Monday Notebook: Garnett and Rondo Hang With Snoop Dogg, Jeff Green Interview, Hollinger on C’s Offseason

Posted by Brian Robb on Aug 6, 2012 3163512 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2012%2F08%2F06%2Fmonday-notebook-garnett-and-rondo-hang-with-snoop-dogg-jeff-green-interview-hollinger-on-cs-offseason%2FMonday+Notebook%3A+Garnett+and+Rondo+Hang+With+Snoop+Dogg%2C+Jeff+Green+Interview%2C+Hollinger+on+C%27s+Offseason2012-08-06+19%3A51%3A21Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D31635

A rather eventful day for August for the C’s around the web today, so let’s get to all the goodness in today’s notebook.

We haven’t heard or seen much of Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett this summer publicily, but the two stars were out and about north of the border over the weekend, hanging out with the one and only Snoop Lion, (formerly known as Snoop Dogg, he changed his name last week, that’s all I know). Lion had the above photo posted on his Facebook page while at the OVO Fest a musical festival in Toronto, which was headlined by Drake. I wonder (and hope) if KG continues to call Rondo shorty while hanging out with him away from the locker room.

As we wait for the Jeff Green signing to become official, the small forward sat down with Heels to Hoops for a wide-ranging interview on his past and future. A few highlights from the exchange include:

–He’s feeling better now than ever, since the surgery
–He enjoys Boston as a city better than OKC
–He couldn’t ask for a better situation than playing with multiple Hall-of-Famers

--John Hollinger of ESPN.com broke down the good, bad, and ugly of the NBA’s offseason, and had some positive words on what Danny Ainge was able to accomplish in putting together another contender for next season, despite what should prove to be a questionable Green contract I’ll continue to withhold judgement until I see the final terms.  Here’s Hollinger:

Even though I hate the Jeff Green deal with every fiber of my being, Boston’s offseason was so good in other respects that I have to put them here. For all the angst over Allen’s departure, the Celtics’ ability to put together a creative sign-and-trade for Courtney Lee effectively made it a moot point; Lee is younger, defends better, shoots 40 percent on 3-pointers and costs less than what they had offered Allen.

The Celtics also got some much-needed bench scoring by picking up Jason Terry with their midlevel exception — something made possible by inking Kevin Garnett to a cap-friendly deal that will keep them below the tax apron — and then rounded things out by keeping Brandon Bass and stocking the bench with some solid minimum deals (Jason Collins, Chris Wilcox, Keyon Dooling). First-rounder Jared Sullinger looks like a keeper, too.

The one negative was the Green deal, which is believed to be four years, $32 million — far too much for a player who has proven fairly replaceable in his first four seasons and missed the fifth with a heart problem. Nonetheless, Boston, against all odds, seems primed for yet one more run.

Hollinger is usually tough on the C’s prospects, so hearing him unleash this kind of positivity has to be encouraging.

Finally, if you are looking reason #3,451 why Doc Rivers is beloved by most athletes in the locker room, check out this fun piece from the Boston Globe by Chad Finn about Doc meeting Olympic judo gold medalist and Massachusetts native Kayla Harrison. Doc immediately wins over Harrison, (who is a big C’s fan herself) and all the while, Doc managed to get in a shot at his team’s rebounding while recounting the story to Finn.

“I know nothing about judo,’’ Rivers said. “Actually, her manager was trying to explain it to me because I told him that I saw a match that morning and it lasted about 10 seconds. The person was flat on her back and I wasn’t sure what happened. But I told Kayla I needed her to teach all my bigs how to block out. She got a big kick out of that.”

We’ll have plenty on that rebounding issue Doc speaks about later this week here at CH.