Off-Season Review Part 2/30: The Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics: 24-58

Key player performance:

Paul Pierce: Last season, Paul Pierce became one of the greatest examples of futility and a burn-out by a basketball player in a season. Pierce is playing in the prime of his career, and displayed one of the best regular seasons of his days last season; unfortunately, his team was going the opposite direction. Pierce sat out half the season, with majority of the games coming as the season was coming to an end. Either Pierce was really hampered by injuries, or he gave up on the season completely. Pierce is an overall great guy: basketball player, business man, and family man, and people can attest to that; but Paul Pierce looks TIRED. Tired of playing? Maybe. Tired of losing? Probably. His eye bags have grown and he slouches on the bench in his designer clothes looking on as the score runs up against his team. What an incredible waste of talent, especially with the outcome of last season. It is an amazement that Pierce has yet to cry foul and demand a trade. Somebody get this guy some wins, please!

Al Jefferson: Al is one of the few bright spots in a plane of dark apathy of failure that is the Boston Celtics of the present; and he carries one major goal for himself and for all the other million Celtics-fans across the globe: spread the brightness and carry Boston back up to the peak. Al Jefferson, coming out of his 3rd season, showed tremendous improvements in his game during the past season. The season was an overall failure for the Celtics, including the off-season, but Al Jefferson gave hope for the franchise after surprising everyone with his dominance in the low-post. From an underachieving sophomore, to one of the most powerful post presences in the league, defensively and offensively. It's a surprise Jefferson did not win the Most Improved Player Award; only because a number of other players vastly improved as well. He has a streak of Zach Randolph on him, so look for him to break out next season the same way Randolph did a few years ago.

Delonte West: A decent guard that has flourished in some clutch situations. The most notable moment would be a game-winning shot against the Charlotte Bobcats early on in the season from a kick-out pass by Paul Pierce. Delonte is a young player, and has already shown toughness in his career through a number of breakout games last season; although his minutes were moved back late in the season. It was a valiant effort by Delonte to try and lead the Celtics to a respectable regular season showing, but never really got to that point. Expect him to further improve his game... ...in Seattle.

Team review:

The Boston Celtics continued their dismal display of basketball yet again this season winning only 24 games out of a possible 82. Their awful campaign came to its climax with a lengthy 18-game losing streak stemming from January 7 all the way to February 14; with the streak-breaking win coming at the expense of the Milwaukee Bucks. The 6th longest losing streak in the history of the NBA tarnished the reputation of what was once the proudest franchise in all of basketball. After the fallout, everyone knew that the Celtics were done for the season. The best thing left to do was to skip futile efforts, sit Paul Pierce, and let the young guns play the garbage games and try to develop their games. It is still questionable as of the moment whether Pierce really did decide to sit it out and disguise it with a "season-ending injury", but the weariness in his face was evident. After the incident, the media along with a bucketful of fans, watchers, and such, accused the Boston Celtics of tanking to try and get the worst record in the league for the best chance to acquire one of the top 2 picks in the draft. Nobody really knows for sure whether it was a purposeful disgrace of the game or the Celtics just couldn't win, but Doc Rivers still got his contract extension nonetheless for his efforts in coaching the team to the 2nd worst record in the league. Unfortunately, luck was never on the Celtics' side as the draft that was 19-years in the making fell towards the favor of Portland and Seattle. The disappointed Celtics, which acquired a "low" pick at #5, decided to trade their pick for Ray Allen. An act of desperation? Or a subtly genius trade? Although all signs point to the former, check it out next season.

Player transactions:

An obviously disgruntled Celtics front-office drafted G-Town forward Jeff Green with the 5th overall pick and shortly after traded the rights to Green, along with Wally Sczerbiak and Delonte West, to the Seattle Supersonics for Ray Allen. It seems like an act of desperation, and the world is asking how the hell will Ray Allen fit in with the Boston Celtics? Ray Allen did fine with the Sonics considering Rashard Lewis dwells more on the post area and Ray Allen controls the perimeter, but can the same combination work with the Celtics? Well, why not? It looks good on paper, but it can turn out to be bad on the court itself if the two can't find a way to coexist; much like Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury. On the flip note, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are both good citizens and good people who have developed their service and humility; in other words, they're old and don't belong to the new generation of luxury and thuganomix. They will indeed find a way to coexist without hogging the ball from each other; given the fact that Paul Pierce is versatile enough to play through anywhere on the floor. It's an exciting wait for the outcome, unfortunately it will be short-lived as both Allen and Pierce are approaching wear and tear within the next give-or-take 5 years. Shame.

Let's expect:

The total productivity of the Boston Celtics will rely heavily on the coexistence of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. However, it is already quite a guarantee that the Celtics will improve next season as compared to the last one. Unfortunately, there's an eerie foreboding from out of nowhere that's whispering that both Allen and Pierce will be out for long periods of time during the season due to injuries. If the two stay healthy though, along with Al Jefferson, the playoffs is not an impossibility.

Potential starting line-up:

C - Kendrick Perkins
PF - Al Jefferson
SF - Paul Pierce
SG - Ray Allen
PG - Rajon Rondo

Injury-riddled? or surprisingly blended? Watch out for the Boston Celtics next season..

Full Court NBA Blog will be reviewing the teams of the NBA, how they fared last season, and what is expected of them next season with the current off-season moves that have taken place. Feel free to e-mail your thoughts and suggestions regarding any team at any time.

Off-Season Review Part 1/30: The Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Hawks: 30-52

Key player performance:

Joe Johnson: Joe played the best regular season performance in his career as of the moment, and history points to him only getting better next year; much like he has each year in an increasing rate. He averaged over 30 points in the first few games of the season leading the Hawks to a 9-4 start. Supposedly one of the elite scorers as of the present, Joe was sidelined midway through the season and played in only 57 games.

Josh Smith: "Growing up before our very eyes" was the phrase most commonly used to describe the young Josh Smith last season, and why wouldn't it be? Smith showed flashes of dominance by scoring over 20 points and grabbing over 15 rebounds and swatting some 5 shots in some games late in the season. Although he is erratic in game concentration (fumbling inbound passes) and good decision making (shot selection), and he can't hit long-range shots to save his life; it was nonetheless an overall improvement for Josh. Although he is referred to by some as a "jerk".

Marvin Williams: Although Marvin Williams is a "bust", considering the fact of how high he was selected in the draft and as compared to the others who were selected after him (namely Deron Williams and Chris Paul), Marvin Williams is OK. Come on, that draft class was weak as hell save for picks #3 and #4. As a consolation for selecting a "bust", the Hawks found themselves a solid forward like any other solid forward in the league. Score some, rebound some, and puts up a decent 1-on-1 defense, and nothing more; although his turnovers were a killer.

Team review:

The Hawks started out pretty fast going 9-4 in their first 13 games, highlighted by a 4-game winning streak that had everybody jumping out of their seats in surprise of the young Atlanta Hawks. However, it was a landslide from there and the Hawks found themselves way down low once again. The Hawks were too young, and they lacked a few pieces. Of course, a season-ending injury in the middle of the season to their rising-star Joe Johnson didn't help at all, although they were pretty much deep in the hole anyway by that time. The Hawks found it difficult to actually get anything done, relying heavily on plays that began at the perimeter; mainly because they worked with a "point guard" in Speedy Claxton and a much referred to as a "poor-man's Brad Miller" in Zaza Pachulia. Tyronn Lue is available, but he's only as much as a kick-in-the-nuts from the bench. The Hawks have had a void in the PG and C positions for quite some time now, and it's about time that it has been addressed after a continuous roll of poor player transactions (Pau Gasol for Shareef Abdur-Rahim, nice going). Overall, the core of the Atlanta Hawks team is very young but don't count them out as they showed vast improvement this year compared to the preceding seasons.

Player transactions:

The Atlanta Hawks are FINALLY draft winners. The higher gamble would have been to take Conley with the 3rd pick and a second-rate center with the 11th, but the Atlanta Hawks decided to take the safe route: Taking the "dominant big man" route by selecting Al Horford at 3rd, and selecting the second best point guard in the draft, Acie Law, at 11th (mainly because there aren't really many good point guards in the draft). However, the "best point guard" in the draft is still debatable between Law and Conley, with Conley receiving the edge for going further in the NCAA Tournament and playing with nuts of steel. The Atlanta Hawks have finally addressed the two main voids in their roster: A center and a point guard. Although time may be the only one that can tell if Al Horford can indeed bang bodies with the biggest of them, Acie Law could be a shoo-in for boosting the Atlanta Hawks. Acie Law is often compared to the "awesome" Sam Cassell, and his play in the NCAA Tournament shows he is a proven scorer.

Let's expect:

Atlanta is entering a new era of Hawks basketball, symbolized by the new Atlanta Hawks jerseys. With the Atlanta Hawks' lineup finally intact, look for them to boost their regular season performance. Making the playoffs is still questionable with two of their potential-starters still rookies, but improvement nonetheless is an expectation. The Atlanta Hawks are a very very young team, being led by 26-year old Joe Johnson, so look for them to make their mark as one of the East's elite within the next 2 or 3 years. The future of the Hawks franchise is bright.

Potential starting line-up:

C - Al Horford
PF - Marvin Williams
SF - Josh Smith
SG - Joe Johnson
PG - Acie Law

Next season will be like testing the waters, but the playoffs is not an impossibility.

Full Court NBA Blog will be reviewing the teams of the NBA, how they fared last season, and what is expected of them next season with the current off-season moves that have taken place. Feel free to e-mail your thoughts and suggestions regarding any team at any time.

NBA Draft Rewind

The NBA Draft had its share of winners and losers, and the zillion citizens of Earth are debating about it day in and day out without paying heed to their breath. The truth is, no one will really know until the season rolls on and we see Greg Oden breaking backboards or when (not if) we see Kevin Durant shockingly shooting 45% from half-court shots.

True enough we can only be so sure as to who the winners and losers are in this present moment, and the players aren't it. How about Dick Vitale, Ric Bucher, Chris Mullin, and a handful of other freakazoids roaming the worldwide sports network? Open your fly, and get ready to pee your pants, despite your fly already being open.

The ugly NBA Draft Rewind [The Sports Hernia]

Dick Vitale should shave his arms.