Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because my therapist says arguing with myself about these things isn't healthy anymore.
- I bet Brad Stevens is secretly happy that Jayson Tatum’s recruitment of Damian Lillard didn’t work. How the hell was he going to match a $45 million salary with anything better than Miami without including Jaylen Brown?
I can see Brad pulling Tatum into his office and politely asking to be made aware of any future recruitment plans that might put him on the spot.
- One thing we love more than anything around here is bringing guys back from previous years. I like Blake Griffin as much as anyone, but I don’t think there's room for him anymore. The Svi Mykhailiuk signing leaves one open spot, and they’ll need that spot if they want to use the Grant Williams TPE.
I’m not saying Griffin shouldn’t or wouldn’t come back. He was good for the team last year. But it’s okay to move on after one season.
- If your first task in the morning is cleaning up after a dog that has peed in the house, just chalk the day up as a schedule loss. Pull the starters. Get back into bed. Take the L.
- I don't know who Ben Simmons is trying to convince with this new PR push of his. He’s already on a team. His contract is too big to be traded right now. I don’t get why he’s making this big media push when he’s only just started playing 2-on-2.
Will he progress to 5-on-5 in a month? Will he even be ready to start the season?
I’m baffled by the whole thing. Seems like a whole lotta talk for nothing.
- I’m so sick of intentionally vague headlines trying to get you to click on things.
“Eastern Conference contender signs 40% 3-point shooter” is lame. Nothing tells me you have nothing to offer me content-wise more than trying to trick people into clicks.
- Rajon Rondo was always built different. Him explaining how he was always competing against the opposing coach instead of the players really says a lot about how he saw the game.
Rondo is a basketball savant. He gets it at a level very few others can dream of. It’s part of why he kept clashing with coaches. He saw things even the coaches couldn't or wouldn’t and it caused problems.
The obvious question out of that is whether Rondo could be a coach. I don’t think he’d be a good coach at the team level, but I think he could be an amazing individual point guard trainer. I think he’d be incredible in a one-on-one scenario where he can just pour knowledge into a person’s head and then let them go off and try to apply it. I think watching his team screw up something he just told them to do would be infuriating.
- RIP Bob Barker. I used to watch The Price Is Right with my mom growing up either before I was school age or, as most kids, during sick days. Talk about a perfect game show with the perfect host.
- Jaylen Brown was the first NBA player to play in the Big 3. My response is a big shrug.
He did it for charity, which is nice. Otherwise it was just some half-assed half court run. Something he probably would have been doing anyway.
- Eric Lewis quit officiating rather than be scrutinized for having burner Twitter accounts that defended referees, once again proving the old adage “never tweet” to be true.
- Good luck to Romeo Langford in Utah.
- Man, I hope the doctors are right about Bronny James.
- Yes, winning the NBA championship is a world championship, because there's no single professional team as good as the best team in the NBA.
Call that arrogant if you want, but I dare you to find a pro team out there that won’t lose to the Nuggets by double digits every time. The only chance anyone has of beating an NBA champion is by putting all their best players together on a national team, and that’s not the same thing. They have a thing for that. It’s called the Olympics.
Euroleague is regarded as the second-best pro league in the world. Do you think Real Madrid or Olympiacos (the two finalists this past season) have a chance at beating Denver?
The NBA is the best pro league in the world. People are dying to leave every other pro league to get to the NBA because it’s the best. So until Euroleague or whatever it is the Saudi royal family will eventually put together to pay players billions of dollars becomes the top destination for the world’s elite players, the world championship banners hanging from the rafters are more than appropriate.
- Rhode Island is ranked second in the US for road rage. The state flag could appropriately be changed to one car cutting off another trying to change lanes in front of it.
- Just trade James Harden for DeMar DeRozan and move on.
- California and Stanford are joining the Atlantic Coast Conference. In a related story, the United State recently ranked 39th in the world when it comes to geography education. There's no truth to the rumor that the University of Hawaii will be joining the Big East.
- I don’t think “hug your favorite outfielder” was a well-thought-out promotion.
- Liam Neeson is making action movies at 71. Denzel Washington made one at 68. I’m 50 and I triggered a back spasm reaching for a spoon.
- Speaking of elderly accomplishments, LeBron James will score his 40,000th regular season point this season if he stays as healthy as he did last season. Only about 17% of his points (6,783) have come from the 3-pointer, which isn’t a lot considering the era.
I don’t know who’s catching him, but I do know that guy will score a whole lot more than 17% of his points from 3.
- Here's my latest podcast, if you're bored