My dad always talks about Dave Cowens in reverential tones because of plays like this one (both are sweet but it's all about the dive). He was 6-9 and would battle anyone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar included, at the center position. He ran like the wind, played possessed and went after rebounds as if his life depended on them, at least that's what I've been told. I was not alive then. But my favorite story of all time, one my dad told me many times, is recalled here by Bob Ryan:
"Stories? Hey, I got a million of 'em. How about the time an enraged Cowens, fed up with a second fake flop to draw an offensive foul in the same game, ran the Houston guard down in front of the Celtics' bench, leveled him with a double forearm shiver, and then ran over to referee Bill Jones.

'Now that's a foul!' he bellowed." - Bob Ryan

That brings me to the point of this post. I know a book about Cowens exists. I intend to buy it soon. But it was published in 1977. Are we sure it covers his cab driving stint? It definitely doesn't get into how his playing career ended. And I'm interested in his days as the coach of the Charlotte Hornets. Hmmm who could write it? I can't think of anyone who followed the C's back then. Anyone getting the sarcasm here? Of course there might not be a huge audience. Still who cares (would be publishers I guess)? Bob Ryan has nothing left to prove. Do it. As a side note where the hell is that Charles Oakley book? It's almost been a year. Come on now...

via www.fansedge.com

Over the course of the summer I'll look back at some of my favorite Celtics games from the 2008 season. Ironically I've decided to focus on a loss first. Let me set the scene. Following the All Star game the Celtics struggled through one of their worst stretches of the season with back-to-back-to-back losses to the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, and Phoenix Suns. However, it was not as bad as the record indicated (0-3) thanks to several reasons:

1. It was not much of a break for Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce because they were part of All Star weekend. While players on the opposing teams, minus Golden State, had All Star reps as well they had the benefit of sleeping in their own beds.

Continue reading this post »

Looking at Shawn Kemp's highlights a couple of days back made me think about guys that played before the YouTube era. For some of them there is simply not a lot of footage about them. Meanwhile, with others, such as Shawn Kemp, there are highlight clips but it is not the same. There is something about going the day after to catch up on the moves I watched or heard about from the night before. Anyways I've come up with a list of guys that would have been great to watch in the YouTube era. Consider the following before calling me a moron:

1. I put it in alphabetical order to avoid rankings debates.

2. I left MJ off simply because we definitely saw every aspect of his career and then some. He was marketed that well.

3. Obviously I left a lot of great talents off. Jerry West, Rick Barry, and Oscar Robertson come to mind. What can you do?

On to the list.

Len Bias *
Wilt Chamberlain
Bob Cousy
Lloyd Daniels *
Julius Erving
Connie Hawkins
Shawn Kemp
Pete Maravich
Bill Russell - for the defense alone
David Thompson

* I wish they had NBA primes. Still Daniels' high school footage and Bias' Maryland stuff would have been epic.

[Green Bandwagon Update: Henry Abbott is all over this story.]

Well it looks like that could actually happen next season. I've been against this move from the start. I'm torn because there are a lot bigger problems out there. At the same time I don't like to see David Stern's dark side. I'll close with my favorite Shawn Kemp mix:

shawn kemp mix (via spyder9669)

1. In my earlier post about Gilbert Arenas I forgot to link to Bullets Forever. My bad. I always enjoy Pradamaster's work and they're all over Washington's free agent moves.

2. Earlier today I argued that Corey Maggette would not sign in Boston because he would go for a bigger pay day. I was wrong. He appears to be leaning towards San Antonio for the full MLE. Still I'd argue that he's a much better fit with the Spurs than the Celtics. He gives that offense and added dimension with his ability to get to the line. I am intrigued.

3. By all accounts there's a pretty good chance that Gerald Green will never, ever get it. But he's got another shot.  As far as I can tell Mavs Moneyball does not see this as the final piece in the championship puzzle. Meanwhile, head over to Ball Don't Lie where Kelly Dwyer focuses on a pretty damning Green anecdote. For the record Paul Pierce alluded to this type of thing after Green was sent packing.

1. First you need to check out Kelly Dwyer's take from 3 days about the preposterous Arenas rumors that inexplicably came true. Regular readers know that I'm a fan of Arenas but not at that price tag - $120+. And at this point the Warriors have offered a lucrative, albeit one year shorter, deal as well. Crazy.

2. I still can't get over the fact that Baron Davis will be a Clipper. Head over to Clips Nation and Golden State of Mind for decidedly different reactions. Personally I'm a little down about this one. In a span of less than a year we've watched the run and gun Phoenix Suns and now the Warriors disband. Both teams played some of the most exciting offensive basketball around. Obviously they did not win a title. In fact Golden State missed the playoffs in 2 of Davis' 3 years in Oakland and barely squeaked in during the other. Ultimately teams want to win championships and that wasn't happening. Although I imagine even Chris Mullin was caught off guard by Davis' departure. Still crazy times. 

3. Did Elton Brand look at what happened in Boston and decide to team up with Davis? One difference. Both will have to make less than they could have to play together. And there are only two of them. But all of the sudden that's an interesting team. Remember Chris Kaman can play, Al Thornton is a mature scorer, and Eric Gordon could be an X-Factor. As a side note how happy are Clippers fans that the Kings out bid them for Beno Udrih? One final note on the Clippers. They had some pretty unfortunate occurrences out in LA that severely weakened a team on the verge of making some noise. It got so bad last season that the Clips fielded an awful team in their trip to Boston. But as the Celtics showed one year can make a world of difference.

4. Check out Fooch's post (and vote in his poll) about the C's offering Corey Maggette a contract. I don't see it happening but the fact that it's at least somewhat plausible is yet another sign that the C's have come a long, long way.

5. In other news it looks like Jose Calderon, Beno Udrih, and most importantly Chris Paul are not leaving Toronto, Sacramento, and New Orleans respectively anytime soon.

I expected James Posey to opt out of his contract and he did yesterday.  That same article reveals some other Boston Celtics related free agent news:
"One move was made last night when the franchise failed to make Tony Allen a qualifying offer, thus making the guard an unrestricted free agent, according to his agent, Mike Higgins." - Marc J. Spears
This interested me for three reasons:

1. As Spears noted the Celtics sent some strong signals once they drafted and traded for J.R. Giddens and Bill Walker respectively.

2. I find "the the franchise failed to make Tony Allen a qualifying offer" wording funny as if it was accidental. It's not like the time Terrell Owens' camp messed up his impending free agency. Although that appears to be the industry standard.

Continue reading this post »

The Guy I Underrated the Most Prior to the Playoffs

Honorable Mention - Rip Hamilton. Man he's an assassin. On top of that he cared throughout the Celtics series, which did not appear to be the case for some of his teammates. Now on to the winner.

Even after he made the All Star team and dropped 37 points on the Celtics I still felt that David West was a little overrated, largely due to playing with Chris Paul. I tend to make up for overvaluing Celtics by undervaluing players around the league. Then West averaged 21.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.9 blocks during the playoffs. On top of that he had the face-tapping incident with Dirk Nowitzki, the run in with Fabricio Oberto (not sure why that’s on fast forward), and overall a sense that he could lose his cool at practically any moment. At this point I’m sold on West’s talent, wonder if he’s secretly xenophobic, and think New Orleans needs another competent big coming off the bench. Although I do wonder about West's wiring. He might need to tone it down a few notches. And this is coming from a guy that defends Kevin Garnett against all critics.

As a side note did you watch that YouTube Clip of Nowitzki and West? What the hell was Dirk supposed to do? Hit him? The Mavericks got beat soundly as is, but would have been in a much worse state without Dirk for a game. 

The Guy That Reminds Me of My Favorite Fantasy Sports Joke

"Man his team would be unstoppable...in 2002." Note that joke really does not work if it is in fact 2002. But you get the point. And the winner is...Jason Kidd. Not a strong playoffs for him. He put up roughly 8.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while absolutely getting worked by Chris Paul. And let's not forget Kidd throwing down Jannero Pargo.

Continue reading this post »

I first learned about Those Who Love The Game – Glenn “Doc” Rivers on Life in the NBA and Elsewhere, in this article by Bill Reynolds. Rivers worked with Bruce Brooks and I like how they went about it. As a reader it is easy differentiate Rivers’ words from Brooks’. In doing so they created a nice balance and avoided a lot of the pitfalls of ghost written fluff pieces. More importantly now seemed like as good a time as any to take a closer look at Rivers. For the record I doubted Rivers’ ability to coach a champion. In the wake of being proven wrong I’m more than happy to admit it. At the same time it has been interesting to watch the reactions of others. On the one hand Rivers has received a ridiculous amount of back handed compliments. Yet others have gone incredibly far to stress his tremendous coaching ability. Like a lot of things in life the reality probably lies somewhere in between the two approaches. Either way Boston won a championship and Rivers deserves credit.

A few more things before getting this party started. One warning. I read the book at some point during the NBA Finals and typed this shortly after the Celtics won. As a result I made a lot of connections to the 2008 Celtics. It is what it is. Regardless, if you take one thing away from this know that Rivers was incredibly candid throughout the book. His views on fans, other players, (Dominque Wilkins in particular comes to mind), and numerous other topics drew me in.

For previous book reviews, go here. Otherwise click "Continue reading this post" and enjoy.

Continue reading this post »

If you're still looking for a t-shirt to celebrate banner #17 consider this one. It's definitely original and comes from an independent artist, rather than a big chain store. So check it out.