Monthly Archives: February 2011

February 28, 2011 · 7:22 AM

Go Bruins Go

You have to admit it started off not very well. I mean 1:05 into the game and the Bruins were already down 1-0. They’d had a couple scares before the first goal went in and you had a feeling that the road winning streak may be coming to an end.

Well, hold that thought.

With a little less than five minutes left in the period Michael Ryder scored his 17th of the year tying the game on a feed from Milan Lucic and Adam McQuaid. But they weren’t done there, the Bruins scored one more time as Nathan Horton scored his 17th of the year as well on a feed from David Krejci and Dennis Seidenberg. Up 2-1 they headed into the intermission.

At this point I’ll talk about the arena where Edmonton plays their home games. It’s called the Rexall Place named for some drug company. Well, the arena is 37 years old and really looks it. The lighting in this place is so horrible that it looks like they’re playing hockey in someone’s garage. I looked into it and they’re trying to get a new arena built in downton Edmonton which, in my opinion, can’t happen quick enough. At least put in some decent lights in the meantime. Really.

The Bruins added on to their lead when new Bruin Rich Peverley (my friend said we’d like him) scored a minute or so into the second with assists going to Michael Ryder and fellow new Bruin Chris Kelly. From there it was the Bruins game to lose. So many times this season they’ve taken a lead into the third period and not lost the game. I tried and failed to find the exact stat.

The team improved to 5-0 on their current road trip and will face Ottawa again on Tuesday night. Before that, Monday is the NHL’s trading deadline. I don’t expect the Bruins to make any additional moves. They signed Shane Hnidy on Saturday to help bolster their blue line depth but after the trades with Toronto, Ottawa, and Atlanta earlier this month it seems unlikely they’d make any additional moves.

And why would they? They’re 5-0 on their current trip which coincides with when they made those moves so I wouldn’t want to change the current chemistry. So like the headline says, go Bruins go. 20 games to go and sitting atop the division (#3 in the East) by six points over Montreal, two goalies playing very well, and a team that seems to be gelling at exactly the right time. Hopefully a long playoff run is on tap.

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February 25, 2011 · 6:55 AM

Oh Danny Boy!

I posted it up on Facebook last night and have to believe it that they’re handing out testosterone in buckets over at the TD Garden. After all we saw Chiarelli make those deals last week I wondered aloud all this week if Danny would be able to make a move. Then Danny goes and makes some of the ballsiest moves of the day in the whole NBA.

In 2007 the Celtics acquired Ray Allen from the then Supersonics for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and the rights to the 2007 #5 pick Jeff Green. The C’s also got the rights to the Sonics’ 35th pick, Big Baby.

Four years later the Celtics still have Big Baby and Ray. They brought back West through free agency this past off-season and on Thursday Danny Ainge went out and got Jeff Green back. The cost? Kendrick Perkins. The C’s also sent Nate Robinson to the Sonics Thunder and got back seven footer Nenad Krstic.

Now the initial reaction from most of my friends was shock and awe. They were pissed to see Perkins gone and questioned the Celtics want to win a championship this year. To those friends I say this, it’s not about winning the next few games, it’s about winning down the stretch and of course a championship. Losing Kendrick right now while you’re thin in the front court hurts, but if a healthy Shaq and Jermaine (not holding my breath) O’Neal return they look better.

And of course the team still has Semih…or not.

See the Celtics moved Semih and Luke Harangody to Cleveland for a second round draft pick (likely to be the top in the second round). Oh and they traded Marquis Daniels to Sacramento for a conditional draft pick. Really the Cleveland and Sacramento deals were made for one thing; to clear roster spots.

Why?

Because Danny’s not done.

See the C’s made two big moves down the stretch in 2008 when they brought in alien head Sam Cassell and PJ Brown. Both those guys were bought our of their contracts and were able to contribute for the C’s down the stretch.

On the radar still:

Samuel Dalembert may be available to help fill the void at center.

Troy Murphy may still be bought out and could help at center or the PF spot. He would also help Danny Ainge make the team even more white.

Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince to a lesser extent could also be bought out.

Anthony Parker, James Posey and Jason Kapono (who?) are all apparently on the buy out radar as well.

The bottom line is Kendrick was offered a contract extension and declined. Meaning he was likely walking at the end of this season. So why not get young wing help that’s averaging 15 a game in Green before Kendrick walks.

So needless to say the dealings aren’t done but I applaud Danny’s boldness and still have complete confidence that the Celtics are going to still go very far in the playoffs. A few buyout guys and that confidence will be pushed to banner 18.

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February 24, 2011 · 7:21 AM

Today’s The Deadline

Today’s the NBA trade deadline. Today at 3PM to be specific and while the Celtics don’t appear to be huge players they are still attempting to make a move for some help.

Last year at this time the above Nate Robinson was the man coveted by the Celtics. They dealt Eddie House, J.R. Giddens, and Bill Walker to the the Knicks for Robinson and Marcus Landry. Now this year it’s looking like Robinson is the chip that the C’s are trying to use in a deal.

One rumor that was out there last night was that the C’s would deal Robinson to the Golden State Warriors for the recently traded Troy Murphy. Murphy was traded from the Nets on Wednesday as part of a day that saw the Nets acquire Deron Williams. The C’s tried to get him in a trade but now it appears the Warriors will buy out Murphy and the Celtics will have to get in line with the likes of the Magic, Heat, Knicks and possibly additional teams looking to add for the postseason.

The Herald reported that three sources confirmed the Celtics to the Suns about three different players; former Boston College star Jared Dudley, Grant Hill and Mickael Pietrus. Apparently those talked amounted to Jack Squat.

The Celtics were also in on newly added Knick Corey Brewer brought in by the Knicks as part of the Carmello Anthony dealings. The Celtics were trying to trade Nate Robinson as well as their first round pick to make it happen but apparently those talks also fell apart.

Which brings us back to the Tony Parker trade I talked about earlier this week. It appears to make the deal happen the Celtics are going to have to move Semih Erden. With both Big Baby and Perkins on free agent years it seems unlikely the Celtics would part with a young big to make the move.

So the deal deadline is a little under eight hours from when I’m writing this column. Let’s hope – as we did on Monday – that Danny makes it happen. We’ll know very soon.

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February 23, 2011 · 7:21 AM

In Case You Missed It

I chimed in on Friday afternoon as soon as I got home and surfed over to ESPN.com to see that the Bruins had pulled the trigger on a couple major deals.

‎*BREAKING NEWS*
Peter Chiarelli grows a pair (we think).

It had started last Tuesday when the team, after another loss, dealt for Chris Kelly from Ottawa. The deal only cost them a second round pick. So it addressed a need after Savard went down but it didn’t address other issues of a scorer or top tier defenseman.

I said that Toronto’s GM Brian Burke confirmed that he was talking to Peter Chiarelli but there was no indication that a deal was done. All indications were that it was a deal for Tomas Kaberle. I had said I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Andrew Ference on the chopping block in the deal.

Well, the deal was done Friday afternoon and the casualty in the deal that scored Kaberle to the Bruins was Joe Colborne a prospect in the B’s system. They also gave up their first round pick for the upcoming draft as well as a conditional second round pick in 2012. The 2012 pick contingent on the Bruins signing Kaberle to an extension.

But the Bruins weren’t done. They actually needed to clear some cap space. The rumor had been that Mark Stuart was going to be traded to Chicago for cap relief but the deal actually ended up coming from Atlanta. The Bruins traded Stuart and Blake Wheeler (hooray!) to the Trashers in exchange for center Rich Peverley and defenseman Boris Valabik. The signing of Stuart and Wheeler to one year deals over the summer was a strong sign they’d both be dealt before the deadline. Prophecy fulfilled.

My buddy posted on my wall that “…I love the Peverly deal…..trust me….you’re gonna love his game,” and continued with “But I don’t know what I like more: Peverly coming in or Wheeler going out.”

I’ll tell you that I’m more excited about Wheeler leaving. Wheeler had been an under-performer pretty much since the Bruins brought him in. After an inaugural season that saw Wheeler put up 45 points the Bruins saw a steady decline in those numbers for the former first round (fifth overall) pick.

At this point I think the Bruins are done dealing. The only other move I could foresee if they bring in a guy off the street like when they brought in Satan.

I’m very optimistic about the Bruins heading into the last third of the season. The trades seemed to have sparked the team as they’ve beaten the Islanders, Senators, and Flames in their last three games. Next up is Vancouver and Edmonton over the weekend before returning to Ottawa (stupid schedule makers) next Tuesday and home next Thursday. They’ve guaranteed a .500 record on the trip, let’s hope for a 6-0 or 5-1 at the worst.

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February 22, 2011 · 6:55 AM

Celtics Trade Rumors

From last week where there seemed to be no news of a trade brewing to this past weekend where business started to pick up. Melo to the Knicks is the first domino to drop, now all the other teams get moving.

We’ll start with that man Anthony Parker. He’s on the Celtics radar but he’s also apparently on the Magic’s radar. Parker currently plays on the lowly Cavaliers and could be dealt prior to Thursday’s deadline. Maybe Bradly and West could get it done (it works on the Trade Machine) but I don’t think Danny wants to deal Bradly. They could do it straight up Nate for Bradly but you’d have to get Cleveland to use some of the $14.5 million they have from the LeBron trade exemption.

Next rumor (and most recent) is the Celtics acquiring Houston’s Shane Battier. Now this one is a little tougher than Parker as Battier is on the books for $7 million and change opposed to the approximately $4 million Parker is due. But again, the deal could be done. If you trade Jermaine O’Neal and Delonte West to Houston it would work.

My questions in both the trade scenarios is; why on Earth would Houston or Cleveland want to make these deals. To me it doesn’t make any sense.

Other rumors I’ve read (again they’re few and far between) mostly came in one column from Peter May at ESPNBoston:

Josh Childress for Nate Robinson and Marquis Daniels. Um, I’d make that deal in a millisecond. If somehow Phoenix agreed to this it would be amazing for the C’s. a 27 year old with game would easily bridge the Pierce, Allen, and Garnett team to the Rondo team.

Richard Hamilton? It would more than likely be a buyout situation similar to Sam Cassell a couple years back. Otherwise it would take Robinson, Jermaine O’Neal, Harangody, and Erden to make it happen. I don’t think Danny would be OK with that.

He mentions a few other guys. The Melo to the Knicks was the first domino like I said. Now we can hope that Danny pulls off one of these moves.

Anything that involves Jermaine O’Neal’s lazy, old, washed up body leaving Boston is OK with me.

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