Are the Boston Celtics really THAT good?

Believe it or not, as good as the Celtics have played, that’s a tough question to answer.

Sure, on the surface the Celtics look absolutely unbeatable and have folks in “beantown” dreaming of a title trifecta (with the Cs in basketball potentially joining the New England Patriots in football and Boston Red Sox in baseball as World Champions). Led by the new “big three”, Pierce, Allen and Garnett, Boston has racked up an out-of-this-world 18-2 record and, to steal a line from Stuart Scott is beating down on teams like they stole something. And it’s not like the games are close, as they’re beating opponents by a league-leading margin of 13.8 points per game. At their current pace the Celtics would win 74 games, blowing by the Chicago Bulls record of 72 – possibly establishing their legacy as one of the greatest teams ever. It would seem then that the obvious answer to our opening question would be, “Hell yeah, Bawston is wicked good! Order the Guiness and plan the paraaide route!”

The only problem in all of this is that the Celtics haven’t really played anybody significant yet.

They haven’t played the Detroit Pistons, the perennially “forgotten” Eastern Conference powerhouse. They haven’t had to face the World Champion San Antonio Spurs. Perhaps Duncan and company would have something to say about that title celebration being planned in Boston. They also haven’t played many of the other teams, mostly in the Western Conference, sporting solid records themselves. They haven’t faced the New Orleans Hornets, the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets, the Utah Jazz or the Phoenix Suns. Of course, it can be said that the blame for the Celtics relatively cupcake 20-game run should fall on the NBA schedule-makers, but the fact remains that Boston is an untested team.

The combined record of all the teams that the Celtics have played so far this season – teams with names like Hawks, Nets, Pacers, Heat, Bobcats, Knicks, 76ers, Bulls, Kings, etc. – is 162-181, adding up to a less-than-stellar .472 winning percentage. That’s certainly not anything close to a murder’s row of opponents that the Los Angeles Lakers have been facing, for example.

Not that the Celtics are only getting their fill of cup-cakes, they do have a couple of quality wins. Boston did blow out the Denver Nuggets by a score of 119-93 and the Golden State Warriors 105-82. Though, it can be argued that both the Nuggets and Warriors have been anything but consistent so far this season. And, the Cs did beat the aforementioned Lakers 107-94. But, they also lost to the Orlando Magic when Dwight Howard and company were red hot and came up short against the Cleveland Cavaliers before Lebron James went out with his injury. So really, fact is that Golden State, Denver, Los Angeles and perhaps Toronto Raptors are the only decent teams the Celtics have defeated all year.

So, it’s easy to argue that the jury is still very much out on the Boston Celtics.

The good news, for those looking to gauge the Celtics true greatness and place among the NBA elite is that they won’t have to wait long to formulate a verdict. Boston plays the Detroit Pistons, broadcast on the four-letter sports network, on December 19. Then, it’s a home game against the Orlando Magic on December 23. And after that begins a 3-game string against tough Western Conference opponents, including back-to-back games against the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers on the road, followed by a home game against the Houston Rockets.

Of course, the Celtics schedule wasn’t going to remain docile for too long. And, sure enough, after a string of open-book quizzes, the Celtics are finally going to face the big mid-term exams. By mid-January then, we should have a clearer, high-definition picture on whether the Boston Celtics are really THAT good.

Old school baller of the week: Sam Jones

Our “old school baller” for this week is former Boston Celtics great Sam Jones. The original “Mr. Clutch”, before Lakers great Jerry West was dubbed as such, Jones won an amazing 10 championships during his 12 seasons with the Celtics – a feat that will likely never be repeated again. So, while Sam Jones barely missed our list of the top 10 Celtics of all-time, let’s take a look at why he is easily the undisputed “old school baller of the week”.

Name: Sam Jones

Position: Shooting Guard

Height/Weight: 6'4"/200 pounds

Teams: Boston Celtics

What made him so special?

The aforementioned 10 championships in 12 seasons are impressive enough, but Jones had plenty of individual accolades to go along with the team success. He was a five time NBA All-Star, was selected to the All-NBA second team three times, was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984 and was named among one of the 50 Greatest Players of All-Time in 1996. Jones scored more than 15,000 points in his 12-year career, averaging 17.7 points per game while shooting 46% from the floor. The lean and muscular Jones also mixed it up in the paint grabbing an average of 4.9 rebounds, while dishing out 2.9 assists per game for his career.

But, success didn’t come right away for Jones. Although drafted with the 8th overall pick in the 1957 NBA draft, Jones, hailing from unheralded North Carolina Central college, came into the league virtually unnoticed. He proceeded to sit on the bench his first four seasons in the league, watching and learning from established Celtics greats Bill Sharman and Bob Cousy. But, in his fifth season when Sharman hung it up for good, Jones took the starting shooting guard spot next to Cousy and used his silky-smooth shot and stellar playoff performances to get all the way to the Hall of Fame. A master of the bank shot, Jones took on the leadership role later in his career teaming with another Celtic great K.C. Jones – a duo that fans affectionately called “the Jones boys”.

Sam Jones’ game is most like...

Ray Allen. They have a similar build, both muscularly lean. Jones was 6’4” and 200 pounds, while Allen is listed at 6’5” and 205 pounds. As mentioned previously Jones averaged 17.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, while shooting 46% from the floor and 80% from the free-throw line. Allen for his career is averaging 21.4 points, 4.6 boards and 3.9 assists per game, while shooting 44.5% from the floor and a stellar 88.8% from the free-throw stripe. But outside of the pure numbers, the way they moved on the court and played the game were very similar. Offensively, both could hit a jumper from anywhere on the floor and was strong enough with the dribble to get to any point on the court. On the defensive side, both played a hustling style to say in position and didn’t overpower or outmuscle their opponents.

The biggest difference though between the two is that Sam Jones was a winner and proved that he could step up his game in the clutch. Ray Allen of course has very little successful playoff experience. In Allen’s defense though, it helped Jones that he played with Sharman, Cousy, Russell and later K.C. Jones on the legendary Celtics teams. Perhaps Allen, now teamed with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on the current Celtics will finally prove his playoff mettle this season.

Bill Russell on Sam Jones

"In the seventh game of a championship series, I'll take Sam Jones over anyone who stepped onto a basketball court. When the pressure was greatest, he was eager for the ball."

If he played today

At 6’ 4” Sam Jones was considered a tall guard for his time, but by today’s standards he would be undersized at the shooting guard position. Still, there isn’t one team in the league today that couldn’t use Jones’ uncannily accurate jump-shooting and clutch play. He would probably have to adapt his game to be able to play more at the point, as opposed to the off-guard spot, in today’s league and would have to bulk up to be able to hang defensively, but Jones could easily put up 15 to 20 points per game even today.

The greatest Lakers and Celtics of all-time

If only the Los Angeles Lakers could hold up their end of the bargain, one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports would once again be rekindled. While Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are leading the Boston Celtics reclamation project, Kobe Bryant and his emergent teammates are trudging along on the road to respectability in Los Angeles.

But, this blog post isn’t about the future, or even the present, it’s about the some of the greatest players ever to lace on a pair of sneakers, chuck basketballs at a rim 18 inches in diameter and pass through the NBA locker rooms in Boston and Los Angeles. From Wilt and West to Russell and Bird, some of the biggest, most recognizable names in NBA history wore either purple and gold or green and white. But, who were the best of the bunch?

Keep in mind that we’ve given extra weight to players that spent most, or all of their careers with their team. So, while Shaq is one of the greatest players of all-time, counting this current season he has spent just as much time playing for other franchises as he has for the Lakers. Same with players like Wilt Chamberlain, who only spent the last 5 years of his illustrious 14-year career in Los Angeles.

So, after much conjecture, we present our list of the top 10 Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics of all-time.

Top 10 Los Angeles Lakers of All-Time

1. Magic Johnson
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3. Jerry West
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Elgin Baylor
6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Wilt Chamberlain
8. James Worthy
9. Gail Goodrich
10. George Mikan

Top 10 Boston Celtics of All-Time

1. Larry Bird
2. Bill Russell
3. John Havlicek
4. Dave Cowens
5. Bob Cousy
6. Kevin McHale
7. Robert Parish
8. Paul Pierce
9. Tom Heinsohn
10. Dennis Johnson

As you can see, while the Celtics 10 might have a bit more depth, the Lakers’ 10 would probably win out in any fictional head-to-head match-up given their advantages in height and athleticism.

Where "really great basketball" happens!

The NBA marketing heads got it right, “amazing” really does happen in the L – or at least, it has so far this season. Seasons of recent memory barely register when taking into account what’s been happening so far in 2007. It seems that just about every team has players that we’re excited about watching, and several top ones that have talent that we’d easily pay good money to see. The rookies, from Durant to Belinelli, are fresh, exciting and fun to watch play. The stars are delivering like UPS, putting up crazy numbers. Scoring, in general, is up. Defense is solid. The games are fun again. Perhaps the only thing missing is a lot of last second shots. There were some, but more will come in due time.

The NBA, as it was in the early 80s and early 90s is in a state of bloom. While traditional powerhouses like San Antonio and Detroit continue to roll along like finely assembled Bentleys, new comers like the Orlando Magic and New Orleans Hornets are racing into prime position. It’s an exciting time to be a fan. Every night, there are individual match-ups and team rivalries that demand attention. Perhaps, it’s a good time to pony up for that NBA league pass. But, before we get ahead of ourselves, get too excited and start sounding like the aforementioned NBA marketing department let’s talk about what’s caught our attention during the young NBA season.

As the big time wins pile up, the Kobe trade talks simmer down

Understand that while we watch a lot of NBA basketball, the team that we follow the closest and watch the most is the Los Angeles Lakers, so we’ll start our trip around the NBA at Kobe’s house, Staples Center. Their mark of 6-3 and their current spot as the 8th best team in the Western Conference isn’t overly impressive, but the Lakers have probably been one of the top 3, or 4, most remarkable teams in the young season. Consider the teams they’ve played so far; Phoenix, Utah, New Orleans, Minnesota, Houston (twice), San Antonio, Detroit and Chicago. Take Chicago (2-7) and Minnesota (1-7) out of the equation, and the combined record of the Lakers’ remaining opponents is a whopping 50-24. And, all of those teams, barring serious injury or a miracle, will make the playoffs. That success is even more impressive when you consider that the roster’s average age at 23.8 (even with 33 year old Derek Fisher thrown in) is among the youngest in the league.

But while those numbers are well and good, does this Lakers team have the potential to make serious noise in the playoffs? Or, will it be a one and out yet again? The key to that answer is defense. In Kobe Bryant, LA has one of the most dominant scorers in the game, ever. So, offense shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, the Lakers are putting up 104 points per game this season, good for 5th highest in the league. Such was the case last year too, when they ranked 5th best in scoring, and the year before when they ranked 8th. The Lakers can score – Kobe and a team of trained monkeys could put up at least 100 points. The problem has been on the defensive end. While the Lakers are d-ing up now, can they keep up the intensity throughout the season and, most importantly, during the playoffs? If they can, and if they can also stay healthy, team Kobe has a legit shot at playing well into June. The key will be doing the little things on defense, pressuring the post passer, limiting penetration, being opportunistic with turnovers and just playing hard and smart on defense at all times. Good defense will keep Kobe in a Lakers uniform for a long time to come.

Smoke and mirrors behind Magic in Orlando

Another young team that has made its mark on the young season is the Orlando Magic. A record so far of 9-2 gives them a tie for the second best mark in the league with the New Orleans Hornets, along with a recent win against the best team, record wise, in the league, the new-look Boston Celtics. But, take a close look at the Magic roster and other than newly acquired Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard, and possibly point guard Jameer Nelson, the collection of names isn’t very impressive.

The Magic put up 102.8 points a game and more importantly yield 95.6 points on the defensive end, for a solid differential of 7.2 points per game. The Magic also shoot a ton of threes and a ton of free-throws – they’re 3rd in the league in 3 point attempts and 4th in the league in free-throw attempts. The Denver Nuggets are the only other team with that distinction of being in the top 5 in those 2 categories.

But, those are the only places that the Magic truly excel. Everywhere else, their stats are either pretty mediocre or not quite top 10. So, while the 9-2 record is impressive, other than the win against Boston, every other team that the Magic have beat so far this season, including Washington, Minnesota, Toronto, New York, Seattle, Cleveland and New Jersey, has a record of .500 or lower. While Orlando may not be as good as their gaudy record indicates, the team – with Lewis on the wing and Howard in the post – is probably talented enough to win a lot of games in a weak Eastern Conference. But, their lack of depth and overall talent level from 3-12 could be exposed during the playoffs.

The big 3

This just in, Boston is good! Not sure if Garnett had a little pre-season chat with Tom Brady, but the Celtics so far has been basketball’s version of the New England Patriots. KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and the rest is killing people, no prisoners. The numbers bear it out. Boston has the stingiest defense in the league, giving up a paltry 89.4 points per game. They are matching the stellar defense by scoring 102.7 per game for a differential of 13.2 points – by far the highest in the league (the Hornets and the Nuggets are tied for second in differential at 9.1 points per game).

The bottom line is that this revived version of the Celtics is legit and has the talent to get to the NBA finals. Some might argue that their early season schedule has been weak, but there’s no denying the supernova-like presence of the 3 All-Stars. Yes, in a seven game series, given the type of suffocating defense they play, the Cs have the ability to beat teams like the Spurs, Suns, Mavericks, et al.

One man show

Team achievements aside, individual players are also stepping up and impressing so far this season.

Among the rookies, Kevin Durant has possibly wrapped up the rookie of the year trophy earlier than any 1st year player in recent memory (perhaps because of the absense of one Mr. Oden, or perhaps not). Consider this, Durant is averaging close to 20 points per game (19.7 to be exact) and his closest competitor in that category is Yi “I live in Milwaukee, my neighbor is a cow…no really, a real cow” Jianlian. The Chinese sensation is averaging 10.3 points per game – no other rookie this year is even in double figures. You think David Stern isn’t already preparing his intro speech for Durant’s ROY trophy presentation?

But the rookies really only add to an NBA roster that is so incredibly talented right now. Sure you’ve got all-time names like Kobe, LeBron, Duncan, Wade, Nash, Garnett and Nowitzki, but then there is a second tier with amazingly talented guys like T-Mac, Carmelo, D-Howe, Ming, Pierce, Arenas and Iverson and a third tier with Vince Carter, Kevin Martin, Redd, Ginobili, Butler, Rashard, Jesus Shuttlesworth, Chris Paul, Durant and Marion and a fourth tier with Al Jeff, Aldridge, Deng, Barbosa, Gasol, Gerald Wallace -- there’s just so many players in the NBA today that can play, and are fun to watch. We haven’t had this much talent, top to bottom, in the league for a long, long time.

In 2007-2008, NBA action is fantastic! Oh wait, wrong adjective. It’s amazing!

Five things to watch this NBA season

Today is September 17, 2007, and with more than a month left before the start of the NBA season – though we’re eagerly counting down the days to October 30 – it’s still a bit early for a full season preview. Oh yes, we’re definitely writing one though. The season will be previewed for all, with our own unique take no less. What fun would a blog be if we didn’t throw in our own Nostradamus-like predictions along with the rest of the horde? We did it for the NFL season, so it’s only fair that the NBA, which at the end of the day gets the lion’s share of love on Grey Matter, gets its own season preview.

But, we digress.

What is appropriate at this relatively early stage, before training camps starts on October 1 & 2, is a sneak peek into the season ahead with a look at the 5 things to look for during the 2007-2008 NBA season. Our Top Five list vacillates between the intriguing to the outrageous, so here goes:

• You don’t need the NBA National TV schedule to tell you this (although a quick glance shows no less than 3 televised games with these 2 teams involved during the first week), but all eyes will be on Boston and Los Angeles when the NBA season finally gets going around Halloween. Boston for the 2007 version of the Celtic trio, and Los Angeles for week one of the “Kobe/Phil giving up on Lakers management and leaving town” watch. You’ll feel like it’s 1987 all over again. The stock market will be up, up, up, the New York Giants will win the Super Bowl while actually playing defense, Gary Hart will re-visit an old flame, the history channel will run a 42-hour retrospective on the Iran-Contra affair, and you’ll get an awkward desire to listen to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” repeatedly on your iPod. All things will be right with the world. Whatever the reasons this time around, in October, Boston and Los Angeles will be the centers of the basketball world once again.

• Do you remember Clarence Stephen Johnson? If you do, give yourself a pat on the back and be content in the knowledge that you are probably one of 12 people in the world that remember this journeyman power forward. Johnson played for 7 different NBA teams during his forgetful NBA tenure from 1981 to 1991. But, he does hold one claim to fame. Johnson holds the NBA record, among those that qualify, for the highest field goal percentage, at .632 percent, for any rookie ever. We bring up Johnson because, although the NBA presumably doesn’t keep this record for futility, Seattle Sonics forward Kevin Durant could very well set the record for the lowest field goal percentage for an NBA rookie, ever. Durant shot just 33 percent during the Las Vegas summer league against his first pseudo-NBA caliber competition. So, the over under on Durant’s field goal percentage for the regular NBA season is probably at an embarrassing 25 percent from the floor. Don’t get us wrong, we strongly believe that Durant will turn out to be easily the best player taken in last season’s draft, and will develop into one of the elite scorers in the game, but in 2007, with no veterans in sight to shoulder the load, the kid, who makes Kate Moss look overweight, will put up more bricks than the Great Wall of China. So, despite his unbelievable talents, look for other rookie of the year candidates, like Mike Conley Jr., Corey Brewer and Al Horford, to challenge Durant for the ROY throne.

• David Stern will seriously consider instituting shoulder pads and helmets for his league’s referees by the third week of the season. Disgraced NBA ref Tim Donaghy will have long faded from the headlines, like exorbitantly high gas prices, Don Imus’ racial slurs and hurricane season, when the NBA kicks of its 2007-2008 campaign. But, the first time an NBA referee blows a call against the home team, zealous fans will surely bring down the “Wrath of Khan” on the poor, unsuspecting referee. If you thought the infamous episode of Ron Artest vs. Pistons Fans got ugly, wait until Dick Bavetta blows a foul call in the final seconds – Tim Donaghy’s ghost will indeed be exorcised to the fullest. In all seriousness though, the way the refs call fouls, particularly during the first month of the season, and whether the frequency, or number of fouls is altered in any way through fan, and sports radio, outcry will bear close watching.

• Look for Steve Nash to once again compete for the league’s MVP, because the charity giving, soccer playing model citizen apparently can’t do any wrong. With Grant Hill in tow and Leandro Barbosa a year better, the Suns could run through the league to claim the best record in 2007-2008 (oops, we’re predicting team results, gotta save it for the season preview), and Nash will get all the credit yet again. In terms of competition for Nash and his MVP run, you can throw in the usual names like Duncan, Nowitzki, LeBron and Bryant, but also keep an eye on Gilbert Arenas (because the Wiz will bounce back this season) and Yao Ming, and/or Tracey McGrady (because the Rockets could finish in the top 3 in the West) with an outside chance at the individual crown.

• Finally, which one of the New York Knickerbockers do you think will be the first to get in trouble with the law, get injured, or say inane things that makes Cletus Del Roy Spuckler from The Simpsons look like a genius? Apparently, the New York players understand that they are in the media capital of the world, because they are really, really good at making headlines. Just look at what went down in Knickerbocker-land this Summer. Discount sneaker salesman Stephon Marbury decreed that dogfighting, unlike curling and pairs figure skating for example, is a legitimate sport, the 6’ 11” and 285 pound Eddie Curry managed to be robbed in his own home (you would think that he could spend some of the millions of dollars he consumes, like so many hamburgers, on a solid security system, or security guards for that matter) and the leader of them all, good ol’ Isaiah Thomas, mapped out meeting minders all over his Outlook Calendar for the court dates stemming from being accused of sexually harassing a former co-worker. What’s next? During the 2007-2008 season, watch for at least two-third of the Knicks starting lineup to spontaneously combust during the third quarter of a game against the new-look Boston Celtics.

Which brings us back to Boston and Los Angeles. Mitch Kup-cake and Jim Buss, you’re on watch. Not just by Laker fans, but by fans of the NBA in general. You hold in your hands the ability to not only keep Kobe Bryant in "Purple and Gold", but to make the Lakers matter again. NBA fans want another Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry. Despite his bumbling ways, Danny Ainge held up his end of the burden. Now make it happen on your end, because players coming back from injury DOES NOT count as a personnel move.

Umm, we apologize for the Lakers diatribe. Where were we again?

Celtics Danny Ainge needs a 10 step program

We would like you to read some comments from a man who is clearly in denial. In a recent interview with the Boston Globe, Danny Ainge, Director of Basketball Operations of the newly revitalized Boston Celtics, said the following when asked about his current point guard situation:

“Here’s the thing with point guard,” Ainge told the Boston paper. “You know how much we love Rajon, and that’s really important, but Ray Allen wants to play minutes at point guard, and Tony Allen two years ago, when he had a chance to play point guard, played fantastic…and we think Gabe Pruitt can help us there. Even though we don’t want to count on Gabe as a rookie coming in and playing a major, major role, we feel very confident with him (in that) role in case of an injury. And then Eddie House has played the point, and we think Eddie is actually a very good fit playing alongside Ray or Tony. So we think we have five guys more than capable of playing the point.”

Ainge rambles on like a man who is trying very hard to convince himself that his newly minted team has the point guard thing all figured out. Not that we expected Ainge to come out and admit that he stays up nights worrying about putting his otherwise Ferrari-like starting lineup in the hands of a second year point guard – one who is coming off a rookie campaign where he averaged a paltry 6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 23 minutes per game. But, we did expect Ainge to have at least some perception of reality, admit the inexperience and severe lack of depth at point guard and put the onus on his 3 all-star veterans to show leadership on the floor and help Rando control the flow of games.

Ainge must overcome this denial and come to realize that even though the Celtics have a real problem it doesn’t mean that they are weak or a failure. Step 1, Mr. Ainge is admitting you have a problem.

Will the Celtics make it to the NBA Finals this year? Perhaps, given the fact that every other team in the Eastern Conference have their own huge question marks, but with aging superstars the window is small with absolutely no guarantees.