CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Odds and Ends on a Slow Saturday just 3 Days from Training Camp

September 30, 2006

Wow! We are just 3 days from training camp and there isn't a lot going on in the Celtics Nation. No newspaper articles and very few new blog articles. After a flurry of articles the past couple of days, I guess everyone is taking a rest. But there are a couple of things of note.

NESN has a short clip from the players who came in early to work out together. Not much but if you are like me, you are hungry for any little tidbit.

Starting tomorrow, the blogging community has gotten together to bring you 30 teams in 30 days. This is the brain child of Jeff over on Celtics Blog. Each day we will bring you links to the blogs who are participating. The Celtics will be first (as is only fitting) and 3 blogs will be previewing the Celtics including Loy's Place, CelticsBlog, and Celtics17. Be sure to check in tomorrow for Loy's preview of the Celtics.

Fox Sports has a piece ranking the Small fowards and Pierce is ranked #4 behind Lebron, Marion and Anthony. We have seen 3 rankings from major sources and Pierce was 2nd,3rd, and 4th in them. Any way you look at it, Pierce is one of the top players in the league and is getting recognition of it. They question his leadership qualities. We saw him emerge as a leader the end of last season. If the reports of Ricky undermining his authority are correct, then it isn't surprising that he had problems establishing himself as a leader.

CelticsStuff Live will be broadcasting live tomorrow night 7-9 Eastern time and will feature special guest Eric Weiss. They will also be taking your call in predictions for the CSL Guess the Season Record contest. Join us in the chat room for a fun time and call the show to ask your questions or chat with Justin, JB, The Duke, or Eric.

Discuss this topic on the Celtics Green Forums!

Comments:

YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, FL, PUT US ON THE MAP!!! :D Looking forward to reading the team previews that will be spanning the blogging community.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 6:28 PM

Wow, they rank Carmelo ahead of Pierce? That's just not giving Pierce any love. I think Carmelo can be a more explosive scorer than Pierce (maybe from this year). But from an all around standpoint (which is why Marion is ranked second, behind Lebron), Pierce has got Carmelo beat.

Rebounds: Pierce 6.7, Melo 4.9
Assists: Pierce 4.8, Melo 2.7
Steals: Pierce 1.4, Melo 1.1

And Pierce is more of a threat from beyond the arc. He attempts 4 three pointers per game, shooting at a 35% clip, while Melo attempts only 2 per game, but shoots only 24.2%.

Eventually, Melo may outrightly pull ahead of Pierce, but I question if he's better than Pierce right now. Certainly not based on last year's stats.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 6:44 PM

I wonder how much Melo's performance in the World games had to do with this ranking. The two rankings before the World games had Pierce at 2 and 3 behind only Lebron and Wade. Melo really came on in the world games and so that performance may have influenced the rankings. I agree with you, though. Pierce has it over Melo so far.

# posted by

FLCeltsFan : 6:52 PM

The world games did show me encouraging things about Melo. He seemed to become more mature and show a bit of leadership. But these are the things that Pierce showed as well this past year, and that should not get overlooked by the experts either.

Did any of you get to see Shaq on Steven A. Smith's show last week? Shaq said that his numbers aren't dominating like they used to be. But he said that he only started winning titles once his numbers started to decrease. By giving up the ball and allowing others to score, he started winning titles. Maybe that's Pierce's avenue to success too.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 7:22 PM