No Blood No Foul

I’m putting my basketball analysis cred on the line and boldly predicting how the eastern conference playoff picture will look in about 6 months. While I’m nearly 100% confident in my picks for the west, I’m not entirely sure about any of these teams. With the exception of Detroit and Chicago, every other team on this list could fall out of the big picture. The truth is that most teams in the East aren’t that good, and teams that aren’t that good tend to be inconsistent. Anyways…

1) Detroit Pistons – Expect Flip Saunders to improve Detroit’s offense, and look for their bench to rival many teams starting squads. (more…)

This time last year I had very little hope for Tony Allen. Allen had showed very little in his first two seasons. Going into his third NBA season, I saw Allen as an athletic swing man who couldn’t shoot and made horrible decisions. Out of all the Celtics’ young players at the time, I put him above only Bassy Telfair in terms of potential. That isn’t much of a complement. If Brian Scalabrine was in his early twenties, I would have put him ahead of Telfair too. On top of his on court problems, Allen faced possible jail time for aggravated battery over an altercation in a Chicago nightclub. In short, I didn’t see much hope for Tony.

The first month of last season was much of the same. Tony Allen looked completely lost. It was obvious that Doc and Danny believed in Allen and wanted him to be a key part of the rotation. Unfortunately, he just wasn’t helping the team. Coming off the bench, Allen averaged 4.4 points a game with 0.5 assists. Tony had a few good defensive games but overall he stunk.

Then December came and suddenly everything clicked for Tony. (more…)

To be clear, like every other sane Boston fan I believe Doc Rivers is a horrible head coach.

Doc knows jack about defense. During last year’s season, the Celtics often looked like a high school team. They couldn’t stop anybody. Nevertheless, my most intense criticism of Doc centers around his development of young players and his managing of late-game situations. We all knew when Doc was hired that he wasn’t a defensive-minded coach. When his team fails to play any defense, we can’t be shocked.

So we begin with late-game situations. Before Pierce went down last year the Celtics weren’t that bad. They just lost every close game they played in. You may laugh, (more…)

Before Danny Ainge orders the 17th championship banner to lift to the Garden rafters, he might want to address the point guard position.

Currently, the Celtics plan on entering the season with Rajon Rondo at the point with Eddie House and second rounder Gabe Pruitt as backups.

I like Rondo, but he isn’t ready to lead a veteran-laden team to the second round of the playoffs, let alone an Eastern Conference Championship. Rondo is a great dribbler, a good passer and a good defender. The problem is (more…)

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