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9 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 [...]

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9 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 [...]

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10 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 [...]

94
11 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
14 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 [...]

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14 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 [...]

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Update As We Count Down to Armageddon: RJ Opts Out, Chandler’s Gone, Doc’s Schedule

Some notes as we approach the three-hour mark before Free Agent Fun Times 2010:

• In what qualifies as the biggest surprise as the free agency season so far, Richard Jefferson has opted out of the final year of his contract, which would have paid him a shade over $15.2 million. Read that again. Holy crap. Add RJ to the list of “sexy” free agent wings that might be available for the mid-level exception or below. Look: RJ was a disaster as a $15 million player expected to play 30 minutes a game, score 15 or so points per game and play solid defense. 

As a mid-level player expected to play 18 minutes a game and score 9 points?

He’s worth a look, particularly from a team desperate for back-up wings who can score—and a team whose star wing player just exercised his early termination clause in order to become a free agent.

• Tyson Chandler has seen the light and decided against opting out of his $12.6 million deal, meaning you can cross him off your wish list of potential big man free agents available at or near the mid-level. 

• While Chandler’s out, Ronnie Brewer is in. The Grizzlies declined to tender Brewer his $3.8 million qualifying offer, meaning he’s a free agent in a fairly weak negotiating position. His own team decided he wasn’t worth a $3.8 million qualifying offer even though they dealt away a conditional first-round pick for Brewer just four months ago. Yikes. 

• I missed this yesterday, but Randy Foye is also on the free agent list after the Wiz declined to make Foye a $4.8 million qualifying offer. Foye has never really found his place in the league. He’s not a full-time point guard, and he’s not a starting shooting guard on a good team, mostly because he can’t shoot well enough to justify such a role. 

But could he be an interesting back-up combo guard for a piece of the mid-level? Maybe. 

• Finally: A Sherrod Blakely of Comcast New England just talked to guys on NBA TV and said the Celtics might be willing to give Doc Rivers some unique schedule flexibility next season. Specifically: Blakely said we should “not be surprised” if the C’s allow Doc to take a few games off and hand head-coaching duties over to the lead assistant. Blakely didn’t site any sources, so he could have just been speculating. I’m dubious Boston would let Doc do this—the Lakers refused to allow Phil Jackson a similar accommodation two season ago—but you never know.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Frank, rumored as Tom Thibodeau’s replacement, was sitting silently next to the talking heads in the NBA TV studio as they discussed Boston’s coaching situation….

We’re three hours away, folks. Hold onto your hats.

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