Yahoo Sports – The Orlando Magic signed Argentine wing Patricio Garino for the remainder of the season on Monday …Only, by doing so, the Magic inadvertently gave the rest of the NBA a window into their offseason plans. GP Sports agent Carlos Prunes tweeted a congratulatory photo of his client putting pen to paper on a contract…except that Garino signed his deal in front of a dry-erase board that features Orlando’s free-agent and trade options for both hybrid forwards and stretch bigs this coming summer.
What an absolute moron this guy is. Hey look its my client signing a contract with Orlando and making me some money anddd whoops I just tweeted out the Magic’s offseason to-do list!
I imagine the next time the Magic do business with this guy he’ll get the rap star after party treatment; leave your phone at the door.
But how about the Magic GM and front office? Just leaving that shit up on a white board for this dummy to take a picture of? Have some tact for me one time. I mean thats just asking for problems. I have a white board in my office and I erase that shit every time the delivery guy comes in. Not because I’m hiding KFC’s 11 secret herbs and spices, but because I don’t want anyone seeing some notes they’re not privy to. Seems like common sense, but hey thats why the Magic have been an absolute dumpster fire since Shaq left and then yet again after Dwight Howard left.
PS – Kelly Olynyk is a target of the Magic? Really? You guys can just have him for a couple of season passes to Orlando Studios. In the words of Michael Bluth:
SI – The Boston Celtics may be the next NBA organization fielding a team for the league’s new 2K eLeague. On a Forbes SportsMoney podcast earlier this month, Celtics Managing Partner, Governor and Chief Executive Officer Wyc Grousbeck spoke with host Mike Ozanian…There will be an eCeltics.”
Can I see myself watching, nevermind paying to watch, an NBA 2K game? Probably not, but hey money talks. And the NBA is seeing some serious dollar signs. So as dumb as it may seem to some, eSports is a cash cow.
Video games like League of Legends have HUGE eSports followings with tons of people tuning in. Not to mention the kids playing for these eSports teams are bringing in legit paychecks. It’s not like these kids are getting paid in Baja Blast and Slim Jims, these guys are earning like $65k base salaries. Sign me the fuck up because I would play Madden 40 hours a week for $65k a year, I would make that sacrifice.
So the NBA is the first professional sports league to put together a legitimate effort to squeeze a little cash outta the nerds.
And it sounds like Wyc is serious as shit about it.
“We will find players, we will compensate these players. We’ll house them in Boston. They’ll be a team. They will train. There’s training for this. And then we’ll go compete against the other NBA teams in 2K…We will stream these matches.”
Wyc sounds more like he’s assembling The Avengers than a squad of guys who play entirely too much NBA2K.
Even Jonas Jerebko is getting in on the action and bought a franchise, the Detroit Renegades, so thats how ya know its a can’t miss idea.
I am still pretty pissed at Wyc for shit canning me in Year 4 of my Celtics rebuild in NBA2K16. We were building something special and you just threw it away. Sad!
As much as I would hate to see the Patriots trade a young stud cornerback in his prime, this would be the ultimate wink-wink trade between Bill Belichick and good friend Sean Payton.
I mean, the Patriots trade their only 1st round pick to the Saints for Brandin Cooks, who was originally rumored to be demanding a much higher price tag. Then not long after that trade becomes official, the rumors start to fly about the Patriots trading Malcolm Butler to the Saints for a 1st round pick. The 32nd overall pick. The same exact pick the Patriots just traded to the Saints.
Basically, if this trade were to go through, the Pats essentially traded Malcolm Butler and a 3rd round pick to the Saints for Brandin Cooks and a 4th rounder, with the 32nd overall pick coming back to New England. With all the subtle shit the Pats try and pull to get around the rules, I cannot believe that I don’t hear people screaming from the rooftops about collusion.
Remember when the NBA just straight up nixed the Hornets’ Chris Paul trade to the Lakers just because? Legit just said, nope fuck that you’re not getting Chris Paul. Or even the more directly relevant situation, when the Celtics basically tried to trade Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett to the Clippers for DeAndre Jordan and the NBA shut that down too. The NBA didn’t like the fact that the C’s were combining a player and a coach in a deal so they nixed the deal. The C’s later dealt Doc to the Clippers for a 1st round pick (with both KG and DeAndre being removed), but if Doc to the Clippers and KG to the clippers were two separate deals from the start no one would have said shit, but because they were combined into one deal initially the NBA didn’t like it and basically screwed the Celtics out of any shot of landing DeAndre for KG later because the league viewed it as collusion; a quid pro quo deal based around the Doc deal. Total horse shit.
Maybe thats what Belichick learned. The guy is an elephant. Separate the deals. Leave no room for opposition and then execute ruthlessly. Dude is like a Lannister really. I guess no one is bitching because Butler getting traded actually makes the Patriots worse, not better. But keep your ears open. The Patriots are “always cheating” so its only a matter of time until that narrative comes up again.
ESPN – LeBron James directed a cease-and-desist order of sorts on Tuesday to LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of three — including star UCLA freshman Lonzo Ball — who said earlier this month that his children are set up better for future success than those of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ star. “Keep my kids’ name out of your mouth. Keep my family out of your mouth,” James said of LaVar Ball to ESPN on Tuesday
“Seriously Dad, stop. LeBron is going to make a point out of posterizing me when they play the Celtics next year.” Something like that is how I imagine the Ball household right now with LaVar talking shit non-stop. Lonzo must be loving this. Your father just chirping the two guys who have won 6 of the last 8 MVPs in LeBron and Steph Curry. Because I’m sure next fall when they see the rookie on the court they’re not going to make it a point to try and stuff Lonzo in a locker just to spite his loudmouth father.
LaMar basically said LeBron’s kids are gonna be bums because their father was too good. And LeBron rightfully so told LaMar to shut the fuck up. I mean, I get riled up when someone says something about my dog so LeBron and I are basically on the same page here. Godspeed Lonzo. Do not be surprised when LeBron is targeting you with off the backboard slams because of some shit your dad said.
The Undefeated – “Just like Rajon Rondo used to set up the fast break for the Boston Celtics, he is setting up a vacation with his former Celtics teammates from the 2008 NBA championship team to celebrate the nearing of the 10-year anniversary of their title. This party, however, doesn’t include an invite to ex-Celtics star guard Ray Allen. “I asked a couple of the guys. I got a no, a no head shake,” said Rondo to The Undefeated when asked why Allen wasn’t invited.”
If there’s anyone that can hold a grudge it’s Rajon fucking Rondo. It’s been five years since Ray Allen ditched the Celtics to chase a ring with blood rival Miami. And Rajon still wants Ray dead.
“It will be a long story about that, but it is what it is,” Rondo, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, told The Undefeated. “I don’t know a good analogy to put this in. It just wasn’t the greatest separation. It wasn’t the greatest thing that could’ve happened to us as a team, a bond. We were at war with those guys [Miami]. To go with the enemy, that’s unheard-of in sports. Well, it’s not so unheard of. It’s damn near common now.”
I actually find it refreshing. Everyone is friends in the NBA now. It’s the AAU generation, all these guys grew up playing on teams together and then once they’re playing against each other in the NBA they just publicly opine about how they wanna play together or in Miami’s case massively collude to get it done. We need more venom in this league.
Now I’m sure all those stories over the years of how Rajon and Ray just didn’t ever get along contribute to this. For whatever reason they just always kind hated each other. Kinda like Jesus Shuttlesworth and his dad really, but I digress…
It’s not only Rondo though. Garnett and Pierce are like old college roommates, they’re still boys. But Ray never seems to be included in that circle of trust. It sounds like he always kind of kept his teammates at arms length, even in the good old days. I remember a story of how Ray was the only guy not to show up for teammates’ charity events like a total asshole. This isn’t football where theres like 50+ guys on the roster. This is basketball where you only have to deal with 10-12 guys.
Even Pierce let some venom slip in an old interview. This seems more like someone who got dumped w/o explanation and harbors resentment for the way it ended.
“That was a tough situation because we thought it was betrayal,” Pierce said. “That’s why the whole thing evolved like it did with us not talking to him. Ray didn’t really have the best relationship with Rondo anyway. That was nothing. [Rondo], me and Kevin, he didn’t have any talk with us [before his Miami decision].”
And don’t forget when KG basically told Ray to go piss up a rope when he came back as a member of the Heat and tried to dap him up. Denied.
It’s a shame the Celtics didn’t win another title when Garnett, Pierce and Allen were all here. Seems like they definitely should’ve won 2 if not 3 rings together. Ray did exactly what he set out to do though. He jumped ship and singlehandedly saved LeBron’s ass and pretty much delivered him a ring with that corner 3 in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals, which is probably what hurts his former teammates the most.
Obviously a huge win for the Celtics last night. Even if the Warriors are banged up, it’s not easy to win in Oakland. The win is the Celtics’ second-straight in Oakland, after snapping the Warriors’ 54-game home win streak almost a year ago. The last team to win back-to-back games at Oracle Arena was the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.
The win also evens the Celtics record on this road trip at 2-2. After tough losses in Phoenix and against the Clippers, a disappointment at Golden State felt almost imminent. Now, the Celtics have a chance to win in Denver tomorrow night and finish the west coast trip at 3-2. Wouldn’t be a bad showing for five games in eight days in the Pacific Time Zone.
Last night’s win also keeps the Celtics a game ahead of Washington for the second spot in the East. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played, but after tomorrow night’s game in Denver 11 0f the Celtics’ final 16 games will be at home. If the Celtics can wrap up the number two seed heading into the playoffs, maybe Brad Stevens can finally get off the playoff schneid.
Episode 005 of The 300s Podcast is straight fire flames. We talk the early mayhem that is NFL Free Agency, Jimmy G on the trading block, Bruins surging after canning Claude Julien, the Celtics making zero moves at the trade deadline, Red Sox Spring Training and why the World Baseball Classic is a disaster.
CSNNE – “Appearing on “In the Zone with Chris Broussard,” the former Celtics big man expressed his frustrations with Doc Rivers, under whom he won the only NBA title of his career…Because what Doc had in ’08 was special and he was lucky as hell. Lucky as hell. The year before that, they was wearing trash bags. [He could have gotten fired and] nobody would [make] a peep.”
There is one reason and one reason only that Glen Davis is ripping Doc Rivers and that is because of his nickname; Big Baby. I always liked Big Baby, he was a decent player, a key bench guy for the 07 championship team and he was a ton of fun to watch back in the Shrek and Donkey days with Nate Robinson:
But this just sounds like the sourest of grapes. I think I can actually pinpoint the exact moment that Baby snapped and turned on Doc.
Now I also think that its fair game to question and criticize Doc. Back before the Big 3 era Doc wasn’t an up and coming genius of a coach. In fact I remember Bill Simmons had a near crusade to get the guy fired. Then once the Celtics had 3 Hall of Famers on the squad he was all of a sudden a better coach. It’s a lot easier to coach 3 HOF talents hungry as hell to win, but I think thats selling the guy a bit short because how many talented teams do we see implode, especially with older players. The argument is there though. Especially when you look at Doc’s Clippers and how they’ve never gotten over the hump despite being loaded with talent. And the Celtics have been just fine post-Doc with Brad Stevens at the helm.
But then you read quotes like this:
“I would play good games and Doc wouldn’t even give me, ‘Hey, what up?’ I’d play a great game and he’d be, ‘Go do it again.’ You know, you want to hear that, ‘Hey, great job, kid. Good job, man. Keep it up,’ but not, ‘Go do it again.”
And it sounds like Glen Davis is pissed because the coach never took him to Denny’s for a Grand Slam after a game.
Never forget the good times though, like when he hit that game winner against Orlando in the playoffs and almost truck sticked a little kid celebrating.
I’m as frustrated as the rest of you that the Celtics didn’t make any trades, not a single move, but at the risk of sounding like a Green Teamer did we really want to blow up our team for another guy? If you believe the rumors of what Larry Legend wanted for Paul George (both Brooklyn picks and 3/4 of Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder) then there’s no way in hell you make that deal.
I don’t even need to leave the Atlantic Conference to point out the last blockbuster trade a team gutted their roster to acquire a new stud; the New York Knicks and Carmelo Anthony.
The Knicks sent Wilson Chandler (16.4 ppg that year), Raymond Felton (17.1 ppg that year), Danilo Gallinari (15.9 ppg that year), Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick and two second-round picks to the Nuggets. All this when Melo was set to become a free agent like 4 months later. So say what you want, but the Knicks did themselves no favors in gutting the roster. “Felton, Gallinari, Mozgov and Chandler were four of New York’s top six players,” this 2011 ESPN article reminds us.
Since making the trade the Knicks have finished:
2011: 36-30 (lost in the 1st round)
2012: 54-28 (lost in the Eastern Conf. semis)
2013: 37-45
2014: 17-65
2015: 32-50
Not great. And with exactly two playoff appearances, never making it past the second round. My point is just taking every asset you have and throwing it against the wall to get one player doesn’t guarantee success. In fact its the main reason Carmelo is so untradeable now, he’s got an albatross of a contract that is weighing down a team’s cap so much that they can’t justify giving up much of any assets for him at all. Oh the irony.
I didn’t mention Boogie Cousins because I 100% wanted him but for whatever reason the Celtics were never in on him. They just flat out did not want the guy. So as shitty as it sounds, Trader Danny will continue to lay in the weeds waiting to bite some unsuspecting GM in the ass. Or the price of Paul George or Jimmy Butler goes down.
PS – Regardless of the fact the Knicks still aren’t any good, that Melo MSG “Coming Home” commercial still absolutely BANGS 6 years later.
No fireworks for the Celtics at the trade deadline yesterday, but maybe they can surprise us with a run to the conference finals like they did in 2002.
The 300s 