HOOPLOG: Boston Celtics

Lakers Become the Best Team in the NBA

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:19:01 -0800

The Lakers beat the Blazers 100-86 on Friday night. The Celtics and Cavs both lost on the same night, taking those teams to 6 losses. That means the Lakers’ 27-5 record is the best in the NBA. Home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Doesn’t it feel great? Yes, but not so fast.

Read more about it and other Lakers insights at Lakerhead.com

http://lakerhead.com/2009/01/04/lakers-become-the-best-team-in-the-nba/

Elimination Time? Pacers Looking to Force Game 7

Thu, 04 May 2006 09:34:51 -0800

In the INDIANAPOLIS STAR, Mike Wells writes that "moments like this are why stars spend countless hours after practice in the gym, working on new moves and improving old ones. This is what it's all about," said Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird, who thrived in pressure situations throughout his career with the Boston Celtics. The New Jersey Nets lead Bird's Pacers 3-2 in their first-round series and can eliminate Indiana tonight (NBA TV, 7:00 ET) at Conseco Fieldhouse."

Zach Randolph to the Celtics?

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 08:32:35 -0800

Who knows where this is coming from, but as Jeff from CelticsBlog pointed out to me by e-mail, this is the story on some Celtic message boards: Zach Randolph to Boston for maybe a youngster to be determined, a draft...

Doc returning as Celts coach?

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:45:58 -0800

Rumors soon spread of his imminent departure. Doc Rivers said Paul Pierce attacked the issue head-on prior to Mondays loss to Cleveland. He came in, I asked him, What do you want to talk about? and he said, You -...

Just Another Night At The Fleet Center TD Banknorth Garden

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:44:50 -0800

The thoughts of various individuals in this picture:

Steve Francis: So, uh, baby, listen, how old are you? Say again? Oh. Um … (looking to his left and right ) … OK … your mom around anywhere?

Girl In Red Jacket: Oh my gosh, it’s Patrick Ewing!

Tall Guy In Boston College Hat: Dude, Sully’s gonna love this story during Golden Tee tonight.

Security Guard: God, I hate when the Knicks are in town.

Sunday, April 9th Vs. The Knicks [Going To The Celtics Game]

(UPDATE: More proof that we don’t watch enough crap TV: Apparently the lady in green was on “American Idol.” Amazing what you learn doing this job.)

Boston's Allen, Greene Are on Point

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:44:39 -0800

Mark Murphy of THE BOSTON HERALD writes that Delonte West's injury "gave coach Doc Rivers a chance to experiment with Tony Allen and Orien Greene at the controls during a 101-86 loss to the Knicks."

Frustrated LaFrentz, Rivers Meet

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 09:55:13 -0800

Shira Springer of THE BOSTON GLOBE writes, "Raef LaFrentz met with coach Doc Rivers yesterday following comments the veteran big man made after recording 20 points and eight rebounds off the bench Tuesday night in Toronto. In uncharacteristically pointed remarks, LaFrentz sounded frustrated with the Boston coaching staff constantly asking him to adjust his game."

NBA Mock Draft-College players only 1. Noah 2 Morrison 3. Thomas

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:16:17 -0800

Here is my mock draft, usually when a player does well in the tournament, their stock goes up in the draft. Teams are gonna pass on Sheldon Williams, due to poor tournament performance. He’ll be the next Elton Brand and will help that Hornets go to the playoffs next year. I put Reddick with the Jazz, looking at the Jazz's draft history they pick over hyped white dudes, who can’t play in the NBA. Hopefully the Sonics get Brandon Roy, he and Ridnouer will form the best back court in the league circa 2110. I only did college players that I have seen play and one Eurotrash dude that Espn ranked high. I guessed the teams that will end up with the highest lottery picks.

1. Bulls from knicks- joekim Noah. Had a good tournment, he could really develop

2. Portland Trailblazers- Adam Morrison. Keep him local.

3. Charlotte Bobcats- Tyrus Thomas

4. Atlanta Hawks-Lemarcus Aldridge

5. Toronto Raptors- Randy foye

6. Orlando Magic- Josh Mcroberts

7. Golden state- Andrea Bargani. The bay area better have ample olive oil and garlic.

8. Boston Celtics- Dee Brown

9. Timerwolves- Rodney Carney

10. Supersonics- Brandon Roy

11. Rockets- Al Hortford

12. Bulls- Ronnie Brewer

13.Utah jazz- J.J reddick. Another white person playing basketball in Utah, I don’t understand.

14 Hornets- Sheldon Williams. Every team will regret passing on him

15. 76ers- Maurice Ager

16 Indiana- Jordan Farmar.

17. Sacramento-leon powe

Rudy Gay was going pretty high but he will end up a second rounder, due to poor performance in the tournement

No comments

Requiem for Three

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 09:42:39 -0800

Last week, Glenn Robinson took another small step in the most unnoticed retirement in the history of sport . If the absence of fanfare seems unfair, it is also unsurprising. Despite being physically present for over 10 seasons, Robinson’s moral significance was exhausted in just three. His 1999-2002 seasons with the Bucks were the one and only time that Robinson’s single-minded dedication to the jump-shot was successfully translated into an effective team offense. But as historians of the millennial era will doubtlessly note, the story of the Big Dog is also a story of the larger, more mysterious animal he helped inspire: I am speaking of course of The Big Three.

The Big Three of Robinson, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell was forged in the summer of 1999, and disbanded just three years later. In their first season, they went 42-40 and lost in the first round. In their second season, they transformed into the league’s #1 offensive team, went 52-30, and came within a few baskets of making the NBA Finals. Then in their third and final year, they regressed back to .500 and failed to make the playoffs, despite adding a fourth All-Star to their roster (Anthony Mason) during the previous off-season. How should we understand the Big Three’s tumultuous tenure, and the role of the Big Dog therein?

When considered in the abstract, nothing about the Big Three makes even the slightest bit of sense. The majority of great teams have been built around 1 or 2 centers of gravity, with additional talent organized into supporting roles. The 80s Celtics are the notable exception. Yet given the particulars of the Milwaukee triumvirate, the precedent they provide is little more than numeric. Though glory and power was equally distributed among Bird, Parish and McHale, their contributions on offense were differentiated by both personality and position. In contrast, Allen, Robinson and Cassell seemed to have sprung from a single, interchangeable mold, and appeared functionally, positionally, and even stylistically indistinguishable.

Perhaps more than any team in the history of professional basketball, Milwaukee was forced to construct its identity without a single, meaningful precedent or guide. The only principle available to the team was that of “The Big Three” itself. Indeed, if any thesis should emerge from these reflections, it is that the Three-as-Spirit was no less important than the Three-as-Flesh. Whereas most teams can define success against existing objective models, the Big Three offense was sui generis. The only idea to which the Big Three could appeal was its own understanding of what the Big Three should be. Put somewhat differently: Milwaukee’s offense succeeded only when Robinson, Allen and Cassell could believe in the Big Three, and believe in themselves as part of it.

The players’ faith in the Big Three was by no means guaranteed, and was often undermined by objective and subjective pressures. Among the later were ambiguities inherent in the Big Three itself. When the nickname was first introduced, the sole rationale was that Cassell, Robinson and Allen combined for 60% of Milwaukee’s offense. But whether this was a function of actual offensive prowess, or merely a consequence of a crappy bench always remained unclear. This inherent ambiguity in the value of the Big Three was coupled with an inherent ambiguity in its boundaries. Insofar as 60% was an arbitrary cut-off point, why shouldn’t there be a Big Four (based on 75% contribution) or Big Two (43%) instead?

These inherent, subjective ambiguities – when triggered by unfavorable objective events – had the potential of undermining the Big Three’s faith in itself, and thus to derail their collective achievements. For instance, the selection of Robinson and Allen – but not Cassell – to the 2000 All-Star Game triggered a subjective crisis over the boundaries of Big Three membership. After starting the season an impressive 25-20, the Bucks spiraled into one of the worst loosing streaks in years, loosing 9 of 11 games after the All-Star announcements.

Depending on whom you talk to, Cassell sulked after he was left off the team and didn't distribute the ball, or Allen and Robinson got a little too full of themselves after their selections and never gave the ball up once they had it – The Capital Times (Madison)

The absence of any rational and objective logic underlying the Big Three’s offense meant that team chemistry lived or died with players’ faith in the Big Three itself. When the subjective coherence of this belief was undermined, the 2000 season was essentially lost. Two years later, when the Bucks signed Tim Thomas to a $65 million contract and then added Mason - a former All-Star - to Bucks’ starting lineup, the boundaries of the Big Three were once again blurred to the point that Cassell, Allen, and Robinson could no longer command it. This in addition to injuries and infighting made the third and final Big Three season even worse than the first.

The second season was the closest the Big Three would come to an unconditional faith in its own self-determination. And throughout this season, no player’s faith was as strong as Glenn Robinson. Ray Allen may have been the spark behind the Big Three, and Cassell the glue, but Robinson was its chief architect and prophet. When George Karl threatened to bench one of the three (it didn’t matter which) in order to teach them a lesson about teamwork, Robinson was defiant. Speaking in what can only be described as the 9th person, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

You can't afford to bench one of the Big Three…When he says benching one of the Big Three, I don't know why. I know the chemistry of this team is shooting jumpers. That's our identity. That's what we are”

And while Robinson often resisted sharing with Allen and Cassell as individuals, sharing with the Big Three was an entirely different story. Commenting after one game, he told reporters:

"It was one of the better games for the Big Three," he (Robinson) said. "I like the games when I see all of the Big Three with 20 points or more. When we score like that, it's hard to beat us”.

Given how closely Robinson identified with the Three, it makes sense that his post-Three fortunes would be the dimmest. Interestingly, all three players went on to form Big Threes with their subsequent teams (as defined by 60% offensive contribution). Yet while the recent era has seem its share of imitators, none can rival the original Big Three, or the Man who once inspired it. And if the owl of minerva flies only at dusk, our understanding of both has only just begun.

Moneyhoops Era Begins?

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:50:50 -0800

Huge story out of Houston: The Rockets have named their next general manager, and it's a stats dude.

The "Theo Epstein" is apparently Daryl Morey, who teaches a class at MIT, used to work on Wall Street and works as a stats/operations/information guy for the Celtics front office.

A bright fellow named John Quincy at the APBRmetric board dug up some more on Morey, including this blog post briefly annotating a speech Morey gave at MIT in April 2005. I can't seem to run down a transcript of said presentation, but we'll take the blogger's word that Morey talked about the four factors.

It's also worth noting that a Google cache of Celtics.com's "Inside the Numbers" series of articles on basketball analytics lists Morey and Mike Zarren as authors. (The current incarnation of "Inside the Numbers" lists only Zarren and has only three articles, the most recent one being a solid primer of offensive efficiency. Zarren is listed as Boston's "Basketball Operations Analyst, responsible for assisting team decision-making via quantitative analysis." (Thanks to Google, I've also gathered that Zarren is a 2004 Harvard Law graduate and a former editor-in-chief of the school's Journal of Law and Technology.)

Morey's best article on Celtics.com may be this piece on beating opponents by increasing your number of shot attempts. It's interesting because the pendulum in the statsworld seems to have swung towards efficiency as the biggest pillar, when offensive rebounding and limiting turnovers combined are almost as important as shooting percentage. (I'm way guilty of this, by valuing Kevin Martin true shooting percentage way more than Kenny Thomas's offensive rebounding percentage.)

Morey also has a questionable stats-related article in the cache as well, one that argues that because Al Jefferson got a lot of minutes in his age-20 season, and because most players who got a lot of minutes in their age-20 seasons turned out to be stars or solid starters, Al Jefferson is therefore destined to be a star or solid starter. That argument is pretty faulty for fairly obvious reasons - you can't just take a youngster, give him minutes and watch his blossom. It's at best a baby block in the work towards serious prospect analysis.

Regardless, getting someone who understands the growing statistical revolution budding in basketball into a GM chair is huge. It's really another domino: first, it was Dean Oliver coming into the Seattle Sonics organization. Now, it's Daryl Morey getting the reins (though not until the 2007 offseason). It's getting much better.

Rockets' GM Dawson will groom Morey as successor

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 09:35:02 -0800

In an astounding change of direction and style that stunned the Rockets and the NBA, owner Leslie Alexander has chosen Boston Celtics statistical analyst Daryl Morey to be his next general manager, succeeding ...

Celtics rookie Orien Greene arrested (AP)

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 11:18:59 -0800

Celtics rookie Orien Greene was arrested and charged with driving his sport utility vehicle at more than 90 mph on a city street in this Boston suburb. The point guard was arraigned Monday and practiced Tuesday. He was expected to play Wednesday night against the Knicks in New York. "He will be disciplined by the team, significantly," Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said.

Ankle Keeping Celtics' Jefferson Down

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 11:17:49 -0800

Shira Springer of THE BOSTON GLOBE writes, "Al Jefferson watched the end of practice yesterday with his right foot soaking in a bucket of ice. It was not the ending Jefferson wanted. He had hoped to return to team workouts today, but a sprained right ankle continues to sideline the second-year power forward. It is uncertain when Jefferson will return to the Celtics lineup."

Sixers-Celtics, halftime

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 18:37:35 -0800

First-half highlights from Boston.

NBA Celebrates St. Patrick's Day With Green Uniforms

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 13:09:11 -0800

The NBA will celebrate the St. Patrick's Day holiday this year when three teams wear Special Edition NBA St. Patrick's Day Uniforms. The Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, and New York Knicks will participate in the holiday celebration by wearing specially de