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5 hours ago

Jason Terry’s 2012-13 Final Grade

  Acquiring any player, whether it’s via trade, free agency, or the draft, comes with an air of uncertainty. The NBA has no guaranteed covenant and all sales are final, no matter how talented, proven, or productive the player may have been in year’s past. But these memories—especially recent ones—often clouds the judgment of a [...]

3
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 [...]

19
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 [...]

12
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 [...]

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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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Sunday League Notes

• Want to get really depressed? NBA TV is airing Game 7 of the 2010 Finals right now! I’m watching The Naked Gun instead, and damn if the baseball scene in that movie isn’t one of the funniest extended sequences in movie history, even 23 years after its release. 

Speaking of the Finals, I took the Ron Artest issue of ESPN The Magazine with me on the subway on my way out last night. I wasn’t expecting much from Ron-Ron—just enough to entertain me while waiting for the E train—but he delivered a couple of tidbits about trash talk in the Finals:

“Against the Celtics in the Finals, Tony Allen got in my face, but I don’t got the time for Tony Allen.”

Ouch.

And:

“Now, if you’re a star and you’re talking trash, I’ll talk back. All series long, Paul Pierce was talking: ‘You’re a bum, you can’t score, you can’t guard me, I’m busting your ass.’ Everything.”

There was a time, maybe 15 years ago when I was a teenager, when this would have annoyed me.

It’s the NBA Finals and you’re wasting mental energy trying to come with one-liners!? But this is apparently a way NBA players get their competitive juices flowing and try to unnerve opponents, even in the biggest games. 

• Sources who are either bluffing or don’t know what they are talking about tell the Plain-Dealer’s Brian Windhorst that Shaq is considering the notion of a big-money contract in Europe. Ha.

By the way: Is “Plain-Dealer” the best newspaper name in the U.S.? I’ve always liked the Detroit Free Press, too. 

• Windhorst also reports that the Cavs still have a $1.03 million qualifying offer out to Jawad Williams, a name a few of you have mentioned as a possible C’s target despite his career 39 percent mark from the floor. The qualifying offer means Cleveland has the right to match any other team’s offer for Jawad, so he’ll be a Cav next season. 

• Phoenix is interested in Matt Janning (among many others) as a possible back-up to Steve Nash’s back-up (Goran Dragic). I mention this only because the occasional commenter will write MATT JANNING!!!!!!! in any post about whom the C’s should target as a minimum-salaried free agent. 

• You can add ex-Miami swing man Yakhouba Diawara to the Minimum Bin, according to the Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman. Diawara is working out in Miami’s gym, hoping to get a contract, but the Heat aren’t interested. 

Diawara is one of the worst offensive players in the league. Let’s leave it at that. 

• For the true die-hards, ShamSports has published both a list of just about every free agent that remains available (including Tweety Carter!) and updated the site’s essential salary database. Go there. 

Happy Sunday.

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