The Atlantic/Opening Night

Before we get into things dealing with everyone's favorite division, the Atlantic, and how the games went last night on opening night, we need to discuss the only NBA story that seems to be making airwaves in the last few days...consequently, taking away from the story of opening night itself. Know what I'm speaking of?

Here's the thing. I can honestly say that as a basketball player, I think Kobe Bryant is going to finish his career in the top 5 to ever play the game. He's going to end up breaking mostly every record in the league. However, Kobe as a person: Dick. Let's review a timeline very quickly, and then get into what's important. He's won three titles, got the 2nd best center to ever play the game traded, had the entire sports world stopped and focused on Colorado for a rape scandal, threatened to be traded, scored 50+ points in 4 straight games, threatened to be traded, accused his front office of surrounding him with crap talent, got on national radio and clearly asked to be traded, basically destroyed the world with the USA team, declined every trade option, and then...threatened to be traded for about the last week and a half.

"Even I think he's dramatic. What a distractive, whiny girl. Where'z my kids be"?

This week is supposed to be the happiest week of the year for professional basketball fans, and sadly, you can't turn on anything NBA related without hearing something about Kobe, Zenmaster, or the entire Buss family. Ridiculous. I have little to say that hasn't already been said, so here it goes. Everything in Los Angeles needs to change. Trade him. Right now. If you're reading this, and you work for Los Angeles, stop reading and trade him right now. You have really great young talent (Farmar, Walton, Bynum), and if you trade him to the Bulls like the entire world thinks, you're going to get Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and probably a few draft picks. You can have my first born child if you do it.

Okay...now, for other news, the 2007/2008 season is officially underway. (Finally.)

Last night, there were three games on the schedule to get the season started (Don't be discouraged by the solid Western Conference night that it was.):

Portland vs San Antonio (Spurs win 106-97)

Utah vs Golden State (Jazz take it 117-96)

Houston vs Aformentioned Lakers (Rockets 95-93...barely. I'll give it to Kobe. Even with his entire fan base on his ass and everything that surrounding him, 45 pts on opening night is impressive even for him.)

Quick note on a few opening night things:

Before their game, the Spurs had their ring ceremony. The Spurs are picked almost across the boards to repeat, which in the league these days is almost unheard of. However, it's almost impossible to pick against them. They have every single element in place (no team turmoil, the top-two defensive players in the league, Popovich), and they have arguably the overall best player in the entire league.

A four-time NBA champion, a three-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, two-time NBA Most Valuable Player award, nine-time all-star, ten all-NBA teams, and ten all-defensive teams. You know why he doesn't get more respect? He doesn't punch fans in the face, he talks in a normal voice during interviews (usually regarding his team winning), and he doesn't make rap albums. What an awful world we live in.

ESPN.com has LaMarcus Aldridge as their prospected Most Improved Player for the season, and with good reasoning. It's a shame he had to sit so much last year so that Zach Randolph got playing time. He's going to show everyone that there are still reasons to watch Portland even though the human marketing machine is out for the season. 12 for 19, 27 points, and 3 blocks against the defending champs. Also, please someone pay attention to Steve Blake. He's quietly becoming one of the most dependable guards in the entire league.

As for the rest of the goings on, nothing too exciting. Your usual Western Conference action.

Now, for the Atlantic Conference preview: Abridged version.

How the experts are predicting things turn out:
1.) Boston
2.) New Jersey
3.) Toronto
4.) Philadelphia
5.) New York

They are experts for a reason, you know. I am going on record as saying I agree with how ESPN has their rankings set (aside from a possible Toronto/N.J. switch), but, in all honesty, things don't need to be looked at like a sure thing around here. Most people, aside from me, forget that this was the second-worst team in the NBA last year. There's bound to be problems.

Toronto is returning almost the same exact team from last year aside from the addition of Jason Kapono, who was in the top 5 in the league for 3-point shooting last season playing with the Wade's. Chris Bosh is slowly transforming into one of the league's foremost stars. He was a strong team leader heading into the playoffs on a team that had been looking for leadership since Vince and T-Mac were there planning dunk contest moves. Jorge Garbajosa, aside from having the world's biggest head, is a legitimate 3-point threat, and with the addition of some more power inside, could remain an Eastern Conference power for years to come.

New Jersey has a "Big Three" of their own in Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, and Richard Jefferson, and depending on if all three of them stay healthy, which always seems to be their problem, they have a very good choice of winning the division.

Philadelphia hasn't had a prayer since Iverson left. More to say when the season starts and games are played. If they prove me wrong, I will eat every word. I promise.

The Knicks won't break 30 wins because they made the cardinal mistake of an offseason: they let one entity become larger than the greater of the team, and sadly, it was in the form of a sexual harassment suit against their coach. Isiah is a mess. That's how mutinies get started, and that's how you get fired 5 losses into a season. He's even getting C. Vivian Stringer on his bad side these days.

Remember him?

Isiah, don't offend coaches of teams that are better than yours.

Friday night will be here soon. The opening game of the season will be on ESPN live at 8 for those of you on the East Coast. Celts versus Wizards and "Agent Zero."

Check back Saturday for a review of the game. Let's go Beantown.

(Update: I'm watching ESPN waiting for Mavs/Cavs. Aside from the countless other writers and experts, the entire NBA Tonight panel, including Bill Walton who likes no one but his son, and Stephen A. Smith, who likes no one but himself, both picked Boston to "run away with it in the East. For fans of all sports: I hope you are prepared to see the biggest bandwagon jump in the entire world should this season play out the way it's predicted.)

Offseason/Preseason In A Nutshell

What exactly is The Doctor reading in his morning Paper?
"Boston actually gets some preseason national air-time against the Cavs."

I know...Surprising. But thankfully, the game last night against last year's Eastern Conference champions provided an excellent opportunity to not only hit game highlights, but also give everyone a necessary offseason/preseason review going into the season opener against the Wizards next Friday (which also will be carried by ESPN.)

To begin, let's start with taking a look back at last season.
"See him?! He's the only reason to care. That's not saying a lot."

In the years that I have been a Celts supporter, nothing was worse than enduring the 06/07 season for about...oh, 1,000 reasons or more. Not only did we have the second worst record in the entire Association (The Grizz will always be terrible. I'm sorry.), but then there was the lottery fiasco which cost me about 9 years off of my adult life the day the ping pong balls were selected. Oh, and if you actually care about players and development like I do, the wrong people played for 75 out of 82 games.

Aside from Paul, let's take a look at the roster from last season: http://www.nba.com/celtics/roster/2006/

Take a quick moment to look over that before we get into things. Ready?

With a roster that included the most extreme example of 1st overall pick abuse in the history of professional sports (Olowokandi), and the most undeserved push in the last 5 years (Telfair), it was a season that was doomed from the beginning. In fact, the only winning that the Celtics did during the season was in the Slam Dunk "Contest."


(Side note: If you can't jump over Nate Robinson, terminate your own contract and give me the money they've paid you already.)

And that's how last season was. There were talks of tanking to pick Odenrant first overall, Doc was catching it from all angles from the national media, and our roster was about as deep as a puddle in Arizona.

However, not everything was bad. Ryan Gomes and Al Jefferson stepped up big in their new roles as team leaders to help compliment Paul. There was some legit off the bench production from Tony Allen (until he was sidelined) and everyone's favorite bench hyper, Brian Scalabrine.

In the end, however, young talent that fails to get utilized in the proper way will never have the impact it should. 24-58. That's not even a respectable first half blowout score these days.

And then came the offseason. THE offseason, I should say. Everyone in Celtsworld was preparing to take Odenrant with the first pick in the weeks leading up to the lottery. I, myself, was online daily looking to see which provider was going to be the first to release the Oden authentic jersey. And then, the worst thing that could possibly happen...did.

"The 5th pick...goes to the Boston Celtics." Wow. (All needed to be said.)

The draft came, and there were many reports early on in the day that Boston was looking to make a trade with Seattle for Ray Allen, although no one knew the exact specifications of the trade and what the Sonics wanted. It eventually went down, and here's how it ended up:

Celts get:
- Ray Allen
- 35th Overall pick (Which turned out to be LSU's Glen "Big Baby" Davis)

Sonics get:
- Delonte West
- Wally Undeserviak
- 5th Overall pick (Which turned out to be Georgetown's Jeff Green)
- Future 2nd rounder (Probably Olowokandi's son.)


"Hey, thanks for the 2nd best 3-point shooter in the history of the entire league. In return, here's Wally. You don't have to do too much. Just keep food in his dish and his water fresh while his torn E(verything).C.L's heal." No wonder your franchise will be in Oklahoma City within two years.

Speaking of trades, that trade pales in comparison to the deal of the offseason, and probably the last 5 years, by far. There's no need for me to hype how important it was because television and news did that for me for about a month and a half.

Celts gets:
- Kevin Garnett

T'Wolves get:
- Ryan Gomes
- Al Jefferson
- "Slam Dunk Champion" Gerald Green
- Theo Ratliff
- Sebastian Telfair
- 2009 1st round draft pick (Top 3 Protected)
- ...And a partidge in a pear tree

Two words: Worth it.

The 2007/2008 roster - http://www.nba.com/celtics/roster/

Quick notes:

- Our rookies are nice. Big Baby gives the C's a much needed inside presence to go along with Garnett and Perks, and he's played with more intensity and passion thus far in the preseason than our entire squad last year. I love when rookies care. Gabe Pruitt came from an excellent program at Southern Cal under Tim Floyd and provides an option, by means of home-grown talent, in the quest to solidify the guard position. Brandon Wallace can be good with time, and he needs to learn how to hone his size and compete at the forward position in the Eastern Conference.

- Double R (Rajon Rondo) is money. I can't wait to see how he handles his sophomore campaign.

- The offseason pick-ups of James Posey and Eddie House are huge for two different reasons:

1.) Posey comes from the Miami Wade's, and automatically provides the C's with some veteran leadership after competing in the postseason (which means they won games) the last few years. (We won't discuss last season, though. Bulls Sweep = Gross.)

2.) Eddie is one of the more memorable recent drifters in the league, and I will never understand why. He's a solid second guard, he's one of the best passers in the league, and if your last name is House, people respect you.


He hit it. (Carmen came straight from the C's game. Look at the outfit.)

And there's your offseason.

The entire preseason can be summed up in one game: Last night's win over the Cavs.


- Garnett: 21 pts, 13 rebs, 10 assts. (Preseason triple doubles are nothing to get excited about, but that's still pretty impressive against the reigning league champions.)
- Allen: 20 pts
- Paul : 12 pts

- Lebron: 17 points. If they don't get the problems with Varajeo and Pavlovic figured out soon, Lebron might find himself in Paul's shoes from the last few years.


Final score: Celts 114, Cavaliers 89.

I don't embrace the "New Big Three" nickname as of yet, because as great as they may be, they are still light years away from the originals (For those of you who don't know, that would be Larry Legend, McHale, and The Chief.) However, I must say that in comparison to years previous, I have never been more excited for a basketball season in my life.


Next time around: A preview of the rest of the Atlantic Division.

Think Big.

The First Of (Hopefully) Many More To Come

Welcome, one and all, to the first post on Celtics Chatter.

(Not the only fresh start around here. See picture to the left, please.)

To begin, I should probably tell you a little bit about myself, and exactly why I chose to start Celtics Chatter. I've always been an avid fan of the National Basketball Association, and in particular, the legendary team from Boston we all know as the Celtics. The Celtics are one of the most well-known franchises in all of the sporting world. If you're a fan like me, you know that there's nothing quite like the opening game of the season, and seeing the green and white take the court for another year of great basketball action.

I've been a Celtics fan since the age of 6, and honestly, it wasn't really by choice. It was more through persuasion. I used to get babysit by my friends' older brother from time to time, and he was the biggest Celtics fan in our area. During the early 90's right at the height of the domination by the Chicago Bulls, most of the kids my age where very much into #23 and his band of helpers, and I happened to fall into that crowd, also. However, one day, my friends' brother sat me down and had a talk with me about the Boston Celtics and the team's history and such. At 6, there wasn't too much that I actually comprehended, but at the time I was impressionable and I decided to pledge allegiance to the fellas from Beantown.

I should probably also tell you that all of this had taken place in the metropolis of Southwestern Pennsylvania...not exactly your biggest basketball hotbed, to say the least. It's nice to be able to say that I am the most likely the biggest C's fan in the area to this day. If you're ever in the area, you'll be able to spot me pretty easily. I'll be the only one in the Celtics jersey. (Truth.)

Anyways, to make a long story short, I decided to start up this blog to have a forum to not only have my ideas and thoughts heard, but to hear what other fans of the team, and the rest of the NBA for that matter, have to say as well. Let's face it, there's nothing better than sports fans on the internet dying to complain or play G.M. when the time seems fitting, right? Right.

With the help of some friends, and with the help of sports writers across the nation, I hope to be given fuel to write, think, and say what's on my mind about the current state of not only my beloved C's, but anything that's going on leaguewide, also. With Celtics Chatter, you can look forward to anything and everything to be talked about: from team history and game by game analysis and thoughts, to inside looks at the entire Atlantic Division and why Tom Tolbert is the last person in America who should have a color commentator job.

There you have it, in so many words. This post wasn't meant to be anything spectacular, and I just wanted to have something to get started with, basically. I know I'm probably the newest and most inexperienced of all the sports bloggers in the world, but I'm going to be giving it a shot, at least. Over the next few days, I'll be giving you more insight into my personal history of Celtic fandom as well as getting you all ready for the upcoming 2007/2008 NBA season for which the fans of the C's have high expectations. I'll also be taking the opportunity to learn a bit more about how the blog world works, and how to get the site looking in fine shape to bring you the content you've all been wanting so desperately.

Thanks again for taking the time to visit the site, and most of all, thanks for taking your first step into the world of the green and white. Prepare to get rocked, kids.

Think Big.