First of all, thoughts and prayers go out to Tommy Heinsohn. According to Peter Vescey in the NY Post, Tommy is having an abdominal aneurism removed today. We love you Tommy! Get well soon.
According to the Kansas City Star, Tyronn Lue is considering an offer from the Celtics. Lue is an unrestricted free agent. In the article he has this to say:
“I’ve been talking to seven or eight teams,” Lue said. “I’ll probably end up going to Boston or back to Dallas.”
Lue is a career 43% shooter and averages 8.9 points per game. He is also a good locker room guy and a good teammate. KG and Lue are very close friends and I am sure that KG would love to have one of his best friends join the team. Lue would fit right in to the ubuntu of the Celtics. If the Celtics don't re-sign Cassell and sign Lue as the back up point guard, with Gabe Pruitt getting more minutes as he earns them, Eddie House could move to shooting guard where he would be much more effective if he doesn't have to bring the ball up every time.
Doc's Gatorade stained shirt sold for $35,000 to an anonymous bidder to benefit the Celtics' charity, The Shamrock Foundation. Gatorade also pledged 10,000 to the Shamrock Foundation and another anonymous donor pledged another $10,000 to the charity. On top of that, Steve Pagliuca offered another $35,000 if the shirt can be displayed from time to time during the year. That is a total of $80,000 to charity for Paul Pierce's spur of the moment urge to dump Gatorade over his coach. Where amazing happens!
ESPN has an excellent article on Len Bias. I still remember that day in 1986. The Celtics had just won their 16th championship and they had the 2nd pick in the draft. When they picked Len Bias I was ecstatic! The future of the team looked bright with a franchise player coming in to pick up where the Big Three would leave off. Then tragedy struck. I heard the news on the radio and just sat there and cried. It was so unbelievable and such a tragedy. To this day, I tear up when I think about it. Excellent article!
I tuned in to watch Perk on QVC and instead of being there, he was live on the phone. I really wanted to see Perk on there but he did a great job on the phone. The guy selling the stuff asked Perk what was the difference between this team and his first 4 years in the league. Duh! This team won! He called Perk "The Enforcer" and I like that. Good nickname for the big guy!
I had heard a lot about Ray Allen's full page ad in the Globe but being out of the area I wasn't able to see it. CIMIT, a poster on CelticsBlog, posted it on his website. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a look. Ray Allen is one of the classiest guys in the NBA. I am very happy he is a Celtic. Walker and his family will be in my prayers as they seek to deal with his illness.
The draft is coming up tomorrow night. I was thinking about what a difference a year makes. Last year, we were all bummed out about missing out on the #1 pick and the debate was all about who to take at #5. And then they announced the trade on draft night that left everyone wondering what Danny was doing. A 32 year old shooting guard coming off double ankle surgery for Wally, Delonte, and the 5th pick? And then, about a month later, Kevin Garnett was a Celtic and we never looked back. This time last year, we had been already discussing the draft for over a month because there were no playoffs for the Celtics. This season, I have barely given a thought to the draft. I've heard some rumblings that Alexis Ajinca is who Danny will target at #30 if he is still there.
I can't wait for next year's schedule to come out. For certain, the Celtics first game will be nationally televised as they get their rings. Wonder who they will play in that game. Also, I wonder if they will schedule Celtics/Lakers for Christmas day just like in the old days. Or, I wonder if the league will continue to fail to give the Celtics the respect they have obviously earned. I can hear it now. Well, they can't do it again so we will concentrate on the teams who we think will be contenders.
I have worn a Celtics tee shirt just about every day for the last I don't know how many years. Rarely did I have people stop me to talk about the Celtics. Suddenly since they won the championship I have people constantly saying things about how good the Celtics were and they were happy to see them win etc. Where were these people for the last 22 years? I would have loved to talk Celtics last year. I loved that team in spite of their record. I loved Big Al, and Delonte, and Gomes and Gerald and of course Perk and Rondo. I really thought that team would have been a lot better if not for all the injuries. Suddenly everyone is a Celtics fan. Who would have thought?
Leaving you with a video of Jimmy Kimmel eating Paul Pierce's headband. I think he got off easy! They should have made him really eat it piece by piece.
