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It certainly has been an interesting few days. The trade is going to dominate talk for a while but I wanted to catch up on some items that seem notable. Specifically two vets who apparently aren't exactly happy at the moment. Kieth Bogans and Gerald Wallace to be exact.
Bogans had expressed displeasure with his lack of playing time a few weeks back and recently was dismissed from the team for personal reasons. You never want to assume anything in those situations but it sounds like it isn't anything to do with his family.
Source - Bogans' absence not family-related. He is taking time to sort things out, like place with Celtics. He is getting paid whole time.
— Mark Murphy (@Murf56) January 15, 2014
So exactly what he's sorting out is anyone's guess but this blogger is guessing that it has more to do with playing time than anything else.
"I don't want to get into too many specifics," Stevens said of Bogans. "He's obviously not here now. He's still under contract here. I like Keith. There's where I'll leave it right now." Asked "if" he expects Bogans to return to the Celtics, Stevens responded: "Undecided. Unknown."
I mean, I get it to a point. He's a good guy by all accounts and he's got the kind of pride that comes with just about anyone who's made it to this level. He doesn't want to sit around like Andrew Bynum collecting checks.
On the other hand, he's had a nice, long career, and nobody forced him to sign a contract this summer that will pay him handsomely for being a walking, talking trade chip. I hoped that he could be a good locker room guy and maybe even start to pivot into an assistant coaching type of career after his playing days were over - but you can't do that from home.
Ironically, he might have had a chance to start or at least play extended minutes last night with the short roster.
Another guy that seems perpetually unhappy this year is Gerald Wallace. Here's his quotes that ran in yesterday's Herald.
Gerald Wallace’s body, pride bruised on Celtics bench | Boston Herald
"You’re sitting, only playing 17 or 18 minutes a game," Wallace said. "You’re watching, you know you can still play, and you watch guys in front of you who don’t play with effort, don’t respect the game and don’t think team first. It kind of frustrates you and (ticks) you off. You have to deal with it."
That's some serious anonymous calling out right there. It is also a head scratcher since just about every opposing coach and anonymous scout lauds this team for playing hard just about every game.
It sounds like he might have a specific player in mind and I'll go ahead and wildly speculate that he's talking about Jeff Green (ahead of him in the rotation - doesn't always look like he's giving 100% effort - fair or not). Of course, Gerald has also made some very positive quotes about Jeff Green recently too. Or maybe he's talking about the recently departed Jordan Crawford? Don't mean to turn this into a witch hunt, but it he made the comments about someone and it is hard not to wonder about it.
All in all, this seems to be a case of two veteran guys frustrated with the rebuilding process. Bogans can be moved - either via trade or by an outright release (not sure if Ainge would be willing to do that).
Wallace, on the other hand is a lot harder to move with the two years and $20M left on his contract after this year. I've heard it speculated before that if the C's wanted to dump him on another rebuilding team and not take a lot of salary back, they'd have to include a first round draft pick. Well, now they have one more potential 1st rounder to use in case they want to go in that direction.
