Open Letter To The Wet Blankets
by Jeff Clark on Aug 3, 2007 4:29 PM EDT
in Boston Celtics News & Links
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PrintVery funny article by Kevin Henkin of BSMW Full Court Press:
In the wake of the Kevin Garnett trade, the reaction of a pocket of fans (and perhaps a certain high-profile writer at the Boston Globe) reminds me of an old Henny Youngman joke, which goes as follows:
A grandmother is at the Florida coast with her grandson. The grandson is playing on the beach when a big wave washes him the kid out to sea. The lifeguards swim out, bring him back to shore, the paramedics work on him for a long time, pumping the water out, reviving him. They then turn to the grandmother and say, "We saved your grandson." The grandmother looks down and says, "He had a hat!"
For the people who have been complaining loudly about the lack of bench depth before Danny Ainge has even had a chance to finish assembling his roster, I recommend you forget about the damn hat for a moment and try to put things in perspective. Try to remember where the Celtics were and have been for far too long before casting your wet blanket on the euphoria.
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Please forward a copy of Grandma’s comments to BOB RYAN!
by moskqq on Aug 3, 2007 4:41 PM EDT reply actions
excellent point. Take Bob Ryan for example. he was huffing and puffing about how Rondo was the 4th best player on the team. Well, at times last year Rondo was arguably the second best player on the team. So, Bob Ryan is clearly peddling negativity. Boston is a negative town, but only because it is crammed full of cynical perfectionists. All fans mean for the best, but it sure does get exhausting when people clamour for one thing, get it, and then clamour for the thing they had before. I do wish we still had either Gomes or West on the roster, though
by jurrasic earl on Aug 3, 2007 6:26 PM EDT reply actions
I think its a PERFECT analogy..point is, yes, right now the bench is thin….last time I checked its August 3rd, not November 1st….plenty of time to get some solid bench players…Id rather be in the position of having to find some bench players to compliment my 3 STUDS than not have the STUDS at all….people who are worried about this now have to be miserable people to live with….LOL…gotta be depressing…
by NUMBA 17 on Aug 3, 2007 6:48 PM EDT reply actions
One of the great ironies of this whole deal is, the same people who all of last season and pre/post draft were whining over how woeful our roster was, and how untalented we were, and how lottery bound we were, and how Al Jefferson really wasn’t anything, and that Gomes was just another scrub, and that Theo’s contract would get nothing, etc etc, those are now the same people who are crying that we gave up too much to get Garnett.
Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope.
With KG in town the glass is about 4/5ths full and rising. This should be a fun 3 or 4 years.
by Greg37 on Aug 3, 2007 7:35 PM EDT reply actions
I kinda hate to agree with Bob Ryan, but I do. I’m not swept up in euphoria. I won’t be until the Celtics start winning championships. I mean, I WANT to be as giddy as most fans are…
But that’s going to mean winning CHAMPIONSHIPS. Marquee Players only excite me so much. I want a team that wins.
by YOYOYOYOYO on Aug 3, 2007 9:37 PM EDT reply actions
Where’s all the people jumping all over Jeff for telling all the negative glass half-empty people to try and be a little more patient and positive?! Suck-ups…
Very good analogy Jeff. I commend you for the ability to write both critical pieces about decisions made by the team and at the same time be able to point out the positives as well. The answer is often somewhere in the middle. —Wait now who’s sucking up?! Sorry.—
Big Easy – You sure take comments very personal. You can’t take a comment that is directed at a group of un-named individuals as a direct attack on you. If it isn’t true, then why does it bother you? I sure don’t worry about someone who calls me skinny!
have been on vacation in saratoga and missed all the hoopla.1. i really will miss big al and thought he was the future. 2. the horses were good to me and i hope so will the new celts. 3. celtics blog is a goldmine and was the best thing about the recent celts. i would now like it to be the next best thing. $. good luck and stay healthy kg and ra (pp too). and perk too.
I’d take a small non-deep bench – the less players to confuse Doc the better.
Wet blanket available? Wrap up Scali in it, throw on some quick-rise yeast and have the Pillsbury dough boy puff up on the far-end of the weak bench.
Let Po(we) get Scali’s minutes. We will need Po(we)’s boards. Big Baby and Po(we) can pull down some boards on a second unit.
BTW – Some of you people in here are much more positive than you need to be, so therefore it’s necessary for some people to worry about “the hat”. This creates a “balanced blog chi”. I will refer to this as our BBC (balanced blog chi) from this point forward. We WILL achieve BBC going forward, or those keeping things out of balance will be put in the Temple basement and be forced to repeatedly read out loud the Knicks 2007-08 schedule and listen to Ron Artest CD’s until such time BBC is re-achieved.
Thank you
The Globe’s sportswriters are more objective than anyone else in town. Ryan makes valid points, but we’ll have to wait and see what Ainge does with the rest of the roster. The first two signings are not very inspiring, however. An undersized one-trick pony shooting (not point) guard and a NBDL refugee. Meanwhile, Navarro goes to Memphis, Eddie Jones to Dallas and possibly Knight to the Clips.
by lemonadesky on Aug 3, 2007 11:48 PM EDT reply actions
- I disagree with Ryan about the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference; that’s part of what I mean when I say he’s overstating the issue.
- I don’t take the comments “very personal”; I just remember the time not too long ago when we did a much better job of policing ourselves when it came to making personal comments. If that seems like a pet peeve of mine, call me CelticsBlog old school — actually that goes back to the time when we were in the Globe’s chatroom.
But whatever; it’s all good to me.
Jeez, I love this stuff. My mind tells me Ryan is dead-on, there is reasonable reason to be worried, that 3 guys can’t win it alone and this team is soooooo thin … but then I see that picture of KG with Papi, and I think about that intense stare he gets when he plays, and I see PP driving hard to the hoop, and Allen just jacking 3s … and everything seems possible.
Po, I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed the wisdom of your posts for the past few years. Big Easy, I feel you, but I’ve been on this bandwagon so long, have so many bruises from bumpy roads and bad equipment, but I see no reason to jump off now. I can endure the worst this team has to offer and still have hope.
But oh! The pessimists are missing the point! We now have hope…before our only hope of #17 was PATIENCE and several more trips to the lottery with the usual “tanking” label. How long must one wait for a GG to show improvement?
As Boston fans we hope (and expect) the Patriots to be champs again…but don’t we still have CONCERNS about that “glass” defensive backfield? Is that enough to condemn Patriots efforts to fill the pantry at other positions as opportunities present?
One can ALWAYS see that the glass is half full because in sports (as in life) time can change everything and either reward or disappoint an optimistic outlook. Some boggers prefer to approach life with a purely POSITIVE outlook, similar to having had faith and patience with our former young and underproductive roster.
We’ve changed our course in pursuit of #17 and one should not be surprised by those who STILL see the glass as half full. After all, it’s been a long time since the glass has been anything BUT “half full”!
by moskqq on Aug 4, 2007 4:56 AM EDT reply actions
Well said Moskqq, well said!! Lemon, I wouldn’t jump on Ainge too much right now as he really doesn’t have much to choose from to fill out the bench. House can fill it up and should help the 2nd unit. Manuel, who knows? Maybe he fills Tony Allen’s role defensively until Tony is completely healthy and ready to contribute. Maybe he ends up in the NBDL again. What were the other options? Eddie Jones? Older wing player who could of helped but they probably figured with Brandon Wallace (cheaper), Tony (when healthy) and Manuel (again cheaper) they have it covered for the minutes they would have needed. We’ll see. Brevin Knight is the guy everyone figured for here but a lot of rumors have been floating out there on his character. Maybe there’s something there, maybe not. Now they need another back up big. Motumbo?? He could help a little.
want to say my statement was not directed at anyone, I named no names, it was VERY general…coming off that EMBARASSING year we just went thru together as Celts fans, it just doesnt click with me how any Celts fan is not just plain relieved that this year you could at the very LEAST not look forward to a HELL of a lot more wins, and NO chance of embarrassments like an 18 game losing streak and accusations of tanking…thats the LEAST we have to look forward to….
by NUMBA 17 on Aug 4, 2007 6:51 AM EDT reply actions
After 9 players are on the roster, the rest of the team consists of:
1. Making David Stern happy we have 12 or more signed.
2. People to wave towels and give high fives.
3. Someone for the fans to yell the name of when (if) the Celts are either way ahead or way behind.
by Wilt on Aug 4, 2007 6:52 AM EDT reply actions
Ainge signed the wrong Eddie. Jones went to Dallas on the cheap same as House to Boston. Jones can make the outside shot too, but is a much stronger defender than House.
I’d take a flyer on Andray Blatche. The C’s sorely need a player with upside and judging by opinions around the league, his ceiling is very high. He’s close to 7 foot with KG type skills. At the very least, it would force Grunfeld’s hand in matching the offer and take The Wizards out the free agent derby.
by lemonadesky on Aug 4, 2007 6:58 AM EDT reply actions
PO – even though I disagree with the thought that you have to have the extremely negative people out there to balance things out, that made me laugh this morning. You always bring a tremendous amount of insight and humor to things here so keep it up. How about we have just a few “little bit negative” guys instead!
Look back at the Spurs sweep of the Cavs. Three of the Spurs bench were: Horry, Barry, Finley.
Their stats for the 4 games:
Horry- 3pts, 1 reb; 3 pts 5 reb, 1 pt 3 reb; and 5pts 9 reb. (one good game by Horry)
Finley stats- shot 1 for 5 one game 1 for 7 another game: 4pts, 7 points, 2 pts, 2 points.
Barry – 0 points, 9 points, 3 points, 0 points.
- Those 3 played a total of 12 games and at best they had 3 good perfomances yet Spurs still swept.
Duncan, Ginobili, Parker are the 3 main reasons why Spurs are champs. If our bench did the same stats, some would be horrified.
It is right to be concerned about building the best team possible, but we have 8 to 9 months to work on the bench.
Bob Ryan to say we are 7th in the East is a joke with the Big trio. Did Bob Ryan or some of the naysayers also pick the Cavs to win the East last year? I never heard one prediction from anywhere that Cavs would be East champs until it happened.
by docextension on Aug 4, 2007 10:54 AM EDT reply actions
PO! Where was this BBC last year? LOL where the optimistic post were the minority. I love it, a sight where the optimistium may actually grow from visiting this blog instead of the bashing down of the optimisitc. BBC please, now we need that? Let go of the dark side my friend, walk the high road this season.
by The Real Alaska on Aug 5, 2007 12:52 PM EDT reply actions
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