Yardbarker: Tony Battie

Celtics Look to Keep Winless Nets Winless

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:36:00 -0500

Boston Celtics (6-1) at New Jersey Nets (0-6) Saturday, November 7 7:30 PM ET Game #8 Away Game #4 TV: CSN HD, YES HD, LP 751, 752 Izod Center Referees: Mark Wunderlich, Joe Forte, Eli Roe The Nets are traditional rivals of the Celtics as we think back to the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals where the Nets defeated the Celtics in a hotly contested 6 game series. The Nets have fallen on hard times and this season are just marking time until th...

Sixers vs. Nets: Bounce Back Game

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:13:05 -0500

0-5 Nets should be an easy target for the the Sixers coming off the drubbing the Celtics put on them. There is really NO reason to over analyze this game. The Nets will be without: Devin Harris Yi Jianlian Keyon Dooling Chris Douglas-Roberts Jarvis Hayes Tony Battie This team is easily the least healthy team in the NBA right now and it will stay that way for a couple weeks. The expected starting line? Related posts:2009-10 NBA Preview: New Jersey NetsSixers Play the Worst Offensive...

Back at Work

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:28:25 -0500

by Sean Sweeney The best Jason Williams moment never happened on the court. And it wasn’t the time he called his own team the worst in the League. Remember in 2005, right after Williams’ Memphis Grizzlies were swept out for the summer by the Suns? A reporter in Memphis decided a good idea was to write about how the Grizzlies didn’t care how their season ended. Of course, JWill had to be at the forefront. Williams said on the eve of the sweep that basketball wasn’t everything. He still had his...

Eazy Yi Has an MCL Sprain

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:30:06 -0500

More bad news for the Nets. Because, clearly, they haven’t had enough of that lately: “The team is not discussing any timetable for the third-year player, but a typical recovery period for such an injury is two to four weeks, and it has been known to last as long as six. ‘It’s a shame; if you look at it, he had a good start to the season, he was aggressive and assertive in the first few games,’ Nets coach Lawrence Frank said Tuesday night. ‘You feel bad for him, ...

The Other Side: New Jersey Nets

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:42:50 -0500

The Wizards miserable season started with a 95-85 loss to the New Jersey Nets last October. At the time, it appeared to be an upset, until the Wizards kept spiraling toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference, while the Nets finished 15 games ahead of Washington in the standings. But while the Wizards loaded up this summer, the Nets went deeper into their rebuilding plans. They are expected to be really bad this season, after giving away one of their best talents -- Vince Carter -- to Orland...

Whatever happened to Joe Forte?

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0500

The 2000-2001 season wasn't a very good one in Boston. We were mired in what would be the final year of the Rick Pitino debacle. The Lakers were on their way to repeating as champs while we managed only 36 wins.

But by the time the 2001 NBA draft rolled around, Pitino was gone, and the Celtics had THREE first round picks. They had a budding young star in Paul Pierce. Antoine Walker had just averaged 23.4 ppg, and was a decent second scoring option. Guys like Eric Williams and Tony Battie showed they could play a valuable role. Things seemed to be poised for a turn-around.

Then the Celtics drafted Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown and Joe Forte.

Johnson was traded for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers... which at the time seemed like a decent deal. The Celtics were a playoff team that year and trading away a rookie for established veterans was a good move. Rogers came in and averaged almost 11 points and 4 rebounds. Delk provided a little spark at PG off the bench behind Kenny Anderson. We didn't know what Johnson would become.

Anyway... Johnson was gone quickly. Kedrick Brown was a bust who took what seemed like months to recover from a sprained ankle. And Joe Forte... a favorite of Red Auerbach's... was an even bigger bust. He was selected ahead of guys like Tony Parker and Gilbert Arenas... but his NBA career just never materialized.

Dime Magazine recently put out a "where are they now" piece about Forte...

Forte reportedly had a terrible attitude and even showed up to a Celtics game wearing a Lakers’ throwback jersey. The Celtics were quick to trade Joe to Seattle that offseason. There, Forte continued his immature ways. After a tough loss, he went back into the showers and started singing - a move that earned him an OZ-style beating by teammates. That summer, he was pulled over for speeding and after searching his car, police found a small amount of weed and a gun. He had also reportedly assaulted a man during a pickup game back home in Washington, D.C. The Sonics cut ties with him shortly after and Forte hasn’t played in the league since.

Now, he's having a nice little career for himself overseas. Last year, he played for an Italian team... whose fans like him so much they created a YouTube tribute for him (it's in that link to the Dime piece). Forte admits to not being able to handle the sudden jump into the NBA, and the fame and money that goes along with it. He's certainly not alone... and it's a testament to how the pressure of being a first round pick can trump talent... which Forte clearly had.

This piece also serves as a reminder that the Celtics had a chance to pull out of their slide earlier this decade, and they blew it. Like I said, I get the Joe Johnson trade and it made sense at the time. But aside from Parker and Arenas, guys like Richard Jefferson, Gerald Wallace and Jamaal Tinsley were there for the taking... and the C's instead chose Brown and Forte. One bad draft can really be a killer... especially when you whiff on 2 of 3 first round picks, Chris Wallace.

Dwight Howard on Courtney Lee and Tony Battie

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:51:31 -0500

Beyond volunteering that Courtney Lee is still “hurting” over his trade to the Nets, Dwight Howard has twice had a lot of praise for Lee and Tony Battie, also acquired in the Vince Carter trade on Draft Day. In a phone interview with Yahoo! Sports Marc J. Spears and in an impromptu talk with reporters during [...]

NJ Nets: The Orlando Emigrees

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:03:40 -0500

Courtney Lee and Tony Battie were in for their physicals today, and it wasn't hard to see that they looked like someone had just run over their dog. Lee put it this way: "Going all the way to the...

NJ NETS: Nets Agree to Move Carter to Orlando

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:42:53 -0500

Vince Carter is heading home, to central Florida - and he's bringing Ryan Anderson with him. The Nets have agreed in principle to trade their leading scorer and major gate attraction to the Orlando Magic in exchange for three...

Eddie Jones Dunks On Tony Battie

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:09:00 -0500

Eddie Jones with the "gusto jam" on Tony Battie.

How the Magic can Win this Series

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:11:00 -0500

SVG's Game One Surprise: Tony Battie?Game One ReactionAfter last night's bludgeoning, few have given the Magic a chance to win this series. Sure, the commentators have gone out of their way to remind us that this is just "one game," and that more often than not a beatdown does not carry over to the next game. To me, this is a clever way of promoting the series and keeping viewers interested. After all, disinterested fans lead to poor ratings and the commentators are employed...

2009 NBA Finals: Tony Battie Dunks On Pau Gasol

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:24:00 -0500

This dunk was about the best thing that happened for the Magic last night.

The Truth's Route

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:32:03 -0500

Jackie MacMullan, easily the best basketball writer for my money, has a great article on Our Captain (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=macmullan_jackie page=MacMullan-080618) and his path to Finals MVP. He is not a tidy superstar. You cannot neatly wrap the career of Boston Celtics (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=bos) captain Paul Pierce (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3253), the newly minted NBA Finals Most Val...