent lack of urgency at home. Some telling quotes from Doc via ESPNBoston’s Chris Forsberg:
“I thought it was urgency,” said Rivers. “And that manifested itself into energy. [The 76ers] played like they were going to win the game… Our starters, they let Philly back in the game. They came out with no sense of urgency [in the third quarter]. Execution tonight was awful. It was just bad. Out of time-outs, guys were running to the wrong spots, walking to their spots. You can just see it.
“We played with this swagger — a losing swagger. It’s one thing to have the winning swagger — when you go out, you feel great about your team, and you go out and play. And then there’s another thing when you just show up and you think the other team’s going to roll over and fall over because you’re the Celtics.
And then from the captain:
“Most important of all, we gotta do a better job of playing at home. I don’t know what the problem is about us playing at home this year.”
A word of caution: This storyline—What’s wrong with the C’s in Boston????—is one of those pseudo-stories that acquire a certain level of “truth” they don’t really deserve, only because the season is long and writers need to explain everything.
The Celtics don’t really have a problem playing in Boston. They just have a problem getting up for every single game. They’ll lay some eggs on the road, too. No biggie.
Howard Beck of The New York Times writes that the C’s and Blazers were the first among what is a growing number of teams doing away with ex-Celtic Bill Sharman’s creation: The morning shootaround.
Here’s Doc in what I swear is at least the second story the NYT has written about this trend:
“All of them, to a man, said: ‘Wow, it took some getting used to, but I’m fresher. I love it,’ ” said Rivers, the Celtics’ coach. “So there it is.”
And:
“If you go three, four, five days in a row with less than six hours of sleep, your reaction time is comparable to that of someone legally drunk,” Rivers said. “You’re trying to play a basketball game where just a 10th of second, a degree off, throws your whole game off.”
So the Celtics are playing like sober men. This is a good thing.
Finally, Eric Ortiz of NESN gives us the “huh?” piece of the day, in which he claims the C’s are a distant fourth among Boston’s sport teams right now:
Meanwhile, the Celtics are working undercover. They’re flying so low under the radar that they’ve been pushed underground. They have become the fourth wheel on a Big Wheel, the third wheel on a rickshaw. They are thinking about changing their mascot from Lucky the Leprechaun to Rodney Dangerfield because they aren’t getting any respect.
A little much, no?
Also a little much: This quote about Sheed, also via Ortiz
Rasheed Wallace has matured, but he hasn’t completely lost his temper and is ready to challenge Lamar Odom for the title of best sixth man on the planet.
Umm, no. No he’s not.
That’s it for the notebook. Enjoy the blizzard, if it has materialized where you are.
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