First off thanks to reader Georgia for the Fan Post (see below) that gave me the heads up on this signing. I remember the C's worked Miles out earlier this summer, but I didn't really think it would go anywhere. And lo and behold it happened. Some thoughts on the deal.

1. My first thought? Blazers fans are not going to like this. Remember when Miles was waived the following came to light:

"Assuming that Miles does not pass another team’s physical and get picked up by another NBA franchise, the Blazers would be able to take the last two years of his $48 million contract off their salary cap."

That same article had a big time quote from Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard,

"The doctors had actually said…‘if you were my son, I’d never have you pick up a basketball again. I’m the kind of GM (that) I wouldn’t want that on my head that he ever had to have knee replacement." - Pritchard

I guess Danny Ainge is the kind of GM that is okay with it. As expected Blazers fans are not pleased. Lot of reactions there, especially after the thread picks back up following a detour of sorts. I found one comment particularly insightful. It's called "No wishing him the best: [Green Bandwagon UPDATE: Since the initial posting I've gotten some feedback from Blazers fans/Blazers Edge readers and the following does not represent the opinion of the vast majority of them. While it still may be useful in regards to the extreme or how things could go if Miles were to play sparingly in 10 games and get cut, it is now clear to me that it is definitely the exception and not the rule.]

"The procedure followed by the Blazers is that the league and the players union appointed an independent doctor to examine the evidence and issue a ruling. That ruling affected the Blazers, Miles, and any team interested in Miles. It was the Blazers, however, who had the risk. Miles was, after all, under contract. And when the ruling was issued, Miles was not willing to give the Blazers the same contract that he then went out and offered to all other teams. Instead, he kept the Blazers guaranteed contract, which they have to pay regardless of whatever contract he signed with NY. In sum, if NY pays the minimum, then the Blazers pay the difference between the minimum and the $9 million/year they owe Darius.

Darius and his agent, in sum, took advantage of the situation. Some of you who wish him the best should keep that in mind. If he’d offered the Blazers the same deal he offered all other teams – basically, let me play and I’ll show you I’m worthy of a roster spot, and I’ll also absolve you of liability if I reinjure myself – then I can understand your position.

But he didn’t do that.

As a Blazer fan, I have no sympathy for Miles or his agent. He was not a $9 million/year player – knew it, and every other team knew it. But the Blazers pay for it.

Now, if he should make the roster, the Blazers also lose the cap space, just as they lost the player. The cap space was nothing more than an off-set to the salary they must still pay – but gave them the ability to replace him without penalties.

Under the circumstances, its in my interest that he blows the knee out and never plays again.

So, no wishing him the best here." - Eben Calder

Anytime a person openly states a desire to see someone blow out a knee...well that's a clear signal the stakes are high. The Miles signing is definitely bad news in the midst of all the Greg Oden and Rudy Fernandez excitement. We could be watching the beginning of a Celtics/Trail Blazers blood feud. Henry Abbott summed the situation up nicely a while back:

"Everyone knows, however, that the Blazers have a business interest in keeping Darius Miles from playing in the League in the next two years -- if he plays ten games, his medical retirement is over, and Miles' salary is back counting against Portland's salary cap and luxury tax number." - Henry Abbott

More after the jump...

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I got the idea of profiling random players from Boston's past from the stellar Washington Wizards blog, and fellow SB Nation site, Bullets Forever. I really got into the Haywoode Workman post. Although in my case I don't envision this morphing into a series. Rather, I just wanted to talk about Sherman Douglas. Sure I could keep this short and simply remind everyone that he was a "Super Passer". But what fun would that be? Check it out after the jump.

via www.checkoutmycards.com

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With the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics already in the books and basketball tipping off on the 10th, it's good that these Olympic previews are winding down. Fellow SB Nation blog At the Hive will wrap things up tomorrow with a look at a team that comes from a country which rhymes with "America". Of course you can also check out past reviews in the sidebars at both sites. I'll also give you the option of clicking on the following links: China, Greece, Russia, Argentina, Australia, Iran, Lithuania, Angola, Croatia, and Germany.

Population: 40,491,051

Size in Comparison to a US State: About twice the size of Oregon (slightly bigger)

Suffrage: Universal at 18

Interesting Fact: Why is Ferdinand Magellan (yes he was Portuguese, but he sailed for Spain) credited with the first circumnavigation of the globe when he died in the modern day Philippines on his epic voyage? I understand that on a previous voyage he sailed beyond where he ultimately died. Still a bunch of random, anonymous dudes on his ship made it in one trip. Now that everyone has stopped reading...

Recommended Reading: Can I Keep My Jersey? - Some insight into playing basketball in Spain. Don't read if you are worried about a book slowly altering your mood in a negative way.

World Rank (Courtesy of FIBA): 3

Qualified: 2006 FIBA World Champion

Dream Match Up in Beijing: Argentina

Dream Match Up That Did Not Qualify: Puerto Rico

Recent News: If Spain captures the gold it will serve as yet another big moment in a golden age of Spanish sports.

Catch the players after the jump...

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For anybody who has been watching Team USA's summer has been all about three words - "redemption", "gold medal". And while numerous individuals - players, coaches, and broadcasters - have acknowledged that the world can play basketball there is still a sense that the US can regain the glory days. But there in lies the problem. Those days are long gone. I'm not saying the US can not or should not win gold. Rather the idea that they can cruise, not study their opponents, and just win on their athleticism is a flawed one. And the Australian game was a phenomenal example of everything Team USA is up against. Consider the following points.

1. The Americans cheat on defense looking for steals and fast break dunks. Against lesser teams it works and the US rolls to victories. But consider what Australia did today. The Boomers refused to be intimidated or back down and hung around as a result. In fact Matt Nielsen and Chris Anstey worked a nice two-man game at times, creating easy baskets in the process. If Andrew Bogut had been around to help with depth, scoring, and passing that would have further complicated things.

2. Rick Kamla pointed out at some point in the exhibition run that Team USA's best lineup might be Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James. Those guys will create match up nightmares. At the same time they'll get worked in the post and on the glass as well. In general the US, regardless of the lineup is susceptible to physical play down low.

3. I think it's safe to assume the Americans will shoot better than 16.7% (3-18) from 3-point range. At least I hope it is. However, it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility that an opponent could best Australia's 40% (8-20). Furthermore, I recognize the fact that the 3-point line is significantly closer. However, the Americans are by and large slashers. Outside of Michael Redd who on the US roster is a pure shooter? Just remember there's a reason the Boston Celtics worked like crazy to make LeBron and Kobe shoot from the outside during the playoffs.

4. Patrick Mills blew by Jason Kidd and Deron Williams. Fair enough. The latter is older and the former is a bigger guard. But Mills left Chris Paul behind as well. Now Mills made some mistakes, missed some shots, and the Australians definitely needed C.J. Bruton to run the point and hit some 3s. Still Mills turns 20 in 6 days. He's going to get better. There will come a time when another squad matches an American roster athlete for athlete. And yet the bigger concern should be who plays the game better.

5. Realistically Team USA and its NBA players will have to adjust and mimic their opponents (Hat tip TrueHoop) at some point.

6. In closing, I realize Zyrdunas Ilgauskas stayed home, at last in part, because of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yet that may be more the exception than the rule. Jorge Garbajosa left the Toronto Raptors to represent Spain and Matt Nielsen paid his own way. In the back of my mind I can't get over the fact that some of these international guys want this well beyond rhetoric. Of course I could be way off on this one. The Americans are giving up their free time and working hard as well.

7. Actually one more point. I'm really concerned about the Americans' offense and defense. At times I was reminded of Kobe Bryant versus the Celtics when he settled for deep shots. For stretches he made some, but they're low percentage shots and over the course of a game and definitely a series they simply were not enough. Meanwhile, I learned a great deal about defense from the Celtics this past season. They rotated like crazy, cut down passing lanes, talked, and outside of Rajon Rondo rarely gambled for steals. On top of all that they were physical. Does Team USA do any of that?

I wrote off Celtics Now before I ever watched it, only to see it surprise me on numerous occasions. In the long run I was wrong. It had plenty of nice moments, including a story on Eddie House's son, Jalen, attending home playoff games. It killed me for three reasons:

1. Tony Allen knocked Jalen down during one mini-celebration.

2. Jalen took part in one of the shirt throwing promotions.

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Yesterday's clip is directly responsible for me finding this footage, which appears to be two guys recreating Rajon Rondo's top 7 plays of 2008. I say "appears" because I only recognize a few of the plays. Although I appreciate the effort, if not the comments section. Of course I tend to enjoy this type of production, dating back to my days at Celtics Bandwagon. So allow me to plagiarize myself by ripping off an old post:

New School Meets Ol' Skool (2000) (via jedislurpee)

1. I'm not evenly remotely close to the point where “I gotta go party and stuff” does not make me chuckle.

2. The kid who utters the party line looks at his wrist to check the time. The video quality is such that it’s hard to tell, but I do not believe that he is wearing a watch.

3. Robert Bickerstaff (McHale) wears a shirt with #55 on the back and #15 on the front. McHale wore #32. This is at least the 10th time I've watched this and only now did I pick up that it is Keith McHale. I am confused.

4. Every time Bickerstaff shoots they cut to a ball going in the basket without showing how it got there. That’s understandable. But I’m not sure how I feel about a few of the shots where the ball entered the basket from an angle that was drastically different from where he shot it. I've actually reached a verdict on this one - Awesome.

5. I enjoyed the fake dunk.

Overall this clip borders on the surreal. It has some cult potential. It also could be a cautionary tale that would be effective as the centerpiece of interventions.

Catch Rondo's real top plays after the jump. I dare you to come up with a rational explanation, other than the Denver Nuggets hate boxing out, for why the #9 play was so low.

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First there was LeBron's Powerade commercial, which had the epic "That's an 80 footer" line that sounded eerily similar to Dave Chappelle impersonating a white person. Just thought I'd throw that last bit out there. Of course NBA fans know the players love to mess around with deep shots, tricky shots, and deep, tricky shots,  even in retirement. So it was good to see Kevin Love come along and restore our faith in the full court shot. I love that stuff. Of course I was even more fired up to see Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo sink some half court shots with a high degree of difficulty. And if these were somehow faked as part of a Reebok ad campaign, all I can say is, "Damn you LeBron."

Rondo and Allen doing crazy half-court shots (via Hrvoje1313)

As I mentioned earlier Eddie House and Tony Allen appear to be back in the fold for two more seasons. With their imminent signings I thought it would be interesting to dive into the archives and look at some posts I wrote about them in the past year. There was a profile of House. Other than that he was mentioned in parts of numerous other posts. He's a role player in that regard. And yet Allen received way more attention. And he was somewhere between the 10th and 12th man. Still that attention was not without reason. At the start of the 2007 season I was incredibly focused on 7 young players - Tony Allen, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, and Delonte West. They developed as follows:

Gomes - solid role player, traded
Green - talented enigma who will probably never get it, traded
Jefferson - double-double guy, traded
Perk - defensive beast
Rondo - defensive stalwart, rapidly improving, potential star
West - solid third guard, starting point guard with LeBron, traded

That leaves Allen who unlike the other six did not either get traded or develop significantly. In fact outside of possibly Green, Allen easily regressed the most, due in large part to that epic knee injury.  And yet I continue to pull for him. Check out the following posts:

Player Profile
2007 Season Recap
The Road Back
A Random Post detailing his possessions against the hated Bulls.

If you're too lazy to read those posts, and quite frankly I don't blame you, you can still enjoy two of my favorite exchanges from the 2007 season:

Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman reacting to Allen's season ending knee injury:

"Dire straits. Dire straits. You know where dire straits is?" - Heinsohn

"Africa?" - Gorman when he finally got a word in.

"Just south of frustration." - Heinsohn

I still have no idea what that means.

And...

Allen's response to his mother when she complained about Brian Scalabrine driving them to the hospital. "This this is better than an ambulance. This is Scal!" - Tony Allen

First off I don't necessarily buy the whole "strong veteran presence is the cure for everything" type of thinking. For example in the past Paul Pierce alluded to his frustration with trying to bring Gerald Green along and how a guy has to want it to be successful. Of course this is an entirely different team nowadays with a stronger veteran core and young guys - Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, and Rajon Rondo - known for working hard. Seriously if O'Bryant doesn't bring it in practice Powe will eat his lunch. Overall I like Boston's mix of veterans and youth and I'm on board with the gambles - J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker (knee), and now O'Bryant - Danny Ainge has taken. And since it's been pretty slow around here I've decided to put together 10 reasons O'Bryant in green and white makes sense. Worst case someone on the Celtics (Paul Pierce?) can put some popcorn on his Christmas tree.

JRich pranks teamate Patrick O'Bryant (via hotsizzle869)

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Over the course of the summer I'll look back at some of my favorite Celtics games from the 2008 season. Ironically I've decided to focus on a loss first. Let me set the scene. Following the All Star game the Celtics struggled through one of their worst stretches of the season with back-to-back-to-back losses to the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, and Phoenix Suns. However, it was not as bad as the record indicated (0-3) thanks to several reasons:

1. It was not much of a break for Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce because they were part of All Star weekend. While players on the opposing teams, minus Golden State, had All Star reps as well they had the benefit of sleeping in their own beds.

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