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9 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 [...]

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10 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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10 days ago

Danny Ainge Expects Doc Rivers & Kevin Garnett To Return, Unsure About Paul Pierce

A long, challenging offseason awaits Danny Ainge this summer. Before he dives in head first, he joined Salk and Holley on WEEI-FM 93.7 to discuss the multitude of decisions facing him this offseason, as well as the progress of Rajon Rondo in his rehab from ACL surgery. A few of the notable highlights from the interview. Ainge [...]

11
10 days ago

Suns Hire Away Celtics’ Assistant GM Ryan McDonough

In one way or another, there will be change this offseason in Boston. That process started in the past couple days, with the first piece moving out coming as a name most C’s fans might not be familiar with. Yet, it was Celtics’ assistant general manager Ryan McDonough, one of Danny Ainge’s top lieutenants, who [...]

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11 days ago

Doc Rivers Finishes 13th in Coach of the Year Voting

It was a tough season for the Boston Celtics, and that includes for head coach Doc Rivers. The long-time coach battled to find the right fit for a lot of new pieces that were both underperforming and/or failed to pick up his schemes on both ends of the floor. Naturally, an unfortunate plethora of injuries [...]

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13 days ago

Overconfident Answers To Offseason Questions (Part 1)

It seems like every offseason since 2010 we’ve been through this: a myriad of questions and concerns about the Celtics’ roster that usually involve the possibility of the core of the team being dismantled. As we head into the summer of 2013, we’ve got a whole batch of questions, many of which will be familiar.  [...]

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Thunder Forced To Give Celtics Second Round Pick

As first reported earlier today by Yahoo! Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski:

NBA commissioner David Stern has punished the Oklahoma City Thunder, ordering them to send a future draft pick to the Boston Celtics as compensation for the heart problems that Jeff Green suffered with the Celtics. Oklahoma City will send Boston the 2013 second-round pick that it controls from Charlotte. Expected to be the worst team in the league again, Charlotte’s pick will likely be the 31st overall.

Before we begin dissecting this news, let it be noted that this pick is not for Thursday night’s draft, it’s for next season. Despite that class already being condemned as thin with very little juice in the middle, this still has potential to be a borderline first round pick, which is always valuable. Charlotte won’t be the worst team in NBA history next season, but they might crack the top 5. Having their pick is a pleasant surprise, and nearly two years later it helps cushion the blow that was losing Kendrick Perkins for half a season of Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic.

Now that we know what we have, let’s take a brief look at the past to see if there’s anything we can learn. Since 2006, Danny Ainge has made five picks in the second round (six if you include J.R. Giddens—who was taken 30th overall, one notch higher than where the Bobcats pick will likely land—but I’m not): Gabe Pruitt, Semih Erden, Lester Hudson, Luke Harangody, and E’Twaun Moore. Of the five, one is currently on the team (Moore), one is no longer in the league (Pruitt), two were parlayed into a 2013 second rounder from Cleveland (which could also be somewhere in the 31-35 range), and one who didn’t pan out here, but showed an impressive ability to score in bunches against NBA level defenses late last season (Hudson).

Also, not included are Glen Davis—who eventually morphed into a dependable player named Brandon Bass—and Ryan Gomes, a noted member of the gift basket that lured Kevin Garnett from Minnesota. The results here might temper expectations just a bit, but that doesn’t mean they’re terrible.

Regardless of how Danny has performed in the past (relatively well), the bottom line here is that today’s decision from the league is good news. More draft picks mean more leverage, more flexibility, and more players, which naturally increases the probability in finding ones who are talented. Danny’s history with second round draft picks might not be perfect, but Celtics fans should still be excited to see what he does now that there’s another one to play with.

Twitter: @ShakyAnkles

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