Since Danny Ainge came, our roster has gone through several transformations and many former Celtics are spread throughout the league. When players are on the Celtics, I spend a certain amount of energy cheering for them and build an attachment to many of them (with Blount being the one big exception). I follow some of them but lose track of others. Here is a look at where many of the former Celtics are and what they are doing.
Chucky Atkins: Chucky signed a 2 year deal with the Nuggets worth 6.4 million in July. Last season he played 27 minutes per game for the Grizzlies and averaged 13.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
Vin Baker: After being released by the Celtics for violating his no alcohol clause, he has bounced around a bit. He signed with the Wolves in October of last season and was released in November. In July of 2007 he plead not guilty to driving under the influence and is awaiting trial on those charges. His salary finally came off the books for the Celtics as of this past season.
Marcus Banks: After the trade to the Wolves, Banks seemed to be playing well and the Wolves liked him. He became a free agent last off season and found a big payday with the Suns, signing a 5 year, 21 million dollar deal. He was supposed to be Nash's back up but was out of the rotation by mid season. He played in 45 games last season and averaged 4.9 points and 1.3 assists in 11 minutes per game. He played in one game for the Suns' Summer League team this summer scored 42 points along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Tony Battie: After spending the rest of the season after the trade in '03-04 in Cleveland, he signed with Orlando and has been averaging 6.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and .6 blocks in 25 minutes per game. He just underwent season ending surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff this past week and will miss the upcoming season.
Mark Blount: This is the only Celtic that I have been very happy to be rid of. If you question why, just watch this video (hat tip to CelticBalla32)
Along with his inept play, mostly because he just didn't care, he was a cancer in the locker room. I think I felt the worst about trading Al Jefferson because he would have to play with Blount again and Big Al made no secret of not liking the guy. Now, I don't have to worry about that any longer since Blount was just traded to Miami with Ricky D for Antoine Walker. Last season he averaged 12.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and .7 blocks for the Wolves and has 3 years left on his contract worth just over 22 million. Now his stone hands and bad attitude are Pat Riley and Shaq's problem.
Ricky Davis: As mentioned, Ricky Davis was also traded to Miami. I always liked Ricky. I know he was somewhat of a head case, but he always gave 100% out on the court and always seemed like he was having fun out there. He also did a lot of good things in the community. Last season he averaged 17 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the Wolves. But, his tenure in Minnesota wasn't without incident. In January of 2007 he was suspended for one game by the Wolves for leaving the bench and going to the locker room after being replaced by Randy Foye in a double overtime loss to the Pistons. He has just one year left on his contract at 6,819,000 and will be a free agent after this season. He will move into the starting lineup for Miami with Wade still rehabbing.
Dan Dickau: Dickau was just waived on Oct. 1 by the Knicks after coming over in the Zach Randolph trade. He was signed by the Clippers on October 4. He averaged 3.3 points and 1.4 assists in 8.9 minutes per game in 50 games for Portland last year.
Orien Greene. Greene was picked up by the Pacers after he was waived by the Celtics. He played in 41 games for them last season and averaged 1.5 points, 1.1 rebounds, and .5 assists for the Pacers last season. He was signed as a free agent by the Kings on August 30. Luke Jackson. Although he wasn't a Celtic for long, I figured I would keep up with him anyway. Luke Jackson was picked up by the Raptors after being released by the Celtics. He played in 10 games for the Raptors last season and averaged 4.5 points, .9 assists and .9 rebounds in 12 minutes per game.
Mike James: Mike signed with the Wolves last season and was traded to Houston for Howard in June of 2007. He averaged 10.1 points, 3.6 assists and 2.0 rebounds for the Wolves last season. In his last preseason game for the Rockets, he had 17 points on 6-9 shooting, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals in 27 minutes off the bench.
Raef Lafrentz: Raef has spent much of his time in Portland on the injured list. He played in only 27 games last season, averaging 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13 minutes per game. So far in the preseason, he has been injured again.
Chris Mihm. Mihm is still with the Lakers and resigned with them on July 19. In the '05-06 season he averaged 10.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 26 minutes per game. He missed all of last season with reconstructive ankle surgery. So far this season, he seems to be the odd man out behind Kwame Brown and Bynum according to the LA Times.
Michael Olowokandi is an unrestricted free agent and has not yet been signed by any teams.
Gary Payton is an unrestricted free agent as the Heat opted not to resign him. He played in 68 games for the Heat last season and averaged 5.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 22 minutes per game. He has not been signed by any teams as yet.
Justin Reed. He was traded by the Wolves to the Rockets this off season. He played in 41 games and averaged 2.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game for the Wolves last season. On Sept 5, he was charged with a pot possession but the charges were dropped with others submitted affidavits claiming the drugs.
Wally Szczerbiak has played in 4 preseason games and has been sidelined for a couple with swelling in his left knee. He averaged 11.6 points, 3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
Antoine Walker: Walker as important in Miami's championship run in 2006 but has fallen on hard times since then. He was suspended last season for lack of conditioning and again in the preseason and has spent more time in Pat Riley's dog house than out of it. He averaged 8.5 points ( on 39% shooting), 4.3 rebounds, and .2 blocks in 23 minutes off the bench last season for Miami. There are alot of theories floating around that Walker will be bought out of his contract that has 4 years left for a total of 38.8 million.
Eric Williams: He played 1/2 season for Cleveland after the trade. He split the '04-05 season between New Jersey and Toronto and played in Toronto for the '05-06 season but was very unhappy there. Last season he played in 16 games for the Spurs and 5 games for the Bobcats. He worked out for the Celtics this preseason, but so far is an unsigned free agent.
Delonte West has averaged 18 points 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block in the two games he has played in but he can't seem to stay healthy. He has missed 4 games with assorted injuries from a sore back, which plagued him in his last season in Boston, to a thigh bruise.
Big Al has been playing well and has been the low post presence that the Wolves were hoping for when they traded for him. He is averaging 19 points and 15 rebounds per game. I am sure he is much happier in Minnesota now that Mark Blount is skipping in Miami.
Ryan Gomes has been slowed by an injury but has been in the starting lineup for the Wolves and is averaging 10 points and 6.5 rebounds. They are looking to play him at the 3 this season and if he can adapt to that position, he will see more playing time.
Theo Ratliff has already played more for the Wolves than he did all last season for the Celtics. He sat out 3 games but averaged 7.5 points, 4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in the 4 preseason games he has played in.
Sebastian Telfair started out strong in Minny and they were saying how much they liked him in the first two games. He averaged 9 points, 5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 3 assists in those first 2 games. Then he aprained his ankle and sat out the next 4 games. He was back in the lineup for their last game and had 7 points, 6 assists and 1 rebound in 29 minutes off the bench.
Gerald Green remains an engima. He has so much talent and just teases with glimpses of it. He shot 17-54 or 31% in the preseason and only played 8 minutes in their final preseason game. He averaged 6.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in the preseason for the Wolves.
I do miss some of the young players we traded this summer. Big Al, Gomes, and Delonte are especially missed as much for their attitudes and personalities as for their play. I believe that Al will be an All Star player for years to come and one day we may wish we had him. But, I am excited about this season and having the Celtics relevant again. I will be keeping an eye on the progress of our former players though.
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