Month: February 2011

Perk Is Gone…Now What?

/ Jason / 2 Comments

Kendrick Perkins was not the heart and soul of the Celtics. For a while there, he was the Achilles heel. His offensive game took forever to develop. He was (and remains) a terrible foul shooter. Even his defense left something to be desired. And it’s hard to overlook the fact that he was a sourpuss. Perk has never committed a foul if you ask him. For me, Perk was famous for having his profanities picked up by broadcast shotgun microphones. If I had a dollar for every time I heard him yell the F-word followed by the N-word, well, I’d be able to re-sign him this offseason. Something the Celtics won’t be able to do.


I had no idea that the trade had happened until about 45 minutes after the deadline. A coworker sent me the story while I was on the telephone with a reporter. I stopped listening to the receiver on my phone for a few seconds, trying to process what I was reading. Perk and Nate traded? For former Celtic legend Jeff Green and Nenad Kristic????!!!! What am I missing???? I couldn’t wait to get off the phone to find out it was just a rumor and never happened. Oops.

The personal backstory for me has to start with the fact that I didn’t love Perk’s game until last season. And as for Nate, well, lets just say I may have let out at least one (well, only one) Perk-like expletive when the C’s acquired him last year. But truth be told, I grew to love Nate. I liked what he brought to the table in Boston. I saw development in his game from UW to the Knicks to the C’s. The Nate who I watched in college had developed into more than just a basketball playing freak of nature. Gone were the constant dumb passes and gone was the total defensive apathy. Nate gave a darn. And I loved that, really.

I’m going to stop setting up the story here and just get to the meat. I think this is an awful deal for Boston and for once, I know I’m not alone. I hear the argument that the 4th quarter lineup is the same now. Really? What if Jeff Green, a streaky shooter since his time at Georgetown, is on fire? Does he get benched? Or do the C’s go small? What position does Green play in Boston? Does he come off the bench? Because if he’s coming off the bench, Doc is doing something wrong. Jeff Green is an NBA starter. Don’t get me wrong, the Celtics got the best player in this deal. But this deal isn’t about who’s best. Jeff Green doesn’t fit the system here. In Oklahoma City, they’re the Western Conference favorite to me. Perk and Nate give them exactly what they needed. A tough, mean, physical force down low and a scoring guard off the bench who can spot Westbrook or move him to the 2. The move gives OKC positive flexibility. Boston has flexibility too. But not the good kind.

I hear the argument that Glen Davis can play center. I think it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. If you truly expect Glen Davis to start at center in the playoffs and go up against Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah, or heck, Roy Hibbert (likely first round opponent and a much improved team with the OJ Mayo acquisition) in a 7 game series and come out on top, you’re wrong. And I’m not about to go to Vegas and bet on KG’s knees. No thank you. Garnett might be healthier this year than last, but he’s also a year older. And with age comes wiseness. But with age also continues the breakdown of the human body. Same story for the Fragile O’Neal Brothers. If they’re healthy, different story.

The elephant in the room for me is the Chicago Bulls. Last night was the first time the Bulls had Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah healthy and in the lineup. And yes, they lost to the lowly Raptors. I’m not at all concerned. This team will gel. They’re the best coached team in the East. They play defense. They’re big. And they’re led by, to this point in the season, the NBA’s MVP in Derrick Rose. In a seven game series, I’m concerned about KG/Big Baby vs. Carlos Boozer/Noah. Noah is a rebounding machine. Glen Davis, er, not so much. What happened to the Celtics last year against LA was the Lakers used their size to exploit Boston’s biggest weakness: a lack of rebounding. Today, the Celtics decided to exploit their own weakness.

Look, maybe this move works out for Boston. Maybe Shaq gets healthy and contributes. Maybe KG’s knees hold up for one more run. Maybe I’m underselling Glen Davis’ big-man ability while overselling the Chicago Bulls. Maybe.

I guess I’m just mad. I watched New York get better this week. Chicago got better. Atlanta got better(ish). Miami stayed very good. Orlando made their big deal already. Boston hasn’t made themselves better. Will they with an acquisition of Troy Murphy? Certainly. He fills a huge void. Until then though, I look at a team that was a threat and I see the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and Orlando Magic feeling a little bit better about their chances this year. This was the end of the line for the Celtics. I knew it. You knew it. There’s no next year. Next year is a long way away. There are no young pieces in Beantown (especially not with the trading away of Semih Erden today) other than the very inconsistent Avery Bradley and Rondo. A nucleus that does not make. Today should have been about adding a veteran to fill the James Posey role without hurting the nucleus. Instead, the nucleus is gone. And in its place? A lot of uncertainty. And uncertainty with age is never a good thing.

Another College Basketball Post (And my Super Bowl Prediction)

/ Jason / Leave a comment

Thursday night, I got to bear witness to one of my least favorite announcer moves. It happens when the play-by-play man asks the color commentator a specific question, often yes or no, and the color commentator says, “Well, yes, but also no. And everyone else.”

The specifics: During Thursday night’s Ohio State/Michigan game, the question was posed, “Is Ohio State the best team in America?” The color commentator’s answer? (Paraphrase) “Well, they’re good. And Kansas is good. And you can’t forget about Pittsburgh. And Duke won it last year. So yeah, I could see Ohio State playing in the Final Four.”

This set off a rant by me. Amanda got to bear witness. My biggest complaint was this: How easy is it to answer that question? Are they the best or not? The answer is simple. Yes, they’re the best. They’re undefeated. No one else is. They’re the top ranked team in every poll. They’re as flawless a team as there could be in 2010-11. Why take the easy way out? They’re a Final Four team? Way to go out on a limb.
This is the Troy Aikman rule of color commentary. You’ll see it on Sunday at the Super Bowl. Aikman loves not saying something decisively. Joe Buck will ask, “Troy, what’s your favorite bread?” and Aikman will say, “Well, ya Joe, you’re right, rye bread is delicious. But it’s important to not forget about sourdough, pumpernickel, and 12-grain honey wheat too. I mean, really, rye is one of my 9 favorite types of bread.”
Why this brand of broadcasting irks me so is easy to explain. I like opinions. And I like people who aren’t afraid to express their opinions in an intelligent, fact-supported way. What harm would have been done if last night’s color commentator had said, “You know, guy, I still think Kansas is the best team in the country. Here’s why: (list of opinions supported by facts).” In life, nothing good comes from timidity.
My rant then spawned a sort of brainstorming session for me. Amanda asked me who I thought were the four best teams in college basketball. And I know that I just wrote about college basketball recently. But, I’m all-in with college basketball right now. There’s only one football game left (Pittsburgh wins 27-24 in Super Bowl XLV). Baseball, with any consequence, is two months away. And the NBA and NHL don’t matter until May. So for me, it’s all about college basketball.
I’ll be brief(ish) in my response to Amanda’s question:
Ohio State and Kansas are the two best teams in college basketball and I fully expect them to make it to the Final Four. As I’ve written in this space before, they’re the two most balanced teams offensively and are very deep. (As a sort of side note: Ohio State is so good defensively).
So who joins them? Duke, first. I’m not concerned about the St. John’s loss. Not one bit. A road loss to a good team at the end of January never killed anyone’s chances of winning a national championship. The Devils’ lack of an interior presence hurts them against the Ohio State’s and Kansas’s of the world, but less so against the Memphis’s and Washington’s of the world. I like Duke’s experience and shooting ability. They’re my third team.
And now, the challenge! Our candidates for the fourth slot include everyone. Well, within reason. I don’t foresee Auburn making the Final Four. If I have to pick my five candidates (don’t worry, I’m going to pick one of them), I’ll take: Texas, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Syracuse, and BYU. Each of those teams has a fatal flaw. Texas’s is coaching. Pittsburgh’s is overall offensive. San Diego State’s is mid-range shooting. Syracuse’s is wild inconsistency. And BYU’s is depth. The question is not, who’s best? It’s, “which of those short-comings is easiest to overcome?”

Coaching is not. Texas is a talented enough team to win a game in Lawrence, KS in January and they’re talented enough to make the Elite 8. But when you reach the Elite 8, it almost always comes down to the best coach making the right call. And if you follow college basketball like I do, you know that Rick Barnes almost never makes the right call. He’s a fabulous recruiter. That’s the nicest thing I can say about him as a coach. Texas is eliminated.

Depth is not. I watch the Cougars and realize that they are a one man team, much like Davidson was in 2008. And eventually, that catches up with you. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some pieces of the Cougars puzzle who are better than the complimentary pieces on that Davidson team. And I think that as a college player, Jimmer Fredette is better than Stephen Curry was. That Davidson team couldn’t do what last year’s Butler team could because when they went up against a deep team (Kansas) they couldn’t match-up for the full game. The same fate awaits BYU. And Elite 8 loss to Kansas. BYU is eliminated.

Overall offensive sluggishness is not. Every year, we talk about Pittsburgh as a Final Four team. They’re tough and physical. They wear you down. And every year, they get outplayed by a smaller, quicker, fresher team who hasn’t spent their entire season playing attrition basketball. The same thing will happen this year. Pittsburgh’s good enough to beat anyone in one game. In a tournament, they’re not. Pittsburgh is eliminated.

So that leaves San Diego State and Syracuse. And that’s where it gets hard to predict. If the Syracuse team that won in Hartford on Wednesday shows up to the tourney, I like Syracuse. They have an inside game and a decent outside game. They play good defense. When they’re on. But if the Syracuse team that got blown out by Seton Hall shows up then I think they’re this year’s Georgetown. They’ll lose to Cleveland State in Round 1 (or 2 because of this year’s stupid 68 team field). You can’t afford to be inconsistent in March. Syracuse is eliminated.

Ultimately, I like San Diego State as that fourth team. And I know that it sounds crazy to your east coast brain. But trust me, as someone who’s watched more Mountain West basketball this season than you’d care to, that conference is really really good. I plan my Wednesday night around the CBS College Sports MWC game of the week. And I do it because I like watching good basketball. Smart basketball. Basketball that’s about strategy and endurance more than it is about having 10 blue-chippers throwing alley-oops all game long. San Diego State, BYU, UNLV, and Colorado State could all make the Sweet 16. You don’t think so because you haven’t seen them play. But trust me, as your “MWC expert”, they can. Now, will all four (and a deserving New Mexico team) make the tournament? Probably not. East coast bias. It’s hard to stay up until midnight on a Wednesday to watch a basketball game being played 2000 miles away. Especially when you’ve never heard of the players. But trust me, it’s worth it. Watch San Diego State once before the MWC tournament and you’ll agree. They play better defense than anyone other than Ohio State. They’re tough and physical when they need to be. They’re deep. They’re well coached. They have a point guard in DJ Gay who will be a household name come March. They’re led by future NBA star Kawhi Leonard. Their “fatal flaw” is that they don’t shoot the ball well from the mid-range or the 3-point line. But they can overcome. If Provo, Utah was at sea level, the Aztecs would still be undefeated. They lost that game because they weren’t conditioned to play BYU’s game at a mile above sea level. They won’t have to do that in March. And because of that, I believe they’re the fourth best team in the nation. Even if the nation doesn’t know it yet.