The biggest news of the season just happened to occur about a month ago.  As you all know, Kendrick Perkins was traded away to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green.  You may not know this, but blogger-superstars Matt Moore and Rob Mahoney run an awesome audio blog called “Voice On The Floor”.  Matt asked me to talk about the trade and what it meant for the city of Boston in an installment you can listen to here:

• Voice On The Floor: Brand of Betterment

Earlier this month, the TrueHoop Network pretty much took over the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference.  Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference.com was cool enough to aggregate all the posts written by the Network but if you want to read the stuff written specifically by CelticsHub writers, be sure to check out these:

• Brian Robb: How much trouble is early foul trouble?

• Ryan DeGama: A championship four years in the making

• Brendan Jackson (Excerpt): Malcolm Gladwell and player development

CelticsHub has also been all over HoopSpeak as well.  If you don’t know HoopSpeak by now, you should.  HoopSpeak.com is an NBA blog started by Ethan Sherwood Strauss and Beckley Mason.  It’s funny, informative, and best of all:  it’s doing a Basketball Culture 101 college course.   Ryan, Hayes, and myself have all written papers for this class and these can be read and critiqued here:

• Ryan DeGama: Basketball Culture 101: Magic, Bird And Cultural Memory

• Hayes Davenport: For Want Of An Arli$$

• Brendan Jackson: Bill Russell’s Life in Black and White

Speaking of Ethan and Beckley, they are two of my compadres in ESPN’s new weekly series TrueHoop TV.  In case you missed them, here are the first few episodes:

Deron Williams vs Carmelo Anthony in a Trade Battle to the death:

Who is the best in the East (guess who I picked):

Lakers vs. Heat:

Coaches League or Players League?:

These can be seen pretty much every Wednesday on ESPN.com/NBA.  Tomorrow’s episode is about revisiting the Carmelo Anthony trade.

And here is the triumphant return of The Tommy Point.  And how could we not pick this gem from Friday’s loss to the Houston Rockets.  Tommy becomes incensed when Chase Budinger flops badly and says a word he probably can’t say on TV.  Can you guess what it is?

• Mike Brown could be out in Cleveland?: There are reports of infighting in the Cleveland Cavaliers organization in the wake of their disappointing loss to Orlando in the Eastern Conference. And the consensus around the league is that Mike Brown was badly out-coached by Stan Van Gundy in the series. It’s a tough and unfair job; you are Coach of the Year after winning 66 regular season games. Plus you go 8-0 to start the playoffs and yet maybe you’re not the right guy for the job. [New York Daily News]
• Heinsohn recieves achievement award from NBA: The NBA Coaches Association announced today that legendary Celtics player and coach Tommy Heinsohn will receive the inaugural “Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.” The award carries on the memory of Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly. [Globe]
• Kapono could start for Sixers: With the Sixers looking to upgrade at shooting guard, it’s possible that Kapono, a 6-foot-8 swingman, could start opposite Andre Iguodala on the wing. “That’d be Eddie (Jordan’s) call in the preseason,” said Sixers president Ed Stefanski during Wednesday’s conference call. “Eddie’s thing is he can play both (shooting) guard and swing forward. We’re just happy to get a shooter of his ilk.”
  [Philly Burbs]
• McHale likely to return as coach of Timberwolves: A little birdie says that if Kevin McHale remains the Timberwolves’ coach, which now seems likely, he’ll be required to hire a former NBA head coach as his top assistant for in-depth help. The Wolves will provide McHale with a list of candidates from whom to choose. [Twincities]

• Changing of a guard: Finally clean and sober, Herren ready to embrace his post-basketball life. The 33-year-old’s hopes of returning to the NBA or playing pro basketball anywhere in world are now basically dead. With his Massachusetts driver’s license expected to be suspended soon, the Fall River hoop legend had to give up his job repossessing cars recently and is seeking employment in tough economic times. And the ex-Celtics point guard also has a wife and three kids to support. [Globe]
• Arizona prospect is hot stuff: there is one stellar prospect in their realm still trying to make a name for himself: Arizona forward Jordan Hill. Hill didn’t start playing organized basketball until the ninth grade and didn’t play in the 11th grade because of issues with his grades. The 6-foot-10-inch, 235-pounder signed with Arizona late in the recruiting game in 2006 after impressing coach Lute Olson at an AAU tournament. [Globe]
• Celtics earn solid Pat on back: When model organizations are mentioned, it still may be a Patriots universe, but the Celtics walked off with a galaxy or two last week when they were named the 2009 Professional Sports Team of the Year by the SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily. [Herald]
• Note to referees: NBA games are not about you: Dick Bavetta and Joey Crawford are among the biggest names in the NBA playoffs. But they are officiating the games, not playing in them. [Miami Herald]

Rivers on D&C: Pierce and Perkins Likely Need Surgeries, Hamstring Hampered Allen Against Magic: Celtics coach Doc Rivers, appearing on the Dennis & Callahan Show, said that shooting guard Ray Allen was hampered by a hamstring injury during the series against the Orlando Magic. “Ray had a hamstring problem throughout the Orlando series,” said Rivers. “In Ray’s case, I thought his hamstring was bothering him a lot. That could have had an effect on him.” Rivers also said that, in addition to the surgery that Kevin Garnett will require on his right knee, Kendrick Perkins likely will require a procedure on his injured shoulder, and that Paul Pierce “had some bone spurs that may need to be removed as well.” [WEEI.com]