Boston Celtics Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Links: Allen, Copeland, Chandler

October 25th, 2012 at 10:48pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Jackie MacMullan of ESPN Boston points out that not only did Heat guard Ray Allen turn down more money over a shorter contract length from the Celtics (compared to Miami's offer), he also left a no-trade clause on the table. She also delves into Allen's thoughts on the constant trade rumors and his reactions to them, Boston's efforts to re-sign him, and the feeling of rebirth in Miami. Here are more of tonight's Atlantic links:

Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com thinks that 28-year-old rookie Chris Copeland has presented a strong case to make the Knicks roster.
Despite leaving last night's pre-season game early after hurting his knee during a collision with Nets forward Gerald Wallace, Knicks center Tyson Chandler could be available for the season opener, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. An MRI revealed that Chandler did not suffer any structural damage.
While Celtics coach Doc Rivers notes that having days off could have an effect on a team's ability to remain sharp, he likes having a week for his players to recuperate before the season starts (says A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com).
Brian Daly of the Toronto Sun writes about Kris Joseph earning a spot on the Celtics roster and what it means for Canadian basketball.

Eastern Notes: Jennings, DeRozan, Boozer, Jaric

October 24th, 2012 at 11:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

Bucks GM John Hammond said Wednesday the team wants to keep Brandon Jennings around long-term, adding that he'll continue to have talks about an extension with Bill Duffy, the agent for Jennings, until either a deal is reached or the October 31st deadline passes, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. We've got more on another player up for an extension and other notes from the Eastern Conference tonight.

DeMar DeRozan is eligible for extension before next week's deadline, but the Raptors reportedly "want to be wowed" by his performance this season before signing him to a long-term deal next summer. DeRozan is making strides toward that so far, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun observes.
Carlos Boozer, an amnesty candidate for next summer, has looked sharp in preseason for the Bulls as he tries to pick up the slack for the injured Derrick Rose, writes K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Marko Jaric was waived by the Bulls today, but expressed appreciation for his time in camp via Twitter, and wrote that he hopes he'll be back with the team next month, when it can afford him on a minimum-salary deal under its hard cap (hat tip to Shams Charania of RealGM.com). Until then, Jaric is free to sign with any team.
When asked by reporters why he re-signed with the Celtics, Jeff Green pointed to Rajon Rondo, whom he called "the best point guard in the league," notes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal weighs the chances Kevin Jones has of making the Cavs opening-night roster. Jones has a diminutive partial guarantee of $50K on his deal.
John Denton of Magic.com takes a look at Nikola Vucevic, the likely starting center for the Magic after coming over from the Sixers in the Dwight Howard trade.
The Bobcats were the league's worst offensive team last year, and they haven't been much better in the preseason, notes Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.

Celtics Rumors: Ainge, Grousbeck, Joseph

October 24th, 2012 at 6:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Celtics are in the midst of a long layoff, having ended their preseason on Sunday, nine days before Tuesday's regular season opener against the Heat. That doesn't mean the stream of news has stopped coming out of Boston, where the Celtics begin their sixth straight year as title contenders. Coach Doc Rivers addressed a report this weekend that traced the Ray Allen/Rajon Rondo feud back to a 2009 trade proposal involving the Suns, saying he didn't know about any such trade and didn't think the report was true, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston writes. Here's the rest of the scuttlebutt surrounding the Celtics.

In a Q&A with Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge addressed concerns that the team's window of opportunity to win a championship has closed. "Those were legitimate questions about the window on the team," he said. "But Paul Pierce had a great March and April last season before he twisted and tweaked his knee and wasn't the same in the playoffs. He was the player of the month in March and great in April. KG (Kevin Garnett) was one of the best big men in the league all year last season, including the playoffs. They certainly showed that the window is not closing on them. We've added depth this year, and that depth should take a little bit of pressure off them and prolong their ability to be good players in Celtics uniforms."
Zillgitt also spoke with owner Wyc Grousbeck, who insisted that winning championships, not profit, is the organization's primary concern, and praised the team's players for having "the best chemistry in the league."
We heard this weekend that the Celtics were keeping second-round pick Kris Joseph around for opening night, and now Greg Payne of ESPNBoston.com reports the team has informed Joseph of their decision to do so. Joseph, the 51st overall pick this June, is on a minimum-salary deal that won't become guaranteed until January 10th. The team is expected to waive Rob Kurz and Micah Downs, its other two players on non-guaranteed deals, before Saturday's deadline to do so.
Rivers, a member of the league's competition committee, said All-Star rosters may be expanded to 13 players this season, Forsberg reports.

Odds & Ends: Harrington, Heat, Celtics, Christmas

October 24th, 2012 at 1:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Six days from today, we'll be gearing up for an opening night that includes a showdown in Miami between the two odds-on favorites in the Eastern Conference. As we continue to count down the days until the 2012/13 regular season tips off, let's round up a few links from around the NBA, including some Heat and Celtics notes….

Al Harrington probably doesn't fit into the Magic's long-term plans, but his recovery from knee surgery is important for Orlando, since the team likely wants to showcase him in advance of the trade deadline, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida spoke to a few former Celtics stars about Ray Allen's decision to leave Boston for the Heat.
While the decisions at the back of the roster may be difficult, the Heat are unlikely to cut a player with a guaranteed contract to make room for a non-guaranteed player, says Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe takes a look at the acclimation process for the Celtics' offseason acquisitions.
Dionte Christmas, recently released by the Celtics, is drawing interest from Greek team Olympiacos, according to a Sports24.gr report (translation via Sportando).
At ESPN.com, David Thorpe makes his picks for the NBA's top five most potent duos (Insider link), while Kevin Arnovitz examines five teams he believes are at a crossroads.

Eastern Notes: Henderson, Sixers, Belinelli

October 23rd, 2012 at 10:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

We looked at news from around the Western Conference this morning, and now it's time for the East, where seven lottery teams will look to make their first playoff appearance in awhile this season. The same eight teams made the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2011 and 2012, but at least one of them will have trouble holding onto its spot this year, as the Magic are in full rebuilding mode after the departure of Dwight Howard. Here's the latest on some of the teams trying to take their place, and others hoping they don't follow the Magic's descent.

The Bobcats are reportedly only interested in extending Gerald Henderson's contract if he signs a team-friendly deal, and offseason trade acquisition Ben Gordon is pushing him for the starting shooting guard job, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports (Twitter links).
John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com identifies five questions looming over the Sixers as they prepare to start the season.
Marco Belinelli's rough preseason for the Bulls reminds Steve Aschburner of NBA.com of the struggles Hedo Turkoglu has suffered over the past few seasons (Twitter link).
Bolstered by former Bulls reserve John Lucas III and other offseason acquisitions, the Raptors bench is shaping up to be the team's deepest in a long time, writes Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun.
Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio takes a stab at predicting the Cavs' final roster cuts, guessing that the team will waive Jeremy Pargo and Kevin Jones.
Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com examines the challenge that Celtics coach Doc Rivers faces as he tries to build chemistry on a team that returns just six players from last season.

Odds & Ends: Green, Mohammed, Raptors, Magic

October 23rd, 2012 at 1:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Let's check out a few Tuesday afternoon odds and ends from around the NBA:

So far this preseason, Jeff Green has been what the Celtics thought they were getting when they acquired him from the Thunder two years ago, says Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau says offseason addition Nazr Mohammed came "highly recommended" and that he has lived up to expectations so far, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter), the Raptors have made an addition to their pro personnel department, hiring former Hawks assistant GM David Pendergraft, who played a large role in Atlanta's drafts under former GM Rick Sund.
Josh Cohen of OrlandoMagic.com wonders if the Magic's plans could be affected by whether or not the Thunder extend James Harden.
In an Insider-only piece, ESPN.com's Chad Ford identifies a few of his top prospects for 2013 draft that don't play at major-conference schools.
Jamar Smith, who was cut from Celtics camp, is drawing interest from multiple clubs in Italy, according to a pair of articles from Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

Odds & Ends: Rivers, Pierce, Grizzlies, Magic, Heat

October 22nd, 2012 at 9:50pm CST by Zachary Links

The Hornets suffered a scare earlier this evening as rookie guard Austin Rivers injured his surgically-repaired right ankle in the first quarter of tonight's preseason game against the Mavericks. The 20-year-old was helped off the floor and was unable to put weight on the right leg, writes Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune. Thankfully, Rivers' postgame X-rays came back negative, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Here's more from around the league…

Celtics star Paul Pierce confessed to CSNNE's Mike Gorman that he considered moving on from Boston after last year's exit at the hands of the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Pierce now says that he has a hard time envisioning himself in another uniform.
Robert Pera's bid to own the Grizzlies will be on the agenda Wednesday at the NBA's Board of Governors meetings in New York City, sources familiar with the process told Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal. To finalize the transaction, Pera will need to receive approval three-fourths of the league's majority owners. Pera has already made waves with a celebrity cast of minority partners including Justin Timberlake and Ashley Manning, the wife of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel looks at the roster crunch facing the Magic as the deadline approaches. Swingman Chris Johnson and point guard Armon Johnson are near locks to be cut in the coming days. That leaves combo forward Justin Harper, power forward Josh McRoberts and swingmen Christian Eyenga, DeQuan Jones, and Quentin Richardson to battle for the final two spots on the roster.
Heat guard Dwyane Wade admitted that it's going to be a challenge to get all of the team's new talent to mesh, tweets Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida. “We have a lot of guys that are so used to being kind of the main focus and not a lot of us are going to be the main focus now,’’ Wade said. “So that’s a challenge to see how we all can incorporate ourselves within our offense and keep each other happy.’’

Celtics Links: Terry, Sullinger, Green, Barbosa

October 22nd, 2012 at 4:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics played their final contest of the 2012/13 preseason yesterday, and now have more than a week to look ahead to next Tuesday's opener against Ray Allen and the Heat. As Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com writes, coach Doc Rivers is heading into next week optimistic about the season, saying that his team has a chance to be "very, very good." Here are the latest Celtics-related stories from around the web:

TNT's David Aldridge focuses on the Celtics in his latest Morning Tip piece for NBA.com, examining how new additions like Jason Terry and Jared Sullinger are meshing with the team's established leaders, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo.
According to Rivers, returning forward Jeff Green "stood out more than everybody" this preseason and has a chance have a "terrific" season, writes Paul Flannery of WEEI.com.
Rivers says he wasn't surprised that Leandro Barbosa signed with the Celtics for the veteran's minimum, since it seems Barbosa had shifted his priorities to factors besides money. "I think he had us zeroed in on his radar and he understood all the players in front of him," Rivers said, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. "He didn’t care. He kept saying that, which is refreshing. I was very honest with him. There’s a chance [he may not play] with the numbers. He said, 'I’m not here to ruffle any feathers. I just want to be on a team that wins and hopefully I can help.'"

NBA GMs Weigh In On 2012/13 Season

October 22nd, 2012 at 10:48am CST by Luke Adams

The results are in on NBA.com's annual survey of the league's general managers, with all 30 NBA GMs weighing in on dozens of questions about the 2012/13 season and the 2012 offseason. We won't round up all of their answers here, so feel free to check out the full results at NBA.com, but here are a few of the more notable responses:

70% of respondents believe the Heat will repeat as NBA champs, while 96.7% think Miami will win the Eastern Conference. Since GMs aren't allowed to vote for their own teams, that means the rest of the league's 29 GMs picked the Heat to come out of the East.
The Lakers are the favorites to come out of the West, earning 60% of the votes. The Thunder (36.7%) and Nuggets (3.3%) were the only other teams mentioned.
LeBron James is the player most GMs would start a franchise with, earning 80% of the votes.
86.2% of GMs believe the Lakers made the best offseason moves, with Dwight Howard (70%) and Steve Nash (20%) earning the most votes for the summer addition who will make the biggest impact. Los Angeles' sign-and-trade for Nash was also voted the summer's most surprising move.
Besides the Lakers, the other teams receiving votes for the best offseason roster moves were the Nets, Hawks, and Warriors.
The Nets (62.1%) ran away with the votes on which team will be most improved, while Andre Iguodala (16.7%) topped the choices for most underrated acquisition — the Celtics' duo of Jason Terry and Courtney Lee also received support in that category.
Anthony Davis (76.7%) and Gregg Popovich (80%) were the runaway picks for rookie of the year and the NBA's best coach, respectively.

Celtics Notes: Offseason, Allen, Barbosa, Bradley

October 21st, 2012 at 10:25pm CST by Alex Lee

It seems hard to steal the NBA's offseason headlines without landing a star these days. While the Celtics didn't do that, the team had an extremely effective offseason, adding Jeff Green, Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Leandro Barbosa and drafting Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo and Kris Joseph. Chuck Myron posted some Celtic-specific links this morning, and here are a couple more:

Doc Rivers said the Celtics will carry 15 players and that the team will announce the final cuts soon, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely. Blakely also says that Kris Joseph will get the 15th spot, meaning Rob Kurz and Micah Downs will be cut. We will keep an eye out for official word from the C's in the coming days.
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald tweets that he doesn't think that Kurz and Downs will be on the Celtics roster for much longer. The signing of Leandro Barbosa seems to have closed the door on their roster hopes.
In this CSN New England video, former NBAer turned
Celtics analyst Donny Marshall addresses Ray Allen's comments over the weekend
that the Celtics put him in a position where he had to leave.
Marshall, who played 119 games for the Cavs and Nets, said it is easy to blame
the player, but many times the teams are just as much at fault in situations like this one.
We heard earlier that Barbosa talked to the
Lakers before joining the Celtics. While the newly-signed Barbosa won't be
playing for the team until his visa issues are resolved, the veteran guard has said all the right things since arriving in
Boston, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston.
Jimmy Toscano of CSN New England caught up with Avery Bradley, who is now shooting every other day to work his way back from two offseason shoulder surgeries. Bradley is on track to come back in mid-December and while the team is deeper than they were last year, Bradley is hoping to come back stronger than ever: "I just have to be ready for my team. If I'm starting, I'm starting. If I'm not, I'm not. I just have to be prepared for what Doc wants me to do, and I'm going to. Like I tell everybody, I'm going to come back stronger than last year."