Tag: Boston Globe

The 300s 2018 Celtics Summer League Update

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Editor’s Note: I’m sure you’ve all seen him on The 300s Podcast with such hot takes as “Uncle Drew was good,” but this is the first of many posts for the one and only Mattes. Lets gooo!

Now that we’ve reached the end of the 2018 NBA Summer League “regular season,” ya boy Mattes is here to update you on what’s been going on with the Boys in Green on the day of their MUCH ANTICIPATED (catch the sarcasm?) matchup with the New York Knicks’ summer squad in the first round of the league’s playoff tournament.

New Bird in Town

Larry Legend he is not, but youngster Jabari Bird has continued to make a name for himself this summer. I say that he has “continued” to do so because this guy isn’t actually entirely “new” – Bird was selected by the C’s with the 57th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and has already made his NBA debut, which came as early as last October.

Bird then snuck onto the court quite a bit at the end of last season as well, averaging 16.0 minutes, 6.8 points, and 3.0 rebounds per game over the team’s final five regular-season contests, on 63 percent shooting from the field.

As if those numbers aren’t impressive enough, I was actually there, in the flesh, at the TD Garden on April 6, when Bird went off for 15 points in 24 minutes against the Bulls – with three rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block, to boot. Bird was freakin’ relentless with his energy and intensity throughout the entire game, wowing the crowd with his quickness and INSANE athleticism (seriously, this kid can FLY and throws down some pretty gnarly dunks!), leading me to keep looking over at my nephew and asking the question: “Seriously, WHO THE FUCK IS THIS KID??!!” (Relax. He’s 14. He’s heard profanity before, all right??!!)

Though he didn’t receive any burn in the playoffs, Bird has undoubtedly been one of the stars of the summer league, averaging 18.0 points and almost five boards per game through three contests. Coach Jay Larranaga, Brad’s top assistant who was chosen to lead the team’s summer league squad, has continued to rave about Bird’s play and seemed to imply the other day that the 23-year-old could potentially see some more action this fall if he works a bit more on his defense.

That is…if Bird is actually on the roster.

Bird is currently a restricted free agent this summer (that was fast!) and has already garnered some interest from teams like Minnesota and Philadelphia, per the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. The Celts, though, may be unwilling to pony up anything more than the $77,250 qualifying offer they’ve already extended to Bird earlier this summer.

Also, particularly if Marcus Smart does return, there may not even be a whole lot of minutes available for Bird in the rotation this upcoming season. Regardless of what happens, this kid deserves some recognition, and here’s to hoping he can be a nice end-of-the-bench secret weapon for the Green in 2018-19.

Bad Start for Bob

If you listened to Sunday’s podcast, you heard Red and I briefly discuss the Celtics’ newest member and only 2018 draft pick, Robert Williams, to whom I am affectionately referring as “Bob” for the time being.

You see, Bob is super talented. He is a 6’10”, 240-ish-pound athletic freak who could really serve as a force the team has been lacking down low for quite some time. In fact, ESPN thought so highly of Williams as a player that he was ranked as their 12th overall prospect (ESPN Insider subscription required) in the draft, which is amazing because the Celtics got him with the TWENTY-SEVENTH pick in the first round, leading many to believe Danny Ainge has duped the league again and obtained the steal of the year.

“But, Mattes, why would a guy who supposedly should’ve been a lottery pick fall all the way to the end of the first round, just three picks away from missing out on being drafted in the first round entirely?”

Well, my friends, that is because perhaps we should be more aptly referring to him as “Fred,” or rather “Forgetful Fred,” as the kid seriously needs to start getting his shit together.

After already being flagged by many scouts for effort and motor issues – hence the fall from grace on draft night – he then missed what was supposed to be his first conference call as a Celtic the very next morning after he was drafted because he overslept. Oh, AND THEN he missed the team’s flight out to Vegas a week later, subsequently missing the team’s first summer league practice.

Way to start off with a bang, Bob!

He was able to play in the team’s first summer league game on July 6, piling up four points and two rebounds in seven minutes of action…before exiting the game in the first quarter with what is being considered a knee contusion. Williams then sat out the rest of that game, and he was not able to play in either of the team’s two other summer league contests so far.

NOW, we get the news, first reported by Fred Katz at MassLive, that the rookie has an artery condition in his legs which can cause cramping, fatigue, and calf pain when being active. It’s being described as “not too serious,” and apparently the team was aware of the condition on draft night. However, it’s still not the most comforting thing to hear about your 20-year-old rookie stud.

Woof!

Look, I’m not saying to sound the alarm yet. I’m just saying it hasn’t been the most glorious start for the young fella.

But hey, I wasn’t completely ready to start adulting at 20 years old either, and at least he’s not getting in brawls or being a creep off the court. Also, the team doesn’t seem too worried about the other health-related stuff, so I won’t sweat it too much yet either.

You got the talent, Bob, and we’re all sure as hell rooting for ya. It can only go up from here.

Smart STILL Waiting

After a WHIRLWIND first few days of free agency throughout the NBA – which included the King choosing to flee Cleveland for the Land of Angels, Paul George deciding to stay put in OKC, and DeMarcus Cousins effectively ending the point of even watching the NBA next year by joining the damn Warriors – it seems as though some of the other premier free agents slipped through the cracks a bit, which includes our friend Marcus Smart.

I, for one, am a BIG Marcus Smart fan, and I believe his tough, grit-and-balls style of play WILL win us a championship in the next year or two. While his offensive numbers don’t pop off the stat sheet – and while he has taken maybe one-too-many three pointers (or 90) in his career – there are very few players in the league that can make as much of an impact on a game defensively as Smart. The guy gives a MILLION-percent effort every night, every play, and I think people are really overlooking the value he brings to this team.

Alas, the NBA is a business, as they say, and poor Marcus feels a bit slighted that he isn’t receiving the type of offers he expected to get once he hit the market as a restricted free agent this summer. Even worse, he claims the Celtics have barely tried to work with him at all throughout the negotiation process, and now he feels unwanted. (Considering the fact that Dante-FREAKIN’-Exum received a three-year, $33 million deal for being pretty mediocre on the bench in Utah for the past four seasons, one of which he missed entirely, I can’t really blame Smart for being so butthurt.)

It seems as though the Celtics aren’t willing to offer anything more than a one-year qualifying offer at this point, and if Smart wants to remain in Green this year then that’s what he’s going to have to accept. He could then simply play his balls off this year and hope that the market’s better for him next summer, when he’ll also be unrestricted and have way more freedom to go wherever the hell he wants.

However, per NBC Sports Boston’s A. Sherrod Blakely, perhaps Sacramento is interested in paying up for Smart after offering Zach LaVine almost $80 million this offseason (barf!), only to see Chicago match the offer and bring LaVine back to the Windy City. If the Kings were to offer the same, or even $20 million or $30 million less than that, for Smart, the Celtics would have a very difficult time matching and would most likely end up losing a key rotation piece.

I understand that money rules the world, and if the Kings offer that much money then the Celts are going to need to let Smart walk.

But come on, Danny, figure something out. And quick. We can’t lose this guy.

So there you have it! Your mid-summer report on the Green. Be sure to keep checking in with The 300s for more updates throughout the rest of the offseason, and subscribe to The 300s Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and now Spotify!

Till next time…

The 300s Podcast: The Dog Days of Summer Mean It’s Officially Red Sox Season

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Start your weekend early with The 300s Podcast + it only takes 2 minutes before the first “Homer at the Bat” reference. Listen, subscribe, rate and review on iTunes, Google Play, and The 300s Podcast is also NOW ON SPOTIFYYYYY

Seeing as its the dog days of summer and there’s no other Boston teams playing, unless you count the Revs and the Cannons, pretty much everyone’s attention has shifted towards the Red Sox finally. So that’s what we’re gonna focus on today.

BONUS: If you catch the obscure reference 37 minutes in and tweet us a GIF from that movie, you win a prize.

-The Death of Baseball has been Greatly Exaggerated
-Outlaw the Shift?!
-Why Does the Media Insist Nobody Cares About the Red Sox When Ratings Are in Fact UP?
-JD Martinez may legitimately challenge for the Triple Crown this year.
-The 300’s Top 3

Reports of Baseball’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

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Dan Shaughnessy’s column from Sunday afternoon on the demise of baseball generated a lot of buzz, and the topic has dominated Boston sports talk radio this week. When Shaughnessy, a J. G. Taylor Spink Award recipient, says that Major League Baseball is in trouble people listen. His points are fair, even if not fresh: too many bad teams, slow pace of play, too many strikeouts, the rise of analytics, and the lack of star power are all hurting the appeal of the game. But as Nick Cafardo pointed out on Tuesday night, they don’t appear to be hurting the game’s appeal in Boston.

The Red Sox are victims of their own success (and drama). They broke the curse in 2004, went wire-to-wire and won another championship in 2007, experienced one of the biggest September collapses in the history of the game in 2011, and won another championship in 2013 after a city tragedy. There have been lots of highs, lows, and drama over the last 15 years. What could they do in July, 2018 that could match any of that sports talk radio buzz? What trade deadline deal could possibly top the Nomar trade? No wonder the Sox aren’t talked about as much on WEEI or the Sports Hub as they were 5, 10 or 15 years ago. That doesn’t mean that people don’t care about this team, and it obviously doesn’t mean that people aren’t watching.

The Red Sox sold out every game at Fenway Park from May 15, 2003, to April 8, 2013. [Sure, the sellout streak was a bit of a joke at the end, but it was very real for poor college students trying to get tickets at face value in the mid-2000s.] The Red Sox dominated the Boston sports scene for most of that time. The fact that they are no longer the most discussed team is largely out of their control.

The greatest quarterback and coach in the history of the National Football League are both in New England right now. It’d be shocking if the Patriots didn’t own the region. With the Celtics championship in 2008 and the Bruins Stanley Cup win in 2011, the city’s sports talk landscape became a lot more crowded over the last 15 years. All four Boston teams have never all been this good at the same time.

That’s not to say that baseball is fine and that it’s never been better. Baseball does need to make some changes to adapt to the times. The NFL has shown far more willingness than MLB to tweak its rules over the past 20 years, but baseball has shown an ability to adapt in the past. Lowering the mound and adding the designated hitter seemed like radical ideas at the time, but those ideas worked out okay. Rob Manfred has shown a willingness to make changes and improvements, and I’m confident more will be done.

The changes don’t need to be radical, either. Eliminate shifts [and increase offense other than home runs] by requiring two infielders to stay to the left of second base or by requiring all infielders to remain on the infield dirt. Implement a salary floor to disincentivize tanking and hopefully more decent non-playoff teams emerge. Take a few games off the regular season, and increase the division series to seven games, to make the regular season more interesting.

Baseball ain’t perfect, but don’t tell me people don’t care about the Red Sox the way they used to.

 

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Paul Pierce is NOT Going to Be Happy With What Ray Allen Had to Say About Him

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The Boston Globe – In an upcoming book, titled “From the Outside: My Journey through Life and the Game I Love,” the retired guard opens up about his relationships not only with the sport, but also with past teammates and coaches…“Allen also appreciated Garnett’s everlasting tenacity — an intangible trait that he felt didn’t necessarily light up the stat sheet. “He never took a game off. A possession off,” he wrote. “I can’t say that of anyone else I played with, and I played with some of the best.”…”Paul Pierce, on the other hand, would explicitly announce he was “taking the night off” when matched up against a player who wasn’t considered to be elite. Pierce’s attitude ticked Allen off. He was sure to express his disapproval to Pierce, who eventually no longer joked about taking it easy.

I just don’t get you Ray Allen. I feel like I’m dealing with Rocket Raccoon here.

Here I thought Ray and KG and Pierce and Rondo (not really) were all trying to smooth things over so they could reunite for the 10 year reunion of the 2008 championship. But instead Ray is in open rebellion against the crown. He’s currently promoting a new book, which takes plenty of shots at Rondo, who clapped back with a haymaker, and now he’s accusing Paul Pierce (the guy who was literally just inducted into the Celtics HOF) of dogging it.

“No player should ever have a night off,” Allen wrote. “The worst player in the NBA would not be in the NBA if he weren’t good, which means he has the potential to beat you on any given night. And if you think you have to put forth a greater effort against the top players, you clearly aren’t giving enough of an effort against everyone else.”

How I imagine Paul Pierce responding to Ray’s completely random shot?

What’s the matter with you Ray? If you want to get into pissing matches with Rondo thats one thing. You guys always hated each other and everyone knew it. He even refers to his teammate and starting point guard as a “role player” that was wrecking the chemistry of the Celtics.

“Rondo, eager to adopt an even bigger role, was “altering the dynamic that had worked so well for [the team] in 2008.” “I didn’t have quite the same feeling about the direction we were heading in as I had the year before,” Allen wrote. “No Ubuntu in this group.”

Jesus dude. But to start talking shit about the captain? The guy whose number 34 now hangs in the rafters? The one guy who could bring you back into the Celtics family? Welp ya done fucked that up now.

Its a shame, but it doesn’t look like Ray Allen and his old Celtics teammates will ever be buddies again. And I gotta say I have to believe that has more to do with Ray than it does the other three guys. This isn’t Mean Girls. Rondo, KG, and Pierce aren’t ganging up on Ray because he didn’t wear pink on Wednesday.

This is a microcosm of all the little things we always heard. Like how Ray never showed up to his teammates’ charity events when they all showed up to his? Stuff like that on top of how he skipped town to join his team’s blood rival and help the other guys win a title? I wanna let bygones be bygones, but it seems like Ray Allen does not.

PS – I legitimately may have to buy Ray’s book for the Kevin Garnett stories alone. The Boston Globe mentions yet another story of KG trying to get Joakim Noah to kill himself.

“When Joakim Noah once congratulated Garnett on a step-back jumper and asked if he could teach him the shot — an exchange Allen said was common between players in the NBA — Garnett responded, “Get off my dick.”

ESPN President John Skipper Resigns Citing Substance Addiction Issues

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ESPN – John Skipper resigned as president of ESPN and co-chairman of the Disney Media Networks on Monday. George Bodenheimer, ESPN’s president from 1998 to 2011 and its executive chairman until May 2014, will take over as the acting chairman of the company for the next 90 days to help Disney chairman and chief executive officer Bob Iger find Skipper’s replacement. “Today I have resigned from my duties as President of ESPN,” Skipper said in a statement. “I have had a wonderful career at the Walt Disney Company and am grateful for the many opportunities and friendships. I owe a debt to many, but most profoundly Michael Lynton, George Bodenheimer and Bob Iger. “I have struggled for many years with a substance addiction. I have decided that the most important thing I can do right now is to take care of my problem.

So John Skipper, the president of ESPN, resigned from his lofty position yesterday citing substance addiction issues. The guy with one of the most powerful positions in all of sports and media stepped down after literally signing a contract extension through 2021 last month. That is not normal.  I don’t mean to break out the jump to conclusions mat..

..but this all just seems to be coming at an odd time. More and more sexual abuse and harassment allegations continue to pile in every day and now we’re starting to see the movement entering the world of sports. Christ, theres an 800 page book I read about all the wild shit that went on at ESPN over the years.

Just this week we heard that Panthers owner Jerry Richardson was coming under fire for allegations of workplace misconduct against him, then the NFL took over the investigation, then the creepy details came out, and now he’s selling the team. That shit happened QUICK.

Think about that for a second. This is the NFL; the definition of the old boys club. There’s no young tech billionaire owner in the NFL like the NBA has in Mark Cuban. Its all old, rich, white guys who probably think they’re beyond reproach. Welp, its 2017 boys and its become real apparent, real quick to a lot of entitled rich guys like Richardson that ain’t the case anymore. Now we have P. Diddy coming out saying he wants to buy the Panthers.

This NEEDS to happen. Besides the fact that I could just post Chappelle’s Show clips of Making the Band all day, he would bring some much needed diversity into the club that is NFL owners. Diddy would bring a new voice as both a black man and a much younger perspective on everything from the racial issues of the league to the promotion of the product.

Back to Skipper though, it seems like this guy has been underwater for some time. That scathing Boston Globe piece came out last week slamming the Worldwide Leader for its workplace environment that was toxic to many women. Buccigross was the main fall guy in that piece as he was outed for sending overly flirty text messages and unsolicited shirt pics. Not on the level of some shit we’ve heard from Weinstein, but obviously wicked inappropriate. I don’t understand what these guys don’t get. When I’m at work I pretend everything I say and do will be recorded and used against me in the future. So just don’t try and fuck all your coworkers or be a weirdo in the office and you’ll be good. We’ve all got skeletons in our closet, but keep that shit in the closet at home.

We all of course remember the short lived Barstool Sports show with the Pardon My Take guys PFT and Big Cat that lasted all of one episode before ESPN cancelled it.

ESPN was taking heat from Sam Ponder and other female employees about the network associating with Barstool, which they were pissed about. What I don’t get is, you know what Barstool is about, you know what their audience is, you know there may be controversy, but you green light the show anyways. Then you pull the plug after one episode and some blowback from disgruntled parties? Either stick with your decision and give the show a chance to make it through some growing pains or just don’t do it at all. If Skipper and ESPN were so concerned with the negative reaction AND they were knowingly embroiled in behind the scenes legal battles with former employees regarding sexual harassment, then why not kick the can down the road and try the show later on? Its just poor management.

Hopefully Skipper gets whatever help he needs for his substance issue, but with the timeline of everything and more allegations making their way into the sports world I would not be surprised if we start hearing some less than flattering details leaking out sooner than later.

Patriots Charged Fans $5 for Cups of Tap Water After They Ran Out of Bottles

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ESPN – A New England Patriots spokesperson apologized Monday, a day after the team charged fans at least $4.50 for tap water at Gillette Stadium. With the temperature hitting an unseasonably high 86 degrees in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the team doubled its inventory of water bottles for Sunday’s game, the Boston Globe reported. That was almost four times the inventory for an average game. The problem was that each concession stand could hold only so many bottles. When the on-hand supply ran dry, fans started asking for cups of tap water — and, according to numerous tweets, were charged $4.50 or $5 per soda cup.

What a bunch of cocksuckers. If you run out of bottled water thats not my problem, go run to Tedeschi’s. That does not give you an excuse to charge people $5 for a cup of unfiltered toilet water. Unless that crisp Abraham Lincoln I just gave you comes with a free Budweiser, then I should not be held liable for flipping over the whole goddamn snack stand.

God forbid some elderly lady croaked in the 90 degree heat because she didn’t have $5 on her. I better be getting a souvenir cup and a coupon for a free fucking bottle of water if you’re trying to charge me for Foxborough sink agua.

Its Official, David Price has Poisoned the Well for the Red Sox

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So in whats become one of the most lengthy Red Sox dramas that I can remember in a long time, David Price and the boys are morphing into a group of unlikeable assholes right before our eyes. It started of course with Shaugnessy’s story detailing how Price was berating Hall of Famer and NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley on the team plane in front of everyone, supposedly because of Eck’s “Yuck” comment about a recent E-Rod rehab start. Not because Eck was criticizing Price, not because Price also recently flipped the fuck out on Evan Drellich (also in front of a crowd of reporters), but because he’s a good teammate. If you think thats a pretty convenient excuse for Price to rip into a member of the media merely to defend a teammate, then you’re right – its bullshit.

Price is actually pitching well, but he seems to be falling apart mentally, lashing out at anyone and everyone for various reasons.

While you’re still an asshole for the way you went about it, you can rip into Evan Drellich and no one will care. But when you start talking shit to a national treasure like Eck and do it on the plane surrounded by your teammates like a schoolyard bully? Then thats where the problem starts. If there’s one thing fans in Boston do not like its entitlement. Now obviously thats a sliding scale with all professional athletes because they’re all entitled to some degree, but when the $30M per year pitcher starts grandstanding and bitching about every little slight because he can’t handle his Twitter notifications, then its a BIG problem.

To make matters worse, rather than suspend, fine or ya know TALK to Price about the incident and ask him “uhh you good big guy?” Instead of doing any of those things, the Red Sox ignored the problem and literally changed the plane boarding procedure. Rather than address the issue, lets just bury our heads in the sand and separate the kids like its recess.

Now we hear that other Red Sox players and even Pedroia (Bradfo disagrees) were cheering Price on while he was berating Eck? Like a bunch of assholes. Thats a goddamn shame. Talk about poisoning the fucking well.

If this galvanizes the team and they f-bomb everyone around them all the way to a World Series title then thats one thing. That’ll be their thing. 2013 was Boston Strong, 2004 was the Idiots, 2017 can be the miserable assholes who rail against the world. But if they don’t? If they stumble down the stretch and get bounced in the first round or somehow miss the playoffs? I wouldn’t put it past John Henry to say FUCK THIS and send a drastically different looking team to Fort Myers in 2018.

Now after weeks of this incident lingering, sports radio eviscerating the players, and just general fan backlash, the Red Sox return home from a long west coast road trip and send none other than David Price to the mound Friday night. This guy better take the hill and strike out the side right out of the gate because if he doesn’t he very well may get his balls booed off. There’s a lot of pressure on Price tonight, about as much as there can be for a game in the dead of July, but holy shit, if this guy comes out and takes a beating tonight? Forget it, the Fenway faithful might literally break this guy’s psyche. And I for one am excited as all hell to see this unfold.

Want to vocalize your distaste for all this bullshit going on with the Red Sox? Maybe get in David Price’s brain from the stands to rattle his cage a little bit? Buy a Yuck shirt.