BROOKLYN– Brad Stevens is new to the NBA, and the Boston Celtics have had to grow familiar with his brand of coaching over the course of training camp and the preseason. With just about two weeks before the start of the season – and a new era for the franchise – the Celtics seem pleased with the progress the team is making under Stevens’ early stewardship. If general manager Danny Ainge’s plan for the franchise is for the rookie coach to grow
I’m definitely not the first one to say this, but can we please put an end to the use of the term “tanking” when we really mean “rebuilding”? [Read more…]
Six years ago, the Boston Celtics opened what was supposed to be a three-year championship window after the acquisitions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Along with Paul Pierce, the new “Big Three” won one title and could have won two more if they had remained healthy. Like NASA getting extended use out of an aging Mars Rover, the Celtics trudged along as contenders for a few more years. The three-year window was open for a fourth year. Then a fifth.
In a seemingly minor trade, two former first-round picks from Syracuse were swapped for one another Thursday. Boston sent 2012 first-rounder Fab Melo to Memphis for the non-guaranteed contract of Donte Greene. This trade has relatively minor implications, but an impact nonetheless that will be laid out. It would be a surprise if Greene plays a single minute for the Celtics. The former Sacramento King didn’t play last season after breaking his ankle last summer. This was after a 2011-2012 season
Hello and welcome to the Sheridan Hoops blog, where we round up the latest news and rumors from all around the NBA. This week, you are once again looking at my face (complete with that mustache I rocked for exactly one month) at the top of the column, after a one-week absence from the weekend blog slot. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons were texting each other frequently. I remember this because it was in
Boston Celtics rookie big man from Gonzaga, Kelly Olynyk, may not have been turning heads in the Orlando Summer League with amazing athleticism, but he left his mark and certainly made an impression with his offensive skill. Not including Friday’s game, Olynyk had proven himself to be an effective scorer, averaging 19.5 points on 57-percent shooting to go along with eight rebounds and just over two steals in 26.5 minutes per contest. That comes from a sample size of four Summer
Unpredictable. Chaotic. Climactic. Frenetic. Turbulent. These are just several words to describe Thursday night’s NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn. For the first time in a while, nobody had any idea what was going to happen. And from the first selection down to the humongous blockbuster trade that went down, the theater and drama of the 2013 draft more than made up for the lack of an impact player among this year’s talent pool. With very few surefire
It is not often that you are eating dumplings in Chinatown at 3 a.m. on a Friday morning and learn that Kosta Koufos has been traded, but that true story only just added to the bizzarro nature of the 2013 Draft — the craziest draft night I have ever witnessed in more than 20 years of covering them. [Read more…]