Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

I really like the acquisition of 6'7" sharpshooter, Evan Fournier. He fulfills Danny Ainge's stated need for "shooting with size". What he does not supply is toughness. Ditto for big men, Moritz Wagner and Luke Kornet. I really don't want to hear about Kornet's ability to hit shots from the hinterlands. The Celtics have enough (too much?) of that. Remember the Celtics last Championship crew? That was 2008 - 13 years ago. The Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett pairing was not only super-skilled - it was rugged. And don't forget Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. Perk may not have been a star, but he was tough as nails - and just what that team needed at the center spot. And Rondo may have been an irascible, but he never backed down. I won't go into depth about the toughness of the 60's teams or the 70's and 80's, but the numerous Titles speak for themselves. Bill Russell, Jim Loscutoff, Dave Cowens, Larry Bird, Dennis Johnson. Ever hear of Bob Br...

Does anyone seriously think that the current Brooklyn Nets team is going to rack up multiple Championships in the next eight years? Think again! Despite having the powerhouse trio of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden , injuries, greed, discord and wanderlust will limit their Title success to maybe one or two Championships prior to 2020. The 60's saw the Celtics pile up nine(9) Titles. We will never see that again. In the 70's, Boston picked up another two, the same number as the Knicks. Michael Jordan's Bulls won six(6) Titles in the 90's, while the Rockets got two.  In the 2,000's, it was the Lakers with four(4) and the Spurs with two(2). The Warriors took three(3) Championships in the 2010's, followed by the Heat with two(2). Nothing tops the concept of "diminishing returns" like greed. Bill Russell's top yearly salary of $100,000 would compute to only $600,000 in 2016 . Larry Bird's   yearly-high of $7 million would still only tot...

 I truly believe that injecting two philosophies into the present Celtics culture will solve most of their shortcomings. Additional age, seasoning - and a new player or two - will fill the rest of the void. The first step concerns ubuntu , a philosophy that coach Doc Rivers introduced to his 2008 Championship team. The entire phrase is  "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu" , meaning that a person is a person through other people, a team concept perfect for today's NBA players. Accept it or reject it, but the ibuntu idea worked for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and the rest of the Title crew. It also can function for Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and their comrades.  On the front-office front,  “ primum non nocere ,”   , or "do no harm", appears to be on Danny Ainge's mind. He has to be saying, I can't screw this up! With three present-and-past All-Stars, a Defensive-Player-of-the-Year candidate - and a young rebounding/rim-protecting center on...

The Phoenix Suns started the 1996-97 season losing their first eight games. Charles Barkley had been traded prior to the season, and with the poor start, Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons was sent packing in favor of former Suns guard, Danny Ainge . Phoenix went 40-34 the rest of the way, making the playoffs. The Suns were 17-31 before the All-Star Break and 23-11 thereafter . Aside from the coaching change, one key in the surge was the addition of future star, Jason Kidd during the season. As an aside, the team also had a young Steve Nash , in addition to veteran Kevin Johnson . The Suns surge was rated as one of the most-dramatic second-half turnarounds in NBA history .   5. 1996-1997 Phoenix Suns Before the Break:   17-31 (35.42 Percent) After the Break:   23-11 (67.65 Percent) Turnaround:   32.23 Percent Getting rid of Charles Barkley hurts, especially when you trade him for Mark Bryant, Chucky Brown and Robert Horry.  The 1996-1997 Phoenix Suns started the ...

Forgive me! I swore I wouldn't use the poetry found in the title, but I have to do something. Danny Ainge certainly isn't. Where the Hell are these guys? What is going on with the Celtics two recent lottery picks, Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith? Romeo's wrist has been repaired, and now he is out of action on COVID protocols. We have seen next-to-nothing of him since he was taken with the 14th pick in the 2019 NBA draft. Ainge also grabbed Aaron Langford at number-14 in the 2020 draft, and he can also be listed as "missing in action" most of the time. His absence is more puzzling than that of Langford. Granted, Aaron has not exactly been a redo of Larry Bird "coming through that door", but he has had little opportunity to prove - or disprove - the choice of picking him at #14. Same with Romeo. These two youngsters are certainly not being showcased for a potential trade, but that doesn't mean that is not Danny's plan. No one, including Brad Steve...

No, I haven't been drinking. It's not even 6:00 AM ET. And besides, this has been a crazy season in many ways - and I say this is not a move that is totally off the table . Bob Cousy did it for one game as coach of the Royals, although that didn't work out very well. Dave Cowens came out of retirement to play for the Bucks and his old pal, Coach Don Nelson . Magic Johnson did it, as did Michael Jordan - twice. Why not assistant coach, Evan Turner . Many of my contacts in a Celtics chat group have been trying in vain to view Turner's name and capacity on any official Celtics listing. He was allegedly brought into the fold in the capacity of player development to replace Kara Lawson .  The 6'7" wing has played for Brad Stevens as a member of the Celtics during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, playing in all-but-one of the combined 164 contests and starting 69 of them. ET covered the PG, SG and SF spots for Boston, He averaged 9.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 6.5 APG and 1...

This article is certainly not about proposing that Jayson Tatum's present level, or his future potential, is equal to Larry Bird , but rather to compare their statistics at the age of 23 years for both. Larry was in his rookie season at age 23, while Jayson recently turned 23 in his fourth season in Boston. Here are the numbers" Bird: 36.0 MPG - 21.3 PPG - 10.4 RPG - 4.5 APG - 1.7 SPG - 3.2 TOPG - .474 FG - .406 3s - .836 FT Tatum: 35.7 MPG - 25.3 PPG - 6.9 RPG - 4.4 APG - 1.4 SPG - 2.5 TOPG - .447 FG - .373 3s - .856 FT The minutes/game are the same , so the comparison has a level of validity. Bird gets the nod on rebounds, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage - no surprises there. Tatum beating out Larry on free-throw shooting is a bit of a surprise, and Jayson also takes honors on points per game. Assists and steals are fairly close. One of Bird's best seasons was the 1984-85 campaign - his sixth with the Boston Celtics. Larry was 28 years old at the time...