http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/4733 Recent articles about Wally Szczerbiak en-us The Herald reports that the MRI on Paul Pierce's knee shows no serious damage that would require surgery or hinder him into next season. Danny Ainge described the injury as a sprained MCL and a bone bruise. There were many Laker fans at the time who doubted he was injured at all, but Celtics fans know Pierce's high tolerance for pain and appreciate his play on a knee that may have kept most players on the bench. It is good news that the knee is fine and there will be no lasting effects from playing on it. The Wolves signed first round pick, Kevin Love, to a 2 year contract with a team option for a third and fourth year. He will play on the team's Summer League team in Vegas. Craig Smith won't be playing as he is a restricted free agent and has not signed a new contract. The NY Post reports that the Nets have signed Jarvis Hayes to a two-year deal (the first year guaranteed) for $3.9 million and Eduardo Najera for four years and about $12 million. The addition of the two forwards give the Nets 15 players and pretty much eliminates the possibility of Bostjan Nachbar returning. Nenad Krstic is likely going to be a piece in a sign and trade. The LA Daily News reports that the Lakers have shows interest in the Raptors' free agent Jorge Garbajosa. Garbajosa could serve as a backup to fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol, who will shift from center to power forward next season with the return of center Andrew Bynum. Gasol is very familiar with Garbajosa as they both played on Spain's national team that won the silver medal at the 2007 European championships. Newsday reports that the Cavs are shopping Wally Szczerbiak. The Nets reportedly declined a trade that would have sent Vince Carter and his hefty contract to Cleveland for Wally and his expiring contract. There is a report on SI.com that the Knicks have rejected a proposal from the Clippers to trade power forward Zach Randolph for cap relief according to league sources. The Knicks feel that Randolph is going to play well in their new coach's system and could bring them a lot more than just cap relief next season. Newsday adds that the Knicks want the Clippers to include Eric Gordon, the 7th pick in the draft, in any deal that would send Randolph to the Clippers. MetroNews.ca reported that the Pistons are making a big push for Houston's Tracy McGrady. But, a Detroit News article denies that they are anywhere close to a deal for the Rockets' star saying that the Rockets are just one of several teams they have talked to about a trade. It is quite possible that the Pistons' long time starting unit may not return intact next season as the Pistons actively pursue trade possibilities rather than seek out free agents. Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:00:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289458 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289458 It's funny to think about now, but it wasn't that long ago we were justifying tanking our season to grab Oden or Durant. One of these guys was going to "change the face of the franchise" and "turn us into a contender for years to come." I was no better than anybody else. I had the next 10 or so years of my life planned around watching Kevin Durant draped in green. I only half-jokingly told my wife to start saving some money because we were moving downtown and buying season tickets. Kevin Durant truly felt like the light at the end of our tumultuous tunnel. So, on draft lottery night, when our collective dreams exploded in the form of the number five pick, I was literally left standing alone in my apartment, staring at the wall, not knowing if I wanted to punch it or cry. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:38:37 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280434 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280434 Courteous your Boston Celtics Fans and their Blogs. Mike Bibby's quote, "But a lot of these fans are bandwagon jumpers trying to get on this now. I played here last year, too. And I didn't see three fourths of them. They're for the team now and they might get a little rowdy but that's about it. I remember them having bags on their heads [last year]. It's a different look. I guess that's what happens when you buy players."" Im a Knicks fan (painful to see them play yet entertaining) and Ive been sticking to them throughout ever since I was a young kid but I concur with Bibby 100%. Until someone proves us otherwise Im sorry, Boston Celtics fans are jumping da bandwagon, not all but a handful indeed. To prove this critique just ask anyone who roots for Boston Celtics this year easy questions such as, What was the Starting Lineup from last year, Whose the Coach or what number did Antoine Walker have when he played for Celtics? Needless to say there are bandwagons of every sport, every team, just that at this time this article gives us the mysterious statements made by Celtics fans last year and Doc Rivers as well to make us wonder, were there Boston Celtics fans last year and how quick the tide turned after Boston emulated New Yorks style and bought players . (Truth be told I saw a lot of bandwagon fans when my New York Giants won the Super Bowl against the Patriots-->its the norm of society I guess) Every year Jeep should make a custom Wagoneer (Old Cherokee) for a NBA team that has the most prevalent bandwagons and this year they should have the custom car with the emphasis of the Boston Celtics. With the steering wheel customized with the Face of Antoine Walker, Dashboard customized as a stretcher for Paul Pierce, and each Seat customized with certain Celtic Players of the Past including Ricky Davis, Wally Sczerbiak, Eric Montross, Dee Brown, and Dana Barros to name a few. Ridin on 22's with Doc Rivers Head as the cover for the Rims and Obviously Car is coated with Green and White. Not only would this sell, Boston Celtics fans can enjoy the NBA championship in their new 2008 Customized Doc Rivers edition Jeep Wagoneer...(Yes Gas is 2.99 as Well If you Buy this Car->Stupid Jeep Commercial) I took pieces of info from blogs and websites of last year and just check it out.....Must I add RAY ALLEN FOR MVP!!!!! 1)::::Fans at the TD BankNorth Garden started to chant "Fire Doc! Fire Doc!" during the 101-77 blowout home loss to the New York Knicks. Fans across the net have been chanting this themselves, but this time people in the Garden said it loud and clear for all the players, fans, and Doc himself to hear. I love Doc Rivers the person, I really do. He's a classy guy, a good guy, and he's very charismatic. However, when it comes to coaching, he's not exactly your favorite. He has to offensive sets/plays, he makes horrible in-game decisions, he's obsessed with small-ball (which does NOT work), and he's not very good with developing young players. In my opinion, Doc needs to go. Danny Ainge needs to grow some genitals and get rid of Doc, no matter how strong the friendship between them is. Danny is a smart guy, he knows deep down that Doc is not the right guy. He needs to get it done, this team is never going to win under Doc Rivers, and we will never see a young player truly blossom in Boston under Doc Rivers. Let me join the hometown crowd: "Fire Doc!" (http://www.celticsnews.com/blog/Boston-Celtics/2006/11/) Note this is 2006-2007 2)----From another blog (http://www.greenbandwagon.com/2007/4/19/775/27649) Title is "ABC of Celtics Season " Surprisingly F is Fan Related and The Celtic Blogger puts F as Fantanking--> "Ughh. Fantanking was probably my least favorite development of the season, outside of all the losing of course. Bill Simmons, who I like, came up with it for an article in ESPN: The Magazine. The official definition:"We have a term for a team that effectively gives up to increase its draft position -- "tanking" -- but nothing to describe when fans turn on their team for the same reason. Let me create one: "fantanking." Not only can you use it as a noun or as a verb, it sounds like a title of a Weezer CD." As a side note, fantanking and the article that spawned it were perfect for ESPN: The Magazine. That is not a compliment. How bout the Letter E-->E - Eighteen: The Celtics eighteen game losing streak made them a national story. At one point they were featured on SportsCenter and Outside the Lines. Of course this was in that dark period after the Super Bowl and before March Madness." 3)----DOC RIVERS QUOTE AFTER GETTING EXTENSION PRIOR TO BUYING PLAYERS-->2 Funny:::::: "It's like I told the young guys - next year we're not going to be talking about young guys anymore. That's over with. The bottom line is that now it's my job to improve this team." --Tanking: The Memphis Grizzlies, Boston Celtics, and Milwaukee Bucks all tanked games this season, losing on purpose in an effort to land one of the top two draft picks (otherwise known as the "Oden/Durant Sweepstakes"). There's no conclusive way to prove they tanked, but we all know they did it. It's an insult to the fans who pay good money to watch and support their teams, and it's a black eye to the sport of basketball. The Basketball Gods got their revenge, though; none of these teams got the first three picks. (Basketbawful June 07..amazing blog) 4)(((((BILL SIMMONS ARTICLE IN THE OPTIONAL URL--->HIlarious)))))))))TITLE IS GOODBYE DOC (he predicted that DOC be fired in Summer of 2007 prior to big trades poppin In Boston ------So why did the Celtics retain Doc last summer, you ask? Because there wasn't an available coach out there who was discernibly better. If you owned an NBA team, would you pay two people to perform the same below-average job for a young roster with a 45-win ceiling? Of course not. It's easier to cross your fingers and hope he improves, right? What followed was inevitable: Doc spent the preseason tinkering with lineups he could never use during real games (my favorite was the one with three point guards and Gerald Green playing power forward), handing minutes to players who didn't deserve them (like Tony Allen, who's been playing this season like he's recovering from a serious head injury), inexplicably playing his best rebounding forward 20 feet from the basket (Gomes), and awarding a starting job to someone who would be more effective coming off the bench (Telfair, a shoot-first point guard who seems determined to kill Bob Cousy every time the Cooz announces a home game). If Doc didn't have a master plan last season, he certainly doesn't have one this season. He overstayed his welcome by about nine months, since the last time I wrote that he needed to go. And now he's gone." I could add more but I want to hear what Boston Celtics fans are saying.....Please be civil and dont rate on emotion....Other than I was just having fun writing this, and nothing to take away from the CEltics...They Champs tho I rooted for Lakers!!! Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:51:18 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/277635 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/277635 Feeling a bit too happy? Enter your salary in Cleveland.com's humiliatron and let the good times roll. Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:07:41 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275667 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275667 A tour of Blog Land's offseason advice: LeBron - Fine Tuning and Further Trades - Brian Windhorst Ongoing Discussion of Post-Season To-Do list - Cavs News Supporting Cast is Sagging - Cavalier Attitude Don't Fire Mike Brown - True Hoop (Henry Abbott) Mixed Feelings (about Mike Brown) - Waiting For Next Year Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:02:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275663 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275663 Cleveland is the city of trade rumors this summer, and the Jermaine O'Neal to the Cavs rumor won't seem to disappear... Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:03:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275344 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/275344 There is speculation today that the Cleveland Cavaliers are considering a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks, to acquire Michael Redd. Patrick McManamon of the Akron Beacon-Journal says in his piece that there is a lot of talk about a trade, and that it could be realistic. SO yea, right now everything is pure talk but let's take a look. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:56:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/273595 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/273595 Who do you think would be the top free agent of the 2008 off-season to help Lebron James??? Arenas? Maggette? Artest? ******See Link****** Wed, 21 May 2008 11:24:47 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/269348 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/269348 Does LeBron get four steps each time he touches the ball? Mon, 19 May 2008 09:27:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/268503 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/268503 Now that the alien that replaced Rajon Rondo in Games 2 and 3 has been banished back to Zuluthx, I think it's time for a healthy dose of calm down. For all the people who said they would rather have Wally than Ray Allen or Delonte over Rondo, that's just madness. And this isn't even Sparta. How about this for perspective? Remember that historical 66 game win season we just had? In that record breaking regular season, the Celtics ALSO lost both away games in Cleveland when they were playing at their best and their opponents didn't have playoff level intensity and crowds. We've had a hard time winning over there ALL YEAR. Please think about that when you use these two games to decide whether or not Jesus still has game, or Rondo should have been packed off to Seattle. Technically, the Cs now have a better winning percentage over the Cavs in the post season (3-2) than in the regular season (2-2). The Cavs have been tough for us to beat all year. It's not that our playoff game is somehow infinitely worse. Seriously, I seem to remember that season ending pretty well for us. We supported all of them through those two losses, why not now? Thu, 15 May 2008 00:54:37 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/267149 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/267149 It was a good omen right from the start of this game as Perk won the tip although the first minute was sloppy on both sides with a 24 second violation on each team and a defensive 3 second violation on KG. The Cavs came out strong to begin the game rushing out to an 18-9 lead in the first 8 minutes. The Cavs held a 23-18 lead at the end of the first quarter. It seemed like more of the same from games 3 and 4 with the Celtics shooting 35% and the Cavs shooting 50%. The Cavs also beat the Celtics on the boards 10-7 in the first quarter. The Cavs continued their run in the second quarter as they ran the lead up to 43-29 with 3:35 left in the half. Doc put Rondo back in for Sam and it paid dividends right away as Rondo hit 2 3 pointers in a row to cut the lead to 43-37 Cavs. That started a 14-3 run by the Celtics to cut the lead to 46-43 at the half. LeBron scored 23 points in the half but the Cavs role players didn't get the job done. The Celtics came out ready to play in the 3rd quarter as Ray hit a jumper to cut the lead to 1. Rondo then got a steal and a layup to take the lead at 47-46. The lead then went back and forth until Boston took the lead for good at 58-55 with 5:15 left in the third. The play of the game came with 3:51 left in the 3rd quarter when Rondo skied for a block on a layup by Delonte West. The lead at the end of 3 was Celtics 72 and Cavaliers 63. The Celtics got a little sloppy down the stretch as Delonte got a couple of steals and took them in for easy layups and the Cavs were able to cut the Celtics 12 point lead down to 4 points with just 12.2 seconds left in the game. Pierce scored the Celtics last 8 points from the free throw line to seal the 96-89 win. Rondo was the player of the game as he took over the game on both ends of the floor and finished with 20 points, 2 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and just 1 turnover. Kevin Garnett was also huge in the game with 26 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Paul Pierce was much more aggressive in taking the ball to the hoop while still doing a good job of defending LeBron in the second half. After 23 first half points, James scored just 12 in the second half. Pierce finished with 29 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Ray Allen still struggled with his shot, going only 4-11 from the field for 11 points, but he did a good job of fronting Wally and holding him to just 10 points on 3-8 shooting. Ray also made a big play with 15.6 seconds left and the Celtics leading 93-87. KG missed a jumper and Ray tipped the rebound out to Pierce who was fouled and he hit both free throws to give the Celtics some breathing room. Big Baby gave the Celtics a boost of energy off the bench as he scored 6 points in 11 minutes. At one point he landed full force on Wally which couldn't have been too pleasant for Wally. Sam Cassell once again struggled and went scoreless in 5 minutes of play. All of the starters except Perk, who was in foul trouble much of the game, played over 40 minutes. It was nice to have Rondo on the floor to start the 4th quarter so that we had momentum right from the beginning. The Celtics ended the game shooting 48% and they held the Cavs to 45%. The Celtics also out rebounded the Cavs 38-30. The Celtics ball movement was excellent in this game as they had 25 assists on 37 field goals. The Cavs had only 11 assists. This game still had a huge disparity in free throws as the Celtics shot 17-23 and the Cavs shot 23-41 from the line. This may have had a different result if the Cavs hit their free throws. The series shifts back to Cleveland for game 6. Can the Celtics finally get a win on the road? I certainly hope so. The Celtics seem to have found their defensive intensity once again and their ball movement was back. Hopefully they can carry those things over to game 6 and finally pull out a win on the road. Wed, 14 May 2008 23:17:46 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/267138 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/267138 Shame on you if you left the Cleveland Cavaliers for dead after the first two games against the Boston Celtics. LBJ and company completely ripped the momentum away from the C's in Games 3 and 4 in Cleveland, and thanks to 1) perimeter shooting, 2) a solid defensive gameplan, and 3) limited turnovers, the Cavs are going back to Beantown locked up at 2. Tue, 13 May 2008 10:47:21 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/266433 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/266433 Good perimeter shooting? Check. Solid defensive gameplan? Check. Limited turnovers? Check. The Cavs did all the right things in Game 3 that they didn't do in the first two games at Boston. The result was a 108-84 blowout win that made it a series again. But it's going to have to continue if the Cavs hope to win the series altogether... Mon, 12 May 2008 15:20:52 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/266139 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/266139 WaitingForNextYear appears to have had enough with Mike Brown's attempt at that crazy thing called "offense." Fri, 09 May 2008 08:43:32 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265149 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265149 The game began like a nightmare. Boston's offense mimicked the complete lack of flow from game 1. The Cavs were triple-teaming KG on the block, not allowing him any good looks. Not only was Ray Allen missing his field goals, he was missing free-throws as well. Worst of all, the Cavs head coach Mike Brown, decided (intelligently) that he was going to let Big Z anchor the Cleveland offense. Zydrunas scored the Cavs first 8 points (not missing a shot), Cleveland jumped out to a 12 point lead and it had all the makings for a looooong night in Beantown. That's when Doc went to his bench, and the tide turned for good... Thu, 08 May 2008 22:07:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265047 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265047