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.”
source

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!
Photo source Newscom

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Pau Gasol brings scoring to the Lakers

The Lakers essentially traded less than nothing to the Lakers for Pau Gasol.

In an unbelievable pickup the Lakers are right back in the hunt for the NBA Championship.

Wait a minute, is Pau that good?

No, but that is the beauty of it all, Pau Gasol does not have to be that good.

Right now he is a fill in for Andrew Bynum. When Bynum gets back you have a Pau Gasol that can put up points in the triangle offense, get some rebounds, give the Lakers more length, and present a mismatch on the floor at all times.

Have you ever seen this guy play?

He has a funky release on his jump shot, but it consistently goes in. Pau can knock down mid-range after mid-range jump shot with that funky release.

Other GM’s in the league are shaking their heads.

Around the league, the reaction of executives and coaches was unanimous: What a nightmare for us. When reached with the news, one Western Conference executive said simply, “Are you kidding? (Expletive) me.” source

They just realized that you will not get Kobe in a trade from the Lakers, he is going nowhere now and that the Lakers are for real. Suddenly Lamar Odom is a distant fourth option on this team.

Kobe celebrated by putting up 47 points on the Raptors.

David Stern

Think of the wild thoughts going through the Commissioner’s head right now. He has the golden memories of all those Boston LA series with Larry Bird of the Big Three vs. Magic Johnson and Kareem Jabbar.

Now, Stern is thinking Kevin Garnett of the Big Three (Ray Allen, Paul Pierce) vs. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.

Stern is smart enough to see he role the Pau plays in this and also to see the immense marketing dollars.

Funny how a single trade of a guy that no one was talking about can change things so quickly.

As for Memphis? They are just unloading salary and cleaning house. They are pathetic and know it. Time to start over.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Has Mitch Kupchak delivered?

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Man, oh man. What is Isiah thinking now? He talks about winning championships in New York. He talks about staying and winning with some of the guys he has now.

What is he thinking?

Now as a long time Piston fan there is a soft spot in my heart for Isiah. He came to the Pistons as a small guard leaving Indiana early. He talked about winning championships. Isiah won championships.

Almost immediately he made the team better back then. He was full of fire and felt unstoppable. Every year he added something to his game.

As better players surrounded him, he played even better and took over the leadership role of the team backed by Bill Laimbeer.

Now with the New York Knicks, Isiah is still talking Championships.

I believe in (the team) and I believe that this is also the time that you can make serious mistakes with your roster that could set you back another three, four years,” Thomas said. “We have good talent, we have good players, we have young players.

“We have a good nucleus and we just (need) them to play well together. It’s not about breaking them up or tearing them down, it’s about getting them to play better as a team.” source

Do we believe him?

Thrown out

Remember, the Pistons Bill Davidson, the owner, threw him out. Later his backcourt mate, Joe Dumars got the GM job of the Pistons and turned them back into a powerhouse.

Remember that arch rival Larry Bird threw him out. Larry is the GM of Indiana and Isiah was the coach.

How can James Dolan, the GM at New York not throw him out.

Train wreck

Isiah has consistently picked up overrated selfish players, including my all time favorite Stephon Marbury, who admits he plays for the money! Then he overpays them!

The team is a wreck heading for a bigger wreck.

But do we believe him?

That must be the question that haunts James Dolan, because Isiah is still there. Still going at it.

To hear Isiah is the hear the same contagious confidence he displayed in Indiana and in Detroit.

Plenty of New Yorkers would disagree. Fans routinely chant for Thomas to be fired during Knicks games, and last month a group held a giant pink slip during a rally to express those wishes.

But Thomas said he wants to be remembered in New York as he is in Detroit, where he led the Pistons to two NBA championships during a Hall of Fame playing career.

“I don’t necessarily just want to win a championship. I want to leave something that’s going to stand for a long time. I want to leave a legacy, I want to leave tradition,” Thomas said. “I want to leave an imprint, a blueprint in terms of how people play, and how they coach and how they respond when they put on the Knick uniform.

But do we believe him?

NBA Basketball Fan Question How is Isiah keeping his job?

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Who was that masked man?

Boston continues to roll, just stocking up on victories left and right. The Celtics are also getting all the pub that goes with it.

Geez, Garnett is even leading LeBron James in the All Star voting! There are not any Pistons even close in the voting.

And then there is the Big Three thing with Garnett, Allen, and Pierce, as they hope to imitate some of the success of the real Big Three of Bird, McHale, and Parish.

All of this kind of leaves the Pistons lurking in the shadows.

If you happened to catch the Pistons playing the Celtics in Beantown the other week, you witnessed a playoff style game with the Pistons pulling it out in the end. In other words both teams were really trying the whole game.

Now the Pistons are putting on an impressive streak of games and the NBA better look up and take notice, because the Pistons are taking no prisoners.

The Pistons continued their roll, crushing the Nets, 101-83, on Wednesday night. It was their sixth straight win, their 13th out of the last 15 and their sixth straight over New Jersey. source

Without any of those first team all stars, the Pistons rely on different players on different nights always looking for the mismatch and always staying in the team concept.

“We got cooking,” Billups said. “We were getting the shots we wanted. Our defense picked up in the third quarter and our shots were going in — that’s a deadly combination.”

Hamilton, who averaged 23 points against the Nets (12-16) in the Pistons’ previous five wins, hit all five of his shots in the third. The Pistons’ 31 points in the quarter came from Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, McDyess and Billups.

“I was going good, and the guys were finding me,” Hamilton said. “They were getting me shots in rhythm. It’s always fun to play against New Jersey. I consider them one of my hometown teams, coming from Philly.”

Even Lawrence Frank, coach of the Nets is impressed.

“Detroit is one of the better teams in the league,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “It solidifies that we have to keep on working to get better. Look at their record against us; they are playing better than us. But it’s a long season and we are going to keep on grinding.”

So secretly the Pistons are looking great as usual and staying under the radar.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Have you noticed the Pistons?

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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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Hey you, sort of star, will you play with me?

Jermaine was under the tutelage of Rasheed Wallace when he played on the Portland Trailblazers, at the beginning of the Jailblazer time period. During those 4 years he barely played and barely scored, but everyone knew he would be a good one. Jermaine was drafted straight out of High School. The next 7 years with the Pacers established Jermaine as a rare 20 – 10 man as he averaged close to 20 points and 10 rebounds.

There is still a bitter taste in O’Neal’s mouth, because he never won a title. Some of those teams with Reggie Miller were pretty good teams, but always ran into someone like the Pistons and were stopped. The Pistons had Rasheed and he had the uncanny knack of shutting down Jermaine at all the right times.

Eventually, Reggie left and then there was Ron Artest and the Malice at the Palace with the Pistons. From there it has been all down hill.

So, just like Kobe, and just like Gilbert Arenas, Jermaine wants to win. He wants to be surrounded by some better players.

Last year the team finally got fed up with Rick Carlisle and his deliberate style of play. It is not that Rick can’t coach, it is more like Rick likes to control every second often calling every single play from the bench. After a while, NBA teams tend to tune him out and that happened to the Pacers last year.

Jermaine asked Larry Bird to get him better players.

Pacers GM Larry Bird wanted Marcus Williams, but the Nets wouldn’t part with the young point guard as part of a package with Richard Jefferson and Nenad Krstic. Bird wanted Andrew Bynum, but the Lakers were willing only to give back Lamar Odom.

So nothing happened and O’Neal seethed through summer. There was a strange episode with reporters in Los Angeles where his words about wanting out of town, he still says, “were edited way out of context.” The Pacers hired Jim O’Brien, and he kept hearing about running the ball and shooting three-pointers and wondered how that was building around him in the middle. He watched the Pacers sign a Lithuanian League MVP, Kareem Rush, and an Orlando bench-warmer, Travis Diener, and wondered who are these guys? source

Let’s see Rush and Diener. Uhh, a Championship that will not deliver. Come on, Larry. Jermaine needs players.

Jermaine O’Neal, known as the other O’Neal, is taking it well.

Give O’Neal this: He isn’t pouting. For now, he’s trying hard to make this work. Maybe it’ll never work here. People have the Pacers pegged as a lottery team, but O’Neal, 29, is trying his best to play the part of the franchise player. This offense, he tells you, will work for him. No longer are the Pacers asking him to grind in the low post every possession because, as he said, “That’s hard on your body over an 82-game season.” O’Brien wants to use O’Neal’s ability to pass the ball, wants to spread the defense with those shooters, and get him the ball in different spots.

So maybe Jermaine gets to show off more skills this year and make himself more attractive for a trade or if he walks away. His contract will allow it. Right now he is thinking he is a Pacer.

“People are going to talk (about me leaving) because No. 1, I do have an opt (out) in my contract, and people think I’ll opt out next year if the team isn’t doing well,” he said. “But I don’t believe we will be struggling, because of our philosophy and the type of coaching we have this year.

“It is a possibility that I’m going to be traded but … I told the guys that this is where I’m at, where I want to be, and I’m going to play hard every night.”

Jermaine is not acting like Kobe (a jerk), but the objective is the same. Jermaine O’Neal wants to show his skills on the highest stage around, the NBA Championship.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Pacers deal Jermaine?

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