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GM KG will see you now.

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I know there is a lot of hand wringing going on right now because so many contending teams have made moves to improve themselves and the Celtics have not.  To be honest, I'm a little nervous myself.  Still, I'm not going to worry too much here on the 3rd day of free agency.  A lot can happen this summer and it isn't really fair to judge the offseason till the dust has settled a bit.

With that said, I'm not above a few knee jerk reactions, so here's some quick thoughts on the events thus far.

• The Celtics have established a plan A and they still have a very good chance at getting that done.  I'm not crazy about Sheed but I admit he's potentially a good fit.  At this point I want things to work out if only because the team has put all their eggs in this basket.  Losing him now would be embarrassing to say the least.
• Plan B appears to be to split the MLE between a few players like Grant Hill and McDyess.  But the longer we wait on Sheed, the less likely we are to get the players we'd value the highest.  That's troubling.
• Meanwhile, even though the Cavs have added Shaq to the mix, so far they've struck out in free agency.  They wanted Artest, no dice.  They wanted Ariza, nope.  That kind of makes me feel better, but it also makes me wonder if they'll make a late push for Sheed now.
• I won't shed a tear for Steph.  What exactly was he expecting from us?  A long term contract?
• I may just shed a tear for Powe though.  Sounds like he was willing to come back for a 1 year deal.  I'm not happy about this at all.
• When did Kevin Garnett become assistant GM?  First his pal Cassell showed up.  Then he gave his OK to proceed with Marbury.  Now he's recruiting buddy Sheed and the C's are said to be interested in his best pal Ty Lue.  Too bad he doesn't have any ties to Shawn Marion.  Are there any other members of his posse that we should invite to the summer league?
• Frankly I don't buy the fact that a lot of teams want Baby.  I'm sure his agent fed that info to Tanguay and I'm sure a lot of teams have "interest" in Baby, but I don't think any of them will break the bank for him.  Two of the most talked about teams are the Pistons and Griz and both already spent the large part of their money.
• We still have a great starting five, provided they are healthy.  We still need to seriously upgrade the bench.  So far, not much has changed.

It seems that Adrian Wojnarowski was misinformed.  (I would link to the story, but it seems to be missing now)  He said:

Sources say Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge and assistant director of basketball operations Leo Papile showed up on Rasheed Wallace’s(notes) doorstep just after midnight Wednesday to make their recruiting push.

That rumor was shot down by Ainge today.  Via the Globe (and the Herald for that matter)

Danny Ainge was on the telephone at his HealthPoint office when the NBA free agent market opened at midnight yesterday. Among Ainge’s first calls was to Bill Strickland, agent for center-forward Rasheed Wallace.

Now it is easy to give these guys a hard time.  I certainly took a few thinly veiled shots at Gary Tanguay for the way he handled the Sheed rumors before the quiet period ended.  With that said, these guys deal in rumors and sources and cloak and dagger stuff for a living.  It can be like a game of telephone where the original meaning gets distorted by the time it gets to us.  Like a baseball hitter, if these guys are right 30% of the time that makes them one of the best in the business.

Complicating matters a bit is the fact that we can't be 100% sure that Danny is always telling the truth.  Ok, maybe that's understating it.  We can be reasonbly sure that Danny is lying or dodging the truth quite a bit, because that's his job.

The best we can do is take the rumors with a grain of salt and try to piece together the trends of what we're hearing rather than the exact details.  For example, I trust that the Celtics are very interested in Rasheed Wallace, but I'm not sure anymore if I believe that the Big 3 are going to be paying him a recruiting visit.  Maybe the will, maybe they won't.

But that's rumor season for ya.  Like it or not, you have to admit it is interesting.

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

Getting to know you.

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Nick Fazekas was added to the roster and the full team was announced yesterday.  Here it is (via Green Street with my comments on each):

(F) Nick Fazekas, Nevada - Had some promise in college but is best known for being cut for a retired Kieth Van Horn.  Recently played in Belgium
(G) Coby Karl, Boise State - Coach Karl's son used to play for the Lakers.
(G) Chris Lofton, Tennessee - Recently played in Turkish league.
(G) Bryan Mullins, Southern Illinois - "startled the coaching staff when he broke the Celtics record for the three-minute run - a staple for everyone during training camp." - Herald
(F) Kevin Rogers, Baylor
(G) Bryce Taylor, Oregon
(F) Mike Sweetney, Georgetown - Ate his way out of the league but is making a comeback attempt.
(C) Robert Swift, Bakersfield HS (CA) - Might have more tats than games played, but has some upside.
(G) Darius Washington, Memphis - One of the few Memphis players not involved in test scores scandals (I'm exaggerating of course)

Here's the schedule:

July 6, 7pm vs. Jazz
July 7, 1pm vs. Magic
July 8, 5pm vs. Thunder
July 9, 7pm vs. Pacers
July 10, 1pm vs. Nets/76ers

For more on the Summer Leagues and the D-League, check out Ridiculous Upside.

More photos » by Charles Krupa - AP

Is help on the way?

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As expected, July 1st was much more eventful than draft night.  Now that the quiet period has been lifted, we're getting rumor after rumor and breathless updates on everything Rasheed Wallace is doing.  I think I can understand where Ainge is going with all this, but that doesn't necessarily mean I like it.

The Need For Sheed

The big news of the day is that the Celtics are reportedly making a huge push to show Rasheed Wallace the love and recruit him to Boston for the MLE.  It isn't clear how many years the Celtics are willing to commit.  I would imagine it isn't very many given his age, Ainge's aversion to long term deals, and the mere fact that we have to make such an effort to get him to sign with us instead of another team that also has the MLE to offer. 

I get why they are shooting for Sheed.  He's probably the most talented guy that they can reasonably get for the MLE without stretching the contract out several years.  This is classic value shopping.  Besides, he fills a very real need and would seem to fit in perfectly to our system that asks big men to play defense and stretch the floor with shooting.  I just wish it didn't have to be Sheed.  I'll probably grow to like him but I still have a bad taste in my mouth about him that isn't going away until I see him win some games for us.  Even then, I'm pretty sure I'll have a nagging feeling that he'll end up hurting us at some point.

Say It Ain't So Powe

The other big news was the revelation that Powe doesn't appear to be in the Celtics plans going forward.  This I'm much more disappointed about.  I understand declining to give him a qualifying offer because that's guaranteed money.  My thinking all along was that they would give him a partially-guaranteed contract and perhaps even one that had team options for future years.  Instead they told him "Good luck with another team" and explained that they couldn't tie up a roster spot on him.

I'm sorry but ...what?  Last year they tied up a roster spot on Sam Cassell (cutting Darius Miles in the process) so that he could be an extra assistant coach.  You mean to tell me the 58th pick in the draft or Gabe Pruitt have earned a spot over him?  Don't we need more depth in the frontcourt?

And that doesn't even take into account his personality.  We need more Leon Powes in this world and on this team, not less.  It was bad enough losing Ryan Gomes and Delonte West but at least we got something for those guys.  Leon Powe is pretty much the definition of a class act and he had a direct impact on beating up the Lakers in the Finals last year. 

I understand that Ainge is focused on the bottom line, but losing him cuts to the bone.

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How many years would a GM commit to Shawn Marion?

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There's a lot of talk about the free agents not getting what they want.  People look at the teams under the cap who can offer free agents over the MLE.  The group of free agents able to get that kind of cash is expected to be a short list.  After that, players will have to settle for the MLE.  Lots of teams will be willing to use the MLE to snatch up a top free agent player.  Players will prefer teams with a chance at winning something (Boston, Cleveland, San Antonio, etc.).  However, annual salary and city preference won't be as big of a factor as you might think.

I think the key will be how many years teams are willing to pony up.  The MLE for all 5 years is a lot better than the MLE for 3 or 4.  For older players, the MLE for 3 years is better than 2 years at a higher annual salary because they might be on their last contract.

Look at last year.  The Celtics could have held onto James Posey if they had added a year to their offer.  Look at the free agents this year.  I'm willing to venture a guess that someone like Shawn Marion or Rasheed Wallace would be willing to take (or be forced to take) the MLE.  But how many years is a team willing to commit?  Marion is 31 years old and appears to have started declining already.  Wallace is 34.  How many good years does he have left?

Will teams be willing to pay a player past his projected usefulness in order to get him now?  We'll see starting tomorrow.

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The press credential, only edited slightly.

View full size photo uploaded June 29, 2009

As many of you know, I was recently provided the opportunity to attend the NBA Draft on behalf of Celticsblog and SBN.  I promised to write about it, but unfortunately, life has gotten in the way a bit since last Wednesday.  However, at the risk of writing about something that nobody cares about any longer, I'll at least try to give you guys some insight on what my night was like.

Without going into all of the details, it wasn't completely clear until approximately 24 hours before the draft that I'd be attending, as there was at least some doubt on whether SBN would obtain press credentials.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of those running SBN, we got the final confirmation at about 6:00pm Wednesday night.  As you can imagine, I was ecstatic.

Now, as many as you know, I'm not a journalist by trade, and have no plans on becoming one.  Instead, I'm a basketball fan who happens to love to write, and enjoys communicating and discussing subjects with fans.  I got started on Celticsblog as a fan in the forums, and to the extent that Jeff has seen fit to give me more responsibilities on the site, I've been greatly flattered.  All of this, of course, is my long-winded way of saying that what follows is going to be a fan's perspective, rather than a journalist's.

In a nutshell, most of the draft from my perspective can be summarized into two categories: the crowd and the rumors.   Generally speaking, once the picks started, you all pretty much saw what I saw.  What you might not have seen? The crowd is *loud*.  Knicks fans *loved* the picks of James Harden and Tyreke Evans?  Why?  Because they were speculating that it would push one of Rubio or Curry to them.  So, when Harden and Evans were picked, there were loud cheers.  When Curry was picked, there was gasping and murmers of disappointment.  For Jordan Hill, smattered boos.  An "over-rated" chant for Hansborough.  The crowd takes its role there very seriously, and it's definitely entertaining.  (The best part, of course, was when Stern mentioned the Lakers, and the crowd booed loudly.  I thought I was at a Celtics game for a minute.  It's great to see that the hate for Kobe and the Lakers extends beyond just New England).  The only person that Knicks fans may hate worse than they hate the Lakers?  Larry Brown.  Wow, there's no love for that man in New York at all.

Other than the crowd, the other significant thing I noticed is that, really, there isn't a ton of significant information flowing at the draft.  The GMs all seem to be back at their home sites, and the reporters who were breaking stories / following leads seemed to be doing it from somewhere other than at the draft site.  There were quite a few rumors, and a lot of speculation, but it wasn't necessarily being shared among reporters (and definitely wasn't reaching the crowd).   Being at the draft is great, and you get a lot of insight from the media celebrities you speak with, but overall there's not a ton you're going to learn "being on the floor" that you wouldn't being at home.  (Of course, this probably changes as one develops more contacts, etc.)  That being said, it's still an amazing experience, and I think Jeff and the powers that be at SBN for making it happen.

More specific details after the jump (and fair warning:  it's more like a running diary rather than an edited story):

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It is way too early and we'll learn a lot in summer league but if you had to guess right now, who do you think has a better chance of making the roster this year?  (and yes, I stole this idea from vjcsmoke in the forums)

In case you missed it, here was my draft night post on Hudson.

Silent Night

View full size photo uploaded June 26, 2009

Rajon Rondo is still a Boston Celtic.  Ray Allen is still a Boston Celtic.  As it turned out, all the sound and fury really signified nothing. The smoke must have been put out by a park ranger because there's no fire burning right now.

The offseason isn't over, and there's still time for trades to occur.  But they happen a lot more frequently on draft night. 

Ainge told us that it would likely be a quiet night and we didn't believe him.  But the Boston war room sat and watched the events unfold and simply picked their selection at #58.  I'm sure they listened to offers, but nothing worth moving on came up.

Next up:  The free agent market.  Ainge has promised that they'll be aggressive.  That party starts on July 1st.

Good night sweet world.  Time for bed.  I can rest easy knowing that the core of our team is still intact.