Today is one of the biggest days for one of the most cherished Celtics in the storied franchise history. I could bet you enough to buy a new house that when Paul Pierce was a youth growing up in the sinful city of Inglewood he would dream of playing in the same league as greats like Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Tonight that dream is going way beyond being paid as basketball player, or living in a big house in a nice neighborhood. Tonight Paul Pierce cements himself as a piece of history . After tonight he isn’t just a player in a league who comes and goes with time. He is better than Larry Bird, he is better than a legend. The most interesting part of the culmination of Pierce’s career filled with scoring is the way he did it. He isn’t a pure scorer, he doesn’t bounce out of the gym, and he hasn’t always been surrounded by super stars .The thing that separates Paul Pierce is that he is one of the smartest players ever, and he is a winner. Being a winner doesn’t have to be measured in championships, even though Pierce got his in 2008, and we all too often use this as the only measure to evaluate a player’s rank in history. He went through a long and hard stretch with the Celtics where it was him, and then a team filled with no names that just faded like pen tattoo. He was stabbed several times in a bar, an injury that could’ve ended not only his career, but also his life. Adversity plagued his career, but he continued to ball hard and finally a good team was put together for Pierce to make a playoff run with.

                That’s just some background. If you aren’t a Celtics fan and you don’t think that what Paul Pierce has accomplished is impressive, you just cannot be impressed or you’re simple. He is a mark of elite consistency, a future hall of famer, and a statue worthy figure to be put next to the likes of any Celtic that you consider the best of all time. This means that you can’t question Pierce. It used to be that he didn’t have a ring. After his ring it was where does he rank as an all-time Celtic (most didn’t consider him better than a top 4 player in franchise history). But folks, numbers don’t lie. Numbers don’t lie. It’s so important I had to say it twice. People can deliberate on ESPN for a month and a half about what they think, but at the end of the day Paul Pierce is still going to be a better scorer than Larry Bird. Larry Bird and Celtics are interchangeable words. After tonight Paul Pierce and Celtics will be cemented like a foundation. Even after the house burns down the foundation still stays there. Nothing is more essential than a foundation. Everything starts from the foundation. Pierce has been the foundation of everything the Celtics have down since his arrival into the NBA. It may be true that the torch is being passed to Rondo, but believe that once Pierce decides to retire the Celtics will not be the same Celtics anymore. When Pierce retires a chapter in history closes, and it will be up to the organization to write another.

                The people should bow to Pierce. The people of Boston should raise their hands up to the sky and let out tears of joy when Pierce scores his tenth point tonight. People get too used to Pierce being the Celtics small forward in a business where players are constantly moving around. He’s been a Celtic starter ever since I started watching the NBA. I’m used to Pierce just being there. That is an attribute to who he is as a player, and what he has done to the city. He represents Boston. Triumph after struggle. Always being a winner but waiting for the opportunity to prove it. I hope when Pierce scores his tenth point against the Bobcats old ladies pass out, people storm the court, and the birds fly back north early. I hope the sun is eclipsed by Jupiter, and the stars fall into Pierce’s lap. I want a red carpet. I want virgins to start singing beautiful melodies by the river. But most of all, I want to see Paul Pierce look around with tears of joy in his eyes and breathe a sigh of relief. Because if anyone deserves respect it is Pierce. Congratulations,  if you were on the bench of all time C’s, Larry Bird just lost his starting job. 

-Wootie

-wOOtie

This Celtics team has looked completely and utterly complacent and undisciplined with the ball in their hands and have been sloppy early on in games. This is nothing to worry about, its ok in a condensed season to lose the first two to opponents like New York and Miami, but what its gonna come down to is can they win those games that they have to win this season. Can they beat the Nets and Hornets of the world? Will they be able to beat the same Pacers team that gave the Bulls a run for their money in the playoffs last year? Will they be able to put together enough wins to be an 8 seed? Yea thats right you heard it and 8 seed.

The Celtics need to be focused on making the playoffs not wining the Conference this year. Can they rely on their bench so they can rest their starters considerably enough to make some noise in the postseason? That is key for me, what can they do to put themselves in a postion to win and still have enough energy to do something in the playoffs?

This team is a long way off from where they were in 08 and to be honest with you should have won one more to make it "worth it." They were close two years later, but since have not put themselves in position to bring another one home to Boston. I like this team better than last years team, but that unfortunately is not saying a whole lot. The addition of the likes of Bass and Dooling and Pietrus are good moves for the Celtics. Bass is clearly an upgrade from Big Baby and Dooling's game is very similar to that of Eddie House and we all know how well that worked out here. Pietrus if he can stay healthy can be just as athletic as Green but better defensively. Not a ton of point, but can be that guy off of the bench to give Pierce relief and score 10 points over the course of the game.

This team has proven that their not terrible, they dug themsleves out of huge holes to two teams that have clearly gotten a lot better and are a lot more athletic than we are. This team has fight and grit and refuse to give up. I like that about this years team, because that was not the case last year. My hope is that they are done dealing pieces because they need more size underneath the net unless their gonna start playing that huge foreign white guy...whats his name again?

-Pickalicous

Plenty of that where that came from...?

​This raises the question, barring any other major moves by the C’s in the upcoming season, who can pick up the scoring slack? Even if the original Big Three and Rondo maintain their numbers, there is still a need for role players who can contribute off the bench. With the loss of Jeff Green for the whole season due to health issues, there an even greater pressure for the C’s to find a scoring answer. Looking down the Celtics roster could give someone with high blood pressure. Not only is the roster filled with age (almost half of the players on the roster are age 30 or above), but the “key” role players that will be used provide below average scoringproduction in the 6-8 point range. The only potential for a big time spark comes in JaJuanJohnson, who is a Rookie draft pick out of Purdue. Johnson has the measurable (a 6’10 Forward), but the key question is will his college success translate to the NBA. Johnson averaged just under 21 points his senior year at Purdue, and if he pans out could provide a serious outlet to keep Kevin Garnett rested while providing solid scoring.

​There is no denying that there are a lot of questions to this year’s Celtics team. With the New York Knicks making major moves to improve their backcourt, and the Miami Heat one year more developed, it seems like the Celtics could easily take a back seat to other team’s success. The only chance the Celtics have to compete this season in the East is to stay 100% healthy, ortake a page out of the Tebow playbook.

-Wootie

So this tentative deal that David Stern and Hunter have put together has the players recieving 51.2% and the league starting on Christmas Day(which is funny because a basketball season is what I asked Santa for). Im glad that the two sides were able to put aside their differences and get something done. The only question is, what in the hell took so long? The players ending up getting the percentage that they ultimately wanted and I am told that there are other things in the CBA that work out for the owners, so ultimately there was a compromise, that came from negotiating, isnt that what was suppose to happen? A negotiating process? Last time I checked and what it looked like from this are here is that there was a lot of demanding and a lot of built up pressure leading up to these talks. A lot of resentment from the last CBA, and unfortunately there will probably be a lot of resentment coming out of this CBA. However the hope is that they do things differently the next time they sit around the table. Hopefully they do their homework ahead of time and be in constant communication about what the league and everyone involved needs as opposed to wants.

Pickalicous

-Just sign the damn deal guys.

                     The unfortunate part about all of this is that the NBA as a product is really not that great. They cannot compete with the NFL, or as Juice reminds me with even NASCAR. They are not even close to getting a deal done and whether or not its true people see it as everyone being greedy. Owners want more money, players want more money, and they all already make too much money for playing a child's sport. This is the general attitude of the sports fan. Dont get me wrong we all love the sport. We all pay money, a lot of it at that, to go and see these guys play a game. That indeed is all it is. In a down economy, when people are not working and filling into welfare offices and standing in line at the unemployment office. People dont get it and nor should they.

                      The other part is the fact that there are so many people being affected by this that do not have millions in the bank. There are so many people that work their asses off for the orgainzations every night that dont have a dime to their names that are now out of work. The people that run the concesison stands, people setting up the hardwood floors, announcers, t shirt people and yes even mascots. These are just a few of the individuals that are suffering because these two sides whom do have millions in the bank cant come up with an agreement on how to slice the pie. On behalf of all those individuals I would just like to call Bullshit.

                     SO the owners want a lot of things, yes they are offering 50/50 to the players but the owners within themselves cant agree on whether or not they should have revenue sharing. Stern is focusing on this because within the last CBA the big market teams made money where the smaller market teams lost over 300 million a year. So Stern and the smaller market teams are pushing the idea that the larger market teams would share revenue with teams that perhaps dont make as much money like a Charlotte or a Golden State. This is the model that the NFL has and for them it has been pretty successful. It has allowed small market teams like Green Bay become sucessful enough to win SUper Bowls. Many of us would not consider Green Bay a small market team but its not true, they absolutely are, but that in turn is the point. if revenue sharing is successful then small market teams can become competitive with everyone else. If its not successful you have large market teams wondering why they are sharing money that they feel like they have worked their asses off to make.

                      The owners also want a hard cap and less guaranteed money. No more of these long term deals where if a player underperforms or doesnt come to camp in shape (ex. Baron Davis signing that 5 year deal and being fat all year long) they get paid anyway. Im against these kinds of deal because of that exact reason, in my reality if I dont perform I dont get paid, or even worse dont have a job. Its that simple, what I put into it is what I get out of it. The problem with having a hard cap is a lot of these teams will over time be able to increase the value of their teams simply by not paying out in wages what they paid out before. Therefore increasing the amount of revenue the team has, which the players feel like is not fair because if the organization is making more money than they should also.

                       Players want more of a percentage of splitting revenue, and now are propsing a system of no salary cap at all. Which is pretty presumptious and arogant if you ask me. When you are already not seeing eye to eye, why propose something that is going to divide you even more? At any rate  Billy Hunter keeps saying that they want to negotiate but that Stern has said to them that they will not continue to talk until they agree to the 50/50 first. Which puts the whole situation at a stale mate.

                      This is what my proposal is that is fair for all:

             1.) Contracts should be no longer than 4 years. Within that contract period, players dependent on performance should be able to either make more money, or make less money. COntracts can be negotiated. The players have been pushing for this on their side, where players like Kevin Love whom have clearly been out performing their contracts should be able to make more money, or even better yet Derrick Rose. On the flip side to go back to my man Baron Davis, you should be able to take money back if the player is not able to perform to the level that is necessary. This is something that the owners have been pushing for. This is controversial I know but its something that if necessary.

              2.) Take the 50/50 split. Thats it.

              3.) A hard cap for teams is probably the way to go. If not a hard cap them remain with the soft cap, but Im so pro salary cap its ridiculous. This whole business with no salary cap at all is ridiculous and we should all foget it was even mentioned. The players will tell you that it was an owner that came up with the idea, but it was Marc Cuban. Thats a great idea to him too because he has got a shitload of cash.

               4.) and finally... within that hardcap rule there has got to be revenue sharing. Allow these small market teams to come in and be competitive. Allow these teams to help build the league, make it more money and more popular, because over time the end result will be less teams and less places for players to go and the NBA will not be able to withstand that kind of move.

                Lets start thinking about the economy we are all in and the fact that the people who give you their hard earned money are never going to see the kind of cash that you are making even during the loss of a season. Can we?

-Pickalicous

In the Summer of 2012 Al Jefferson will enter the final year of his contract. This will pay him $15 million dollars. By then you will have two options if you want to bring him in, blow up your squad or restructure contracts with Ray and KG. I think that there is some benefit here to considering this. One of the fears of Rajon Rondo, is what is going to happen to the team with him at the helm and no one around him? What happenes after KG and Ray are gone, and Paul is either gone or aging? Why not bring someone like Jefferson in while the likes of KG is still around and work with him? Why not make a deal that is going to make everyone happy and continue the tradition the Celtics legacy is?

This seems like a long shot I know, but its worth looking into. I am not entirely sure that the Jazz are going to want to keep Jefferson anyway. They just brought in Dereck Favors and Enes Kanter who will be cheaper and mayber as effective together and they will be taking money off of the cap if Jefferson is not there anymore. I like it. Do you?

-Pickalicous

Chew on that.

I immediately went into a full on Ainge cursing meltdown! If this was Around the Horn, Picka had given me the mute button because even he couldn't tolerate the negativity spewing from my mouth. We traded Marshon Brooks for JaJuwan Johnson and the Nets useless 2nd Rd. pick.. not for this year, but for NEXT YEAR.

JaJuwan Johnson was solid for Purdue this season. In a lot of ways, he carried them, but he's very raw. He's not like Al Horford was coming out Florida and if anything, he's more of a project player than Glen Davis was when the Celtics drafted him. So it all came down to "Why did you do this Danny?" Especially when a lot of people had JaJu Johnson a 2nd Round pick anyway..

Danny got on WEEI this morning, and I'm not quite sure if he calmed my anger, but he did silence it temporarily. Ainge's master plan is to keep the Big 3 in tact for 1 more season. Instead of going out and spending big money on Josh Smith, like some other team will most likely do, Ainge is looking forward to the Free Agent Class of 2012. That class includes Chris Paul and one of the most hated men in Boston, Dwight Howard. On top of that, KG and Allen both have expiring contracts for that year and that frees up a lot of money. That makes sense, as long as he manages to reel in one of them... now onto what I thought didn't make sense.

It was never Ainge's intention on drafting Brooks. The Celtics drafted him for the Nets, so they could pick up an extra pick for next year. That actually makes sense when it's put that way. What doesn't make sense is Ainge had planned on drafting JaJu anyway! So though it doesn't look like it, the Celts were fully prepared to draft a PROJECT forward in the 1st Round of the draft... trade or no trade. Usually you draft project players on the BACKSIDE of the 2nd Round! Fortunately, Ainge recovered with the next pick.

E'Twaun Moore, the Celtics 2nd Round pick, like Johnson, is out of Purdue. He plays shooting guard and is actually a very good shooter. He was 40% from 3pt range last season for the Boilermakers, but take that with a grain of salt, since the 3pt arc in college is of shorter distance than that of the NBA's. It even took great 3pt shooters like JJ Reddick and Trajan Langdon some time to adjust. Moore is also suppose to play some pretty solid defense and he doesn't turn the ball over all that often, unlike his counterpart Johnson. I actually liked this pick, but I like Marshon Brooks playing SG for the Celtics more.

The Celtics are playing on borrowed time. The Big 3 will be 35, 35, and 34 years of age. Last season, they were the healthiest men on the roster going into the playoffs, but for that to happen again is unlikely. The Lakers are realizing their aging roster is slowing down and have already begun to make moves to bring in talented established youth (Pau Gasol for Kevin Love is being heavily talked about.) Drafting a power forward that Ainge himself admits is 2-3 years away from being good enough to play, is really stretching the Celtics already thin big men reserves. Moore won't be a starter this season, and Brooks most likely wouldn't have been either because of Ray Allen. If Moore can reach his potential, however, picking him up in the 2nd Round is a steal and possibly one of the best picks of the draft.

With the acquisition of a draft pick as well as JaJuwan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, I give this draft the grade of B- (potentially B+

They came out with the kind of intensity that was not controlled. The kind of intensity that was not about winning a playoff game, it was the kind of intensity that landed the likes of Rondo on the bench early and Pierce getting booted from the game altogether. There was no composure, no controlled physicality. This was a team that was set out for self-destruction and you would never know it by looking at the score board. If you looked at the score board at the end of the game you would have thought that it was a "good game" that just came down to execution at the end. But the reality of the situation is that the Celtics were lucky to even be that close at the end and the Heat never showed signs of losing the whole game.

With the starters on the bench and the team not rotating on defense the Heat had their way all afternoon with the Celtics. Compile that with me starting the day with the Walk For Hunger I was on my way to being extremely exhausted. This team prides itself in committed team defense and helping out on defense, none of which they did in Game 1. This team consistently holds teams in the mid to high 80's in points and did not do that the other night. Here is a team that shot under 30% after the 1st Quarter in Game 1. So now you can see why I say they were lucky to be as close as they were in that game.

The good news is I dont expect those things to happen again in this series. I do not expect Pierce to lose his cool to the point of being kicked again, I do not expect Rondo to be sitting for half of the game again, and I certainly do not expect KG to be a non factor again like he was in Game 1. This team can still play basketball, sure they are old but what we forget is if you can force half court playoff basketball to happen the Heat dont stand a chance against this team. If you allow that fast break, break away basketball to happen then you are going to be in trouble. That is all there is to it. The Celtics will not survive in a game like that.

My main concern is losing to a team like this. If we lost to the Bulls it would be terrible but it still wouldnt be the Heat. This young inexperienced team predicates itself to talking trash and letting everyone else know that they are the best and you are trash. To watch them fall at the hands of youre very own Celtics would be excellent. To watch the Heat being put out while they all sulk at the end of the bench and watch the faces of the likes of Juwan Howard and company cry while they wonder why they even came back in the first place.

Tonight I expect to see a slower game. One where Rondo sits back and executes effectively down the stretch to show the world what it means to put on that Green and White jersey. I expect to see Pierce step up and not put so much weight on Ray Allen to perform. I expect the defense to help out and ROTATE WHEN NEEDED!

-Pickalicous

Danny Making Moves:

This image for some is wonderful, it means that the man who brought KG and Ray Ray and who drafted Rondo could have another trick up his sleeve. It could mean something to push us over that ledge of greatness. Something a little bit more to compliment what the C's have got now.

This image for others,(like my man Juice) means death. It means one of two things, a nightmare trade or a some kind of dance off which could be embarrasing for everybody. Danny is an interesting guy, because he has been involved in some big deals. However all of his big deals have been provided with a little help from his friends.

Think about it? The KG move... Kevin Mchale...not just a terrible GM but also clearly in our back pocket. The Rondo move...Phoenix Suns...may as well be another team in our back pocket because of the working relationship that Danny has had with them in the past. The trade that always impressed me the most was the Ray Allen trade. This to me was primetime Danny Ainge. Think about it... Who did we give up? Wally Szerbiack (no Im not going to look up how to spell his name), Delonte west and Jeff Greene( anyone remember Jeff Greene? He was the #5 overall pick...way to dump a mistake Danny), and look who we got in return Ray Allen and Glen Davis. I would say we won that battle. A year later that team picked up and shipped off without their GM...hmmm very interesting.

So now whats new on Danny's plate? Well rumors are swirling around that the Celtics and the Bulls are both in contention for swingman Anthony Parker. If this is true than I like the idea of this trade...conditonally of course. The Cavs want a big man, and not just any big man but one who will blossom into something special. The Celtics dont have that to give and would be fools to do so. Giving up someone like Semih in the midst of all of our big men dropping like flies is and would be foolish and it just cant happen. Now if the Cavs want a Nate Robinson, or a Delonte, or a Marquis... Now we are talking. The most appealing one is Nate, because you can drop his contract and now you substitute it with size and length. Still get the shooting and you now upgrade on defense. The problem with Nate is he is hard to move, last year the Knicks couls barely move him and he had an expiring contract.

As long as you dont have to give up too much he is an ideal fit the C's. Also you know what... there is another factor here, how about the old just stopping another team from getting better. Another team in the East that could be competing for a championship. Your window is closing, and the way that your roster is built the fact that you can make a move at all is unbelievable to me. If you can reasonably grab this guy go for it! But here are the rules:

Rule#1:

You do not under any circumstances give up a Big. They have been unreliable as far as health is concerned and the one thing that hurt you last year was aggressiveness under the boards and grabbing rebounds. Lack of Big Men last year killed you in Game 7 you will need these guys to put you over the top. Just remember thats why you went out and got them in the first place. Dont mess up the one good move you made this offseason.

Rule#2:

 Even though they are demanding a Big, they will take a draft pick instead. Hell if I am the Cavs I would take Marquis and just bag it for the rest of the season. That team doesnt need a "Big" it needs new life. A #1 pick would breathe new life into that city and that team. So just pack it in like the C's did sometime ago and go lottery... your going to anyway. So if youre the C's... even if you think they wont go for it try it anyway Cleveland cant lose anymore fans than they already have, and they will be back if you give them something to watch.

Rule#3:

Dont compromise what you already have in place.

There is no point in selling key parts like Big Baby (yes I said it) away for an aging swingman. Hes like Posey...good for the year then maybe we leave it alone. This team has been hurting for that kind of character and lets face it we need someone to come in take some minutes off of Pierce. If Pierce remains banged up going into the playoffs then this team has no shot of winning anything.

Once again I like the idea.

Jesus God help us all...

Pickalicous

-This is going to be awesome