Maybe you have missed the big news about the economy? It is becoming more apparent that the whole crash thing with the banks and the stock market was all a hoax or maybe it has run its course, because money is floating around everywhere. Boston just floated a whole boat load of money over to Rajon Rondo to keep him from becoming a restricted free agent in the upcoming blockbuster free agent market of next year.

League sources said the extension is for five years and guarantees Rondo at least $55 million. With the two sides facing a Monday deadline to get a deal done, Duffy said he called Celtics president Danny Ainge on Sunday to inform him Rondo was prepared to play out his contract and become a restricted free agent next summer because they weren’t satisfied with the team’s previous offers. Ainge, however, surprised Duffy by responding that Rondo’s contract hopes would be met.

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Rajon is on an old Boston team where the 4 All Star players are all over 30. That would include Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and the newly picked up Rasheed Wallace. Rajon is not only young, but gives the speed to a team that needs speed.

Rajon is rich!

The money is also being floated to other players and hopefully you will get your share, but you have to have a jump shot or something.

Rondo’s new deal averages $11 million a season, the same amount San Antonio Spurs All-Star point guard Tony Parker(notes) earned when he signed a six-year, $66 million extension to his rookie contract in 2004. Among members of Rondo’s 2006 rookie class, Portland Trail Blazers All-Star guard Brandon Roy received a five-year, $80 million contract extension. The Blazers also gave forward LaMarcus Aldridge a five-year, $65 million extension.

You have to wonder how expensive seats will have to stay at the NBA games to support these salaries, while the rest of us are taking layoffs, furlough days, and pay cuts.

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This is it for all the marbles, the opener for Boston and Cleveland and a matchup that may well decide the Eastern Conference Championship. Not that this particular game will settle anything except, the losing team will not go undefeated. Still the NBA, in its usual sharp marketing way, decided to match the two super powers up right away.

Many NBA fans do not even pay attention until the NFL has reached playoff time in January making it difficult if not impossible to pull in a full contingent of fans this soon in the season, let alone to get those same fans to even care to any degree.

LeBron is on a roll with 4 minutes to go he already has 31 points. Shaq is checking in with 10 points and 7 boards, but it is not enough as the 3 amigos are all in double figures for scoring and Boston leads 83 – 79.

The key for Boston this year may well be the play of rabbit fast Rajon Rondo and how well he can direct the team and still provide scoring when any of the big 3 has an off night.

Rajon Rondo is one of the Celtic keys

The key to Cleveland winning may well be how well Shaq meshes into the offensive schemes of Cleveland and whether he can draw double teams to take any pressure off of LeBron.

Two minutes left Boston 87 – 82.

The game is being played in Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, although lately they have not been making a lot of loans.

Final 95 – 89

LeBron 38 points 8 assists 4 rebounds. Shaq 10 and 10. Pierce 23 and 11. Rondo 16 points.
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If you go back in time to the 2006 – 07 season for the Boston Celtics and you have a team in disarray struggling to gain 24 victories. They had a team of individuals with such players as Michael Olowokandi and Sebastion Telfair. They were headed nowhere. There was even an Allen Ray, instead of a Ray Allen.

Paul Pierce was moody and despondent to say the least and often took his seat at the far end of the bench to be alone with his thoughts.

Now fast forward to today and envision a team with probably the strongest lineup from top to bottom in the NBA. Now you have Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rasheed Wallace, Rajon Rondo, a grown up Kendrick Perkins, Marquise Daniels and more.

Paul Pierce is ready to battle!

Paul Pierce now finds himself with a perpetual smile.

So he’s drinking up every second now.

“When you get to play on this kind of team, you cherish it,” he recently said. “You don’t take these moments for granted, playing with guys like Kevin (Garnett) and Rasheed (Wallace), future Hall of Famers. You know, I cherish these moments because not a lot of people get that opportunity. I thought I’d never get that opportunity.

“It’s always disappointing when you lose a lot of ballgames. You wake up in the morning, and you know your team is 15 games out of the playoffs. The thing about me is that I’m always motivated because I love the game of basketball.

“I love the game so much that it rarely got me down when I was out there playing on the court. I take pride in that. I’m a competitor. I play this game to win. If you don’t play to win, then what are you playing for? Some guys play for the lifestyle, and a lot of those guys don’t last. Me, I’ve always played to try to win.
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Paul is loving it and so are his teammates, so much so that they showed up early for practice this year even though Coach Rivers told them to take it easy. Everyone is having so much fun, because winning is fun and they know they are going to win. The only question is how much will they win. They have set their sights on the NBA championship and anything less will not be satisfying.

It has been 12 years, 12 long years for Paul Pierce, but it could not be any better, now it is a battle for the NBA Championship every year. It might be a while before that smile leaves Paul’s face.

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Stephon Marbury, the man that had the Starbury shoes, has decided to take off the shoes for one year and just sit. Well, he is going to do more than sit, because he plans to build up his empire even more. So as a business decision, he will not take the 1.2 million to go back and play for the Boston Celtics.

Business decision as in no other team really wanted a selfish old point guard.

Hey, you are picking on one of my all time favorite players, ranking right up there with Adrian Dantley, not only in talent, but in court selfishness. Stephon once said in an article in Sports Illustrated, back when we all read magazines, that he only played for the money. That is the guy for my team all right.

Adrian Dantley often would take the rock and ask you to just watch as he went 1 on 5 and scored or got fouled. It was amazing, but after a while all your team could do was stand around.

Stephon Marbury is always good for a quote or two and had this to say about the Knicks, where bad blood still exists.

“I’m just talking as a fan and New Yorker who grew up loving the Knicks: Why would I give you my money to watch them?” Marbury said, according to the Post. “This is atrocious. Guys coming down court, just raising up 3-pointers from anywhere. The coaching is horrible. What kind of coaching is this?”

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LeBron James will not sign with the Knicks

Oh, and the LeBron opinion had to do with the Knicks as well. Stephon claims that there is no way that LeBron is going to sign with the Knicks. They are in a rebuilding phase, so why would he sign with them?

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Rasheed Wallace was never one to shy away from making bold statements. When he was a Detroit Piston there were a few playoff games where Rasheed Guaran-Sheed a victory. Usually the Guaran-shee came true, but not always.

Now before you get all huffy about Rasheed keep in mind that players like Rasheed help the attitude of your team. You need a player that is so fearless, so tough, so outspoken, with a dash of bad boy to them to put down the other team and trivialize their chances. This takes away the fear in your teammate’s eyes and replaces it with an attitude of “Hey, if Rasheed says they are punks then they must be punks!”

Rasheed will need to throttle LeBron for the Celtics to be the best!

This time Rasheed must have been hanging around Jon Kitna of the Lions will win 12 games fame. This time Rasheed has predicted that the Celtics will be the all time greatest team with the all time greatest record.

The depth of Celtic belief in themselves started to be revealed in that Media Day interview with Celtic owner Wyc Grousbeck. He revealed one interesting thing about that private meeting with Rasheed. Wyc said that Kevin Garnett told Rasheed that if he came to the Celtics they could ‘be one of the greatest teams ever.’ That is correct. One of the greatest teams…ever.

A throw away line? Maybe. Until Doc goes on NBATV and says that he wants this Celtic team ‘to be in the conversation’ as one of the…. greatest defensive teams in NBA history. No wait. Make that in sports history. And he said he was serious.

So a season’s quest to reclaim a lost title just became more than that. It is a quest for a special place in sports history. Not just the basketball and not just the NBA. Doc Rivers said that they want to be considered as the 1985 Chicago Bears are for football, as the greatest defensive team (in Doc’s opinion)…ever. Or are at least in that conversation.

For the record, the Chicago Bears that year set a few Super Bowl records. Wiki….

“The Bears set Super Bowl records for sacks (7) and fewest rushing yards allowed (7). The Bears’ 36-point margin over the Patriots was a Super Bowl record until Super Bowl XXIV (45). The Patriots were held to negative yardage (-19) throughout the entire first half, and just 123 total yards in the entire game, the second lowest total in Super Bowl history.”
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Now there are two things wrong with all this.
1. Are you kidding me? That is Michael Freaking Jordan you are talking about.
2. Rasheed often opens his mouth and words come out that don’t mean anything. So many things would have to go right for them to be better than Michael’s team that it ain’t even funny.

But then Rasheed did Guaran-sheed it, didn’t he?

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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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If there is a deeper team in all of basketball, then they automatically deserve the NBA title, because the Boston Celtics are super deep.

Now the Celtics have signed Marquise Daniels, the former Indiana Pacer.

Daniels is coming off the best of his six seasons, averaging career highs of 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in 54 games with the Indiana Pacers, 43 of them starts.

The 28-year-old Daniels spent three seasons with Dallas before moving to Indiana. For his career, he is averaging 9.4 points in 351 games, including 109 starts.
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Marquise is 6′6″ tall and can play the big guard position. Yeah, Boston was lacking at the big guard backup position. Like they actually lack at any position.

Check out this lineup:
You have Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen at the guard positions.
You have Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett at the forward positions.
You have Kendrick Perkins playing center.

Kevin Garnett is looking forward to playing with Marquis Daniels

That alone would be enough, but check out these backups:
You have Eddie House, the 3 point shooter, and Tony Allen, and now Marquise Daniels at the backup guard position.
You have Brian Scalabrine and Glen Davis at backup forward.
Then you can top it off with Rasheed Wallace at center.

Maybe the toughest thing all year will be to decide who plays in the 4th quarter with the game on the line. So how good is Boston? Well, the Boston Globe reports that Marquise Daniels turned down more money from other teams to play for the Celtics with the belief that they can win the NBA Title.
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The National Basketball Association, run by Commissioner David Stern, really knows how to do it right. They will open the season on October 27th. According to the calendar on my computer that is a Tuesday, so maybe they don’t have everything perfect.

To start the season off with a bang the league has 4 games on that day including the San Diego Griffins…er Los Angeles Clippers vs. the Los Angeles Lakers. That would be L.A. vs. L.A. on TNT. (Which brings to mind, how can the NBA have two L.A. teams and the NFL has zero?) That game should be a fun one and a great introduction into the league for Blake.

The Lakers will make a total of 25 appearances throughout the season on TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV, including both regular-season games against the NBA Finals runner-up Orlando Magic (Jan. 18 in Los Angeles, March 7 in Orlando).

Five games will be shown Christmas Day, starting at noon ET with the Miami Heat at the New York Knicks (ESPN); the Boston Celtics at the Magic (ABC); the Cavaliers at the Lakers (ABC); the Clippers at the Phoenix Suns (ESPN) and the Denver Nuggets at the Portland Trail Blazers (ESPN).

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Now if you want to catch a real game make sure you tune in earlier to the marquee matchup of the Boston Celtics with Kevin Garnett back and the Cleveland Cavaliers with the LeBron Tour before he leaves for the highest bidder.

LeBron James will open against the

This year the All Star game will be on February 14th, and hey, that sounds suspiciously like Valentine’s Day. How are we going to watch that game? Anyway that game will be held in the new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys. Should be cool!

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The Boston Celtics missed out on going to the Finals last year and they were not even close, mostly because Kevin Garnett was injured. Along the way, they found out that Glen “Big Baby” Davis can play some ball and the Celtics decided to keep him. He just takes up a lot of space in the lane and causes matchup problems for the opposition.

Now after a bitter contract dispute, he is finally in house and signed.

Davis’ signing was announced today at a press conference at the team’s practice facility in Waltham. A league source said the deal is for two years and $6.3 million, with $3 million due next year. The signing of free agent Shelden Williams was also announced.

“It’s been tough,” Davis said of the uncertainty of the offseason. “I think the most important thing that I got out of it is that it’s about becoming the best player you can be. That’s basically what I’ve gotten out of it and making sure that I develop myself into the player the Celtics want me to be. I feel like I’ve grown up so much this whole summer – just being a professional and just being an adult.”
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The Celtics have to be excited with the additions of Sheldon Williams, Rasheed Wallace, and the return of Kevin Garnett, Glenn Davis, and Kendrick Perkins. It gives them all kinds of different looks up front with post up players, long range shooters, and slashers that can guard all kinds of big guys and defend the post.

Kevin Garnett may get another trophy with Glen Davis helping him out

You almost have to put the Celtics back on top of the Eastern Conference with the latest Celtic signing of Big Baby Davis. Look for the Celtics to be the favorites to play the Lakers in the NBA title game.

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Just how many old guys can the Celtics stock up on? Let’s see they have Grandpa Kevin Garnett, age 33 with 14 years in the league. Then there is Grandpa Paul Pierce, age 32 with 11 years in the league. Then there is Grandpa Ray Allen, whom they shopped around this winter, but nobody wanted a 3 point shooter that used a walker, soon to be age 34 with 13 years in the league. (Stats from NBA.com)

Now they reach for the geritol and sign Rasheed ‘Technical waiting to happen’ Wallace, age 35 in September with 14 years in the league.

Sure the Celtics won a title two years ago, because for some unknown reason nobody got injured. Last year was more reality than fantasy as Kevin Garnett was injured.

Unfortunately it is a fact of life for Hoop Stars in the NBA that age limits your jumping ability, your quickness, your hops (ability to jump fast), and leaves you more injury prone. Good Luck Boston on picking up an aging brooding Rasheed Wallace.

How will Rasheed Wallace get along in Boston?

Rasheed will always be remembered affectionately in Detroit for being a great teammate and delivering the 2004 title. Thank You, Rasheed.

And with Rasheed Wallace severing ties with the Pistons on Sunday by giving an oral commitment to sign with Eastern Conference rival Boston, the soul has left the building as well.
Multiple media outlets reported that Wallace, 35, agreed to the mid-level exception for $5.8 million per season, and it’s believed to be for two seasons.
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