Boston Sports Then and Now

Boston Celtics guard Terrence Williams showed Carmelo Anthony flashes of his skills.

When Terrence Williams signed a 10-day contract with the Boston Celtics on February 18^th, he was seen as just a warm body off the bench for the injury-ravaged Celtics. The Celtics were depleted by injuries without their All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, rookie forward Jared Sullinger, and reserve guard Leandro Barbosa. With no clear backup for Rondo, the Celtics believed Williams could fit the bill.

Williams displayed an array of skills while he was at the University of Louisville. The 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound swingman could set up shots for his teammates as well as himself. He showed strength inside with his size and speed. Head coach Rick Pitino called him “a freakish athlete.” This led to the then-New Jersey Nets using their 11^th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft on Williams.

Since Williams has entered the league, he has been unable to showcase the skills that led him to the NBA because of his immaturity. He had bouts with former Nets head coach Avery Johnson that led to him being sent down to the NBA Development League in 2010. He was eventually released by the Nets. The four-year veteran bounced around the league with the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings before he was cut by the Detroit Pistons last summer.

In the 2012-’13 season, Williams played overseas in China. He averaged 17.9 points, 4.1 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals while playing for the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association. Williams was on the court for 29 games for the Tigers before he was replaced by Donald Sloan in the final two games of the regular season.

His performance in the CBA and the Celtics’ need for a reserve guard led him back to the NBA. Despite the limited time he spent on the court, the Celtics liked his potential to sign him to a multi-year contract in March. Williams played in 24 games in the regular season  with the Celtics and he shot 49.5% from the floor. In the Celtics’ first round loss to the New York Knicks, Doc Rivers gave Williams a few critical minutes in the fourth quarter of Game 5 when Williams replaced Kevin Garnett. He was able to allow the Celtics to regain a double-digit advantage at 80-67. Williams scored four points, collected four rebounds, and dished out two assists in less than 17 minutes of action.

After the Celtics season ended, the future of the team is up in the air whether the Celtics will keep Paul Pierce and Garnett or if they will rebuild. Williams has shown he is capable of producing on the biggest stage and the Celtics hope to see more of Williams’ instincts when training camp arrives in the fall.

Paul Pierce (left) and Kevin Garnett (right) may have played their last game in a Celtics uniform.

As the Boston Celtics head into the off-season, they have many questions to answer. The first is whether they should retain captain Paul Pierce?

Pierce could make $15.3 million this season unless the Celtics buy out Pierce for $5 million. If the Celtics choose to buy out Pierce, they will have to do it by June 30th. The issue is that the Celtics are already committed to $76 million for next season. If they buy out Pierce, they still do not have a lot of money to spend since they save just $10 million and they are already over the salary cap (likely to be in the neighborhood of $59 million). If the Celtics do cut ties with their franchise cornerstone, this could lead to Kevin Garnett also leaving the franchise. Garnett said after the Game 6 loss to the New York Knicks that his future is tied with Pierce. Head coach Doc Rivers left the door open  to the possibility of leaving the Celtics in his postgame press conference on Friday.

The free agent and draft class is very weak this summer so it will be tough to rebuild this off-season. This leaves trades as the only potential avenue to upgrade the 2013-’14 roster. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge was unable to ship Pierce or Garnett off at the trade deadline because he was asking for a significant return.

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The Boston Celtics like Terrence Williams’ court vision.

The Boston Celtics have continued to make roster moves after the trade deadline ended on February 21^st. They signed Terrence Williams to a deal for the rest of this season with a conditional option for the 2013-’14 season and they brought in forwards D.J. White and Shavlik Randolph on 10-day contracts.

Since the Celtics were down to 10 players on the roster, including Fab Melo, they were relegated to taking players who were competing overseas or in the NBA Development League. Randolph, White, and Williams all played in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Williams was a lottery pick (11^th overall in 2009) for the then-New Jersey Nets out of Louisville. The 6-foot-6-inch forward dealt with maturity issues and was sent to the NBADL by ex-Nets coach Avery Johnson. He was eventually released by the Nets in 2011 and he played sparingly for the Houston Rockets. Then the Sacramento Kings claimed Williams off waivers and he played in just 13 games for the Kings. The Celtics like Williams’ size at the guard position and playmaking skills. Williams has seen the court in five games for the Celtics since he was initially signed to a 10-day contract on February 18^th. He has also missed two games because of a Coach’s Decision. Williams is averaging 2.6 points per game with 1.6 assists.

White saw four minutes of action in the 83-81 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. He contributed with two blocks and he attempted just one shot. The 6-10 forward out of Indiana University was also a first round selection (29^th overall) by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008. White has played four years in the league. After his minutes dropped off in his second and third seasons with the Thunder, he was let go. The Charlotte Bobcats scooped White off the waiver wire. He played in 24 games in 2010-’11 for the Bobcats where he averaged 19.4 minutes per game and 8.5 points to go with 4.4 rebounds. In 2011-’12, White played in 58 of the 66-game shortened season and he started 11 of those games. His numbers decreased across the board. The veteran can be a solid depth player with his athleticism and he can help the Celtics inside the paint. He played for the Shanghai Sharks after he was unsigned by an NBA team.

Randolph came from Duke University and he was undrafted. He has bounced around the league for five seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Miami Heat.  The 6-foot-10-inch forward has not played in the NBA since 2009-’10. Randolph averaged 32 points and 14.5 rebounds in 28 games for the Foshan Long Lions of the CBA. Randolph has yet to enter a game for the Celtics because he was signed last Friday.

Williams could have an expanded role as he learns the Celtics’ schemes. He also practiced for the Celtics last summer. Meanwhile White’s mid-range jump shot could help the Celtics if Kevin Garnett or Chris Wilcox is out of the game. Randolph is another player whose size could be useful in case the Celtics need him. Both White and Randolph are trying out with the team.

Boston Celtics forward seemed to be getting to every loose rebound against Luis Scola and the Phoenix Suns on January 9th.

It is no coincidence that the Boston Celtics won six consecutive games (before they fell to the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday) because of their improvements on the defensive end. The Celtics are getting consistent production from their bench and the rebounding of rookie forward Jared Sullinger.

Sullinger posted double digit rebounds in wins over the Phoenix Suns (16) and the Houston Rockets (11). The 6-foot-9-inch forward has accumulated most of his boards on the offensive end and he has helped the Celtics get out of last place in offensive rebounding.

During the winning streak, Sullinger averaged nearly 10 points and nine rebounds per game. He also corralled 21 offensive rebounds in this stretch against players such as Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks’ Josh Smith and Al Horford, and the duo of Marcin Gortat and Luis Scola of the Suns.

Despite Sullinger being undersized, he is able to outmuscle bigger players with a big lower mass that is able to push opponents away from the basket. He is also able to do this on the defensive end of the court.

Teammates have praised Sullinger for his basketball intelligence, his interior passing, and the ability to score. Sullinger can also make 15-foot jumpers outside the paint. Most of Sullinger’s scoring has come from within five feet of the basket because he has strong post moves and of his rebounding ability.

At the beginning of the year, the Celtics believed they had strong depth inside with Sullinger or Brandon Bass and Darko Milicic as reserves along with Chris Wilcox. The Celtics lost Milicic because he went back to Serbia to take care of his ailing mother. Bass has struggled with inconsistency. Wilcox suffered a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb and has been out since December 18^th. Bass was just reinserted into the starting lineup and Jason Collins is playing limited minutes due to nagging injuries. This has left Sullinger to be a force and to play a big role in the reserve unit.

The biggest reason why Sullinger has struggled is his propensity to accumulate fouls early. This issue has not gone away since Sullinger fouled out in the final minute in the 103-91 victory over the Rockets last Friday. He committed three fouls in the first half of the 100-89 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday. He also got into early foul trouble against the Hornets. Officials will pick on Sullinger because he is a rookie. Sullinger’s size forces him to be physical when defending taller forwards, which means he will get called if the officials are calling a tight game.

At this time last year, Sullinger was battling injuries while playing for the Ohio State Buckeyes against Big Ten competition. He fell to the 21^st pick in the 2012 NBA Draft in June because teams were worried about his back and conditioning problems.  Now, he is in the running for Rookie of the Year while helping the Celtics climb back into the Eastern Conference race. Currently, the Celtics are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, but they are just four and a half games behind the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat.

Sullinger has provided the Celtics with energy off the bench. If the Celtics continue to win, they will also need continued production from Sullinger.

Avery Bradley’s defense is an energizing force for the Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics have won four straight games and they are a game over .500. Last week after the Celtics fourth straight defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies, people were talking about the fact that the Celtics need to blow up their roster and their only way to compete is by acquiring troubled forward DeMarcus Cousins.

One of the many reasons that the Celtics are playing better, especially on the defensive end is Avery Bradley.  Since Bradley played his first game against the Grizzlies on January 2^nd , the Celtics have not allowed a team to score over 100 points. In the three previous games on the West Coast, the Celtics gave up an average of 108.3 points per game. The Celtics are 4-1 since Bradley returned to the court.

The Celtics rarely consistently showed a pulse early in the season on both sides of the court. When the Celtics played well defensively, they would struggle on offense. Then when the offense was executing well, the defense would falter. Read the rest of this entry →

This has been a tough week for both the Boston Celtics and the United States. The United States is coming off one of the worst tragedies in the nation’s history. As we prayed for the victims and their families in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday, the Celtics played an emotional game later that night in Houston against the Rockets. Rockets head coach and Celtics Hall of Famer Kevin McHale had an emotional embrace with Kevin Garnett after the game. McHale’s daughter, Sasha, died on November 24th after a long battle with Lupus. Garnett was drafted by McHale with the Minnesota Timberwolves and he credits McHale for helping him to emerge as one of the best players in the NBA. Courtney Lee also played for McHale with the Rockets last season. McHale became one of the top power forwards in the game with the Celtics during his playing days in the 1980′s and he helped the Celtics win three NBA championships.

The Celtics left their defense in Boston for their three-game road trip through Houston, San Antonio, and Chicago. The Celtics allowed at least 100 points in all three contests and they lost all of the games by double digits. The Rockets, Spurs, and Bulls were able to score in the paint at will and open up the Celtics defense with dribble penetration. Their rotations have been poor. On the offensive end, the Celtics have not been attacking the basket enough and getting to the free throw line.

Fortunately for the Celtics, they found a remedy: an Anderson Varejao-less Cleveland Cavaliers team and a 40-point performance from Paul Pierce. The Celtics beat the Cavaliers (5-22) at TD Garden on Wednesday. Pierce was 13-of-16 from the field, including 6-for-7 from beyond the arc. He hit all eight of his free throw attempts.

Currently, the Celtics are 13-12 and they cannot find a consistent flow in their game. They play well for one quarter and then the next quarter, they allow teams to either get back in the game or expand a small lead. The Celtics have been inconsistent and they are not a strong team right now. Instead, they are average. Most of it has to do with not being able to defend at a consistent level. Avery Bradley returned to practice earlier this week, but he should not be considered a savior. The Celtics have lacked intensity and passion, which is hard to say considering they have leaders like Garnett and  Pierce. Doc Rivers can motivate players to play to their strengths.

Here are a couple of tweets from players this week:

Great practice today #teamc‘s

— Avery Bradley (@Avery_Bradley) December 17, 2012

Bradley returned to practice on Monday. He may not appear in a game until the first week of January so he can get his conditioning to the level where he can compete on a daily basis. Before Monday’s practice, Bradley had not played since May when he got injured in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers. It will be interesting to see how Bradley’s ball pressure will impact the team. Will the Celtics tell him to tone down his defense so he can remain on the court? Bradley has never played a full season in his two years in the league because of injuries. He was hampered by an ankle injury that he had to have surgery on when he was a rookie in 2010-’11.

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