Hollinger On The Celts

Rasheed and M Daniels is quite a haul. Re-signing Big Baby a good move. $3.0 mil per sounded fair from the get go and that’s what it came to. Would have liked 3-4 years but it will be a good thing if Big Baby is worth more in 2 years. I’m a sucker for diamond-in-rough draft picks, who isn’t?, so I’m channeling positive vibes re Hudson. Only move left is to find a new home for Tony Allen. hope they don’t have to include Scal.

Why the optimism re Sheldon Williams? He couldn’t get into games for Minnesota last year, a team with a big man’s coach as head coach. If the optimism is warranted then its a real fine off season. But, he’s probably another Pat OBryant-type “home run or strike out”

I would like to add Bowen and a back up PG.

We also have some expiring contracts, so we can add a nice player or two at the trading deadline…

ummm okay
Celtics missed KG 2 months and finished in 2nd place
this year, if apparenty healthy and a clear cut better bench, we will be the 3rd seed?…..okay?
The celtics arent the spurs, they have a hard time “pacing” themselves, they bring it every night and will be going for #1 seed, and if healthy they weill finish 1 or 2…sick of hearing people act like we looking up at the magic and cavs in the east…not at all

He founded his career off of analyzing purely off of statistics, yet he occasionally goes off as a non-statistical analyst.

His comment about health & age being key is spot on though, and I really hope the Celtics don’t spend all of their energy during the regular season. But, I don’t see them being #3.

Everyone is adamant about moving Tony Allen, but it’s not going to happen. No team particularly likes him, especially his contract. That said, I hope he gets “filler” minutes to give guys a rest.

I’d also like for the Celtics to add some more youth/athletecism to the last 2-3 roster spots. Those guys can then play some high-energy off the bench minutes when the Celtics have a good-size lead. The team is going to need to stay fresh.

Hope your reading this Hollinger. #1 Franchise of All-Time 18th Banner on the Way Eat it.

2 years ago preseason= c’s #3 seed, not today. today= #1, because of experience, i.e. winning 17, and depth, i.e. what hath danny wrought. shelden will be the powe replacement not with as much oomph as leon but with enough defensive intensity to make up for the lack of offense.

These analysts get caught up in the league’s publicity machine.

Vince Carter is a bigger name and a flashier, more athletic player than Hedo Turkoglu, so obviously the Magic are much improved in the offseason. In fact, Hedo is a better player than Vince Carter—- and a far better team player— and guys like Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes won’t make up the difference. Yes, they have Jameer Nelson back, but he’s coming off a serious injury, and I’m not impressed with Anthony Johnson as their second pg off the bench.

Bottom line: the Magic won’t be as good as last year, unless Dwight Howard makes major improvements in his offensive game, and I’ll believe that when I see it. Also, Rashard Lewis’ suspension may cost them games early, and for playoff seeding purposes those games matter just as much as the ones in April.

Then look at Cleveland. Are the Cavs really going to put Ilgauskas and O’Neal on the floor at the same time? If so, is one of them going to attempted to guard a good NBA power forward? I don’t think so. The O’Neal acquisition basically turns Ilgauskas into a backup center, even though Z is a much better shooter than O’Neal.

It isn’t 2000, it’s 2009, and O’Neal isnt the player he once was. Anthony Parker was a nice addition, but Mo Williams did nothing in the playoffs except shoot off his mouth. So I don’t view the Cavs as having improved much either.

These are both good teams, but certainly no better than the Celtics as each of the three teams is presently constituted.

Also, the Celts are NOT the only team dealing with an “age factor”.
Next Spring….Shaq is 38, Ilgauskas is 35!

but will the Cavs play the regular season witht he same intensity of last year? And what happens to them when the injury bug, which stayed away (besides Delonte early) last season?

If the Cs stay healthy, they will push 70 wins. If they can sign a real back up PG like Anthony Carter, they should be able to blow out a lot more teams this season, which will allow for more rest for the older guys.

Danny has one or two moves left in him. The Cs still need a backup point and a bigger SF who can defend and shoot the threeball. AC and Bowen?

How in the hell are we gonna be the 3 seed! We got basically I big 5 now that rondos skills have increased and sheed is an all star. There’s no way we are going to be third. The lowest I see us is 2nd!

Compared to the 4-3 Orlano wijn in the playoff series playoff series,

Vince Carter, Brandon Bass, Matt Barnes, Ryan Anderson in, Jameer Nelson healthy, Hedo Turkoglu, Tony Battie, Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee out.

Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels, Shelden Williams in, Kevin Garnett healthy, Stephon Marbury, Mikki Moore, Gabe Pruitt out.

I’d say the Celtic upgrades are much more impressive than the Magic ones. Bass is a major upgrade at the backup 4. Nelson’s back, but a bit over-ratefd IMO (see playoff perdormance) I’m not sold on VC being an upgrade on Hedo gbased on our experiences aghainst both of them. I liked Courtney Lee. Boston goes from a Perk-Davis-Scals rotation (with no one else!) at the 4/5 to KG-Rasheed Wallace-Perk with Davis-Scals-Williams avsailable for deep backup (including being able to hack away at Dwight Howard). Then we have Daiels as a definite upgrade over Tony Allen as the backup at the wing. There’s also a definite risk of a chemistry issue with VC by many accounts.

I’m more concerned about the Cavs. I have no idea how they will look/play with Shaq and James together, but Shaq is a major upgrade over Ben Wallace. Anthony Paker and Jamario Moon are nice additions on the wing with Wally World gone.

Shaq, Ilgauskas, Varajeo. They basically play the same position. Don’t think all will be happy. Shaq is an upgrade over Wallace, but I think Ilgauskas hurts us more than Shaq. Perk can defend Shaq. He has more trouble with Ilgauskas when he goes outside. Also, not sure how LeBron will play with Shaq. Shaq plays down low and will want the ball. He’ll clog the driving lane. I don’t think Shaq has made any team better since winning the Championships.

“Hollinger” .

We win 62 games with KG out for a little less than 1/3 of the season and with a bench composed of Marbury, House, Scalabrine, Powe, and Moore; BBD started in KG’s place. Now, we have a bench consisting of Eddie House, Marquis Daniels, BBD, Scalabrine, Williams, Rasheed Wallace, and, to a much lesser extent Tony Allen. This assumes we don’t get that backup PG before the regular season starts, and if that’s the case, a mid-season trade for one is still possible.

We could win 70 games with the current lineup we have now and STILL get better, even if marginally, at mid-season. The fact we have such a solid bench will prevent the likelihood of injury. And, like BudweiserCeltic’s pleading about, we could get our starters that rest they’ll probably need in an 82 game season.

He just writes the article to disrespect the Celtics, none of his writings have anything to do with basketball. Hollinger pretends to be a basketball expert so he can print lies and propaganda discrediting the C’s every chance he gets. This won’t be the first or last article you will see this year. There will be another one 1/3 through the season when the Celtics are #1 that will rank them as the 5th best team in the NBA. Then at the start of the playoffs when the Celtics, clearly a better team and healthy, functioning at all cylinders, are picked to lose to the Cavs in the ECF. Then after the Celtics crush some dormat of a team to win the title, Hollinger will write another article claiming the Lakers are the “better franchise” because of the Artest pick up even though they didn’t win the title. Then after Banner #19, there will be another article by Hollinger who will make up excuses that the C’s won 3 of 4 by coming up with some statistical jargon of how the opponents were weaker than the 2000-02 Lakers run. Its all nonsense.

But clearly Hollinger’s delusional. He points out in the same article that the Celtics won more regular season games than the Magic despite KG being out the final two months, and then adds the Celtics took the Magic to seven games, and the Celtics didn’t have KG or Powe.

Now, he can only look at the team right now and say the Magic are the better team going into the regular season? Hey, I guess that’s for the Celtics to prove wrong. I already told you my assessment of our team; we look like we can win 70 games. At worst, maybe 65.

It was the most important game in Professional Sports History hands down. It was the only game, ever in sports history, where the top two franchises went for the title with only 2 championships separating them from each other. It was the only game in sports history where the top 2 franchises were neck and neck with each other for all-time championships. It was the most lopsided NBA finals clinching game ever out of 60 games. It was the most lopsided NBA finals game in about 350 games, except for one the Bulls 42 point win over the Jazz in 1997. Even if you include football AND baseball it was the most lopsided final clinching game ever, except for the 49ers 55-10 win over the Broncos in 1989. Now that is over 230 title clinching games.
The Celtics set the record for most steals 18, Ray tied the record for most threes 8, and the Celtics scored 42 points in the final quarter.
What does Hollinger do? He ranks the Lakers as #1.
The Lakers got totally squashed by 39 points 131-92 in the most important NBA game ever. Nothing Hollinger writes should be published. It is all lies.

and Winners aren’t #2. The most important sports game of all-time becomes the biggest rout and washout in sports history except for two games(49ers 55-10, Bulls win by 42). The Celtics were the winners, the Lakers were the losers. Nothing in sports history was ever so clear. Never have two rivals gone at it, at their most important time in franchise history, and had such a blowout of epic decisive proportions as this one 131-92. Hollinger has no right to rank the Lakers #1 after a game like that. His article should not have even been published.

Every time Hollinger writes an article the Lakers will be over the Celtics every single time. Every regular season game when they meet he will pick the Lakers every single game. Every time they meet in the playoffs he will pick the Lakers every single time. No matter what their records are, no matter who is on their team, Hollinger picks the Lakers every single time without fail. If there is a category where teams are ranked, even if it is rebounding, or scoring, or bench depth the Lakers will be over the Cetlics every single time in every single category by this guy. Writers like that belong on blogs, they do not deserve to get their writings published.