Tag: Kevin Garnett

Former High School Phenom and Celtics Player Sebastian Telfair is Dropping an Album

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Former high school phenom and street ball legend Sebastian Telfair was on the Breakfast Club this morning and I was wondering why he was on the radio regailing tales of his NBA heyday. Apparently he’s dropping an album, which I’ll get to in a bit, but first I have to dive back into my long dormant obsession of one Sebastian Telfair. On the Breakfast Club Telfair even briefly touched on his time with the Boston Celtics. I’m paraphrasing here, but basically what he said was:

“Even the young guys was acting like old guys, like if that guy drives a Cadillac instead of a Bentley I’m not setting a screen for him.”

Telfair played on the worst Celtics team of my life as a fan: the 2006-07 squad that went 24-58 under Doc Rivers. Woof. That was the year Paul Pierce missed a bunch of time due to a foot injury and only appeared in 47 games. What I totally forgot though was just how young Telfair was when he joined the Celtics. In case you were wondering he averaged 6.1 points and 2.8 assists per game in his one year with the C’s. He was still only 21-years-old though and it was just his third year in the league! So its not like he was this total project of a player, which probably helped his value as he was later part of the earth shattering Kevin Garnett trade package just a few months later.

Now who was it that Telfair could be referring to? That Celtics team had a TON of young guys that were on a terrible team so I can imagine how toxic that environment was. Lets take a look at the young guys on that team. Since it was Telfair’s third year in the league, lets take a look at guys who had three years or less of NBA experience when he joined the team. Tony Allen, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Kevinn Pinkney (?), Leon Powe, Allan Ray (not Ray Allen), Rajon Rondo, and Delonte West. Holy shit what a cast of characters. I don’t remember the last time I actually looked at the 2006-07 roster (why would anyone?), but I forgot how many “mercurial” players were on that team. I can totally picture Delonte West and Rajon Rondo hating on Telfair for no other reason than the publicity and fanfare he got for being good in high school. And thats before we even get to Kendrick Perkins, who is a favorite player of many Celtics fans, but is also known for being a complete prick too. My money is on Rondo and Perkins just icing Telfair out and straight up bullying him like Mean Girls.

Now it’s probably because I saw Telfair’s documentary Through the Fire when I was like 16 that I have such an affinity for the one time superstar in waiting.

Plus a closing credits song that bangs so hard its on my iPod (iPhone?) to this day.

He was one of the first high school basketball players to go straight to the pros not named Kobe, Garnett or LeBron. Jay-Z even spit a verse about the fucking guy on Dead Presidents.

Let me live out my dreams, until my heart give out
Devour cream, you know exactly what this is about
Fuck y’all mean, handlin’ since a teen
Like LeBron or Sebastian, high school graduates
Straight to the league, I ain’t waitin’ for my knee to blow
Yesterday I was needin’ this dough

Telfair was on the cover of magazines,

His high school games were on ESPN, he had the aforementioned documentary, HOV and Derek Jeter even went to watch him play. In a high school gym.

This was the real life Jesus Shuttlesworth as we all watched a 17-year-old kid decide what he wanted to do with his life. He ultimately ended up spurning the honorable Rick Pitino at Louisville to turn pro instead, going 13th overall to the Trailblazers.

After parts of 11 seasons in the NBA where he averaged 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds over his career, Telfair went over to China just like his cousin Stephon Marbury and not surprisingly lit it up for a couple years. Now? Now we get mixtape Sebastian as Telfair is apparently dropping an album. Athletes releasing music almost always ends poorly, unless you’re Cole Beasley of course.

But we’ve buried the lede long enough. All athletes want to be rappers and all rappers want to be athletes, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gonna give Sebastian Telfair’s debut album a listen. I literally could not find any mention of it on the internet though, which is not a great sign. But I was able to track it down after I finally landed on Telfair’s own Twitter page. So without further ado…

Ray Allen Tries to Make Good With Boston Celtics Nation Before Hall of Fame Speech, And We Should Let Him

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Ray Allen

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Ray Allen said his five seasons with the Boston Celtics were the “most important time in my life,” even as the fractured relationship with members of the 2007-08 title team hovers over his impending induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Allen made headlines earlier this week by suggesting that he didn’t expect any members of that 2008 team to congratulate him on his induction and confirmed during an appearance on ESPN’s “The Jump” Thursday that he hadn’t heard from most of his former teammates this week.

But Allen wants Boston fans to remember what the Celtics accomplished during that Big Three era and not the bitterness that has lingered since he defected to the rival Miami Heat in 2012.

“People look at how I left, but I look at how I lived while I was [in Boston],” Allen said Thursday in a news conference after members of this year’s induction class received their Hall of Fame jackets on the eve of induction.

“That to me is the most important time in my life because I had never won. And I was able to win. And that’s probably the most important thing that I want people to remember, is the time that we spent together.”

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been pretty torn regarding the whole situation.

(For those who don’t know the story or why Ray’s even saying stuff like this in the first place, here’s an excellent summary of the entire saga from SB Nation to get you up to speed.)

Look, I still want to love Ray so bad. From the time I first started watching the game back in the early 2000s until just about four years ago, there was NOBODY who could shoot the rock like him. That flawless, textbook form, sweet stroke, and ice-cold confidence made him one of the all-time greats, and there’s absolutely no way the Celtics put up that last banner in 2008 without him. (Also, I cannot count how many games of NBA Jam he’s single-handedly won me in my lifetime, and for that I will be forever in his debt.)

Image result for ray allen form

But this situation is U-G-L-Y, and to be honest it’s hard to try and defend a guy who’s basically been ostracized by pretty much every single one of his former teammates with whom he almost won two titles.

And it’s not even like he’s just being slightly criticized; he is legitimately being shunned and dragged through the mud by basically anyone and everyone who played with him in Boston.

Just take a look at this quote from Kevin Garnett from media day during training camp in 2012, only just a few months after Ray left and signed with the Heat (h/t ESPN Boston):

“I don’t have Ray’s number any more. I’m not trying to communicate. I’m just being honest with everybody in here… It’s just what it is.”

Damn. That escalated pretty quickly. And sadly, it hasn’t gotten any better since.

(K.G. later went on to say that same day that he understood if Ray was really making what he believed to be the best decision for his family and that “I wish Ray the best.” But the tone of his voice and the first part of the quote tells the true story.)

Ray ended up playing a huge role in Miami for two seasons before hanging ’em up after the 2013-14 season, which only further added to his already outstanding legacy. No but really, though, LeBron James should be thanking him for that second ring. Not only did Ray average a solid 10.3 points per game over those two seasons, but most importantly of all if Ray doesn’t hit that three with 5.2 seconds left in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals, San Antonio would’ve won the series and LeBron would be 2-7 right now on the game’s ultimate stage.

On the flip side, things didn’t go so well after Ray’s departure for some of the Celts’ other key players during that great 2007-2012 run.

K.G. and Paul Pierce were both traded to Brooklyn the very next offseason, after a season in which the Celtics were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Knicks in six games (aka the very same year Ray won the title with Miami). WOOF. Pierce went on to have a decent year for Brooklyn in 2014, and a mediocre one in Washington after that, before fading out entirely with the Clippers. K.G. dropped off even more quickly than Pierce, as he was traded as a novelty from Brooklyn back to his roots in Minnesota in 2015 before ultimately retiring after the 2015-16 campaign.

Image result for pierce garnett brooklyn

Yeah, sure, this ultimately ended up being one of the greatest and most important trades in Celtics history. But it definitely hurt to see at the time.

No disrespect to K.G. or Pierce, two of my all-time heroes and absolute legends in their own right, but you can’t tell me there isn’t maybe just a smidge of jealousy adding fuel to the fire here.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis, fresh off his BIG3 championship title, is also no longer in the league. And Kendrick Perkins was just waived by the Cavaliers this past July after serving as nothing more than an extra body/intimidating sideline presence for the Cleveland LeBrons last season.

Image result for kendrick perkins scowl

Seriously, who’s messing with that face? NO ONE.

Rajon Rondo is still kicking around. In fact, he had quite the resurgence with New Orleans last year and is set to team up with…LEBRON JAMES in Los Angeles this upcoming season. SERIOUSLY??!! Talk about hypocrisy.

To be fair, though, if you really listen to what the guys were saying about Ray, it’s about much more than the fact he simply chose to go to Miami in 2012. They all mention that it was “the way” in which he left that truly mattered, as it seems as though he just bounced without a care after what was a pretty historic epoch in basketball history. K.G., Pierce, and the guys were hurt that Ray could so easily leave them in the dust, and that I can definitely understand.

There’s also this quote from Pierce in 2015 (h/t ESPN Boston):

“It was a weird relationship. We were all good friends on the court, but Ray always did his own thing. That’s just the way Ray was. Even when we were playing together, we’d be having a team dinner and Ray wouldn’t show up. We’d go to his charity events but Ray wouldn’t show up to somebody else’s.”

Not cool, Ray.

It definitely seems as though Ray could be a bit arrogant and selfish at times, and he’s got nobody but himself to blame there. But if we’re being fair, he also felt pushed out by Avery Bradley at the end of his career with the C’s, when K.G. and Pierce were still being treated like kings. So he might not be looking at his time in Boston, especially toward the end, with the same pair of rose-colored glasses as everybody else.

(And as far as his personal drama with Rondo goes: puhhh-lease. Rondo barely gets along with himself, let alone his teammates, and he lost any credibility he had with me in this situation the second he chose to sign with the Lakers this summer. Again: hypocrite.)

Image result for rondo meme

Finally, the last point I’ll make is the fact that it’s tough to blame Ray for choosing to leave when he did. That offseason, K.G. was coming off two straight injury-marred seasons, Pierce was only getting older himself, and the best piece of young talent they had on the roster was trying to take his job. The writing was on the wall. Also, he had the chance to go play with a 28-year-old LeBron James and a still-in-his-prime Dwyane Wade. Which would you rather? (Also, how is what he did any different than what pretty much every superstar in the NBA has been trying to do for the past couple seasons?)

While I understand some of the reason why things went south with Ray, I really can’t believe how bad things have become. Hopefully, once K.G. and Pierce are inducted into the Hall within the next year or two the three can reunite with their swanky new jackets and let bygones be bygones.

Even if they don’t, I’m choosing to look at Ray’s time here in a positive light, and I’ll never forget that amazing 2008 season or the many fabled shots he hit throughout his career, time and time again. There is absolutely no doubt he deserves a spot in Springfield, no matter how you feel about him.

So, congratulations, Ray! You’ll always be one of the Green’s all-time greats in my book. Thanks for all the memories.

(What are your thoughts on the Ray Allen situation? Let us know in the comments below, on Facebook, or @the300sboston on Twitter )

Today Marks the 5 Year Anniversary of the Infamous Boston Celtics Brooklyn Nets Trade of Pierce and Garnett for ALL the Draft Picks

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So Facebook reminded me that today marks the 5 year anniversary of the Celtics-Nets trade of Paul Pierce and KG for a BOATLOAD of draft picks. At the time I was a young’n living in Allston still holding onto the heyday of the Celtics. Hell, that 2012 NBA playoffs commercial for the Celtics is still my favorite NBA commercial to this day.

Young, athletic teams are exciting, but in my opinion nothing is more fun to watch than the old, proud, savvy veterans making a last stand.

I still vividly remember when the trade was first announced on ESPN because I was sitting at White Horse crushing some $2 Coors Lights. At the time I was pretty bummed because I loved Paul Pierce and KG is my favorite Celtic of all time. Cue the Facebook memory!

This was the best Celtics squad of my lifetime finally broken up, and probably a couple of years too late. But don’t tell that to former Nets GM Billy King, who was more than willing to pay top dollar for guys entering their age-36 and age-37 seasons in Pierce and Garnett.

Just look at the fucking quotes from King and former Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

“Honestly, did I think we could pull something like this off? No,” Nets general manager Billy King said during a Friday conference call. “… But (Celtics GM) Danny (Ainge) and I just kept working at it and got to the point where we both were comfortable.”

“Today, the basketball gods smiled on the Nets,” team owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a statement. “With the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, we have achieved a great balance on our roster between veteran stars and young talents. This team will be dazzling to watch and tough to compete against.”

Laugh out loud funny looking back.

Obviously that trade has been roasted in the years since and while it seemed like an overpay at the time, it wasn’t completely outlandish. People, Sports Illustrated included, thought the Nets were going to be awesome.

So the thinking was, “welp whats a few late first round picks?”

As we joked on the podcast the other day, the Celtics drafting this year at No. 27 overall is house money — just draft an absolute scrub or roll the dice on an asshole. Late first rounders in the NBA are rarely game changers.

Except, as we all know, the Nets experiment bombed miserably. Historically bad. I joke with my buddy who is a Nets fan that this is going to be the greatest 30 for 30 ever.

For the price of FOUR first round picks the Nets got 75 games out of Paul Pierce and 96 games out of KG. In those two years the Nets went 44-38 and 38-44.

The Nets then blew it up and proceeded to go:

  • 21-61 (2015-16)
  • 20-62 (2016-17)
  • 28-54 (2017-18)

Holy. Shit. What a bad deal.

Meanwhile, with those Nets picks the Celtics went on to draft and/or acquire via trade:

  • James Young – No. 17 overall (2014)
  • Jaylen Brown – No. 3 overall (2016)
  • Jayson Tatum – No. 1 overall (2017) *Celtics traded down to No. 3 to take Tatum and in the process picked up the following piece below
  • Kings 2019 1st round pick
  • Kyrie Irving – via trade of the Nets’ No. 8 overall pick, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and a second round pick

So we actually get one more bite at the apple due to Danny’s draft day trade last year. As long as the Kings don’t get the No. 1 overall pick it goes to the Celtics and that will officially wrap up this debacle of a Nets trade.

Thanks again to Mikhail, Jay-Z, Billy King, and the borough of Brooklyn for fast tracking the Celtics rebuild and putting us back on the brink of the NBA Finals in just 5 years! If Jayson Tatum becomes the 1st-Team All-NBA player like I think he will then Nets fans probably have no choice but to become full blown Celtics fans. I mean when you think about it, this is basically the Bizarro Nets. God its good to be a Boston fan.

 

PS – Oh yea, Jason Terry was part of that deal too, but the Jet only played one season with the Nets as well. Terry is *still* playing by the way as he just wrapped up his 18th season with the Bucks.

Double PS – Lets go back and look at some of the reactions to this trade when it was announced because with hindsight being 20/20 these are some of the worst takes you’ll ever see.

The Top 5 Moments from the 2008 Boston Celtics Documentary, Anything is Possible

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If you’d rather listen to The 300s than read it, just subscribe to The 300s Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, RadioPublic, or Anchor!

NBC Sports Boston has been teasing a documentary called Anything is Possible about the 2008 Boston Celtics and their championship season for months so I was pretty fired up for this 2 hour bonanza.

It was written and produced by Jim Aberdale and features interviews with players from the team including Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Leon Powe, James Posey, Brian Scalabrine, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, and of course head coach Doc Rivers.

Thats aaaaalmost the entire roster, with two faces noticeably missing.

Unsurprisingly Ray Allen declined to be interviewed for this documentary, which was to be expected considering all his public drama with his former teammates. I was surprised however to see that Kevin Garnett declined to be interviewed for the doc as well. Theres more than enough clips over the years of KG to piece together some great interviews, but it would have been great to hear his take on everything today. I know he has plenty of tv work of his own with KG’s Area 21, but I can only assume he just wanted to avoid anymore questions about Ray Allen.

With all that being said, lets get into the Top 5 Moments from Anything is Possible:

1. The Kevin Garnett Arm Wrestling Story

Every Celtics fan knows how tapped Kevin Garnett is and how he would do almost anything to win. It turns out that isn’t reserved for just basketball. The team plane was full of competition whether it was dice, cards, or in this case arm wrestling and to hear Kendrick Perkins set the scene is a laugh out loud moment..

KG was challenging the entire team and even ended up beating Big Baby by sheer force of will, which is impressive considering Big Baby is listed at 289 pounds. Doc Rivers even called it the most athletic thing hes ever seen. KG tops it all off with a classic Garnett moment, screaming I’m the Alpha Male in this bitch. This guy is the most competitive person in the history of the world and I don’t think thats an exaggeration

2. Paul Pierce Recruiting PJ Brown on the Streets of New Orleans

A key role player on the 2008 Celtics, PJ Brown tells the story of how he came out of retirement to play for the C’s. Brown describes walking down the streets of New Orleans during All Star weekend and Paul Pierce’s car happens to spot him, pull up, and roll down the window. Pierce, having had a few cocktails gushes to Brown how the C’s could use him, but PJ writes it off as Paul just having a good time. Then Ray Allen sees Brown the next day and reiterates the Celtics interest in him joining the team. Pierce brings it up to Danny Ainge who signs Brown almost immediately

3. Big Baby Davis Being High as a Kite

Big Baby is clearly enjoying his time reminiscing over the 2008 Celtics and it is a sight to watch.

4. Kendrick Perkins’ Reaction to the Celtics Getting Ray Allen

Perk is the highlight of the entire documentary, especially this line describing his reaction to one of the biggest Celtics moves before the 08 season, saying

“I didn’t know what to think when we got Ray Allen, I just knew we got Jesus Shuttlesworth.” – Kendrick Perkins

5. Doc Rivers Response to Phil Jackson Mispronouncing Leon Powe’s Name

After a big game by Powe in the NBA Finals Phil Jackson complained in his press conference that Leon POW got more free throws than anyone on the Lakers. Michael Holley points out that if your getting in the zen masters head, you know you had the Lakers on the rope. Powe himself laughed it off saying he knew it was mind games by the LA coach, but the best reaction was from Celtics coach Doc Rivers: “I told our coaches I wanted to beat his ass.”

Thats it, the Top 5 moments from the Anything is Possible documentary, but don’t take my word for it. Go watch it right now, because that is two hours well worth your time.

https://anchor.fm/the300s/embed

Celtics Break LeBron and the Cavs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals

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This is a 7 game series and we’ve seen LeBron take one on the chin before coming back to lay waste to his opposition but last night was the absolute best case scenario for the Celtics who blew out the Cavs 108-83. They looked younger, quicker, more athletic, deeper, and overall just more invested in the game than LeBron and his flunkies.

When LeBron says he has “zero concern” over getting curb stomped in Game 1 though I genuinely believe him. He probably does have zero concern. Thats the problem. The C’s got up early and never looked back. This Cavs team is not built to play from behind, especially if LeBron isn’t scoring 40 points a game. He’s *averaging* 32.7 pts per game in the playoffs and the Cavs need him to hit and exceed those averages every single night if they’re going to beat the C’s. Do I think LeBron can do that 4 out of the next 6 games? Sure. Do I think he will? I doubt it. I think the Celtics will tax him mentally as they throw wave after wave of defenders at him and make him work, really work, to get upwards of 30 points a night. Not to mention he now has to play defense.

This quote from Jaylen Brown over the weekend was illuminating in the way they all view LeBron.

“You’ve got to make him work on both sides of the ball. Usually he’s guarding the least-offensive threat on the floor, so if he’s guarding me, I’m going to make him pay.”

Now unless Aaron Baynes is on the floor, take your pick LeBron and good luck. Despite all the injuries to this Celtics team they are so deep in terms of scoring threats. If he wants to D up Jaylen Brown well then he’s going to have to chase a 21-year old dude around all game. Same with a 20 year old Jayson Tatum. Both those guys are young, long, athletic and can shoot. Horford’s another All-Star so thats more work. Marcus Smart is smaller, but he’s a goddamn pain in the ass. There’s no weak link LeBron can just lean on to get some rest while playing D. This isn’t last year’s team that stood around and waited for Isaiah Thomas to score on every possession.

Now with all that being said, you know LeBron is going to come out SWINGING on Tuesday night. He wants to make a statement, which he has done so many times before. That is why when he checks himself out of a blowout with several minutes remaining nobody really bats an eye because he is great at taking the long view in a series. His team did not have it, hell they were 0-12 from 3 point land in the first half and shot 15% from 3 for the game. They only shot 36% overall. Meanwhile the Celtics were on fire shooting 36% from 3 and 51% overall for the game.

Water tends to find its level so the Celtics will shoot worse and the Cavs will shoot better. LeBron looks around and sees that and calls it an early night because he’s 33 and there’s no reason for him to play 48 minutes in a blowout when he can just save his energy to come out strong in Game 2.

But, if the Celtics can withstand that early attack from LeBron, throw Marcus Morris, Jaylen Brown, Semi Ojeleye at him and get him to struggle even a little bit then they are in the money. If LeBron senses he’ll have to win the entire series on his own he may just shut it down. We’ve seen it before.

Guerschon Yabusele even got 4 minutes in this game. The Dancing Bear is basically a human victory cigar for the Celtics as we got Gino Time in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Insane.

With that we did also see some incredible flip flopping from the broadcast, most notably Jeff Van Gundy. After a Cavs loss to the Celtics in the regular season Van Gundy said the Cavs were still by far the better team and that was BEFORE Kyrie got hurt. Now the C’s get a big win in Game 1 and Van Gundy is rewriting his own history. Where is Old Takes Exposed when you need them?

We could potentially see the Celtics, a completely different Celtics roster and coach, chase LeBron James out of Cleveland for the second time in his career. In 2010 the Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen frustrated LeBron so bad that he split for Miami just to get reinforcements. We could see that again here as LeBron will almost certainly opt out and enter free agency this offseason.

Before yesterday’s game I said my head tells me Cavs in 6, but my heart says Celtics in 7. I think if the Celtics are going to win this series its going to take 7 games, regardless of the results from Game 1. We’ve seen a young, upcoming dynastic team knock off the aging veteran champions before and it hurt like a bitch to watch. It would be poetic to see the same exact story unfold with the roles reversed on LeBron James now.

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.”

After Yet Another NCAA Pay for Play Scandal, the NBA is Exploring Creating a League to Develop (and Pay) Young Players

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ESPN – In 2005, then-NBA commissioner David Stern celebrated a victory when he successfully created an age limit — a player had to be 19 years old or one year removed from his high school class graduation to be drafted — that accomplished his goal of removing pro scouts from high school gyms. Now, though, there is turbulence, as the underbelly in the youth and college basketball systems is being exposed. The NBA has watched it unfold. Seeing both a responsibility as the world’s leading basketball league and an opportunity to move in on valuable territory, the league is preparing to get involved again with elite high school basketball players, multiple sources told ESPN. Current NBA commissioner Adam Silver and several of his top advisers have been engaged in listening tours and information-gathering missions with an array of stakeholders for months. That has included formal meetings with the National Basketball Players Association about adjusting the so-called “one-and-done” age-limit rule. But Silver’s aim is much more comprehensive than simply re-opening the door for 18-year-olds to play in the NBA, sources said.

WHAT TOOK SO LONG? I gotta be honest, when I first heard that the NBA was seriously interested in a player development system alternative to the NCAA all I could think of was one thing.

Love him or hate him, LaVar Ball’s idea for a similar league was not the worst idea in the world. But, back to reality.

The NBA is the only major sport without a legitimate minor league system, which is ridiculous. Did you know not every NBA team actually has a G-League team? How is that even possible? If you’re going to require that players are at least a year removed from high school and the NCAA continues to be the money grubbing scheme that it is, it only makes sense to make the G-League a legitimate alternative to college. A place where players can get actual NBA level coaching and make a little coin without getting athletic directors and coaches everywhere investigated by the FBI.

How many of these 18 year old phenoms actually want to to go to Duke for 6 months? And notice I say 6 months and not a year because these guys ain’t showing up to half their classes trust me. So why do we continue the facade?

Well it seems like Adam Silver is working to create this alternative for young elite basketball players.

“A plan is expected to include the NBA starting relationships with elite teenagers while they are in high school, providing skills to help them develop both on and off the court. It would ultimately open an alternate path to the NBA besides playing in college and a way 18-year-olds could earn a meaningful salary either from NBA teams or as part of an enhanced option in the developmental G League, sources said.”

All of this sounds exactly like what major soccer programs have had in place in Europe for years. Create something like an academy where young players can train, learn, and most importantly get paid all while developing to play for the big league team one day. Makes sense right? Especially when compared to the shady aspects of NCAA basketball and the joke that is the G-League.

Later in this article though it is mentioned how the NBA was looking into establishing just those types of academies.

“Within the past year, league officials began canvassing teams on their ideas and interest in the NBA creating academies that would house and train dozens of the country’s elite high school basketball players, sources said. This academy concept has been floated for years, notably by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban…However, after discussions with teams and examining challenges and possible unintended consequences with establishing these operations in the U.S., the NBA has decided not to go down the academy path at this time, sources said.”

It seems like they have decided to go a different route and I can only think its because of some legality issues (since they have similar academies outside of the US) or simply theres a way to create this system for young players while also making money. As opposed to probably sinking capital into housing and training players at year round academies.

The G-League is ripe for improvement though.

“The NBA currently permits 18-year-olds in the G League, but the salaries are not competitive. Currently, G League players can earn a maximum of $26,000 per season. In recent years, prospects such as Brandon Jennings, Emmanuel Mudiay and Terrance Ferguson played overseas and earned as much as $1 million while waiting to be eligible to be drafted — which they all were in the first round.”

Jesus christ, no wonder nobody wants to play there. You can make more money playing at UNC.

Currently if you’re playing in the G-League you are either rehabbing an injury or a scrub. Theres no in between. There are no prospects working their way up, and thats unfortunate. You could probably do a lot to limit the massive busts we see by giving guys some grooming in the G-League instead of either instantly succeeding at the NBA level or flopping. Because as we all know, not all 18-year old phenoms are created equal.

“The NBA is focusing on getting involved in two important periods in which they currently have minimal contact with prospects: the high school years and the time between high school graduation and when a young player is physically and emotionally ready to join the NBA.”

I don’t know about 18 year olds being “emotionally ready” for anything besides buying cigarettes and scratch tickets because I remember how out to lunch me and all my friends were at that age. BUT, if there is one sport where young guys are physically ready to jump into the league its without a doubt basketball.

Now how will this effect the NCAA? It makes billions of dollars off these exact types of young athletes. The NCAA will say all the right things publicly, but it will be interesting to see how bitterly they fight this behind closed doors.

“In recent days, influential voices such as former President Barack Obama and LeBron James, a vice president of the players’ union, have called for the NBA to expand its G League to give teenagers another option besides the NCAA route. NCAA president Mark Emmert has said repeatedly he doesn’t believe players should come to college if only to use it as a pit stop toward being in the NBA.

That is a bold faced lie from Mark Emmert. If legitimate top level talent abandons the NCAA then theres no reason for me to watch it. Despite what the NCAA wants you to believe, nobody watches college basketball because of the values and kids chasing their dreams with their classmates. This ain’t Hickory High. We watch it to see the young studs dominate a few months before they become NBA Lottery picks.

Not saying we’re going to see a flood of NBA ready superstar teenagers like we saw with Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James etc. BUT if you’re not going to pay these guys and expect them to just eat shit for a year because David Stern put in an arbitrary rule a decade ago then you’re supremely naive. These guys are going to get paid what they’re worth one way or another. So if you’re the NBA why not strike now to get both the good will of helping young players develop and make a living, while also winning a potential land grab between the NCAA and overseas pro leagues. If the NBA doesn’t put a system in place someone will. Whether its the Australian National Basketball League or the LaVar Ball Big Baller Brand Basketball Association, someone will offer these young athletes what they’re looking for. Either way, one thing is clear; its time for change.

Paul Pierce Says the Celtics Would Have Won 70 Games With a Healthy KG in 2009

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CelticsWire – One of the great questions about the KG-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen Big Three era is what would’ve happened if they weren’t beset by injuries. They were the league’s hottest team in 2009 after winning the title, before Kevin Garnett went down with a leg injury. In 2010, they made it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers, but lost without Kendrick Perkins who suffered a torn ACL in Game 6. They were hot again the next season before Shaq’s career came to an early end due to lingering calf injuries, falling to the Heat in five games in the conference semis.

I mean, he’s not wrong. The Celtics were absolutely dominant right out of the gate in 2007 on the way to a 66-16 record and the Larry O’Brien trophy. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen had played a grand total of 0 games together before rolling to a 20-2 start. That is insane. KG was Defensive Player of the Year, Paul Pierce was NBA Finals MVP, and Danny Ainge was Executive of the Year.

All of that was in Year 1. Imagine how good they would have been in Year 2 with a fully healthy team?

“I say it all the time, I thought we could have three-peated,” Pierce said. “Because if you look, we won I think 62 games the second year after we won it. Kevin got hurt after 30 games, so we played 40 games and the playoffs without Kevin and still won 60 games. I believe we were somewhere around 29-2. Everybody was talking about us winning 70.

“If Kevin was healthy, we probably would have won 70 games. 2010 we coasted. We only won 50 games and when the playoffs come, we turned it up and got to the Finals.”

One of the most dominant teams of the century was rounding into form in Year 2 with 3 hungry Hall of Famers before a KG injury shot that all to hell. In more recent interviews you hear about how Garnett was never really the same again after that injury. Sure they made the Finals the following year when he came back, but after 2010 they became the old, wily veterans just getting by on grit and balls. That narrative produced my favorite Celtics commercial of all-time by the way.

But the days of winning 70 games and NBA titles had passed.

Something I say all the time when people chirp Boston fans is that you will never care about your teams more than we do. Even after all the winning. Boston has had an incredible run of success going back to 2001 with all 4 major teams, BUT we also have experienced some of the most heartbreaking losses, which only helps to fuel that fire. I won’t list them all here because I don’t want to smash my laptop at work, but the 2010 NBA Finals Game  7 will forever have a spot on that list. Going for their second title in three years against the Lakers in LA. Perk had blown out his knee the game before and the Celtics were relying on bum ass Rasheed Wallace who was sucking air from the tip. It was a slow bleed too. You could feel the game slipping away and the Celtics just couldn’t put it away.

The Big Three Celtics will be forever remembered as the ones that raised Banner 17 and how they completely changed the culture of the Celtics. We’ll always say what if though. What if KG was healthy, what if Danny didn’t trade Perk for Jeff Fucking Green, what if LeBron didn’t go Super Saiyan and drop 45 and 15 on us in Game 6.

Now I need to cheer myself up, so enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Rondo and Isaiah Thomas Get Into It, Both Get Ejected. I Miss These Guys

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Yahoo – Isaiah Thomas and Rajon Rondo got into a scuffle and were both ejected from Wednesday night’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers. And it stems from Boston Celtics beef. The two were each handed double technical fouls and given the boot. While it wasn’t immediately clear from game action why the two were so chippy, the announcers and Twitter speculated that the altercation stemmed from drama over Paul Pierce’s jersey retirement with the Celtics. It started when Thomas, who was due a brief honor from the Celtics after being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, asked to have his Boston moment moved to the same night of Pierce’s jersey retirement. The request didn’t have anything to do with Pierce, but Thomas’ desire to have his honor on a night that he would be healthy and playing.

I feel for Isaiah Thomas, I really do. Its like when you break up with a girl and move onto bigger and better things while your ex just spirals downward. He got hurt, got traded to Cleveland and surprise surprise didn’t get along with LeBron, got blamed for a shit Cavs team, and got traded again to the basement dwelling Lakers. And now he’s got Rondo giving him the business.

We had a great time together, watching IT was some of the most fun I’ve had watching the Celtics since KG and Pierce roamed the parquet. So I’ll always have a place in my heart for Isaiah.

BUT, Rondo, man. Rajon Rondo is a ride or die. The guy hasn’t played for the Celtics since 2014 and he still reps Boston just as hard.

Nobody crosses Paul Pierce on Rondo’s watch.

When Rondo was the precocious young point guard, KG took him under his wing and turned Rajon into a bulldog.

Something about Rondo just being a dickhead always endured him to Celtics fans. Like he was his own version of a Masshole. He was at one point compared to Chris Paul as the best PG in the league and Danny Ainge once even tried to trade him for Russell Westbrook straight up, which is laughable now. People forget how good Rondo once was though. But Rondo always showed up to ball and he was always ready to start a fist fight if need be.

I’ll never forget when Dwyane Wade basically broke Rondo’s arm on a dirty play under the hoop and Rondo came back into the game playing with one fucking arm.

 

I respect a good grudge and you just know Rondo, Pierce, and KG still have a deep hatred in their hearts for LeBron, Wade, and probably Ray Allen too. Those guys are a family and you never go against family. In Rondo’s mind, IT disrespected Pierce by asking for his tribute on the same night that No. 34 was going up into the rafters. You disrespect the family and Rondo’s coming for your head.

Ubuntu. Omerta. Whatever you wanna call it, nobody is disrespecting the Celtics legends. Not while Rajon Rondo still walks this earth.

I hate to see my two exes fighting in public, but goddamnit if it doesn’t remind me why I once loved them both.

LeBron Gives Celtics Rivalry Some Juice with Latest Comments on Kyrie Irving

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I for one am ecstatic that the Celtics-LeBron rivalry is getting some much needed juice. I’ll always love going up against LeBron, but it really hasn’t been the same since the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Ya know when he ripped our guts out in Game 6 with an otherworldly performance? Yea that was the final stand of the Big 3 and the launching of the LeBron we know now.

Its been a long road back but the Celtics are finally competing with LeBron for a trip to the Finals once again. He’s just been the one coming out of the East for the last 7 years in a row… So its been a little one sided. And while playing LeBron is always contentious, I feel like we haven’t really had that venom since Pierce, KG, and Rondo left the team. Rondo was the last guy who visibly hated LeBron James. So these games just haven’t had that extra juice.

Until now.

Kyrie Irving seemed to have had enough of LeBron son-ing him and by LeBron’s comments at Media Day today I can see why.

“I tried to do whatever I could to help the kid out and be the best player he could be…Other than that, I wish the kid great health and the kid wanted to do what’s best for his career.” via UPROXX

THAT. That right there is the condescending shit I’m sure Irving was sick of. Now, yes, LeBron is the best player in the world and you’d be stupid not to take his advice, but there comes a time and a point where you gotta stop treating people like children, which LeBron seems to be missing here.

Bleacher Report even said as much, citing a Stephen A. Smith report on the situation:

“James showed a little disrespect Monday while referring to his former teammate as “the kid,” which was apparently an underlying problem in their relationship. Stephen A. Smith of The Undefeated noted there was a problem of the veteran treating Irving like a child.”

So Kyrie said enough of this shit and shot his way out of town. Followed up by cryptic silences and then his since viral appearance on First Take where he basically told LeBron to fuck himself.

Now we’ve got LeBron coming out with this sob story like a scorned lover saying “I tried to do whatever I could to help the kid out.”

Don’t give me that bullshit LeBron. Kyrie Irving carried the Cavs down the stretch in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals and hit the goddamn game winner and ya didn’t even mention his name once afterwards. So Kyrie was over it, time to move on. Now what would make it all the sweeter? Beating LeBron on the way of course.

But, I gotta give respect where its due though because thats what makes me a Big-J Journalist. As soft as LeBron comes off at times, this was an A+ response when asked what advice he’d give Kyrie now. Sounds like something Kobe would have said in his prime:

“If my son went to another team and asked for advice, I ain’t giving him s–t,” he told the media, per Ben Axelrod of WKYC.