Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
VS: Are there any teams out there that you have an eye on, that pique your interest?
KG: …Obviously I’m gonna be with Minnesota and the players. Not so much upstairs. I don’t really deal with Minnesota’s upstairs. They suck. But Boston, all day. You know I’m a C ‘till I die.
Vice Sports – A Q&A with Kevin Garnett
If there’s a Celtics fan who has ever said a bad word about Kevin Garnett, I haven’t heard it. KG is universally beloved by Green Nation, and in this interview he declared that he loves us back. Not bad, considering Danny Ainge traded him.
I really hope KG’s no. 5 is raised to the rafters someday soon. You might say he wasn’t here long enough, or didn’t accomplish what some others have. (You might also say there are too many retired numbers already, but that’s an argument for another day.) But the fact is the retired-numbers tradition honors not just the greatest players, but also those who’ve built a special relationship with the fans and the franchise. No one can deny KG fits that description.
Garnett went on to elaborate about his Celtics pride, and shared his expectations for this season’s squad:
KG: As part of Celtic tradition and being part of Celtic history, I’m very prideful sitting back and watching what they do, and more importantly how they play. If you watch Celtics basketball over the years, it’s just very consistent with how Brad has his team with the history of how Red and how Doc and how coaches have come in and tried to have the same consistency throughout. It doesn’t shock me when you know Brad Stevens’s system and his pedigree, where he comes from. It doesn’t shock you. But when you see how they’ve rallied around Hayward’s injury and been able to put games together, hell yeah they’re gonna be a force to be reckoned with in the end, and I think it’s gonna be Cleveland and Boston in the Conference Finals to be able to dictate who represents the East. And I think it’s gonna be one to where it’s unprecedented. And I don’t think we can all guess. I think it’s just gonna be one where we gotta sit back and enjoy it.
As for KG’s prediction about the Celtics’ season? I think the kids would call it real recognize real. And we should take his word for it.
Related: NBC Sports Boston – Garnett: Celtics are ‘a force to be reckoned with’
On Page 2: DA talks about MM and the DPE
Two of the most talked-about current topics among Celtics fans are the Morris knee injury and the Disabled Player Exception that the Celtics received from the league after Gordon Hayward’s injury. Danny Ainge spoke about both yesterday.
“We’re still working on a timetable,” Ainge said Thursday during his weekly radio interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich show. “But I think Marcus is going to be playing periodically. I don’t think he’s, like, shut down for a long period of time. But I anticipate Marcus — well, you know what, I probably shouldn’t even say because we’re in the process of developing an actual day-by-day plan over the next month or so. But I do anticipate him playing some through this process. And how much that is, I’m not quite sure yet.”
[…]
“And the reason why we haven’t used it is we really need to be careful with it because we don’t know what injuries may happen over this next stretch, and that could be really important for us heading into the late season and into playoffs, and if our roster changes because of somebody’s not healthy at a particular position. As our roster currently stands, there’s one position that I think I would fill the need, and if we had an injury somewhere else along the road, it would be some other position. And on top of that there’s really nothing that’s come up that we’ve really been thrilled with.”
I think all of this is Danny-speak. He says a lot of words that don’t mean much. Regarding Morris, as far as I know, we don’t have specifics about what the knee problem actually is. Therefore, it’s hard to tell what to expect. Predicting that Morris will play “periodically” doesn’t seem any different than what we have now, which is uncertainty about when Morris will be in or out. I just don’t see how “a plan” will change that. But I’m not a doctor, athletic trainer, general manager or coach, so take that with a grain of salt.
We can be more sure about how the DPE will play out. That is, we’ll analyze and research and speculate about all the potential scenarios, and they will all be wrong. Ainge will pull something out of his hat that no one will see coming, just like he’s done so many times before. For examples of major moves that no one predicted, see: the Perkins trade, the Brad hiring, the Brooklyn trade, the IT trade, the no. 1 draft pick trade, signings of little-known but productive players such as Theis and Larkin, and on and on.
Related: CBS Boston – Danny Ainge Says Marcus Morris Will Play ‘Periodically’ While Injured | NESN – Danny Ainge Has No Idea Why LaVar Ball Moved Sons To Lithuania, Either
And, finally: Respect
For anyone who thinks Larry Bird was no more of a player than Doug McDermott (and those people exist!), they could learn something from LeBron. Listen to what he said last night about Larry Legend.
LeBron, the basketball historian, discusses Larry Bird, who he tied tonight with 59 career triple-doubles. #Cavs pic.twitter.com/DwUvIwUWrz
— clevelanddotcom Cavs (@PDcavsinsider) December 15, 2017
The Rest of the Links:
Providence Journal – Ugly loss to Bulls fueled Celtics’ impressive rebound
NBC Sports Boston – Celtics lift spirits, and get theirs lifted, in visit to Boston Children’s Hospital
Deseret News – Joe Johnson to return vs. Celtics organization which drafted him in 2001
NBA.com – NBA All-Star Voting 2018
NESN – Kyrie Irving Shares New Shoe, Delivers Awesome Message With It On Instagram
Herald – Celtics guard Shane Larkin knows his role as spark off bench | Celtics bring holiday cheer to kids at Boston Children’s Hospital
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