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6 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 [...]

16
6 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
7 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 [...]

92
8 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
11 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
11 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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Catching Some C’s

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Anyone who’s read the site before knows I LOVE Bill Walker. What’s not to love? He plays hard. He plays tough. He scores 21 points in 35 minutes?

That last one, albeit a bit surprising, is exactly what he did tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers. For a player who hardly got any run in his two years in Boston, it’s a nice to see him make the most of his opportunity.

Still, it begs the question: why no love by way of PT when Walker was with the Green?

It seemed pretty clear that for one reason or the other, the coaching staff didn’t trust Walker to play the type of defense the Celtics needed him to.   Still, for a team searching for offensive answers coming off the bench, wouldn’t the Celtics have been wise to make the most of Walker’s youth and athleticism?

The answer is unequivocally in the affirmative. Walker showed tonight that not only could he put the ball in the bucket, but he could do it from all over the floor. In fact, here is his shot chart:

With the C’s looking for someone off the bench who can spread the floor, it’s a little disconcerting for Celtics’ fans to see Bill Walker go 2-for-5 from deep and make two foul line jumpers.

In no way does this one game make Bill Walker anything more than capable. The issue I have with him not getting the chance in Boston is that “capable” is all the Celtics needed him to be. With some talk brewing about bringing in Michael Finley, the Walker exodus really puts any of that “talk” in perspective.

The bottom line is, what is Michael Finley going to do in Boston that Bill Walker didn’t, or couldn’t do?

* * *

In other news, our old pal Lester Hudson was just assigned to Memphis’ D-League affiliate. I, personally, really hope Lester makes it in this league. His offensive ability can be electrifying.

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