The Boston Celtics have kind of become the Boys and Girls Club of the NBA. Give us your drifters, your headcases, your acting-out-for-attention kids and we'll love them the best we can with our support structure of caring adults and a respected organization behind them.
I'll be honest in that I don't know all of what Jordan Crawford and Terrence Williams did at their prior stops to make them so readily available to the Celtics. The funny thing is, even though he probably knows, that's the same attitude that Doc Rivers takes with them.
Experiment in osmosis | Boston Herald
"You know, one of the things I’ve learned is that I don’t listen to hearsay," he said. "I really don’t. I never have. "I’ve learned that lesson long ago. There’s been a lot of players who you hear are bad guys or are not great guys that I’ve had that have turned out to be great guys. And I’ve had some that people said were great guys and they’ve turned out not to be. "So I just don’t ever listen to the hearsay. I give everybody a chance, and if they don’t become that, then they don’t become that. I leave it at that."
Is it any wonder that most guys would run through walls for Doc?
Make no mistake, these guys have talent, or they wouldn't be here. They can play basketball and have proven that in the league already. Terrence Williams was a lottery pick (number 11 overall). Crawford was the Wizards third leading scorer. But something happened along the way and now they find themselves in a new town, a new environment, and by all indications they understand that this might be their last and best shot to reclaim their careers.
Williams seems to have done enough to warrant at least another 10 day contract but Ainge isn't making promises right now.
Bradley, Lee put on the pressure | Boston Herald
But Ainge and his scouting staff are still looking for players. He wouldn’t say, for example, whether he plans to re-sign Terrence Williams to a second 10-day contract once the swingman’s current deal expires tomorrow. "We’re still looking. Things change week by week and we’re still looking," said Ainge.
By my count we've got 13 players under contract and DJ White will make 14. There's still room to add one more without dropping anyone off the current roster - but I'm not sure how that impacts the cap and tax.
We'll hopefully get a better feel for these new players when the Celtics have a few days off between games to get some decent practices in. They've only got one game in the next 7 days, so now's their chance. Of course, this might also be the last chance for Williams and Crawford.
You could say this Celtics team is the opposite of New York: If you can't make it here, can you make it anywhere?