Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Teague will wear No. 55, which was not used last season.
This number most recently was worn by Greg Monroe during the 2018-19 season. It has been worn by 11 players in team history, including Jordan Mickey, E’Twaun Moore, Luke Harangody, Wally Szczerbiak and Eric Williams, among others.
Thompson will wear No. 13 — most recently worn by Marcus Morris from 2017-18 through 2018-19. It also was not used last season.
This number has been worn by 19 players in Boston, including James Young, Shelden Williams, Gabe Pruitt, Delonte West, Dana Barros, Todd Day, Charles Smith and several others. No. 13 was first worn by Red Wallace in 1947.
The Celtics have 23 retired numbers, but it’s a current player that bumped Teague up to 55 (oddly enough, Basketball-Reference.com says that Teague’s high school recruiting class ranking was 55). Jeff had worn 0 in the past, but that number hasn’t been retired….yet. Thompson gets to keep the #13 that he wore as a Cavalier.
I’m pleased by both of these signings.
Thompson is an interesting addition. On the one hand, he’s a Friend-Of-LeBron, a Rich Paul client, and romantically involved with a Kardashian, all of which have been harbingers of disruption and chaos in the past…
…But Thompson is by all accounts a pro’s pro. A solid guy to have in the locker room as well as a solid guy on the court.
Honestly, the fact that Ainge got two years of Thompson for roughly the same price as one year of Myles Turner is exactly the reason why I was opposed to taking back a lousy contract from Indiana in order to salvage ‘something’ from Hayward’s departure. “Something” is not always better than nothing.
Teague is another good get. I think he was woefully underutilized with Atlanta last season. As a bench sparkplug, I think he can get back into the double digits scoring.
The C’s still need a quality wing–unless Nesmith and Langford show some major progress over the regular season–and I think that’s what the Celtics would like to use the TPE for.
Page 2: Where 4-on-4s start today
Players can begin 4-on-4 workouts today — nothing from the NBA yet on when teams can go 5-on-5, though the Celtics play their first of two exhibition games on Dec. 15 in Philadelphia — and somewhere between now and Dec. 22 the first half of the schedule will be released.
For a coach who is obsessed with the mechanics of preparation, it couldn’t get any stranger for Brad Stevens.
“It’s a big challenge. And obviously everybody’s in a different boat,” Brad Stevens said on draft night. “I mean, there’s teams that haven’t played in nine months. There’s teams like us that got done less than two months ago.
The NBA is hell-bent on getting back to their July 1-June 30 fiscal year at once, and that means that training camp has started before the schedule has been released, and the full schedule is unlikely to be released at once.
It’s crazy, and is almost certainly going to get crazier for guys who draw salaries from the teams. And the crazy thing for us as fans is that these guys are all going to put in a ton of work over the next three weeks in order to start the regular season on the 22nd, but the product is probably going to suck. At least at first.
The Celtics, sans Kemba Walker and incorporating two or three new rotation players, are probably going to look a bit iffy when the season starts. The onus will be on all of us not to overreact. The playoffs are the only part of the basketball season that matters.
Even more than is usually the case, this year’s regular season is about generating revenue. That’s why the league is cramming 72 games into a season that starts two months later than usual. They want to get as much revenue as they possibly can, and they are quite willing to sacrifice the quality of the product–and possibly player health as well–in order to achieve those results.
Yes, owners and union reps will tell you, the allegedly gullible public, that they care about the quality of the games and player health. And you know what? They may even tell themselves that, but deep down inside, they know that they’re doing this for money. The union knows that pushing this schedule is probably going to lead directly–or indirectly–to player injuries. But they also know that player salaries are based on basketball-related revenue: If the teams aren’t playing games, they aren’t bringing in revenue and that revenue won’t go to players.
Finally: Do we deserve to have Evan Turner and Grant Williams on the same team?
The C's beat writers are fantastic, seriously. But I don't think that even they deserve to have @Grant2Will and @thekidet on the same team.
— Rich Jensen (@RichAJensen) January 21, 2020
The correct answer is no.
Not even Celtics fans deserve to have Evan Turner on the coaching staff and Grant Williams on the roster.
Evan Turner Quote Master List (reddit.com)
On the Hater life cycle- Jan 13th, 2013
“There will always be haters, that’s just the way it is. Hating dudes marry hating women and have hating ass kids”
The Evan Turner Quote Master List [Updated for 3/12/2018] : nba (reddit.com)
On former teammate Marcus Smart- Feb 4th, 2018
He’s a kind-hearted, balls to the wall, hand to the wall type dude
The rest of the links
MassLive: Boston Celtics announce official signings of Tristan Thompson, Jeff Teague | Boston Celtics rumors: Evan Turner will join team on the bench as assistant coach (report)
NBC Sports: Forsberg: What the trade exception means and how the Celtics could use it | Forsberg: What are realistic options with Hayward TPE?
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