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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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.  [...]

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Shaq Out For Game 4

You can file this one away in the “no kidding” department, but Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston has confirmed that Shaquille O’Neal will not be making his postseason debut for tomorrow afternoon’s Game 4 against the New York Knicks. The reasons for this are likely two-fold.

1) Shaq’s still not ready to go.

2) Even if he were ready, risking Shaq’s return while up 3-0 against an undermanned Knicks squad would be foolish to say the least.

For now, the Celtics look to head into the Garden on Easter Sunday to wrap things up, and give O’Neal and company some added time to rest up before next round’s inevitable showdown with the Miami Heat.

At this point, I’ve also had a lot of people ask about a realistic timetable for Shaq’s return at this point. If you do some quick math on this, let’s take into account:

-Shaq suffered the calf injury April 10th vs Detroit.
-The younger and more nimble Von Wafer and Kevin Garnett both suffered calf injuries and missed upwards of three weeks of playing time.
-Shaq’s sprain was reportedly less severe than both of those players according to Doc, but he also has the Achilles’ issue which undoubtedly is related and has an effect on the current injury.

Given all of those realities, expecting an O’Neal return any sooner than three weeks after that April 10th date seems like wishful thinking for the 39-year-old center. Even that timetable may be optimistic.

The good news is the Celtics could be opening up their second round matchup around that time next weekend where the Shaq returning to the floor speculation may get a bit more realistic for a change. For now, let’s wait to hear about a practice where he passes Dr. McKeon’s conditioning test, then we’ll talk.

More from Doc after the jump

Some video via Chris Forsberg at today’s shootaround:

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