Danny Ainge is a good guy? No, that is not what is being said here.

So Danny Ainge is a bad guy? No, you are just putting words in my mouth.

Danny is Danny, a Celtic for life. He played on those great Boston Celtic teams with the Chief, Bird, McHale, and Dennis Johnson. Every year it seemed they battled the Los Angeles Lakers of Kareem, Magic, and Worthy. Those were some great ballgames.

Now Danny is the GM of Boston and already has a NBA title to his credit and wanted another one last year, but his superstar, Kevin Garnett, had some leg problems and sat out the playoffs. No Kevin, no title, it is that simple.

This year Boston should be favored to win the Eastern Conference and do battle with the Los Angeles Lakers, who else? It is like basketball has restored itself to normalcy. Is that a word?

Earlier this year Danny Ainge had a heart attack and to listen to him tell it, it was pretty scary.

Ainge woke at home with pain in his chest and his left arm in the early hours of April 16, two days before playoffs began. He thought it might have been symptoms of a flu virus he had been battling for a few days. His wife, Michelle, knew better and rushed him to Massachusetts General Hospital. Doctors found a clogged artery and inserted a stent.

“When I got that news, early in the morning, it scared the hell out of me,” Rivers says. “When you hear that someone has had a heart attack, your next thought is, ‘Oh my God. And what?’ That brief moment before you hear he’s OK, you’re thinking the worst.”
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As much as Danny Ainge loves being the GM of Boston he has to stay in shape and try and reduce stress which is almost impossible with his job. There questions about Garnett, questions about the Celtics chances, and lately questions about Rajon Rondo.

It seems that everything gets twisted around in this blogging internet world. Danny spoke out on Rajon, saying how he had to get better and all of the sudden rumors were out there that Ainge didn’t like Rajon, not true, and that he would not be getting a good contract, not true, and that he was not good enough for the job, also not true.

Danny Ainge will resign Rajon Rondo

Sure there are areas that Rajon can improve on, mostly his shooting and consistency, but there are plenty of nights where he is darn near unstoppable.

Danny plans on staying the course now that he has a good heart!
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The Timberwolves have made a number of player moves this off season and will be a completely different team and hope to soon add a new coach. It will be a National Basketball Association team makeover and it won’t come without some hard feelings.

It seems that there was good reason for Kevin McHale, the old GM and Coach, to hit the road or none of this makeover would have happened.

Taylor told The Associated Press on Sunday that the financially motivated trades Kahn has made this summer that have jettisoned veterans Mike Miller, Randy Foye, Mark Madsen, Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair probably would not have sat well with former coach Kevin McHale, who brought all those players to Minnesota when he was the boss.

Kahn told McHale in June that he would not return to coach next season, but he refused to divulge his reasons for making the decision in a news conference after it was announced.

“It’s probably a little bit more obvious why he would have had trouble with Coach McHale,” Taylor said Sunday after a visit to Vikings training camp in his hometown of Mankato. “Some of those guys were really his favorite guys.
source

Rubbing Kevin McHale the wrong way is not the only remaining issue for the Minnesota Timberwolves and GM Taylor. Not only do the Timberwolves need a coach, now that McHale is gone, but they also have the Ricky Rubio situation to deal with.

Kevin McHale is gone and the Timberwolves move on

Ricky Rubio wants to play for Minnesota and who knows why, but he does, but he is still under contract to his team in Europe. NBA rules prevent Minnesota from being able to pay enough money to get Rubio out of his contract.

Maybe this year we find out if this is a different Timberwolves team in the post McHale era.

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One shining night Kevin McHale put up 56 points on my beloved Detroit Pistons. Well, it was one shining moment for Kevin and the Celtics. The man was unstoppable. He had a step under move that was brilliant and a turn and fade that could not be blocked and with Big Chief Parrish and Bird surrounding him up front, you could not double him.

The Pistons know this to be true, because on that night they tripled him. Did not matter. 56 big ones.

Kevin McHale was one of the greatest power forwards to play in the NBA

Kevin went from success on the hard court as a player to not much success as a General Manager of the T-Wolves. He just never could get the players he wanted and could never get a major superstar to move to Minnesota. Finally the T-Wolves have had enough.

McHale said the two in their meetings discussed the team’s roster, which McHale had re-assembled after he traded superstar Kevin Garnett away two summers ago, and began making calls to former NBA head coaches to find McHale a No. 1 assistant coach, but never received a job offer.

“We were talking about me coming back and at some point you’d think a contract (offer) would be made,” McHale said. “It was very noncommittal on everything.”
source

Kevin leaves a team with minor star Al Jefferson and not much else. Good Luck, Timberwolves!

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Kevin McHale long ago traded in the short shorts for the suit and tie. He was better in short shorts.

Kevin McHale fired Coach Randy Wittman and hired Kevin McHale. My, it is good to be the boss.

Why was Randy Wittman fired? Kevin says the team was off to a slow start and the team was not delivering on defense, as was pledged.

Uhh, what? Are you kidding me?

The young team is 4-15 and has not responded to Wittman’s demands for tough defense and consistent effort. The Timberwolves are in the midst of a five-game losing streak in which the average margin of defeat has been nearly 17 points.

“There were certain goals and expectations that we had for this team at the start of the season, and we have not lived up to them,” Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said in a statement.

“I am disappointed in our record and believe that we have more talent than our record indicates. A change had to be made and with three-fourths of the season remaining, there is still time to make substantial progress this year,” he added.

source

Ok, ok, just let me stop laughing here and make a comment.

Here is the starting lineup: Foye, Miller, Gomes, Jefferson, and Collins

Now let’s remove Al Jefferson, whom most people don’t know anyway and what do you have? Maybe a top flight CBA team?

So if Kevin McHale was in charge of getting the players and he did not get any beside big Al, shouldn’t Kevin be fired?

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Robert Parish joined Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in the Original Big 3

Image details: Boston Celtics served by picapp.com

You knew this was coming. The comparisons of this great Celtic team with the Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish big 3 of 1986.

In my mind, feeble as it is, the 1986 team was awesome. They would kick the tail of this current team. Now that is just my opinion and literally means nothing really. The 1986 team ended up winning a lot of titles. Maybe it would be fairer to see if this current Celtic team can win any more titles, before we start making wild comparisons.

Still…Mike Freeman at CBSSports.com is going with the current team.

Speed and athleticism and speed. And did I mention speed?

Speed is the reason why if you took almost any championship team in any sport and matched it against ancient predecessors, the more modern group would usually win. Belichick’s Patriots would beat Lombardi’s Packers. The athleticism of the Shaquille O’Neal-Ko-Me Bryant Lakers would beat Magic’s version.

source

Ok, the problem to start with is that modern training methods have produced superior athletes and no one argues that. Kind of makes most comparisons unfair. Mike has a point here, but he did not stop there.

Let’s begin with Bird. In this game, Pierce would guard Bird and Bird would eat him alive. Because he’s, well, Bird.

Pierce, however, on offense would reciprocate the beating. Bird might drop 40 but Pierce might score 30 to 35 points of his own on Bird. Pierce wouldn’t be able to defend Bird and Bird wouldn’t be able to defend the stronger Pierce. It’d be a wash.

Pierce may have the muscle tone of 14-year-old debutante, but he is quicker than most people give him credit. He’s definitely quicker than Bird.

The next matchup is where the speed and athleticism difference would be far more visible. Garnett and McHale would face one another and Garnett would deliver a weapons-grade ass-kicking.

Garnett’s speed would be the difference. You don’t understand how quick Garnett is for his size until you see him in person. It’s astounding.

McHale’s only chance is that he could coax Garnett into foul trouble.

This is where you will get some argument. Larry was not a great defender, but a clever one and he was a big boy. Man, my mind is stuffed with images of Larry Bird drilling shots from the corner like they were nothing and then if you went out to defend him, he just blew by you. Pierce is not putting 35 points up on Bird, because the Celtics played team defense. Pierce would meet the hammer of McHale if he drove to the hole. The Original Big 3 played a physical brand of ball.

Speaking of McHale there is this image of him putting up 50 on my Pistons. Kevin was unstoppable in the low post. Garnett is too thin to have stopped McHale down low. This isn’t Pau Gasol we are talking about.

And what is this Johnson stuff? Parish, the Chief, was the 3 of the big 3. Robert would eat Kendrick Perkins alive. Parish had this move in the paint where he took steps on his tippy toes every time, but it was his signature move so no ref ever called it. When he shot the ball it was high over his head. Unblockable.

As for Ainge and Johnson, they were both shooters and passers to the postup players. Both of them very disciplined. You had to play them honest.

Hey, let’s not take away from the 2008 NBA Champions. Today’s Celtics are great, but, please; do not tarnish the Original Big 3.

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Danny Ainge can’t help but be happy these days

Who can forget all the epic battles with the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston had an unbelievable starting lineup with Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge complementing the big three of Robert Big Chief Parish, Kevin McHale, and Larry Bird.

When my Pistons played them, it was pick your poison. Stop Parish, McHale and Bird would score. Stop McHale, Parish and Bird would score. Stop B…well, you never really stopped Larry Bird.

NBA Basketball Robert Parish factoid Did you know that Robert Parish played in 1,611 NBA games? More than any other NBA player.

Now there is a new trio in town with some connections to the old group. Kevin McHale pulled the trigger on the trade that sent Kevin Garnett to Boston. Danny Ainge is the GM in Boston and also picked up Ray Allen in another off season trade. Larry is still around as well, as GM of the Pacers.

Paul Pierce talked about what is was like to have other superstars on the team.

“For me, it’s just interesting to be around these guys who’ve been in the same situation as me, carrying franchises for a long period of time and even at this point in their careers, just checking out how they go about their everyday approach and what they do to get better,” Pierce said, one day before the team left for training camp in Italy. “That’s what I’m learning.” source

It still begs the question as to how well the 3 players will mesh with each other and mesh with the team. That question inevitably draws comparison to the original big three, but Kevin Garnett was quick to point out the difference.

I know the (phrase) we’re using around Boston is the “Big Three” but honestly I don’t like that because McHale, Parish and Bird were the big three so we need to come up with another (phrase),” Rivers said. “I clearly know there’s work to do, and we’ve done nothing.”

But from ownership, management and coaches, all the way down to the players and locker room staff, nothing short of reaching the NBA Finals will satisfy the expectations.

You also can not discount their age. Kevin Garnett is 31, but has 12 pro seasons behind him, because he started playing right out of high school. This kind of works like dog years and 12 seasons makes you more like 34 or 35. Your knees and ankles can take only so much pounding.

Ray Allen is 32 with 11 years as a pro. Paul Pierce is 30 with 9 years of experience.

Will age work against them? Will they try to do too much and get injured?

Another factor is how well they will mesh together as a team. The original big three constantly looked for mismatches or the hot scorer. If those weren’t present then Larry Bird would find a way to score.

How will this team do it?

“The thing the three of us share is the (experience) of carrying teams, and it feels good to have help, to be honest, and to know that you’re not always front and center,” Garnett said. “I’m going to bring to the table what I bring, but it’s great to know that you’ve got two other guys with experience and know-how along with the experience in the regular games and playoffs.”

Doc Rivers will need to bring his best coaching job to the table.

It is easy to talk unselfish and another thing to perform it night after night.

Boston fans have to be excited about the possibilities and expectations could not be higher. Some fans and writers talk as if anything less than playing in the NBA Championship game would be a let down.

There is a very good chance for them to get there.

But as fans, we should be very happy to watch these three play and grow together and certainly there will be tough times, but also nights where it is just lights out and an easy victory for Boston.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will all three stay happy?

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Kevin dreaming of the NBA Championship!

Kevin Garnett toiled with the Timberwolves for a very long time. Since 1995, Kevin had worked and worked to bring a NBA Championship to the city of Minnesota.

Unfortunately the Timberwolves, managed by former University of Minnesota and Boston Celtic star Kevin McHale, could not surround Kevin with enough talent to get the job done.

Kevin McHale had drafted Kevin Garnett right out of high school and from 1995 to 2007 Garnett averaged over 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Finally, with Garnett facing free agency and Minnesota knowing he was going to leave and play where he had the best chance of winning a championship, they made a deal with the Celtics.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have acquired 10-time All-Star and 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 first round draft pick (top three protected) and a return of Minnesota’s conditional first round draft pick previously obtained in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade. Minnesota also receives cash considerations in the deal. source

Now Kevin finds himself matched up with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The three of them are elder statesman in the NBA, hungry to feel that championship feeling.

Usually you should check to see if a team has 2 star players, one primary star and one secondary star. This is the usual formula for the NBA. Of course, exceptions abound.

The Celtics will be able to bring 3 stars to the party.

The first preseason game was played in Europe. So how did our 3 stars perform?

Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 16 rebounds in his Celtics debut, and Boston ruined Andrea Bargnani’s homecoming with an 89-85 preseason victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

Paul Pierce added 21 points for Boston, while Ray Allenhad an off night with only 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting.The start of the NBA Europe Live tour marked the Celtics’ first game since Garnett and Allen joined the team, creating a “Big 3″ with Boston veteran Pierce. source

The question remains, will the 3 stars hungry for a title be able to get the job done or will age and selfishness prevent them from accomplishing their goal?

Kevin is known as an unselfish player and that may help, but beyond that so much is unknown.

They will need to develop some chemistry to win the really big games.

So what is going to happen?

Who can tell, it is a long journey to the title.

With Kevin Garnett the journey has just begun.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Kevin get his title?

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