Why Limiting Rajon Rondo’s Minutes Is Not an Option for Boston Celtics

 Boston  No Responses »
Nov 062012
 

Rajon Rondo has been the 1-2 Boston Celtics‘ best player thus far, but his great start may soon be curbed by a loss of playing time.  According to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com, head coach Doc Rivers wants to curb his point guard’s minutes to “save himself on the floor.”

Three games into Boston’s season, Rondo is second only to Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant with 41.7 minutes per game.

While keeping Rondo healthy and fresh is important, to take away any of his minutes would just be a foolish idea.  He is averaging 15.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 12 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting an incredible 56 percent from the floor (his perimeter shot has shown great improvement this season). 

On top of that, this is the man who gets star players Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett the ball.  He controls the offense and is great at setting plays.  Losing him for any extended amount of time would make the Celtics’ scoring sputter like a car about to run out of gas.

After all, as the New York Knicks showed us during the first half of last season, before Jeremy Lin stepped up, the lack of a true point guard can be a recipe for disaster.

More importantly, if Rondo does have minutes taken away, who’s going to run the point?  Keep in mind, the Celtics have no backup point guard, with the only other active guards on the roster being Courtney Lee, Jason Terry and Leandro Barbosa.

Nothing against those three players, but they are all shooters first and not exactly capable of controlling an offense.  On top of that, who do they rely on to get them the ball?  Why, Rondo, of course!

Also, what about losing Rondo’s defense?  He is easily the best pest in the league and is always on his man like white on rice.

He may only be 6’1″, 186 pounds and his 61 percent career free-throw percentage may be unacceptable for a guard, but he has come so far as a guard ever since being drafted in 2006.  He shows more determination than anyone on the court, playing with a chip on his shoulder so that those who underestimate him based on his size are sure to pay for their mistake.

That all being said, there is really no reason for Rivers to cut down on Rondo’s minutes.  Yes, Rondo has only averaged 32.6 minutes per game for his career, but isn’t that the whole point of developing as a player?  Your game gradually improves over time and so does your durability, so Rivers’ logic really makes no sense.

The fact of the matter is that the Celtics need Rondo to succeed.  He controls the offense and provides balance to the team’s attack.

Take him out of the game for any extended period of time, and the Celtics might as well hand the Eastern Conference legacy reins over to the Miami Heat.

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Why Darko Milicic’s Wrist Injury Increases Pressure on Kevin Garnett

 Boston  No Responses »
Oct 172012
 

The Boston Celtics added some valuable depth to their front line this summer, and now the only trick is ensuring it remains healthy.

It’s too soon to make much of Darko Milicic re-aggravating a prior wrist injury, but we know he’ll miss a few days at the very least (via ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg): 

Doc said Darko likely to sit out tonight & Thursday in Brooklyn; Hopes to have him back Saturday in Albany vs. Knicks.

— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) October 16, 2012

It goes without saying this hardly qualifies as a disaster. Even if Milicic were a key component of coach Doc Rivers’ rotation—which remains to be seen—it doesn’t sound like he’ll be missing much time. There’s always a risk that injuries can become lingering problems, but there’s not yet any reason to believe that’s the case here, according to CSNNE.com’s A. Sherrod Blakely:

Milicic told CSNNE.com that he would receive a cortisone shot tonight. Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that Milicic would miss tonight’s game against Brooklyn in addition to Thursday’s game on the road against the Nets in Brooklyn.

“It’ll be better after the shot,” Milicic said.

Darko’s assurance aside, his temporary absence highlights just how vulnerable this Celtics rotation remains, despite a summer in which the front office successfully upgraded Boston’s backcourt depth and re-signed the previously sidelined Jeff Green, an important addition to the wing.

But the center spot is a different story.

The Celtics were so desperate for a center when Jermaine O’Neal went down last season, that they turned to power forward Kevin Garnett to occupy the 5-hole, an arrangement that could very well remain in place even if Milicic stays healthy this season.

At 6’11″, KG certainly has the length to handle most of this league’s centers, but his frame is a bit more suited for quicker, more athletic 4s. As wiry-strong as Garnett is, he’s not necessarily the guy you want muscling up to a body like Andrew Bynum.

More importantly, at 36-years-old, Boston is best served by limiting the number of times their iconic big man actually has to defend the post, battling for position and expending energy to push guys off the block.

Accordingly, WEEI.com’s Paul Flannery reports that Rivers is already considering the possibility of moving Garnett back to power forward during stretches:

“We can slide Kevin over to the four to start games. The first half of the year I don’t know if that’s a bad thing, so Kevin doesn’t have a wrestling match the entire season with the bigs,” Rivers said. “There’s a lot of thoughts. We may go to a transitional starting lineup, have three different starting lineups. We’ve put a lot of thought into it, we’ll just figure it out.”

In other words, the difference between a healthy Darko and the alternative is really the number of options Rivers has when deploying his lineups—options that have as much to do with Garnett’s health as they do any strategic gains.

Were Milicic to be sidelined for any significant period of time, Garnett also becomes the lone shot-blocker on the roster outside of untested rookie Fab Melo.

Backup center Jason Collins hasn’t averaged more than 0.9 blocks in any one season, and that was an outlier. Power forwards Brandon Bass and Jared Sullinger aren’t the shot-swatting types either.

That means that in addition to handling the stresses of the post, Garnett would also be on call to patrol the lane and intimidate slashers looking to get to the basket. He’d continue to be this team’s defensive anchor, a good thing in the short-term, but a potentially costly one when the postseason rolls around.

For now, the news surrounding Milicic’s wrist isn’t all that bad, and Garnett is hoping is it stays that way.

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Keyon Dooling Explains Why He Retired in CSNNE Inteview

 Boston  No Responses »
Sep 282012
 

People were wondering why Boston Celtics backup point guard Keyon Dooling suddenly retired. He was only 32 years old and was coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference finals with a team he appeared to love. He clearly had a lot of basketball left in his body.

So, why did he decide to call it quits?

Well, on September 27th, Dooling explained it to Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com.

You can find the full article here, and man, is it gut-wrenching.

To summarize, Dooling starts off by saying one of the primary reasons he decided to stop playing ball was because he wanted to spend more time with his family. A husband and a father of four, the daily grind of being a professional basketball player caused him to miss some momentous occasions in the lives of his kids. He didn’t want that to happen anymore.

Then, Dooling dropped a bomb on all of us: He said he was sexually abused as a youth.

That is obviously devastating enough as it is and certainly weighs like an 800-pound gorilla on your shoulders. It wasn’t just that, though. Guys around the league who had been through what Keyon had been through were constantly coming to him for advice as if he were their therapist. Friends were hoping he’d be someone they could lean on emotionally, and those same friends were also calling him and begging for money.

It just became too much for Dooling to handle. He needed a break. He needed to take solace in the comfort of his family.

So he retired.

Dooling only spent one year in Boston, but the impact that he had will never be forgotten. He was known as “The Reverend” around the clubhouse for a reason. Keyon was an extraordinarily good influence on the mercurial Rajon Rondo, and you truly understand how much Dooling loves Rondo when you read the entire article. He essentially fawns over him, saying how Rajon is merely an honest guy who is misunderstood.

Dooling may very well have altered the course of Rondo’s career. He helped him grow up and mature. He helped him become a man.

It’s funny, too, because Keyon did not exactly have a very good 2012 regular season. It wasn’t until the playoffs where he made his presence known. People tend to forget that in the midst of Paul Pierce’s 36-point, 14-rebound outburst during the Celtics’ Game 2 comeback win over the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, it was Dooling who buried two huge threes to get the C’s back in the game.

It also tends to slip people’s minds that it was Dooling who drained several key treys in the classic seven-game series against the Miami Heat, particularly the two he hit in the second quarter of Game 4 (during which Dooling gave us one of the lasting images of Boston’s playoff run by jumping into the air and pumping his fist as the Heat called timeout) and the one he hit at the end of the third quarter in Game 5.

Not only that, but Keyon played tenacious defense throughout the playoffs, giving Doc Rivers someone to rely on when Rondo had to go to the bench.

Dooling encapsulated what the 2012 Boston Celtics were about: toughness and grit. He was a vocal leader in the locker room, and you could just sense his passion every time he stepped on to the floor.

Pretty much every C’s fan in the world was very happy when GM Danny Ainge re-signed Dooling this offseason. He would be a part of the team’s incredible guard depth and, just like last year, would provide a nice security blanket for Rondo. Unfortunately, that will not happen, but you have to put things into perspective.

We as writers and fans are prone to forgetting that athletes are everyday people just like us. They have to go through the daily struggle of life just like anyone else. Do they get paid a nice sum of money? Sure, but Dooling is concrete proof that money isn’t everything and that it is, sometimes, a detriment. It cannot be too pleasant having your phone constantly ringing off the hook with friends asking you to get them out of a financial rut. Keyon will tell you that it takes its toll.

I’m sure Dooling even wondered whether or not these people were even his friends. If he didn’t have all of that money, would they still call him?

Well, he’s about to find out, as he says during the interview that he no longer wants to be his friends’ provider, just their friend.

It seemed as if basically everyone knew what a class act Dooling was during his lone year with the Celtics. What everyone didn’t know was what Dooling had gone through to get to this point, and that he was playing through pain. Not the kind of pain someone plays through on a sprained ankle. No, this was much worse. It was the pain of childhood traumas immutably coming back to haunt him. The stress of knowing you had legions of people depending on you to help them through their own difficulties.

No man should have to be under that much pressure. Dooling knew that, and that is why he retired.

Enjoy the rest of your life, Keyon.

One thing is for sure: You will always be a Celtic.

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Breaking Down Why Boston Celtics Signing of Darko Milicic Is Vastly Overrated

 Boston  No Responses »
Sep 212012
 

The long, winding road that’s characterized Darko Milicic‘s nine-year career just got a little bit longer.

CSNNE.com Celtics Insider A. Sherrod Blakely reports that the 7-footer will give the Boston Celtics another option in the paint:

A league source confirmed to CSNNE.com that Milicic, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft, will sign a one-year deal with the Celtics next week for the veteran’s minimum.

The signing of Milicic will give the C’s 14 guaranteed contracts heading into training camp which begins Sept. 29.

With Kevin Garnett having to spend so many minutes at the center position last season, it’s not at all surprising that Boston is bringing in another big body to ease some of KG’s burden. Milicic has never come close to justifying the Detroit Pistons‘ decision to select him with the second-overall pick, but he can still impact a game with his size and block some shots.

Unfortunately, that’s really all he can do.

Unless the 27-year-old makes some serious, late-blooming strides, the Celtics will be inheriting a role player capable of playing a very limited role.

After all, there’s a reason Milicic is signing for the veteran’s minimum. The Minnesota Timberwolves decided to amnesty him this summer after signing him to a four-year, $20 million deal in 2010. That might not sound like the most egregious overspending this league’s ever seen, and it’s certainly more forgivable than taking the guy second in the draft.

But it was yet another instance in which a front office put way too much faith in this guy.

Don’t expect the Celtics to do the same.

They understand what Milicic brings—and doesn’t bring—to the table. He won’t add any offense, and that’s just as well with frontcourt scorers like Garnett and Brandon Bass doing most of the heavy lifting in the paint.

Milicic will surprise you with the occasional baby hook, but he’s not consistent from mid-range, and he’s not especially explosive. His career 46 percent shooting may not seem self-evidently atrocious, but it’s pretty disappointing for a guy who doesn’t stray too far from the basket.

For a man his size, you’d also expect him to grab a few more rebounds. He collected just 9.9 per 48 minutes last season, meaning there literally aren’t enough minutes in a game for Darko to average a double-double. 

Shortcomings aside, you certainly can’t blame GM Danny Ainge for making what amounts to a pretty modest move.

Blogger Bill Simmons certainly isn’t:

Heckle me all you want about Darko on the Celtics. This is a no-lose. Either we get a shotblocker or nonstop comedy. I fully support it.

— Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33) September 20, 2012

Of course, Boston may very well get some shot-blocking and comedy alike.

If Boston can get 15 minutes a game out of Milicic, head coach Doc Rivers will probably be happy enough. If Milicic doesn’t play with enough toughness to earn those minutes, we might see Fab Melo in action a little more often.

In other words, nothing hinges on Darko—and that cuts both ways. He won’t wow anyone, and he won’t break any hearts.

So long as Celtics fans don’t get too high or low on what amounts to a pretty marginal roster adjustment, they won’t find themselves disappointed by the results.

The Detroit Pistons have to live with the knowledge that they could have instead drafted Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade. The Celtics are only giving up a little bit of money.

This may not be the bargain of the summer, but it won’t be its biggest mistake either.

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NBA Rumors: Avery Bradley Might Miss 2 Months of Play

 Boston  No Responses »
Jul 272012
 

The Boston Celtics might be without their starting shooting guard, Avery Bradley, for longer than they might have thought as he recovers from shoulder surgery.

Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge told CSNNE.com:

“We know there’s a possibility that Avery won’t be able to play the first month of the season. So we have to be prepared for that.You never know how these things play out; will it be a month? Or two months? I don’t think it’ll be much longer than that, or he could be back sooner. You try to build a roster where you can get by with any injury, that can sustain you through a short period of time.”

While Celtics management have held out hope that Bradley would be healthy by training camp, this situation is looking more and more unlikely by the day.

Even though having Bradley in the lineup against the Miami Heat on October 30 would have made the matchup closer, it is better for the shooting guard out of Texas to only return when he is fully healthy.

Boston bolstered their 2-guard rotation by picking up Jason Terry and Courtney Lee, both of whom are capable of playing at least 25 minutes a game each while Bradley is out.

Terry and Lee are able replacements for the time being, but they are not the defensive presence that Bradley is.

The third-year guard is one of the best on-ball defenders in the league, with the ability to stay on virtually any guard in the league.

His offensive game has improved steadily, especially with Rajon Rondo as his point guard. Bradley averaged 15.1 points per game in April, when he played 32.9 minutes a night.

Shoulder injuries can be recurring, so it is best for the Celtics to slowly bring back Bradley. Nobody would want Bradley to re-dislocate his shoulder during the season.

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Boston Celtics: Why the C’s Must Re-Sign Brandon Bass

 Boston  No Responses »
Jun 212012
 

With the impending free agency of so many Celtics just around the corner, it’s not terribly surprising that most of the news, rumors, blogs and discussion has centered around the two members of the Big Three that may be headed elsewhere, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

Not a lot has been said or written about another free agent who played most of the year in the starting lineup and had a major impact on the team’s run all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Brandon Bass last week opted out of the $4.25 million player option in his contract to test the free-agency waters. It was a wise move; Bass clearly outplayed his deal and was right to wonder what he could be worth on the open market on the heels of his excellent debut season in Boston.

Now, the C’s have to make enough room in their plans—from the upcoming draft to Garnett’s potential retirement—to bring Bass back into the fold.

Bass posted career numbers across the board this season, and is exactly what the Celts should be looking for as they look to reload in the post-Big Three era. He’s young, improving and ego free. Bass did nothing but stand in line, do his job and do it well all year long.

And he wants to be in Boston as well. After the Celts were eliminated from the playoffs, he stated categorically that he hoped to be back, telling reporters (as per CSNNE.com), “For any player, this is the organization you want to play for.”

Given Bass’ age, skill set (excellent spot-up shooter, solid rebounder and on-ball defender) and desire to sign long term in Boston, bringing him back should be a no-brainer for Celts’ GM Danny Ainge and the front office.

He could well be a cornerstone, further growing into his prime alongside Rajon Rondo under the tutelage of coach Doc Rivers, who loves him and his game.

The C’s need to figure out what’s going on with Garnett before they can proceed with their offseason plans. And with the draft now less than a week away, the team is likely zeroed in on what to do with their two first-round picks.

Re-signing Bass must be near the top of the list. It’s a low-risk, high-reward scenario for the C’s, who will have themselves a true professional headed into his prime for multiple years if they seal the deal.

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Brandon Bass opts out of his contract with the Celtics, mulls his options in Boston or elsewhere (Ball Don’t Lie)

 Orlando  No Responses »
Jun 152012
 

In the 2007-08 season, out of seemingly nowhere, Brandon Bass enjoyed a fantastic jump in production in his first year with the Dallas Mavericks. After two frustrating years with the Hornets, Bass went on an efficient four-year run over his time in Dallas and with the Orlando Magic that somehow came to a halt in 2011-12 in his first year with Boston. Bass’ rebounding stayed the same, and he turned it over far less, but his decrease in shooting efficiency made his time with Boston’s regular season run a bit of a letdown.
Until the playoffs, of course, when Bass once again ripped off his Clark Kent suit to reveal a … slightly more productive turn in Boston’s 20-game postseason run. Still, most of his work came in front of quite a large cable audience, and Bass’ per game numbers (over 11 points and five rebounds in 30 minutes a night) at his pre-prime age (27 years) would make him ripe for the plucking by a team a little behind the curve looking to win over fans who may have only been introduced to Brandon in mid-May. Which is why the man is opting out of the final year of his contract, set to pay him $4.2 million in 2012-13 . It’s a trend you’re seeing quite a bit of, as we head into the 2012 offseason, even if Bass’ agent Tony Dutt ( as explained to CSNNE.com’s A. Sherrod Blakely ) promises that potentially leaving Boston doesn’t mean the end of Brandon’s time in Boston:
“All indications I’ve been given is that the interest in getting something done goes both ways, so we’ll see. But Boston is definitely where Brandon wants to be.”
Amongst all the opt-out candidates (that we’ll delve into further on Friday) Bass’ below-average salary that was set to pay a player as he heads into his physical prime seems like the most logical thing to opt out of. Though his production did dip during the regular season at age 26, and didn’t really jump up to his previous standards in the postseason (which he turned 27 right before), 27 is still 27. Whoever signs Bass this summer is paying for the right to employ this humble scoring forward through his prime, coming off a season that saw him add 20 playoff games to his 48 career postseason appearances.
The question now is whether or not the Celtics will be the ones stepping up to Bass’ particular plate. Bass’ representatives would like him back in Boston, or at least they’re saying as much, but they above all should know that it often takes a desperate team looking to make a show ( “you remember this guy from ESPN, back in May, right?” ) once they swing and miss on other free agents to pay Bass the absolute most.
On top of that, the Celtics don’t appear to have a concrete plan in place (how could they?) for how to move forward in an offseason with a mix of free agent veterans and potential cap space to use on a terrible free agent class (sorry, Brandon, but you’re amongst the “stars,” here) in a league that always seems a breath or two from blowing by them. And even though the Celtics more or less signed off on the fact that Bass and Kevin Garnett don’t play the same position anymore midseason, the idea that both Boston and Garnett are in limbo about their own hopes and expectations and how those relate to each other might delay things.
All while another team swoops in, to pick up a player that is used to bouncing around probably won’t stop even if his by-then fifth team signs him to an extended deal. Which wouldn’t be the worst thing for any side, in this instance.
Brandon Bass is a good, but not great player who is about to give some team the best years of his NBA life. Those years, though, are still probably best served as the first big man off a team’s bench, and not a starting power forward. His contract should reflect as such, though that doesn’t mean he made a mistake in opting out of his current one.
On the contrary, it was the obvious and smart move.

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Brandon Bass Makes the Right Play in Declining Player Option for 2012-2013

 Rumors  No Responses »
Jun 142012
 

Somehow, Brandon Bass had something resembling a career year—despite the fact that he posted five-year lows in points per minute, free-throw attempts per minute, rebounds per minute, effective field goal percentage and PER. This year’s Bass was statistically inferior to the Orlando and Dallas variations that came prior, and yet due to playing on a highly visible and highly successful team, Bass’ star has never been brighter.

Which is why it makes all the sense in the world that Bass will reportedly decline his $4.25 million player option for the 2012-2013 season, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer. From Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE:

While there has been considerable speculation as to what Bass will do this summer, his agent tells CSNNE.com that the 6-foot-8 forward plans to opt-out of the final year of his contract, and thus test the free agent waters.

However, all indications are that Bass is hoping to return to the Celtics with a multi-year deal.

“Oh absolutely,” his agent Tony Dutt said when asked if Boston was his client’s first choice. “Without question, he would love to go back.”

Truly: Good for him. Bass was traded to a good team in need of quality bigs, and after Jermaine O’Neal and Chris Wilcox were ruled out for the season due to injury, he found himself on a good team desperate for quality bigs. I doubt that the Celtics quite intended for Bass to average 32 minutes per game in the regular season and a few shades more than 30 a night in the playoffs, but circumstances demanded that Bass be a crucial part of Boston’s plans. He didn’t disappoint, and slight statistical drop-off aside, he deserves a lot of credit for that.

Plus, with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen also as unrestricted free agents, the situation in Boston is entirely fluid. The Celtics could conceivably be a solid team in the Eastern Conference next season, or they could be leaning far too heavily on Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce as they await their own collapse. This moves gives Bass the option to partake in the team’s future—whichever way it goes—if he so chooses. Or, conversely, it affords him the opportunity to cash in on his successful campaign with a new free-agent deal elsewhere.

This is the first principle of NBA economics in action: Play well, make money. Who’s writing the checks remains to be seen, but Bass happened to provide a spark for an incredibly popular franchise at exactly the right time, and a decent raise on a long-term deal is almost sure to follow.

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Heat vs. Celtics Video: Watch Massive Difference Between Each Big Three Exposed

 Rumors  No Responses »
Jun 072012
 

The battle of the Big Three will take place once again in Boston on Thursday night. While both the Celtics and Heat pose star-laden rosters, they couldn’t be any more different. 

That is the impetus behind a video posted over at CSNNE. The report that follows the video gives you insight into what you are about to watch, and they are spot on in their assessment:

This is everything you need to know about the Celtics and the Heat, wrapped up in a nice, neatly packaged, 4-minute, 17-second video. 

It’s all in the first impressions.

This is a video about first impressions, followed by a gigantic wave of expectations. The Celtics’ trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen formed with great aplomb, but with a self-awareness that they had some things to prove to fans and themselves. 

The Heat, including Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James, were packaged as a plethora of titles. The only thing needed was the time to accomplish them. 

The video shows two realities that occur when you bring some of the best in the game onto one team. For Boston, the stars measured expectations while the Heat exacerbated them. 

The “Not One, Not Two…” speech is included, but more importantly, so is a long-forgotten press conference that seems muted by comparison. 

Seriously, look at the room of reporters with Celtics staff and then look at the reception in Miami. Those, my friends, are polar opposites on how to welcome superstars to town. 

The best part in the video—and one that may make Heat fans cringe—is James saying the Heat could run with Pat Riley and they would be fine. 

Who needs role players?

The Heat are far from done, even if they lose this season, and this may just be two roads ending in the same place.  

The only thing is, we know for sure that one way of doing things has already delivered a title. 

 

Follow me on Twitter for updated awesome. 

Follow @gabezal

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KG Was Pumped Up After Game 3 Victory, Dropped Even More F-Bombs Than Usual

 Rumors  No Responses »
Jun 022012
 

Kevin Garnett dropping F-bombs is hardly news. It’s still funny, though.

After the Celtics‘ 101-91 Game 3 victory against the Miami Heat, Garnett was especially jacked up when he spoke with reporters in the locker room. 

Talking about the need to stay focused and make adjustments for Game 4, he also wanted to praise the fans and the energy they gave their team in the home victory. Naturally, he did it in his own unique way. Luckily for Garnett’s wallet, this wasn’t a live post-game interview.

I’d tell you what he said, but it isn’t fit for print. Instead, check out this video of Garnett from CSNNE.com via IamaGM.com so you can hear for yourself:

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