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Thursday, August 17, 2017

Random Thoughts with "The Terminator" and "Dancing Bear"

 I can't help but be very, very excited for this season to start.  The Celtics have so many new players to be excited about.  I mentioned yesterday about the three big men who will fill the biggest needs the Celtics have had and that is rebounding and rim protection.   I'm really excited to see what they can do.



But there are also other new players who are have me excited to see what they can do and who have a lot of potential.  Of course, Gordon Hayward is at the top of the list but I believe we have some other players who may surprise a lot of people.  At the head of that list is Semi Ojeleye.  In Summer League,  Brad Stevens made the comment that Semi would be the best defender on the team right now.  That is exciting in itself, but watch the following video and I can't see how you won't be as excited about this kid as I am.

I love that nickname for him as well. "The Terminator" is an awesome nickname.   Speaking of nicknames,  the Dancing Bear is in town and ready to get to work with his new teammates.  He was at Lake Canobie Park with a group of kids and told reporters that the Celtics plan to start informal workouts on Monday.  His ankle is fine after having surgery on it after the season although he hasn't gotten back to full activities on it yet.  He posed with the kids under a sign for the "Dancing Bear Restaurant."  How very fitting!

Abdel Nader joined Yabusele on the day of fun and rides with the kids from Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children . I have to admit that this makes me miss Kelly Olynyk. He always had a lot of fun on the rides when the Celtics chaperoned trips to the park. I think I'll miss him the most of all the players who left. Along with Yabusele saying that he is healed and ready for camp, Isaiah Thomas has also said that his hip has healed up well without surgery and he expects to be ready for camp.

Speaking of training camp, the Celtics signed another player to what appears to be a partially guaranteed training camp contract. I imagine they may have an eye on him to join the Red Claws after the preseason. White is a 6-foot-7 guard who led Syracuse in scoring this past season with 17.4 points per game. He also broke the school's all-time record for most 3-pointers in a season.
That brings the Celtics to 17 players with 16 of those players on fully guaranteed contracts. (Plus 2 more on Two-Way contracts with the G-League).

SB Nation had an article with several fun trades for LeBron now that the rumor is circulating that he will be definitely leaving Cleveland and that his relationship with the owners is irreparably broken. Personally I don't see them trading him. He has a no trade clause and it would take a lot in return to get him for what would probably be just a year. Besides, they have their hands full with trying to unload Kyrie. Anyway, this trade had me laughing out loud.

WHY THE CAVS DO IT: Young talent and a new beginning. You trade off LeBron here, Kyrie in a separate deal and suddenly you’ve gone from having a point guard who thinks the world is flat to a family who thinks it revolves around them.
I'm sure this isn't the last time that the Ball family will provide some laughs and humor for the league.  I'm so glad that LaVar Ball is the Lakers problem and not the Celtics. 

An article on Bleacher Report on the best and worst contracts on each team singles out Jae Crowder for the best contract and they couldn't find a bad contract in the bunch.  I get so tired of people putting Jae in every trade rumor that comes up.  The guy is a beast and plays his heart out every time he hits the court. In the two full seasons that Jae has spent with the Celtics, just four players can match his plus-minus value on both sides of the floor while coming close to matching his 36.9 percent three-point shooting. Those players are Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul and Otto Porter.  It is just ridiculous for anyone to hate on this guy.

Just 41 more days until players report for training camp but according to Yabusele, players are going to be coming to Boston to begin informal workouts starting on Monday so I imagine that we will get some videos and reports from those informal workouts. 

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