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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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

42
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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Celtics To Host Big Man Draft Workout Today in Waltham

The start of the NBA Finals and the beginning of the month to June are usually a couple good signs that NBA draft season is in full effect. With much work to be done this offseason to fill various voids on the roster, the Celtics front office has been hard at work scouting college prospects all over the country for months now.

Today however, the C’s get their first look at a variety of players on their home turf in Waltham. The names on the list shouldn’t get anyone too excited, as most of these bigs are potential 2nd round draftees, but it’s important to note just how much success Ainge has had in the past poaching useful big man out of the second round. Glen Davis, Leon Powe, Semih Erden, and Ryan Gomes are just a few of the guys who have been contributors at some point for Boston, despite being drafted late.

A couple other items of interest before we get to the full list. First,  Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald notes that the biggest name invited to the workouts, Butler’s Matt Howard, has pulled out. Murphy explains his absence, as well as the lack of potential first rounders at today’s workout.

The Celtics personnel staff saw him work out during a group session last week in Minnesota. That, plus Howard’s well-known body of work in college, will have to suffice.

“A lot of times the guys you are interested in don’t come in for a workout,” Celtics president Danny Ainge said yesterday. “When you pick at (No.) 25, sometimes the guys you like think they are going higher.”

In addition, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com, also passes along the news via the C’s, that Doc Rivers will not be in attendance for the workout, as he continues his recovery from offseason throat surgery. No real surprise there, as Rivers tends to leave the scouting heavy lifting to Ainge all year long.

Here’s the full list of today’s prospects, via the Herald. The good news about all these guys? They all hit the glass hard, a major area of need for the C’s this offseason.

VCU’s Jamie Skeen (6-9, 240)
Wisconsin’s John Leuer (6-10, 228, 18.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg),
Old Dominion’s Frank Hassell (6-8, 261, 15.1 ppg, 9.4 rpg),
Temple’s Lavoy Allen (6-9, 225, the Owls’ all-time rebounding leader with 1,147 over four years),
Richmond’s Justin Harper (6-10, 225, 17.9 ppg, 46.5 3-pt. percentage) Keith Benson (Oakland University, 17.9 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 3.6 bpg).

And here are the guys coming in for Monday’s workout:

Terrence Jennings (Louisville, 6-9, 220, 9.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
Vernon Macklin (Florida, 6-10, 240, 16.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg),
Kevin Anderson (Richmond, 6-foot, 175, 16.6 ppg, .408 3-pt.)
Demontez Stitt (Clemson, 6-2, 180, 14.5 ppg, 3.3 apg).

Have any CelticsHubbers seen any of these lesser known names up close? Whose skills could translate best to the NBA level? Let’s start the discussion now.

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