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6 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
7 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
8 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 [...]

93
9 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
12 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
12 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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Open Water Bass: Brandon Opts Out

Brandon Bass has opted out of the final year of his contract and will join Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen as part of the free agent class of 2012. Bass was scheduled to receive $4.25 million in 2012-13 but after a solid year with the Celtics, will be looking for a multi-year deal and a higher annual salary.

Bass, 27, proved a solid stretch-4 for the Celtics in their post-all-star offense, which featured Garnett in the middle. His ability to hit the mid-range jumpshot (he shot 48% from 10-23 feet, a marked improvement over Glen Davis, who occupied the same role in 2010-11) opened lanes and provided options for a Boston offense that struggled to score all season.

Bass’ game has two key weaknesses: while he’s a decent one-on-one defender (except against LeBron James) he’s a weak rebounder for his position and regularly got lost in Boston’s team defense, a problem that might not carryover into a second year with the Celtics.

All indications are that Bass wants to return to Boston and is a strong fit with the Celtics culture. He’s also in the early seasons of what should be his prime and a decent option running the floor with Rajon Rondo.

His return is no sure thing though. The Celtics face a number of major decisions this offseason and Danny Ainge has been critical of signing role players to multi-year contracts before knowing which stars they’ll be supporting. Bass (14.21 PER) is ultimately replaceable should his market prove too pricy for Boston’s front office, if he doesn’t fit with the direction of the team, or if Ainge wants to preserve cap space for the summer of 2013.

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