Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
tibor75;892952; said:Team to beat?
3 aging stars can't win a title. Never has, never will. But keep dreaming...
The comparison to the Heat a few posts ago is rather idiotic considering the Heat were lead by Wade, a superstar in his prime. there is nobody of his caliber on this Celtic team.
Oh he will.OregonBuckeye;1121475; said:tibor75;892952; said:Team to beat?
3 aging stars can't win a title. Never has, never will. But keep dreaming...
The comparison to the Heat a few posts ago is rather idiotic considering the Heat were lead by Wade, a superstar in his prime. there is nobody of his caliber on this Celtic team.
I could go on and on....
Please don't.
TRON;1186446; said:Yeah, we get how boring this series is.
Ray Allen, upper right, salutes Boston fans during the Celtics parade on Thursday. The sharp-shooting guard helped the Big Green to the NBA championship in his first season with the team and 12th in the league.
By Steven Senne, AP
Boston paints town green for Celtics in championship salute
BOSTON (AP) ? Paul Pierce had not slept in 36 hours but the Boston Celtics captain was more than ready to greet the tens of thousands of fans who turned out Thursday for the rolling rally celebrating the team's first NBA championship in 22 years.
"We're tired of watching these parades on TV. Now we get to enjoy our own," Pierce said as the Boston Celtics rolled through the city in celebration of their first NBA Championship in 22 years.
"I haven't had any sleep yet, so now I'm still enjoying it," Pierce said.
A sea of fans in green crowded 20-deep or more in the streets from the TD Banknorth Garden to Copley Plaza to pay tribute to the team, who rolled slowly through town on 16 World War II-era amphibious vehicles.
Players took their own photographs and videos of the parade, as confetti blasted into the air rained down over the crowd, as it had Tuesday night when the Celtics secured their 17th championship with a Game 6 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Michael Shaughnessy, of Boston, took off work to bring his 4-year-old grandson Gavin Carter to the parade. He said he was proud of how the Celtics played in their championship run ? not just that they won.
Continued......
No big move for Celtics
With the 30th overall pick, the NBA champs aren't looking for immediate help.
By Howard Ulman, Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 06/26/2008 08:18:33 AM EDT
Thursday, June 26
BOSTON ? The Boston Celtics head into tonight's draft with low expectations of getting players who will help next season. A year ago, they needed all the help they could get.
Going from the NBA's second worst record to the league championship changes what general manager Danny Ainge thinks he'll get from the draft. Still, he works past midnight trying to make the best team better.
"We were up 'til 2 in the morning last night," Ainge said yesterday. "We're still doing the same amount of work. We still feel under the gun to make the right decision even though it's not as huge a franchise changing and altering decision."
He's already made that.
Continued.....
Rajon Rondo sets up camp in Lexington
FORMER CAT DIDN'T TAKE EASY ROAD TO NBA
By Eric Lindsey
[email protected]
There once was a time when Rajon Rondo could barely stay on the court much less imagine competing for an NBA championship.
Speaking in front of about 200 kids at his week-long Rondo Camp at the Kentucky Basketball Academy on Wednesday, the former University of Kentucky standout told aspiring basketball stars that he was suspended ?about 15 times? during his freshman year in high school.
Early in Rondo's career at Eastern High School in Louisville, he continually butted heads with Coach Doug Bibby.
Continued.....
Taking a shot with J.R.
Celtics tab Giddens with first-round pick
By Julian Benbow
Globe Staff / June 27, 2008
Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge were in Los Angeles during the NBA Finals when Ainge started talking about the draft.
Ainge had been scouting college talent for a while, and he had a short list of players he thought would work in Rivers's system.
"I was trying to slow Kobe [Bryant] down more than worry about a college guy," Rivers said.
Later, Rivers had barely kissed the Celtics' championship trophy and hopped off the duck boat after the victory parade before Ainge gave him four tapes of this guard from the University of New Mexico named J.R. Giddens.
Rivers liked what he saw. Athletic. Skilled. Incredible wingspan.
But what stuck out most to Rivers was the way Giddens shut down opponents.
"He has a chance to fight for minutes right away because of his defense," Rivers said.
Continued.....
The Celtics later dealt for the 47th overall pick, Kansas State forward Bill Walker, sending cash considerations to the Wizards. The Celtics used the final pick of the night on Semih Erden, a 7-1 center from Turkey.
Walker, a 6-6, 235-pounder, averaged 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds as a redshirt freshman for Kansas State while playing alongside Michael Beasley, the second pick in the draft.
The 20-year-old Walker played six games for the Wildcats as a true freshman before suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Walker also injured his right knee during a workout this month for Golden State and said he will have minor surgery in July that should keep him sidelined three weeks.
"It's not serious," Walker said in a telephone interview. "I will have a simple operation and be back in three weeks. I will be in Boston rehabbing."
Boston Celtics Grade: B
Round 1: J. R. Giddens (30)
Round 2: Bill Walker (47), Semih Erden (60)
Analysis: The Celtics didn't make nearly the same splash in this year's draft, but they did come away with two elite athletes and an intriguing international prospect for down the road.
If Giddens gains some maturity, he could be a nice, athletic shooter coming off the bench. Despite his knee injuries, Walker still has great athleticism -- his health will determine his ceiling. Overall, the Celtics addressed two positions very well for where they were drafting.
Giddens and Walker may help champs in first year
BOSTON -- An athletic guard with a troubled past and a physical forward with a history of knee problems are the newest players the Boston Celtics hope will help them. The chances seem slim that J.R. Giddens or Bill Walker will do that as rookies on a championship team.
Don't rule it out, though -- not with the success general manager Danny Ainge has had in his six drafts with the Celtics.
"He's the hardest-working guy in the business," coach Doc Rivers said after Thursday night's draft. "He goes to games. He goes to practices. He misses tons of our games to do that. So Danny did his job throughout the playoffs and was very prepared for this."
Continued.....
Feeling a draft in Celtics' logic
ADAM WHITE, Sports Editor
Article Launched: 06/28/2008 03:01:28 AM EDT
Saturday, June 28
I know, I know. The Boston Celtics just won an NBA championship, so we're supposed to cut them some slack for at least a week or two.
But even so, I can't help but voice my frustration after watching Thursday night's draft. I swore I wasn't going to get sucked in this time, but my lingering joy at the team's Finals performance left me hungering for one last bit of an NBA fix before calling it a season.
General manager Danny Ainge warned everyone going in that the Celtics weren't likely to get any immediate help from their 30th overall pick, the very last of the first round. This meant that they would likely draft a project-type player, someone with long-term upside whom they could banish to the D-League (or worse, Europe) for a couple of years and hopefully get some return on down the road. As the draft got underway and a few teams ahead of Boston officially threw things out of whack with total head-scratcher picks (hello, Sacramento), a few potential blue chips began to fall. Some were understandable (Darrell Arthur and his suspect kidneys, for example), while others were chalked up to the old "they must know something we don't" logic. Either way, the 30th pick was looking more and more valuable as the first round wrapped up, and I fell into the inevitable trap of targeting one guy and hoping, no praying, that he would fall all the way into the Celtics' lap.
Continued......