ESPN has been ranking players and started with #500 going through #1. Currently they have gotten to #140. They get their rankings by asking 104 experts to rate each player on a 0-to-10 scale, in terms of the current quality of each player. So far, between #140 and
#500, there are 7 Celtics. Let's take a look at the players listed so far.
#467 is Kris Joseph with a score of 1.99
#391 is Jason Collins with a score 2.62. His ranking is down from #383 in 2011.
#389 is Fab Melo with a score of 2.62
#340 is Chris Wilcox with a score of 2.94. His rank is down from #330 in 2011.
#300 is Keyon Dooling with a score of 3.32. He's up from #328 in 2011.
#247 is Jared Sullinger with a score of 3.81. They include a comment saying that he is a lotto talent taken late in the draft and it will play off for the Celtics.
#172 is Jeff Green with a score of 4.59. He is down from #124 in 2011. Jeff commented that it was a good ranking after a year out, but he promised that he will be higher soon.
This leaves 8 Celtics - Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo,Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass, Avery Bradley, Courtney Lee, Jason Terry, and Dionte Christmas. I don't see them ranking this high, but it's possible. It's more likely that they forgot about him. That still leaves 7 Celtics in the top 140, which is a very solid core.
Here are a few other rankings that might be of interest to Celtics fans:
#141 is Glen Davis with a score of 4.90. He is down from #117 last year.
#148 is MarShon Brooks with a score of 4.84. He is up from #347 last year. Some Celtics fans like to keep an eye on Brooks since Danny drafted him and traded him for JaJuan Johnson.
#159 is Delonte West with a score of 4.72. He is up from #212 last year. Delonte is a tough gritty player and he'll always be a Celtic in our hearts.
#210 is Mickael Pietrus with a score of 4.25, down from 166 last year. He's still waiting for a team willing to give him more than the minimum. Rumor is that Toronto may be interested.
#246 is Gerald Green with a score of 3.82. He wasn't rated last year. It's nice to see him finally getting it and getting a nice contract from the Pacers.
#270 is Greg Stiemsma with a score of 3.58. He was unrated the previous year. I was sorry to lose him, but hope he does well with Minny.
#276 is Nate Robinson with a score of 3.54 down from #249 last year. He'll be filling in for Derrick Rose until he gets back this season.
#285 is Austin Rivers with a 3.45 score. Celtics fans will be keeping an eye on Doc's kid.
#291 is Marquis Daniels with a score of 3.40, up from 293 last season. He's still waiting for a team to call with an offer.
#326 is Ryan Gomes with a score of 3.10, down from #234 last season. I've always like Ryan and hope he gets a contract somewhere this season.
#372 is Greg Oden with a score of 2.76, down from #184 last season. Oden is still a free agent but hasn't been mentioned in a lot of conversations. If he could ever get healthy, he'd be quite a pick up for some team, but that's a big if.
#388 is JaJuan Johnson with a score of 2.63, up from 407 in 2011.
#500 is Eddy Curry with a score of 1.21. I know you were dying to know who was ranked last.
Danny had done a great job of re-building the Celtics this season. He has not only brought in good basketball players, but also good character guys. In the book Red Auerbach's Winning Ways, we read that "Red Auerbach chose his players for character as much as talent, and taught them to play for the team instead of individual glory. And the result of that approach was a dynasty with 16 championships in his time at the helm.
Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox, Courtney Lee, Jason Terry, Jason Collins, and Jared Sullinger are all players who will form the reserves of this season's team and be counted on to contribute. Every one of these players has been described as a guy with great character and every one is a team player. Every one of these players wants to be a Celtic and will do whatever it takes to help the team win a championship. I don't see a single player who will have a problem playing for team and every one will be willing to accept a role in order to help the team win.
Brandon Bass has been spending his summer giving back to the community as has Avery Bradley. We read how Chris Wilcox delivered a truckload of food to a food bank on Grand Strand. We also read about how Jeff Green finished his classes and got his degree from Georgetown while recuperating from heart surgery. We know that the veteran players that Danny brought in this summer - Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, and Jason Collins - all have been praised for their character by their former teams. I wrote just a couple of days ago about Jared Sullinger's promise to his mom to stay tattoo free and to finish his degree. Read more » Leave a comment Link backs Tweet
We posted the news yesterday that Rajon Rondo is interning at GQ this week. He is having fun there toting coffee, carrying bags, and doing other internish things along with learning about mens fashion and the magazine industry. We found out today that he is becoming a fashion blogger, posting on the GQ eye blog about hats. Here's a bit from his post:(you can go to the link to see Rondo's choice of top beanies).
What I quickly learned about Boston is that when winter comes—forget scarves and gloves—this is the must-have accessory to get through the cold weather. Some people call them beanies, skullies, or if you're from the Midwest we call them toboggans. Going to work everyday, I make sure never to leave the house without one. I surveyed over 100 different types, some in the GQ closet, some from lookbooks, and picked out the top four from this season.
Don't like to brag but I did dunk on some1 today that's about 6-7inches taller!!!!
— Courtney Lee (@CourtneyLee2211) September 5, 2012
Courtney Lee tweeted yesterday that he had a good first day with the team. I know KG is in China and Rondo is in the fashion industry. Paul Pierce has been at the shore. We know that Dionte Christmas and Jason Terry have been working out in Boston. So, I'm thinking it's just the new and younger guys working out together.
I posted a video of Courtney Lee dunking here and it's obvious the guy has hops and can get way up there. Now he's dunking over someone 6-7 inches taller than him in practice. C Lee is 6'5" tall. A player 7 inches taller would be 7 feet tall. We have 3 7 footers on the team. KG is in China. I haven't heard anything about Jason Collins being in town. So, I'm guessing he dunked over Fab. Let's just say that Fab's got some work to do this season.
And Courtney posted this to twitter tonight with video evidence of his dunk. It looks like there's quite a crowd of Celtics already in Boston working out. Very exciting to see that they are excited and already working together.
Jared Dudley is one of the good guys in the NBA. He's a good teammate. He's a guy with great character. And, he's a very good player. He's signed through 2016 in Phoenix, with a player option on the 2015-16.
Phoenix has done another major overhaul on their roster and going into his 5th season in Phoenix, he is the longest tenured player on the team. But, in an interview on the sidelines at Boston College last weekend during the Eagles' football season opener. During an interview, Dudley discussed improving his skills and trying to get better and, maybe one day, becoming a Celtic. I'd love him on the Celtics.
We all know how Rondo has a great fashion sense and takes his appearance very seriously. Well, now he's putting that fashion sense to work and perhaps preparing for a career after basketball. He'll be getting coffee, carrying bags, and doing other internish things. Sounds like he's having a great time. From GQ's website:
Fashion Week is our busiest time of year--between the shows, presentations and, ya know, posing. We needed a little help, someone to run point back at home base and on the ground floor at Lincoln Center. Who better than NBA All-star—and all around stylish dude—Rajon Rondo? Rajon will be interning at GQ for the next few days, helping our game out and learning a thing or two about menswear and the magazine industry. You'll see interviews, critiques, and blog post from the future hall-of-famer popping up all week. And from the tip-off of his time on our team, it doesn't seem like he left his competitive instinct back in Beantown. Other interns, beware.
Brian Scalabrine has turned down coaching job with Bulls and will call games for Comcast Sports New England this season, he tells Y! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) September 6, 2012
In a series of tweets on Twitter, Adrian Wojnowarski reports that Brian Scalabrine left his heart in Boston. He turned down a job as an assistant coach to Tom Thibodeau in Chicago to return to do commentary for the Celtics on Comcast Sports New England. Scal will be doing the color commentary on 11 games for the Celtics along with working in the CSNNE studios doing some commentary there.
Scal said that he wasn't ready to say he was retiring yet but that he had received no interest from any of the NBA teams. He also said that it's possible that he could take a playing job overseas in January but for now he's settling into the broadcasting side of the business. If you recall he did some commentary back in the playoffs and did a great job of it. He must have enjoyed it enough to turn down coaching to come back to it.
When he was doing the commentary in the playoffs, he mentioned that he would rather go into broadcasting than into coaching because of the demanding schedule that coaching entails. He mentioned that if he were to coach it would probably be at the college level, which is much less demanding, possibly going back to his home area of Washington or Oregon.
As for that coaching job in Chicago, he had this to say,
"Saying no to Thibs was the hardest decision I've ever had to make."
I guess CENTER wouldn't have been quite as effective in the ad as POWER.FORWARD, but that's where I expect to see him playing again this season. You can't argue with success.
I've been thinking a lot about Red lately. A couple of days ago, I wrote about how Danny's moves could be considered "Auerbachian" and mused on whether Red was good or lucky and decided it was a bit of both. Red was a genius but he also was lucky. I think the same can be said of Danny.
Yesterday I discussed Red's legacy of keeping things simple. On the back of one of my tee shirts, it has a quote from Red: "The Celtics are not a basketball team, they are a way of life." Red was the Boston Celtics for over 50 years. When he passed away before the 2006-07 season, the Celtics dedicated that season to him. That was unfortunate because the Celtics had a terrible season. Between the youth, the injuries, the 18 game losing streak and the tanking accusations, it was one of the worst seasons in Celtics history. It was a shame that Red wasn't around to see Danny's plan pay dividends in the 2007-08 season.
He would be very proud of the way Danny rebuilt the team that season. Danny was Red's choice as GM and he always had faith that Danny could do the job of rebuilding the Celtics. When Danny was named GM, Red had this to say about him:
"I know that it will be a great relationship because he is a worker. He has a great personality, he's smart and bleeds green!"
Long time league executive Mike Bantom has been hired as the new executive VP of Referee Operations. Along with being a long time executive in the league, Bantom is also a former player. In his new position, Bantom will oversee the NBA’s officiating program, including the recruiting, training and development of all NBA officials. He will be second in line to Joel Litvin, NBA President of League Operations.
Bantom averaged 12.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in his nine-year NBA playing career. He made the NBA All-Rookie team after Phoenix drafted him with the eighth overall pick in the 1973 NBA Draft. Following his NBA career, Bantom competed seven more seasons in the Italian Professional League before retiring in 1989. He was also a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic team that controversially lost the gold-medal game to the Soviet Union. Bantom has been an executive with the league for nearly 25 years. He has served as the league's senior vice president of player development since 1999 where he has been in charge of the NBA's Player Substance Abuse program, its Rookie Transition Program and its Continuing Education Program.
Bantom will replace former two-star U.S. Army General Ronald Johnson, who stepped down from the post in July after holding the position for the past 4 years. After the betting scandal that rocked the NBA, Johnson was appointed to try to give the refs back some credibility. Johnson hasn't given the officiating credibility, in fact, the officiating has been just as bad, if not worse than before he took over. Here are just two examples. Read more » Leave a comment Link backs Tweet
There are a lot of reasons to really like Celtics rookie Jared Sullinger. He seems like a good kid, humble, willing to work hard and very coachable. As a basketball player, he's not flashy or uber-athletic, but he has all the fundamentals down. He was red flagged in the draft and could have let that affect his attitude in a negative direction, but he didn't. He just worked harder and even though it led to a drop from the lottery to #21, he was happy with being selected by the Celtics and vows to work his hardest there.
Then there's the story from the Herald that talks about how Sully learned the value of being a good teammate. His dad was his coach in high school where he compiled a 94-3 record over his high school career.
But one of those rare losses had a lasting impact on Sullinger.
Northland (his high school) was undefeated during Sullinger’s sophomore season and advanced to the district semifinals. Any thoughts of a state title came to an abrupt end when Satch benched Jared for failing to complete a homework assignment. Northland lost the game, but Jared gained perspective.
“It teaches you accountability. So many of these young guys nowadays, it’s all about me. They never take time to figure out how they affect others,” Satch said. “When he didn’t do his work and he forced me to make the program stand for something, he realized it didn’t just affect him, it affected others. He started to really understand what team concepts really are. He let his team down during that period of time over something he had total control over.”
This off-season has dragged on so slowly. The Herald and Globe go days between posts and it's been a couple of weeks since they had any real Celtics content. But, here's some exciting news, it's just one month until we get to watch Celtics basketball again. ONE MONTH!! I know that it's going to seem like the slowest month in the history of month, but still, it's just one month now. And in a couple of weeks we should start to get some news of the players coming back in preparation of that first game on October 5 at Ulker Sports Arena in Istanbul, Turkey.
Media day for the Celtics will be Sept. 28, ahead of the October 1 Media day for teams not playing preseason games in Europe. Training camp will officially open for practice on Sept. 29: 2012, again ahead of the October 2 opening for the teams not playing overseas. (Dates from NBA Media Central) The Celtics will hold training camp overseas and play their first two games in Turkey and Italy before returning to Boston to play the remaining 6 games against Atlantic Division foes. Read more » Leave a comment Link backs Tweet
As you probably can tell by many of my posts lately, I love Celtics history and have been reading a lot of books on the subject. In every one of the books from the years when Red was coach, one thing always stands out. Red's approach to the game was "Keep it simple."
“He always thought the simpler you keep things the easier for the players to remember,” Larry Bird once said. “Especially in tight situations, they knew exactly what they were going to do. He never believed in drawing up a special play at the end of games or the end of a half. He just wanted to keep it simple."
Red's philosophy was to make sure that players knew their roles and try to make those roles as uncomplicated as possible. Maybe this is what made his teams so great. Red's players didn't have to deal with multiple offensive and defensive sets and knew exactly what their roles were. They could just go out and play ball and that is what they did, championship after championship. Red would tell his players "Just do what you do best."
The one thing that always surprised me was how Red could bring a player in from another team and that player would perform better for the Celtics than they did for their previous team. He had a talent for this and he did it year after year, player after player, championship after championship.
One explanation could be that players perform much better when they can just play, rather than have to follow a complicated system designed by a coach who micromanages the players. When those players came to Red's simple system, where they knew exactly what was expected of them and where they got to just play basketball, they excelled. The Celtics played as a team. Everyone had their role but they were a team and everyone knew they were a Celtic and that meant something.
Danny has brought a number of new players to the team this season, some rookies and some veterans. I know that Doc has a fairly complicated system, but there have been times when a new player joined the team mid-season that he has run just a few simple plays. When he has done that, the team seemed to play very well, even with a new player. Maybe he should take a page from Red's book and let them just play ball. "Just do what you do best." I'm aware that the league is much different from the days that Red coached. But, who knows, perhaps a simplified system would throw everyone off and no one would be able to figure out what's going on.
Red's philosophy was to keep it simple and his teams were always successful with this approach, whether it was a young team or a veteran team. Red's genius went far beyond his knack for finding gems in the draft and making mind blowing trades. He knew how to get the best out of his players by letting them do what they did best.
Rajon Rondo is wrapping up a trip through the Philippines, Taiwan, and China and has been quite quotable throughout. He made a big splash in the Philippines when he declared that he wanted to be the best point guard in Celtics history. More recently, he made this statement in Hong Kong:
“It's a different season. He's going to be in all the scouting reports. I'm sure he's up for the challenge as well. He's played against the best so he knows.
“I hope he has success with the Rockets, except against the Celtics. We plan on beating the Rockets pretty bad this year and hopefully I have something to do with it. But he is going to compete and I wish him well.”
On the surface, this seems innocent enough. He wishes Jeremy Lin well but states the pretty obvious fact that teams are going to scout Lin a bit more this season. But the part that riled the Asian fans was the fact that Rondo said the Celtics plan to beat the Rockets (and thus Jeremy Lin) pretty bad this year. Lin has a big, and very loyal, following in Taiwan and didn't take kindly to the notion that Rondo wanted to beat him. Well, Rondo had a very successful trip up to this point. Hopefully the Taiwanese fans won't hold it against him for too long.
A couple of times since 2007, I've seen Danny Ainge's moves described as Auerbachian. He was able to amass the chips needed to trade for 2 future Hall of Famers and after that to build a bench capable of winning a championship. This season he was able to sign Jason Terry with the MLE and then make a trade for Courtney Lee in a manner that Sherrod Blakely called unprecedented. This got me thinking about some of those moves that Red made back in the day. Was Red really good, or was he really lucky?
Red was famous for being able to recognize talent and bring them to the Celtics. But even with all his saavy moves and eye for talent, he also needed some luck. For instance, Red had acquired the Pistons' first round pick in the 1980 draft. If Ralph Sampson had left school early, Red said that he would have drafted him with that pick. But as luck would have it, Sampson opted to stay in school and Red had to go to plan B. Red then looked to trade the pick. The consensus No. 1 that year was a center, Joe Barry Carroll from Purdue, but Auerbach didn't like his game. He did like the 6-11 Kevin McHale from Minnesota. With prodding from coach Bill Fitch, Auerbach approached the Warriors, who had an unhappy and underachieving Robert Parish and were worried about being able to re-sign him. Golden State agreed to give up Parish and its pick, the 3rd overall, for two Celtics picks, No. 1 and No. 13. The rest is history and the first Big Three was born. This deal is remembered as one of Red's greatest coups, but we shouldn't forget that this deal was Red's plan B. Read more » Leave a comment Link backs Tweet
After I posted my thoughts on the travesty that Jo Jo White isn't in the Hall of Fame, Nick from CLNS Radio mentioned to me that Johnny Most isn't in the Hall either. I'm not sure which is worse but both are unacceptable. Lee of Celtic Nation mentioned that maybe there is a bias against the Celtics since so many Celtics are already enshrined in the Hall and so they don't consider deserving Celtics in current discussions. It could be an explanation, but whatever the reason, there needs to be a new way of doing things when two people so deserving have been snubbed for so long.
Anyone who was a fan of the Celtics prior to 1990 would recognize the raspy voice of Johnny Most. Johnny was the voice of the Celtics from 1953-1990. That's 37 years of broadcasting the most storied franchise in the league. He passed away on January 3, 1993, but he leaves lasting memories of his love of the Celtics and his unique style of calling the games. Most never pretended to be objective: his Celtics were near-saints who could do no wrong and anyone not wearing the green was the enemy and the scum of the earth.
Born to Jewish parents, Most began his career in the 1940s mentored by Marty Glickman. He called road games for the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers baseball teams as well as the New York Giants and Army football team. In 1953, Boston Celtics owner Walter Brown and Red Auerbach hired him to replace Curt Gowdy as the team's radio play-by-play man on WBZ radio. He always referred to his perch at Boston Garden as being "high above courtside."
Most was never shy about criticizing the other team's players. One time Most described the Los Angeles Lakers' Kurt Rambis as "something that had crawled out of a sewer." He also nicknamed Washington Bullets players Rick Mahorn and Jeff Ruland as "McFilthy" and "McNasty." Kareem Abdul Jabbar was "Kareem Puff" and Isaiah Thomas was referred to as "Little Lord Fauntleroy." He called Magic Johnson "Crybaby Johnson" when he challenged a referee's call. Most's pro-Celtic descriptions could turn shoving matches into "bloodbaths" and minor fouls into "vicious muggings" and once during a game in Detroit, he loudly proclaimed, "Oh the yellow, gutless way they do things here." When a player such as Xavier McDaniel would come to the Celtics after being a favorite target of Most's venom, he would suddenly be rehabilitated into a wonderful guy. Read more » Leave a comment Link backs Tweet
Here is a video of the highlights from Game 5 of the 1976 Finals between Boston and Phoenix that went to 3 overtimes. The next post will give you some of the highlights and details from this exciting game.
[Discuss on CG Forums!]
I am a big Celtics History Buff. I'm always in the middle of a book on Celtics history. I posted a few of my favorites in my Summer Reading List post. This franchise has so history behind it that there are more books than time to read them. This is why one of my favorite blogs is Lex Nihil Novi. Lex always has fascinating articles and videos from back in the days when Bird, McHale and Parish (not to mention Mountain Man) were walking through those doors.
At the risk of moving into Lex's territory, I'm going to talk about about the greatest game in NBA history. If you ask any long time NBA fans, most would say that the greatest game in league history was Game 5 of the 1976 Finals between the Celtics and the Suns that went to 3 overtimes. It was an exciting game and a game that was filled with twists and turns and a few controversies as well. If you ever see this playing on NBA TV or ESPN, do yourself a favor and tune in. Read more » Leave a comment Link backs Tweet
With the Hall of Fame inductions in the news this week, it's time to mention what might be the biggest snub in all of history. The Hall finally righted the wrong that had been done to Dennis Johnson, although too late for him to enjoy it. Now, it's time to call attention to an even bigger travesty. Jo Jo White is not in the Hall of Fame. The case for White to be inducted is very strong but yet, every year he is passed over.
Jo Jo White was a winner at every level of his career. He played on the 1968 USA Olympic basketball team in Mexico. The team went undefeated (9-0) and beat Yugoslavia 65-50 in the title game. After the Olympics, Jo Jo was drafted by the Celtics 9th overall in the 1969 draft.
Before White's career with the Celtics began, Bill Russell announced his retirement. White, along with the Celtics, would go through a rebuilding season after the retirement of their franchise center. The next year they would draft Dave Cowens to fill the hole at the center position and they also traded for Paul Silas. Along with these two and veteran John Havlicek, White would be the cornerstone of two Celtic championship teams in 1974 and 1976, and was named the Finals MVP in 1976.
White was one of the NBA's first iron men, playing in all 82 games for five consecutive seasons. He was a seven time All Star and was named to the All NBA second team twice. Over his career, he scored 14,399 points, averaging 17.2 points per game. He also averaged 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds. That may not seem like a lot of assists for a point guard, but in the Celtics system, they had many good passers and so it came down to roles. Jo Jo was known for his lock down defense as well. Read more » Leave a comment Link backs Tweet
