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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

A Few Random Thoughts on Game Day

It's finally Game Day. It may be just me, but this off season seemed like forever! At the beginning, we were waiting on fireworks and then we got a little pop here and there with small deals, but I like the team we have. I love the fact that Danny kept Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk. I like that we have added Evan Turner, although he may end up as much of a tease as Jeff Green, but he does give us more flexibility. I like Marcus Smart, James Young and Dwight Powell. And I'm happy that Rondo is still a Celtic.



I think the small improvements, including health and individual improvement will help this team do much better than last season. My prediction is for 42 wins this season. Sully is healthy and playing better than ever. Kelly put on some muscle and has a year of experience. Several of the Celtics, including Rondo, are in contract years. Contract years can do wonders to a guy's game. Just look back at Mark Blount. He was almost a halfway decent player in his contract year.

The Celtics haven't opened at home since 2010 when they spoiled the debut of LeBron James with the Miami Heat with an 88-80 win. They have lost their last 3 opening night games to New York, Miami and Toronto, all of which have been on the road. Let's hope that being home this year will give them the boost they need to start the season off with a win.

In Brad Stevens' first year as head coach, he pretty much played with the starting lineup all season. This season, he will start out with a fairly well set starting lineup. Rondo (or Smart), Bradley, Green, Sully, and Kelly Olynyk have been named the starters for the opener and will probably stay there, baring injury or another player who distinguishes himself to the point that he deserves to be in the starting lineup. Marcus Smart, Evan Turner, Marcus Thornton, Gerald Wallace, and Brandon Bass should lead the second unit. Stevens expects there to be a certain amount of continuity between the two units this season.
"Now I think we can play pretty fluid unit to unit and just play one way on both ends of the floor. I feel like we've got a better idea going into this year exactly how we want to go about it and we'll make tweaks and changes.''

Kevin Garnett will begin his 20th season on the court where he earned his first and only ring. Think about that for a little bit, his TWENTIETH season. KG joins Robert Parish as the 2nd Celtic to access that lofty status. Kevin Willis and Kareem Abdul Jabbar are the other two players who have made it to 20 seasons in the NBA. Interesting that they are all big men. I guess they wear out quicker the closer they are to the court. Or, maybe it's because big men dish out a lot of punishment to all the little guys who come into the paint and don't get quite as much themselves. Any way you look at it, it's quite the accomplishment and KG is vowing to be more aggressive this season. Look out league!

The Celtics are hoping to have Rajon Rondo in the starting lineup for opening night. Rondo has declared himself a "naptime decision" and said that he will determine if he will play around 5 pm when he gets up from his nap. I'm pretty confident in saying that Rondo is playing unless trainer Ed Lacerte hogties him and tells him he can't play under any circumstance. When the injury first happened, estimates were 6-8 weeks before he could play. Some were even saying as long as 10 weeks. It will be just under 5 weeks if he plays tonight. No matter what people say about Rondo, they can't say the kid isn't tough.

This roster is packed with players who have a chip on their shoulders and much to prove. As I stated, Rondo is in a contract year, but even more than that, he has been discounted as being among the top point guards in the league. ESPN Insider discussed the the NBA's best point guard in a recent article. Despite being rather lengthy with nearly 2,000 words, the article did not even mention Rajon Rondo, mentioning instead Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard. If you don't think that hasn't gotten Rondo riled up to prove them wrong, you don't know the kid at all.

Evan Turner has been declared a bust after sints with Philly and Indiana. Yes, he's a decent player, but not of the 2nd pick in the draft quality. He also wants to prove all the naysayers wrong. And Jeff Green is very motivated to shake the inconsistent label that he has worn since coming into the league. Jared Sullinger is still stinging from dropping to the 21st spot in the draft and wants to prove to every team that passed on him that they made a mistake. Brandon Bass will be stinging a bit from dropping to the second unit on a team that he has started on since arriving. Marcus Smart and James Young are young and hungry and want to prove themselves. Every player on this team is hungry and will play hard. That's going to make for a fun season.

In Grantland's article that puts the teams in tiers, the Celtics landed in the "Friskier than Expected" tier. Here is what they have to say about this Celtics team:
When Rondo plays hard, the Celtics will be giving heavy minutes at the guard spots to three absolute pit bulls in Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Marcus Smart.

Bradley is the only plus shooter among Boston’s guards, save for the biweekly Marcus Thornton eruption, but Boston made do in the preseason by using Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk as bombs-away floor spacers. That’s a promising formula, since Rondo can contort the ball through passing angles that no one else can see. The Sullinger-Olynyk combo lacks any rim protection, but Boston allowed just 101.9 points per 100 possessions when they played together last season — the equivalent of a top-10 mark, per NBA.com.
I love the pit bull analogy. After watching them in the preseason, that's absolutely accurate. I'm so excited for this season and I'm excited that it's game day! I just have all these thoughts spilling all over the place.

As anyone who has been around me for 5 minutes knows, I still love Kendrick Perkins. He remains my favorite player. I cried when he was traded, and I have watched every single game he has played in the NBA. I haven't missed a single one. Perk is going to come off the bench this season for the Thunder. I know he's still going to be an important part of what they are doing out there and I'm expecting a come back year from him. In fact, I'll make a prediction that he will be in the running for Comeback Player or Most Improved or something like that. Go Perk!! I know that his little buddy, Rajon Rondo, will be cheering for him from Boston.

It's Game Day!!! Get Excited!!!

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