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July 4, 2009
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Celtics Stuff Live took to the airwaves for a 3+ hour drafrt night show that included many of our favorite guests. Sean Grande, Steve Bulpett, Marc Spears, Scott Souza, Greg Dickerson, and Eric Weiss joined us for another successful draft night show. While the Celtics remained quiet on the trade front (as Danny had warned us), there was plenty to discuss with our honoreed guests since there were more than a few rumors coming out the week leading up to the draft. Not only that, but top conferene rivals Cleveland and Orlando made moves to potentially improve their teams for next season. Kevin Henkin joined Justin and Jon for the night and we had a good laugh at the run on point guards in the first round, owned and operated by the Timberwolves.
Danny Ainge on draft night is like a box of chocolates, and history tells us that his professions that nothing is imminent, is more likely a spy hunter smoke screen. Maybe he will stand pat, but the odds are against it and for the 4th consecutive year Celtics Stuff Live will broadcast during the main event. The show starts just about the time of the first pick, 7:30pm, and will run until at least 10:30pm depending on how the evening goes.
We have all the familiar names checking in throughout the night including Sean Grande, Steve Bulpett, Marc Spears, Scott Souza, Jessica Camerato, Eric Weiss of BBIQ (who always provides excellent in-depth scouting analysis), and Greg Dickerson who will provide regular updates from the Celtics’ Draft Headquarters.
Of course, amongst all these excellent guests, we will be taking your calls/e-mails/questions from the chat room. See you Thursday night!
The 58th pick isn’t getting anyone excited anytime soon, especially in a draft that has been labeled among the worst ever. Thankfully, Danny Ainge isn’t that boring and despite his protests to the contrary, his history has not been one to sit on his hands while all the other GM’s get to have all the fun.
Ainge has a lot of "chips" at his disposal and in case you have cruised around the internet lately, the blogs and message boards have noticed. Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen are two of the most commonly used names in conjunction with trade rumors and those rumors will only grow the closer we get to Draft Night. To sort it all out, Celtics Stuff Live was pleased to have the legendary Mike Gorman on the broadcast in his first post season appearance of the year. Mike again reiterated that it is unlikely we’d see Ray or Rajon traded, but that the real strength of Danny Ainge is that he listens to any and all offers. While this may lead to a lot of chatter, the results have been pretty good.
While Mike was not all that enamored with the free agent class of this summer, but he noted that the global economic slowdown may keep prices of free agents down which should only help a championship contending team like the Celtics.
To wrap the show, Jon and Justin looked ahead to Thursday night’s draft and Celtics Stuff Live’s Draft Night show from 7:30 until things start slowing down. Join us at Comcast Sports Net and Celticsstufflive.com.
The Celtics Stuff Live crew prepares for our 4th annual draft night show (coming up this Thursday night - check back for updates on a long list of guests) with a Father’s Day primer featuring none other than Mike Gorman. Join us from 9-10pm as we take a look ahead at the draft, and review all the draft buzz involving the Celtics and their star players. Sure, Danny has refuted any validity of those rumors, but we’ve heard this schpeel before, and we’re not buying it this time.
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The offseason is upon us at Celtics Stuff Live, but we "break" for no one and that includes the minor fact that the Celtics won’t play another game for nearly four months. Already we have seen the first trade rumor of the summer which I believe was titled "OMG!! RAY AND RONDO TO PHENIX FOR AMORE AND BARBOSA!!!" Or maybe not, but you get the drift… this won’t be the first rumor of the summer, that is certain. To help us weed out the good stuff this evening, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald joined us to chat about all things Celtics through what should be a potentially pivotal period for the team as it looks toward Banner 18 and beyond.
Steve displayed some disappointment that the team felt it was necessary to keep the media and the fans in the dark regarding Garnett’s injury status, but it didn’t appear that he’s ready to throw hands with the "Wycster". We broached the subject of the Ray/Rondo rumor and Steve noted that the team is going to listen to everyone, but indicated that the team made the deals it did for Allen and Garnett to win as many championships as it could with them as key players on the Celtics. Fast forwarding to the present, Celtics are resolved to keeping Rondo in uniform for his entire career, and that neither the team nor Rondo’s agent are looking at maximum contract money in a deal. Certainly good news for the Rondo fans, like myself, out there. However Steve mentioned the team seems much more committed to building around Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo than Ray.
Steve Bulpett joins Justin and Jon for tonight’s edition of Celtics Stuff Live, broadcasting 9-10pm (although you probably know by now that we have a tendency to run late for every show). While we are broadcasting in the midst of the second game of the Finals, we don’t suppose Celtics fans will have too much trouble pulling themselves away, or at the very least, muting the television.
We already have Steve’s insight on Antoine Walker, who is reportedly in the best shape of his life (there are no interns to fetch you double cheesburgers when you are unemployed), but Tim Thomas has expressed an interest in joining the C’s and the NBA Draft is fast approaching. The 58th pick is certainly nothing to get excited about, but it has not been Danny’s habit to stand pat in the draft, and even if he did, could he add to his legendary ability to pluck solid talent from 20,000 leagues under the lottery?
And whatabout bogus trade rumors? As much fun as it is to lambaste Arizona based outlets who both create and shoot down their own rumors, do we really believe after all these years that Danny would not entertain a move involving Ray Allen? Since the NBA offseason has not yet begun, reports that Danny has not engaged in any such discussions are valid, but for how long?
We’ll see you tonight!
Marc Spears joined Justin and Jon for a Memorial Day weekend show to recap the season and look ahead to the offseason. Justin and Jon pushed the Ray Allen discussion as a possible means to creating cap flexibility and building depth, but Marc squashed that line of thinking and was pretty confident nothing would happen this summer.
Financial considerations being paramount in this recession and central to the discussion around offseason maneuverings, Marc felt that Bill Walker was a likely and able candidate to fill a major need; a back-up for Paul Pierce. This spawned Jon and Justin’s one standing gripe regarding Docv River’s coaching, an unwillingness to play rookies, both during the interview and afterwards.
Finally, Tom Thuibodeau is making the head coaching interview tour and Marc was not so sure that Tom would secure employment outside of Boston for next season. With many capable coaches vying for few opportunities, Marc puts Eddie Jordan at the top of that list and the CSL guys were in agreement.
While the tail end of Marc’s interview devolved into a discussion of his being a renaissance man, apple picking in Maine, and the potential public access documentary starring the esteemed Globe writer and a Maine lobster, die-hard listeners will certainly enjoy this show.
