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8 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
10 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
13 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 [...]

9
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Celtics May Land Mickael Pietrus


Mickael Pietrus is “leaning heavily” towards signing with the Celtics according to CSNNE’s A. Sherrod Blakely. Pietrus was just waived by the Phoenix Suns and if, as expected, he clears league-wide waivers Saturday, he’ll be free to join the C’s before their opener on Christmas Day.

Pietrus, who turns 30 in February, was actually moved to the Toronto Raptors earlier this month but the Raptors rescinded the trade after Pietrus experienced some knee-swelling and an irregular MRI result (the specifics of the MRI are unreported, from what I can tell).

Pietrus has a reputation as a strong wing defender and a three-point threat although both of those claims come with caveats

His defensive rep is based in part on his athleticism and physicality. It’s also based on some of his high-profile defensive assignments in the playoffs, including his work checking LeBron James in 2009. But Pietrus also has a reputation as a player whose focus can drift and whose defensive effort can slip as a result. Boston’s cultural intensity could quickly cure him of that habit, a gamble Danny Ainge may be willing to take (Ainge has reportedly eyed Pietrus in the past).

Pietrus’ three-point pedigree marks him more as a high class mongrel than a purebred. Last season, he shot .391 for the Magic, a team that prioritizes spot-up threes off Dwight Howard double-teams but slipped to .342 after being traded to Phoenix. For his career, he’s a 36% shooter behind-the-arc. Credible, but unspectacular.

For the Celtics, Pietrus isn’t a sure thing. His overall productivity numbers are poor (his last three years in PER: 9.87, 11.96 and 11.69) so he’s going to add little offensive punch (what the team really needs) but he’s a good finisher at the rim and could be the kind of player who benefits from running with Rajon Rondo. He’d also be another bench guy on the right side of age 30 (if only barely). Plus, with Jeff Green out for the year, Paul Pierce battling heel problems and Marquis Daniels a perpetual threat to go down with an injury, Pietrus could also sop up some minutes at the backup-3 as the Celtics’ schedule gets hectic.

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