Yesterday our pal at ESPNChicago, Nick Friedell, wrote a post chronicling a day he spent with Brian Scalabrine. Surprise! He’s a normal guy. The post centers around a trip to the mall where Scal has to get his computer fixed at the Apple Store, something I’m sure most of us have had to do. Overall, the story is that boring kind of “then we did this…this is what I had” piece but there were a few nuggets of interest:Scal has a Tea Lady
Scal says in the beginning of the post that he doesn’t come to the mall a lot. In fact, he doesn’t leave his home a lot because he’s always traveling and his actual home is in Washington (state). However, he must go to this particular mall enough to have a certain Tea lady:
“We head into Teavana next, a tea store in the middle of the mall, in which Scalabrine has become close to the older woman who manages the store. He swears by the mixes of tea she has put together for him in the past. He trusts she would brew him up something good.
When we walk in and we’re told the woman no longer works there, Scalabrine can’t believe it.
‘She left without telling me?’ he said.
After a few minutes of conversation with the current employees, Scalabrine decides he doesn’t want to get any tea on this day. The woman behind the counter tries to change his mind, showing him all kinds of new concoctions she has put together with all the different leaves and herbs, but he’s not budging.
‘You don’t want to be the rebound tea lady, do you?’”
The line is hilarious and definitely Scal. I just wish he went to some underground/hole in the wall Tea store in Wicker Park rather than Teavana. How hilarious would it be if Scal was a hipster with a ton of friends who didn’t know he played basketball?
How Scal is treated on the court
I think this is pretty revealing, actually. Scal goes on to talk about fans’ reactions when he gets into the game and how that translates to player-effort in terms of who’s guarding him.
“No one wants to be the guy that the White Mamba scores on. So these guys are playing defense on me like it’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals. It’s something you’ve got to get used to.”
It’s cool that Scal acknowledges that his opponent would be insulted if Scal scored on him but also kind of sad. I mean, Scal is an NBA player. Celtics’ fans have seen that he certainly has a place in the league.
Mentioning the finals also reminded me of the time Scal got into the game against the Lakers for the last 30 seconds or so of the half. He checked Lamar Odom and after a few failed attempts at getting by Scal, Odom had to give up. Just a little thing I will always remember: he may not be the most athletic, but he’ll always make the smart play.
Again, most of the post is filled with stuff I really don’t care about (“Scalabrine orders the pork tacos, I grab a Barbeque Chicken Pizza.”) but it’s definitely worth a read. Don’t expect anything too revealing, it’s pretty much exactly what you think a day with Scal would be like.
Let the backtracking begin.Only a day or so after it was reported that Danny Ainge was all like, ‘yeah of course I’d trade the big three. They old as hell. Wake Larry Bird up! I’m trading him too!’ the Celtics are backtracking a bit. Dan Duggan at the Boston Herald has the quotes:
“You don’t ever like hearing that. But listen, Danny and I are always on the same page,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I don’t think he meant in any way that he was trying to trade anybody. I think that was the way it was looked at. I would say it’s a very strong possibility that we’re going to get this together and there’s a stronger possibility that every single guy will be here.”
Pierce hasn’t spoken to the reporters since the original report appeared on Tuesday, but teammate Rajon Rondo [stats] was able to relate to the situation.
“It’s a business. I was heavy in trade talks this summer, so I guess it’s their turn now,” Rondo said of Pierce, Garnett and Allen. “I don’t know. It still could be me. You never know. It’s just part of the business.”
The original Ainge quote was a bit of a paraphravision but I believe it contained his intent. Don’t be fooled, Ainge won’t hesitate to blow up the big three for 75 cents on the dollar. Especially since what is 75 cents to everyone else is a like a $1.50 and a free coke to Ainge.
Rondo is day to day. Which means Avery Bradley is likely to start if you believe Chris Forsberg’s practice report:
“It’s still sore; I took like 10 Advil, so I’m OK,” said Rondo. “I don’t know [about Friday's game]. Hopefully I get a good night’s rest. I’ll be in treatment pretty much all day today. Other than that. We’ll see tomorrow.”
Rondo elected to push his MRI to later in the day so that he could attend the Boston’s hourlong practice session at the Celtics Training Center and mentor young guards Avery Bradley and E’Twaun Moore. It’s likely that Bradley, who ran with the first team Thursday, could draw the spot start, especially with reserve guard Keyon Dooling still out of action with a knee injury.
First thing’s first: Rondo is awesome. He practices even with a sprained wrist- wait a second, he doesn’t even know if it’s sprained because he delayed his MRI. Baller. On a scarier note, Bradley may start. I’m ambivalent when it comes to this prospect. On the one hand, who cares? It’s nice to see Bradley get more time so we can see what happens. On the other hand, it’s Bradley! Against Nash! Ahh….!
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