Boston Sports Then and Now

The parquet floor that dawned the floors of the Boston Garden was as synonymous with the establishment as the Green Monster is with Fenway Park.

How did this oddly patterned surface come to fruition?

In 1946 Celtics owner Walter Brown funded the construction of a new floor for the team to play on. The floor, which cost about $11,000, was set in the Boston Arena (currently the Mathews Center home of the Northeastern Huskies).

The parquet floor is synonymous with the Boston Celtics.

The East Boston Lumber Company used scrap wood, originally cut in Tennessee for World War II purposes, as the material for the floor. The scraps used during a lumber shortage after the war were pieced together in an alternating pattern in order to get the most out of the material they had. When the Celtics moved to the Garden in 1952, the floor went with them.

Each of the 247 pieces were 5′ by 5′ and 1.5″ thick and they were held together by wood planks and brass screws that were connected by 988 bolts. In order to put the floor together, it took a team of many two and a half hours.

Many opposing players and coaches complained about the hodgepodge floor, as they claimed it had dead spots. Red Auerbach claimed the floor wasn’t nearly as bad as the floor at Madison Square Garden, but he said that didn’t stop him from using that notion to his advantage.

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Shaq: The Big Shamrock

With the recent signing of Shaquille O’Neal, the Celtics have added yet another veteran to their already aging roster. The Celtics are starting to look like a YMCA men’s league of 30-somethings in, as ESPN calls it, “the twilight of their careers.”

This offseason the Celtics have tied up contracts with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Jermaine O’Neal and Shaquille O’Neal. We cannot forget about two other veteran Celtics in Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace (who is pondering retirement).

With that being said, lets take a look at the roster (as of now) that the Celtics have and who the aging stars are. Leading the pack is the recently signed Shaquille O’Neal who is 38 years old, followed by Rasheed Wallace and Ray Allen at 35. The 34 year old Kevin Garnett follows, with Paul Pierce trailing at age 32. The final 30-something on the Celtics roster is Jermaine O’Neal who is 31 years old.

In a time where a 30 year old athlete is often pegged as declining, simply by his age, the Celtics have a frighteningly old roster.

Paul Pierce just signed a four year contract and will hopefully retire a Celtic. I have a feeling, along with many other people, that this Celtics roster will have a very different look four or five years from now.

I hate to dwell on the age factor as we do have some young talent. At 24, Rajon Rondo is one of the most skilled and exciting players in the league. We also have Glen Davis, who is 24, Kendrick Perkins who is 25, and 3-time NBA Slam Dunk champion Nate Robinson who is 26.

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The Celtics added two of the weirdest free throw shooters in the league, but all they need these big men to do is rebound.

It appears certain at this point that Shaquille O’Neal will be joining the Boston Celtics. My take: why not?

I had many debates earlier this off-season with friends of mine in which I defended the singing of Jermaine O’Neal over Shaq. It was an unpopular stance to say the least, but my logic was that with Kendrick Perkins out for the first half of the year, the C’s were better off with a guy that could give them 30 minutes in the middle.

Never in my wildest dreams would I think that I would want Jermaine over Shaquille. I believe Jermaine has been overrated his entire career (and even more so in recent years as he finished up his huge contract). However, I stood by my logic that we needed a big man who could give us minutes. I also truly believed that if Jermaine was asked to be the fifth best player on the floor, rather than the second like he was in Miami, he could flourish in that role (a la Perkins).

Low and behold, Danny Aigne brought in Jermaine on a two year pact with the club’s full mid-level exemption. However, the team still needed another back up big man at the league’s minimum. Who would of thunk it, but Shaq is signing for just that.

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While most of Boston was focusing on the Red Sox’ jayvee team trying to mount a comeback against the suddenly devilish Rays, something happened on Wednesday night. Danny Ainge and Ray Allen quietly finished dinner, folded their napkins and walked into the still searing Boston night. Ainge picked up the check for dinner, of course, because the third wheel of his basketball masterpiece had just taken a healthy pay cut to come back for one more run at the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The Sweetest Shot in the game will be wearing green for the next two years.

In a summer jazzed with LeBrons and Wades, not to mention the local nine’s impressive investment in Massachusetts General plaster-of-Paris and any local 7/11’s ice supply, something happened over on Causeway street that can do little more than make fans of the Green easily contented. Paul Pierce – in a moment that nearly caused a cardiac collapse – opted out of the final year of his contract, prompting bigwigs and ballyhoos all over the airwaves of ESPN for about thirty-four minutes before Pierce re-upped for four years at a substantially discounted rate. Four years, $62 million – which, for the record, he could have made more than a third of had he stuck with his option. Allen followed this gracious gesture by taking nearly a 50% pay cut and re-upping for two years at $10 million a year.

The Celtics – assuming Rasheed Wallace retiring is truth and not a stunt – now have roughly $9 million in cap room to play with. And they have needs they’ll use that room to address.

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WEEI.com's Jessica Camerato

It’s not every year that your chronically underachieving legacy franchise weasels its way to a 7^th game in the NBA Finals against its hated rival. Fortunately, the Celtics got there this year. Unfortunately they didn’t make it against the Lakers. But there’s no time to dwell on lost opportunities. The NBA Draft is this Thursday, and the sure-to-be tumultuous free agent season starts just a week later.

I was fortunate enough to get a few minutes of WEEI.com’s esteemed Celtics beat writer Jessica Camerato’s time recently, and we discussed the season that was and what’s ahead, not only this summer, but next fall and into the future as well.

Ryan Durling: To begin, while we can agree that this was a memorable season, it was definitely an unexpected one. In what areas did this team overachieve?

Jessica Camerato (WEEI): What could seem like an overachievement to some came as no surprise to the players themselves. The Celtics went from an inconsistent 50-win team to a streaking club one-win shy of a championship. The C’s said the entire season that they could turn the corner, but there were many people who did not think it would be possible in the playoffs.

RD: Where did they underachieve?

JC: The Celtics underachieved by struggling to put together 48 minutes of basketball throughout the regular season and the playoffs. The problem was magnified when they blew a double-digit lead in the third quarter of Game 7 before falling to the Lakers.

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