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13 hours ago

Rondo Replacing Johnson on All-Star Team

The Herald got it right from Rondo’s agent. According to his agent, Bill Duffy, the Celtics point guard has been named to the Eastern Conference All-star roster, presumably to replace Joe Johnson, the injured Atlanta Hawks guard. This would be Rondo’s third all-star appearance. Nice birthday present for RR, who probably should have been selected [...]

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3 days ago

Comments Deleting?

We apologize if your comments are being deleted (provided that they are not offensive). We are looking into why this is happening. We also want to apologize for the lack of a game thread for last night’s game.  We had a premonition that the Celtics would play that poorly and thought if we pretended the [...]

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7 days ago

5 Questions With Greg Monroe

I talked with Detroit star forward Greg Monroe prior to the Celtics-Pistons game on Wednesday night.  Here is what the 2nd year big man out of Georgetown, who is averaging 16.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists per game had to say. 1. Just your 2nd year in the league, but playing so well, were you disappointed [...]

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8 days ago

Call for Responses: 5-on-5

Readers! Last week’s responses to the 5-on-5 questions were really, really great. We had way more qualified answers than we were able to use. So we’re going to keep doing it! FOREVER. Here are this week’s questions: 1. Are you concerned about Rondo’s media boycott this week? 2. The trade deadline is less than a [...]

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11 days ago

5 Questions With Ronnie Brewer

I talked with Chicago starting guard Ronnie Brewer prior to the Celtics-Bulls game on Sunday.  Here is what the 6th year man out of Arkansas who is averaging 7.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists had to say. 1. You guys have a lot of the same players back from last year’s team which was [...]

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13 days ago

5 Questions With Josh McRoberts

I talked to Los Angeles back up big man Josh McRoberts prior to the Celtics-Lakers game Thursday night at the Garden.  Here is what the former Duke Blue Devil, who is averaging 2.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in his first year in LA, had to say. 1. How have you guys been able to deal [...]

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Russian Team Interested in Nenad Krstic…How Much Should We Worry?

While we at CelticsHub were taking an extra long holiday weekend (our apologies) the vast majority of you probably heard rumblings around the net (Via Sports.ru: h/t: CelticsLife) about the reported interest of a Russian pro team in the C’s free agent center:

CSKA Moscow are reportedly interested in signing Boston Celtics’ Serbian centre Nenad Krstic (27 years old, 213 cm). According to Serbian website Sportske.net, the Russian club has offered the player a long-term contract.

Meanwhile, commenting on this information CSKA president Andrey Vatutin has refrained from giving a direct confirmation or denial.

As the off-season is coming with active negotiations and signings of new players, there will be a lot of rumors on alleged future contracts around each club. Some of this information will prove to be true, some will be a complete lie and just an element of the agents’ game aimed to increase the price of a particular player. CSKA not will neither deny, nor confirm any rumors before the actual conclusion of official contracts,» Vatutin stated according to Championat.ru.

Although Krstic’s brief Celtic stint was underwhelming, primarily due to a host of nagging knee injuries, it can not be understated just how crucial the former Thunder big man could be to the C’s future plans. Why? Just take a look around the roster, where big bodies and more specifically centers are nowhere to be found. Jermaine O’Neal, the one signed center on the roster, is far from certain to return, as I documented a few weeks ago, due to retirement. That possibility places even more importance on Nenad when it comes to next season. And while it will take a while to know what the C’s are working with as far as the CBA is concerned, Krstic is one of the few crucial players that Boston has bird rights on this offseason, giving them the option to spend money on Krstic, while staying away from their pool of MLE money.

Due to this, barring a sign-and-trade, I felt like Krstic was as close to a sure thing to returning next season, giving his age, size, offensive potential, and reasonable salary (5.5 million). While no mentions of dollar amounts have been made yet over the rumored Russian offer, it’s safe to say any potential lockout could entice the European center to jump back across the pond for a more reliable and timely payday. It’s a very real scenario Boston could face, and just another reason to root against any lengthy lockout come July 1st.

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