Logo
The Ticker
8 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
8 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
9 days ago

Danny Ainge Expects Doc Rivers & Kevin Garnett To Return, Unsure About Paul Pierce

A long, challenging offseason awaits Danny Ainge this summer. Before he dives in head first, he joined Salk and Holley on WEEI-FM 93.7 to discuss the multitude of decisions facing him this offseason, as well as the progress of Rajon Rondo in his rehab from ACL surgery. A few of the notable highlights from the interview. Ainge [...]

11
9 days ago

Suns Hire Away Celtics’ Assistant GM Ryan McDonough

In one way or another, there will be change this offseason in Boston. That process started in the past couple days, with the first piece moving out coming as a name most C’s fans might not be familiar with. Yet, it was Celtics’ assistant general manager Ryan McDonough, one of Danny Ainge’s top lieutenants, who [...]

0
10 days ago

Doc Rivers Finishes 13th in Coach of the Year Voting

It was a tough season for the Boston Celtics, and that includes for head coach Doc Rivers. The long-time coach battled to find the right fit for a lot of new pieces that were both underperforming and/or failed to pick up his schemes on both ends of the floor. Naturally, an unfortunate plethora of injuries [...]

23
11 days ago

Overconfident Answers To Offseason Questions (Part 1)

It seems like every offseason since 2010 we’ve been through this: a myriad of questions and concerns about the Celtics’ roster that usually involve the possibility of the core of the team being dismantled. As we head into the summer of 2013, we’ve got a whole batch of questions, many of which will be familiar.  [...]

29
Browse Archives by:

Sunday Notebook: O’Neal(s) Injury Update, Bradley Hurts Ankle Again, Pierce Rebounds

A few noteworthy tidbits from practice as the C’s got both good and bad news on the injury front.

We’ll start with a few practice observations. The C’s worked on their half court sets and inbounds plays at the end of their two hour practice. Shaquille O’Neal was not a particpate in these plays or any of practice for that matter, instead he recieved treatment on his sore right knee, injured in a collusion with Amar’e Stoudemire Friday night.

Shaq recieved treatment on the his right knee injury and expects do be able to be back in action by Tuesday night’s contest against Detroit. Doc Rivers though was not so sure about Shaq’s status for Tuesday.

“We didn’t think about him doing anything for today. He probably won’t do anything tomorrow. Eddie (Lacerte) did not think he was ready.”

*In Shaq’s place, Semih Erden practiced with the first unit today, while Jermaine O’Neal who just returned to practice after missing Friday night’s game looked impressive with the second unit at the end of practice, blocking an Erden shot, as well as scoring decisive victories in one-on-one post drills with Luke Harangody and Erden.

Doc expects to start Jermaine if Shaq can not go on Tuesday, though he did not commit to it fully. For all you Big Baby fans wondering why the C’s best player thus far wouldn’t get the nod in Shaq’s place, Coach noted, “I don’t like starting Baby; Baby comes in at the 5 or 4 off the bench and when you start him, now you really take away a lot of options,” said Rivers. “And then if he gets in foul trouble, you’ve taken away all your options.”

Whatever way you slice it, expect Baby to get plenty of minutes Tuesday if Shaq can not go. My guy says they will play it cautious with the big guy, not wanting to risk anything so early against a inferior opponent.

One of Doc’s main fears is not having both O’Neals available on any given night before Perk comes back, so pushing it with a healthier Jermaine and taking it easy on Shaq looks to be the most appealing option.

Odds and Ends

* Doc Rivers raved about Paul Pierce’s rebounding once again from Friday night, calling him one of the three best rebounders at small forward in the league. I agree one hundred percent with that statement. We saw this kind of glasswork last year in the playoffs and a revitalized Truth is showing it may continue.

* Doc on Semih’s development: “He knows how to play, he’s just trying to learn how to play our way. The language barrier is a problem, no doubt about that, but we just gotta keep working on it. He’s going to be a good big in this league and he’s going to be a good big in this league for a long time.  I don’t know if he’s a good enough big right now. He is talent wise, but there’s just so many things. It’s tough when you’re a rookie and you understand me; It’s even tougher when you don’t.” Not exactly a raving endorsement, but nice to have your fifth guy off the bench at this juncture. Just don’t count on seeing him much this season unless the injury bug bites hard.

* Shaq pointed out he would be riding in his “Shaquita” costume sometimes on the MBTA tonight so stay glued to his twitter account, if you want to catch The Big Shamrock celebrating Halloween tonight.

*Avery Bradley can’t catch a break. He injured his left ankle again during practice. C’s said it was just a sprain and unrelated to his ankle surgery. No word yet how long it will sideline him, if at all.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>