Just as I was about to go to bed I went over to NBA.com to find out about the new Celtics championship DVD. I'm not even trying to be obnoxious right now. And BOOM the Clippers acquired Marcus Camby. The running joke will definitely be that one of the worst defensive teams in the league just went and traded the one guy that actually played defense. And citizen zhiv over at Clips Nation is on board with the deal. I have a few reactions of my own.

1. Talk about a crazy summer in LA. First Baron Davis unexpectedly signed there. Then Elton Brand unexpectedly bolted. And then the Clips unexpectedly avoided the restricted free agent (Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor) route by landing Camby for a second round pick. A second round pick? That's excellent. On top of that Camby is on a 2-year deal that runs out in that much talked about summer of 2010. Seriously look at the guys who lack restrictions that summer. LeBron, Bosh, Wade, and more. That makes me the 1,000,000th person to bring this up...today

2. I had to jump into the archives for a Q&A (I hate typing that) I did with Jeremy from Pickaxe and Roll back in February. Let's just say Jeremy is not a huge Camby guy:

"I found the calls for Camby to make the All-Star team laughable.  Camby is great at what he does, but he is an atrocious offensive player.  He has no post game.  Earlier in the season Golden State was guarding him with Mickael Pietrus.  Any self respecting center would take that 6' 6" defender in the post and light him up.  Camby never even gave it a thought.  The only thing Camby is good at on offense is driving to the basket with his right hand.

Defensively he is incredibly overrated.  Yes, he is a great weak side shot blocker and he is a very good rebounder.  He has tremendous instincts.  He cannot guard players of any significance in the post because of his frail frame and he never tries to step out and stop the ball handler in a screen and roll situation because he wants to sit back and try to block shots.  The result is an endless string of open fifteen footers or driving lanes through the paint.

In the last game before the all star break against Orlando Camby had to sit out most of the fourth quarter because he could not guard Dwight Howard inside not could he guard Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu on the perimeter.

Camby is very good for the Nuggets because they have Kenyon Martin and sometimes Nene to guard the big post scorers of the NBA, but if Camby had to guard every post scorer on his own, he would never, ever be in consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year."

Other Blogs to Check Out:

ClipperBlog
Nugg Doctor

It's been a long strange ride for Marbury over the last couple of years. And yet much like Mike Tyson, who went through a series of bizarre, albeit more outlandish, events, Marbury appears to have reached the point of no return with his face tattoo. I've got nothing against tattoos. However, Marbury's most recent one caused me to look back over the tumultuous events of his last couple of seasons. And to be honest I probably missed a few.

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The Guy I Underrated the Most Prior to the Playoffs

Honorable Mention - Rip Hamilton. Man he's an assassin. On top of that he cared throughout the Celtics series, which did not appear to be the case for some of his teammates. Now on to the winner.

Even after he made the All Star team and dropped 37 points on the Celtics I still felt that David West was a little overrated, largely due to playing with Chris Paul. I tend to make up for overvaluing Celtics by undervaluing players around the league. Then West averaged 21.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.9 blocks during the playoffs. On top of that he had the face-tapping incident with Dirk Nowitzki, the run in with Fabricio Oberto (not sure why that’s on fast forward), and overall a sense that he could lose his cool at practically any moment. At this point I’m sold on West’s talent, wonder if he’s secretly xenophobic, and think New Orleans needs another competent big coming off the bench. Although I do wonder about West's wiring. He might need to tone it down a few notches. And this is coming from a guy that defends Kevin Garnett against all critics.

As a side note did you watch that YouTube Clip of Nowitzki and West? What the hell was Dirk supposed to do? Hit him? The Mavericks got beat soundly as is, but would have been in a much worse state without Dirk for a game. 

The Guy That Reminds Me of My Favorite Fantasy Sports Joke

"Man his team would be unstoppable...in 2002." Note that joke really does not work if it is in fact 2002. But you get the point. And the winner is...Jason Kidd. Not a strong playoffs for him. He put up roughly 8.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while absolutely getting worked by Chris Paul. And let's not forget Kidd throwing down Jannero Pargo.

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In preparation for the Green Bandwagon Summer Book Review Series (GBSBRS for short, coming Monday!) I've been reading a lot. And in the process I've learned a lot more about Bill Sharman. That combined with Jackie MacMullan's stellar profile of Ray Allen helped me come up with the following comparison. I'm pretty proud of it.

1. Bill Sharman was the MVP of the 1955 All Star Game. Ray Allen took home the honor in 2008.*

2. Sharman invented the shootaround. Allen took the shootaround a step further by shooting from both baselines, both elbows, and the top of the key prior to every game.

3. NBA.com starts Sharman’s biography as follows, “Arguably the greatest shooter of his era…” People name their first-born children after Allen’s jump shot. That does not make sense but you get the idea.

4. Sharman owned the free throw line, connecting on 88.3% of his freebies. Allen’s career percentage currently sits at 88.9%. I couldn’t make that up. Well I could but the stats would eventually betray me. The point is they’re eerily close in that category.

5. Sharman adhered to a strict diet, went through a stretching routine before every game (unheard of at the time), and did not smoke. Allen  is meticulous about his diet (white rice and chicken before every game) and pre game routine (see #2). On top of that he does not drink alcohol.

6. Bob Cousy and Bill Russell overshadowed Sharman on the four championship teams he played for. Similarly Paul Pierce and KG hogged the spotlight in 2008.

7. Sharman brought discipline and conditioning wherever he coached. Allen tried to do the same with his painfully young Sonics teammates and in his personal life through his borderline OCD ways.

* In reality LeBron James somehow robbed Allen of his MVP award. I choose to ignore the facts in this case.

In looking at Boston's current roster/salaries as well as its needs a few things become obvious. For starters the Celtics have a ton of money committed already and therefore do not have a lot of money to bring free agents into the fold. In addition to that the Celtics must decide what they will do with their own free agents, most notably James Posey once he exercises his player option. Furthermore, given its financial situation Boston will not be in the running for high profile names. Not only could the Celtics not pay such a player, but they would also have to fit that star in with Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce who have already spoken a great deal about their sacrifices to the team. Another star, more sacrifices. Still it would be nice if Boston acquired a reliable ball handler. Enter Delonte West. As I see it there are several problems with this scenario:

1. West is a restricted free agent. He worked his way into the starting point guard role in Cleveland, showing some promise in the process. One can assume he would be even more comfortable after a full training camp. Meanwhile, I can't imagine the Cavaliers would let him walk to a conference rival unless the offer sheet were too ridiculous to match. And given Boston's aforementioned financial obligations that is unlikely. In fact this point alone probably renders the rest of this post meaningless. And yet I will forge ahead.

2. Why would West go from being a starting point guard, with LeBron James no less, to Rajon Rondo's back up? In fact word on the street is that West wants to return to Cleveland:

"The qualifying offer to West is worth $2.76 million. West also wants to return to the team. His agent, Noah Croom, said the Cavs have indicated to him that they want to re-sign West." - Bob Finnan

3. He hates the Mass. Pike and I don't blame him. The tolls are ridiculous.

4. Boston's owners don't like controversy. Remember how quickly they acted after Sebastian Telfair was arrested? And even though this was not West behaving badly and it was not a major story, it could hurt his cause.

Having said all that I still think it's worth exploring the possibility of West returning. He can handle the ball, is a defensive upgrade over Sam Cassell and Eddie House, blocks shots surprisingly well for his size, is a better than average shooter, and arguably the funniest player in the NBA. Of course that last one does not matter. Regardless, even if the climate around the Celtics has changed dramatically I'd still like to see West pick up where he left off in terms of marketing:

Delonte West Hanger Commercial (via TonyAllen06)

BUCKETS!

Regular visitors to Green Bandwagon know that I'm a big fan of Rod Benson's work. And his recent post on Leon Powe, which was the inspiration for the title of this post, is up there with his best. My top 5 favorite parts:

1. For anyone who somehow missed the obvious Powe works incredibly hard.

2. According to Benson Powe was at one point the #2 high school prospect. LeBron James was #1. Further proof that he fell to #49 in the 2006 NBA draft because of extenuating circumstances - his knees.

3. The packet of Kool-Aid story killed me. I don't know why.

4. Benson closes the article with a shot at Phil Jackson. Well played.

5. Finally, the following anecdote stood out amongst stiff competition:

"I clearly remember one pre-game meeting we had at Cal. We used to have these pretty long meetings where we would go over each player on the other team and over how we would play different situations. On this day, Coach Braun (now at Rice) and coach Pasternack (now at U of New Orleans) had gone over the other team for nearly 30 minutes before deciding to quiz some of us on the game plan. Since Leon was the man, they started with him.

'So, Leon, what's the game plan?'

Leon's answer was quick, clear, and concise. In fact, it was probably the only answer someone gave to a question during my four years at Cal that I remember. 

'Get buckets,' Leon answered confidently." - Rod Benson

"Get buckets" is also significant because it currently trails "Make him pay" on my list of expressions that are fun to say in a pick up game. Although they're both light years behind "Put him in a body bag" and "Sweep the leg". But that should go without saying.

I went and shot around after this game and the adrenaline carried me for about 15 minutes. I'm a mediocre shooter at best. And I hit at least two three pointers from 30 feet. I was throwing in deep baseball shots and all sorts of fall aways as well. Then I crashed back down the earth. I was spent. How can a basketball game take that much out of a person watching at home? If I were at the game I would have stumbled out of there in a daze.

Paul Pierce had one of the biggest games of his career. He shot 56% from the floor and 91% from the line. On top of that he had 5 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. And those assists don't account for the two times he got Leon Powe to the line. He was dialed in and even called the final 3 minutes the toughest 3 minutes of his life. Keep in mind the fact that he was brutally stabbed once and almost died. I'm assuming he's completely blocked that out. He also took advantage of the shooter's role and then some.

Eddie House had 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal and a turnover in just under 15 minutes of time. Yet he led the team in +/- (+13). And the hustle play where he dove to save a ball going out of bounds, passing it directly to Posey in the process, was downright awesome.

P.J. Brown had 10 points (4-4 from the field), 6 rebounds and some hard fouls in 20 minutes of time. He also hit arguably the biggest jumper in the game.

In related news is anyone else as completely and utterly confused by Doc Rivers' substitution patterns, or lack thereof, as I am? For example Glen Davis had one big game on the road in Detroit. Will he be the first big off the bench?

Home court matters.

I was going to run a "Witness LeBron going home" style post or something along those lines if the Celtics won. But I have to give him credit. He's a remarkable basketball player. If he improves his post game, does not have to work as hard on offense and ever gets the right assortment of teammates around him he won't be seeing too many more game 7s. He's that good.

I swear James Posey did a solid job on LeBron earlier in the series. That was not the case tonight. He couldn't stay in front of him.

I'm a little nervous about how hard Boston had to work in this one.

For all the talk about the officials I think it's safe to say those things even out over time.

Home court matters.

Jeff Van Gundy may get bored in blow out games. And his attempts at humor are painful at times. But when he's dialed in I learn a lot. He straight up knows the game of basketball.

Delonte West missed a huge shot that could have tied it. And his 6 turnovers take some luster off of his 15 points and 5 assists. Still today provided indisputable proof that there is plenty of fight in West. He was one of the players that was not afraid. 

Nice job by House, Pierce and Ray Allen, as they went a combined 6-6 from the line down the stretch.

Let's talk Pistons tomorrow. Until then enjoy it...

via d.yimg.com

Ray Allen

It’s important to remember that Kevin Garnett never seriously considered going to Boston until Ray Allen joined the Celtics. On top of that KG’s lukewarm feelings for Wally Szczerbiak are so well known that I don’t even feel compelled to cite a source. However, out of respect for Buzz Bissinger I will. Not once. But twice. Still I do wonder  if the Celtics would be better with Delonte West and Szczerbiak. Obviously it’s a moot point. But it’s something I’ve thought about. Can you tell Boston lost game 6?

Paul Pierce

Three stats stand out from Pierce’s game 6 line: He finished 5-15 from the field, 4-4 from the line and turned the ball over six times. That’s too many turnovers and not enough free throws. Also the sooner Pierce accepts that he is not a real rival to LeBron James (who is?) the better. I’ve always thought Pierce’s ability to hit some mid range jumpers to keep teams honest and drive to the hoop were his biggest strengths. And the latter often leads to free throws.

Kevin Garnett

I listened to Max and Grande’s call of this one for the first three quarters because of work. As you can imagine I was not that productive. And I was interested by Grande’s take on Kevin Garnett’s playing time. Apparently KG gets so fired up that Doc Rivers can’t play him for an entire quarter. In fact Rivers has gone out of his way to manage KG’s minutes from day one. I immediately thought, “Wait isn’t it his 13th season? Shouldn’t he have figured that out by now?” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: nobody associated with the Celtics, outside of Lucky who needs this team to play well to score, has more riding on this season than Garnett. He is the best player on Boston’s roster. Hands down. And when he misses a four-foot shot late or gets whistled for a travel, his critics are bound to circle like vultures. That’s not my intention. It’s hard to blame the series on him when everyone else has been inconsistent. Has KG even had a bad game yet? Regardless he needs a 25+ points, 15+ rebounds game on Sunday.

Go to this old Bill Simmons article, scroll down to "Question: What was the most disturbing subplot of the season" and check out what he said about Dick Bavetta. It's intriguing. I'll leave it at that.

Doc Rivers looked great when he played Glen Davis Wednesday night. Not so much tonight. It's hard to give Rivers credit one game and blame him the next. Regardless Davis did stay out there too long in the 4th.

Boston's final offensive possession was beyond awful.

I understand trying to go for the steal with 23 seconds left. But how realistic is that? Why not force the Cavs to win it on the line and conserve some clock as well?

LeBron James is an excellent basketball player. He does a lot of great things on the court. However, the over the top praise for everything he does is grating after a while. Is it necessary to go on about his presence of mind to call a timeout instead of getting a 5 second violation? That's something guys pick up by high school.

Hey Rajon Rondo, what's going on right now?

Delonte West's burst of good play and Wally Szczerbiak's deep three down the stretch were tough to take.

I don't know what to say. Following this team has left me drained and completely spent. And yes I know how pathetic that sounds. Trust me. I know. I'm just looking for the Celtics to go 8 deep, share the ball on offense and bring their top defensive game. Hey I get it. Cleveland is at home and "A LeBron James team is never desperate." Boston needs this one. And Kevin Garnett does too. Closing with a picture...NOW!

via www.nba.com

As a side note I'm putting the over/under of Perkins scowls at 9.5.