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.
After analyzing the travel distances of every game this season, I discovered that the Boston Celtics effectively pulled the short straw and will have the longest 4-in-5 trip, covering more than 3,000 miles from Portland to Denver to San Francisco to Salt Lake City. Four games in four cities with only one built-in travel day. It gets worse: You’ll notice that each of the second games on the back-to-backs will be played at high altitudes, where the air is thinner and the lungs are screaming. Oh, and they’ll be losing an hour of sleep on both overnight trips due to time-zone differences. The Celtics will need all the four-leaf clovers they can find.
If the calendar read 2012, I might be annoyed with the league for sticking it to the Celtics with this insane schedule. But it’s not like an 0-fer on this trip will affect their chances at a deep playoff run.
Why the crazy 4 games in 5 nights scenario? Because the league is lengthening the All-Star break without lengthening the season. There will now be an 8 day stretch without regular season basketball in mid February (C’s are off from the 11th-19th).
Why the extended break? Apparently, some of the All-Stars (probably Lebron) complained that with all the league mandated appearances, they weren’t getting much of a break. Why they jumped from 3 to 8 instead of 3 to 5 days is beyond me.
A cocktail of no basketball, school vacation week and a few Nor’easters might just drive me over the edge.
On Page 2, Gerald Wallace is the 4th most overpaid player.
Salary: $10.1 million
Win shares: 1.3
PER: 10.0
Wallace’s contract was the burden the Celtics had to take on in order to push Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn and pilfer the Nets’ future drafts.
He still has two years left on the four-year, $40 million contract he signed two years ago, so the Celtics might have to put up with him longer than they’d like. He was injured for most of last year’s second half, but he is only 31 and if he got to a contender, he might still have something left in the tank.
With two years remaining on his deal, Gerald is still untradeable. Maybe next off-season.
And finally…
Rondo swag in China. Gotta love it.
The rest of the links:
WEEI – Marcus Smart’s future | CSNNE – Camp battles: Rondo leads way for guards | ESPN Boston – Pressey family on opposite sides of rivalry | SI.com – Rondo ranked 40th best in NBA | Sina – Jordan Crawford signs in China |
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