NBA Draft Looking Back

The 2019 NBA Draft will take place tomorrow night. Most of the buzz around the draft is centered on Zion Williamson, who is being touted as the best prospect since LeBron James. However, I have essentially stopped watching any college basketball, preferring instead the NBA. Therefore, I don’t have opinions for this coming draft. I…

The Streaking Celtics

When I last wrote about the Celtics, they were 2-2, and I was expressing reasons to find optimism in wake of the losing Hayward. Ten games later, there isn’t much of a search for optimism. Boston is riding a twelve game win streak to the best record in the league (a game ahead of the…

The NBA Through 2 Weeks: How to React

We are now officially two weeks into the NBA season, which is not enough time to really know anything, but is enough time to pick up on some interesting happenings in this small sample size. So I want to play a little game called “how to react” to the facts we have so far. Interesting…

An Early Analysis of the Celtics

We’re only four games into the season. There are 78 more to go. In other words, we can’t draw conclusions yet that we can be confident will hold up throughout the season. But there is a lot we have learned, which can give us an idea of what to watch for as they continue. First…

NBA Awards Predictions: Most Valuable Player

I believe the MVP award is continually becoming gratuitous. I said after the Spurs championship in 2014 that they were rendering the MVP inconsequential: team balance is the new requisite for success, and individual accomplishment is superfluous to the goal. That said, it is still an entertaining award, and when the ultimate award – a…

NBA Awards Predictions: Coach of the Year

Coach of the Year can be a tough category to predict. It often comes down to who surprises the most, or which team had a good story. Steve Kerr doesn’t get much consideration despite incredible success; there just isn’t any cache to coaching the super-team. So how do you predict the winner, when it hardly comes down…

NBA Awards Predictions: Defensive Player of the Year

Defensive player of the year is maybe the most predictable group of candidates in the league. The same guys seem to top the list year after year. Sure, there could be a surprise candidate emerging (perhaps Joel Embiid if he plays enough?), but ultimately this year feels like another of the familiar faces. 5. DeAndre…

NBA Awards Predictions: Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year race may be the most disproportionate in how prestigious it and how much it really matters. Rookies are almost always bad, so it really is an award for not being such a drag as you adjust to the NBA. Plus, the best rookies tend to play on bad teams, so…

NBA Awards Predictions: Most Improved

It’s time for NBA basketball again! So I am going to once again make my predictions for the various season awards, starting with the least prestigious and working my way to the most important. I’m starting with Most Improved, which is the oft forgotten, seldom discussed award. Still, it is an award they hand out,…

NBA Awards Predictions: 6th Man of the Year

Continuing my series of award predictions, I am looking at my favorite candidates for 6th Man of the Year. This award is difficult to predict for one main reason: you have to predict who will serve in a bench role. Since you are trying to choose the best of the bench players, it means you…

Analyzing the Kyrie Irving Trade

I thought when the Celtics signed Gordon Hayward last month that nothing could be bigger. I thought when Ainge traded Avery Bradley to Detroit that nothing could be more surprising. But this NBA offseason continues to outdo itself. When Kyrie first discombobulated the NBA universe by requesting a trade, there were plenty of talking heads…

Losing Avery Bradley

When I went to bed Thursday night, everything had been going perfectly for the Boston Celtics offseason. They had gotten their prize free agent target, and a player I’ve loved since he was at Butler, Gordon Hayward. Not only that, but their lottery pick, Jayson Tatum, has looked good in summer league play. Yeah, everything…