Athletic report on locker room problems

[Bobshot]

First of all, you have to understand that internet and TV sports media--that is, those that deal with the major pro sports--are about 90% NY. So you are seeing everything through NY colored glasses. There is a distinct anti-Boston team attitude at NBC's Sportsedge, Yahoo sports, ESPN and MLB & NBA networks. MLB Network is mainly Yankees and Mets. The only semblance of neutrality at these networks are the ex-players and coaches who lend some degree of objectivity to the analysis. ESPN, for example, has been responsible over the years in drumming up and exaggerating all those questionable charges against the Patriots. Only Mike Reiss at ESPN-Boston (ESPN-NY is the problem) has been objective.

So take the "Athletic" , another one of those pay sites of largely NY sports analysts, with a certain grain of salt. Having said that, I do believe there was locker room dysfunction with the Celtics, and the coach undoubtedly was involved in some ways. Some ex-player analysts have suggested Stevens was kicked upstairs to get a new coach without having to  eat his guaranteed $30 million contract. Makes a lot of sense. It was easy to get Danny to retire, since he had come to realize that the stars were dictating which teams they wanted to play for, and GMs had become outmoded. We are seeing that now in other sports. GB Packers, anyone?

[radiohead]

I remember the Dallas game where the Cs were booed at home because they got clobbered by the Mavs. If that’s the game where Kemba got p---ed then he must really be over sensitive. I mean there were what, 2500 fans during that game? And it was a “must win” game at that time because the Cs were trying to avoid the play in.

[BudweiserCeltic]

First of all, you have to understand that internet and TV sports media--that is, those that deal with the major pro sports--are about 90% NY. So you are seeing everything through NY colored glasses. There is a distinct anti-Boston team attitude at NBC's Sportsedge, Yahoo sports, ESPN and MLB & NBA networks. MLB Network is mainly Yankees and Mets. The only semblance of neutrality at these networks are the ex-players and coaches who lend some degree of objectivity to the analysis. ESPN, for example, has been responsible over the years in drumming up and exaggerating all those questionable charges against the Patriots. Only Mike Reiss at ESPN-Boston (ESPN-NY is the problem) has been objective.

So take the "Athletic" , another one of those pay sites of largely NY sports analysts, with a certain grain of salt. Having said that, I do believe there was locker room dysfunction with the Celtics, and the coach undoubtedly was involved in some ways. Some ex-player analysts have suggested Stevens was kicked upstairs to get a new coach without having to  eat his guaranteed $30 million contract. Makes a lot of sense. It was easy to get Danny to retire, since he had come to realize that the stars were dictating which teams they wanted to play for, and GMs had become outmoded. We are seeing that now in other sports. GB Packers, anyone?

The piece was written by Jared Weiss from The Garden Report. Just saying...

[wiley]

writers gotta write...which is fine, but invariably the reality is less dramatic than how it sounds in print.

I believe it probably was a bad and annoying year by normal standards, but doubt anyone was overly freaked out....I mean, winning would have killed all the issues.  Too bad the C's couldn't share the ball much this year...Coviid, poor bench, etc...

[Rosco917]

The NBA has become a bunch of overpaid whine bag divas who cry about everything. When does it stop?? Maybe when they are told they don’t run the league anymore with a real commissioner?

Perfectly stated.

[Who]

The NBA has become a bunch of overpaid whine bag divas who cry about everything. When does it stop?? Maybe when they are told they don’t run the league anymore with a real commissioner?

Players have always complained. There just wasn't a 24 hour news cycle and social media to report every little thing / complaint.

Add in the media's propensity to exaggerate and escalate ...

[showtime]

First of all, you have to understand that internet and TV sports media--that is, those that deal with the major pro sports--are about 90% NY. So you are seeing everything through NY colored glasses. There is a distinct anti-Boston team attitude at NBC's Sportsedge, Yahoo sports, ESPN and MLB & NBA networks. MLB Network is mainly Yankees and Mets. The only semblance of neutrality at these networks are the ex-players and coaches who lend some degree of objectivity to the analysis. ESPN, for example, has been responsible over the years in drumming up and exaggerating all those questionable charges against the Patriots. Only Mike Reiss at ESPN-Boston (ESPN-NY is the problem) has been objective.

So take the "Athletic" , another one of those pay sites of largely NY sports analysts, with a certain grain of salt. Having said that, I do believe there was locker room dysfunction with the Celtics, and the coach undoubtedly was involved in some ways. Some ex-player analysts have suggested Stevens was kicked upstairs to get a new coach without having to  eat his guaranteed $30 million contract. Makes a lot of sense. It was easy to get Danny to retire, since he had come to realize that the stars were dictating which teams they wanted to play for, and GMs had become outmoded. We are seeing that now in other sports. GB Packers, anyone?

worthy of a TP!!

[W8ting2McHale]

The NBA has become a bunch of overpaid whine bag divas who cry about everything. When does it stop?? Maybe when they are told they don’t run the league anymore with a real commissioner?

Players have always complained. There just wasn't a 24 hour news cycle and social media to report every little thing / complaint.

Add in the media's propensity to exaggerate and escalate ...

Honestly, that article looks like a mashup of Celtics forum posts from the past 6 weeks of this season sprinkled with a few “bombs” like the alleged Blake Griffin quote to make it sound relevant.

[ETNCeltics]

Kemba is known as being a stand up guy, anything but a trouble maker.

Brad Stevens is known as being anything but  tough on players.

None of this makes any sense to me.

As someone said above, this sounds like a pieced together story, with the Blake Griffin bit thrown in as a dig at a Nets rival.

[Kernewek]

Can't read the article as I don't have a subscription but I am loving the fan fiction developing from it and hope it continues.

[td450]

Kemba is known as being a stand up guy, anything but a trouble maker.

Brad Stevens is known as being anything but  tough on players.

None of this makes any sense to me.

As someone said above, this sounds like a pieced together story, with the Blake Griffin bit thrown in as a dig at a Nets rival.

Kemba is a known nice guy. A stand-up guy is a different thing.

[colincb]

BRobb/Bill Simmons

Celtics concerns with Kemba Walker started due to lack of knee rehab ahead of NBA bubble (report)

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/06/celtics-concerns-with-kemba-walker-started-due-to-lack-of-knee-rehab-ahead-of-nba-bubble-report.html

“It goes back to the pandemic,” Simmons said on his podcast of the timing of the relationship between the Celtics and Walker going downhill. “His knee was hurt before the pandemic. They give him all these exercises to try to keep working. I didn’t see this reported anywhere but I think I talked about it last year. They gave him all these exercises and stuff to work on his knee because the trainers couldn’t be in the room with anybody. So it was like, “Hey, you have to work on this, do all this stuff.’ From what I heard, he didn’t do it. When he came back to the bubble and they were about to play, his knee was in the same exact shape that it was before the pandemic and then they had to do two months to try to get him in condition to play these playoff games. I think that was when the discontent started. It wasn’t from the Kemba side. I think it was from the Celtics side initially.”

and

“They just felt like they spent all this money on a guy who had a bad knee and then didn’t take care of it before the bubble so I think they were hoping he could rehab it for year two but at the same time, I don’t feel like they had a lot of loyalty after how it played out,” Simmons explained. “You could argue that if he was any better in the Toronto and Miami series, they make the Finals. If he’s even 80 percent Kemba (they do), and he just wasn’t healthy. I think, from that standpoint, they were either like, ‘This guy didn’t work on his knee correctly or his knee is degenerative. Either way, we’re in trouble.’”

[td450]

BRobb/Bill Simmons

Celtics concerns with Kemba Walker started due to lack of knee rehab ahead of NBA bubble (report)

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/06/celtics-concerns-with-kemba-walker-started-due-to-lack-of-knee-rehab-ahead-of-nba-bubble-report.html

“It goes back to the pandemic,” Simmons said on his podcast of the timing of the relationship between the Celtics and Walker going downhill. “His knee was hurt before the pandemic. They give him all these exercises to try to keep working. I didn’t see this reported anywhere but I think I talked about it last year. They gave him all these exercises and stuff to work on his knee because the trainers couldn’t be in the room with anybody. So it was like, “Hey, you have to work on this, do all this stuff.’ From what I heard, he didn’t do it. When he came back to the bubble and they were about to play, his knee was in the same exact shape that it was before the pandemic and then they had to do two months to try to get him in condition to play these playoff games. I think that was when the discontent started. It wasn’t from the Kemba side. I think it was from the Celtics side initially.”

and

“They just felt like they spent all this money on a guy who had a bad knee and then didn’t take care of it before the bubble so I think they were hoping he could rehab it for year two but at the same time, I don’t feel like they had a lot of loyalty after how it played out,” Simmons explained. “You could argue that if he was any better in the Toronto and Miami series, they make the Finals. If he’s even 80 percent Kemba (they do), and he just wasn’t healthy. I think, from that standpoint, they were either like, ‘This guy didn’t work on his knee correctly or his knee is degenerative. Either way, we’re in trouble.’”

Regardless of the sourcing here, this point sort of has to be true. It was weird that he had all that time and didn't come in ready to roll. So the conclusions here have to be on point.

[Roy H.]

BRobb/Bill Simmons

Celtics concerns with Kemba Walker started due to lack of knee rehab ahead of NBA bubble (report)

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/06/celtics-concerns-with-kemba-walker-started-due-to-lack-of-knee-rehab-ahead-of-nba-bubble-report.html

“It goes back to the pandemic,” Simmons said on his podcast of the timing of the relationship between the Celtics and Walker going downhill. “His knee was hurt before the pandemic. They give him all these exercises to try to keep working. I didn’t see this reported anywhere but I think I talked about it last year. They gave him all these exercises and stuff to work on his knee because the trainers couldn’t be in the room with anybody. So it was like, “Hey, you have to work on this, do all this stuff.’ From what I heard, he didn’t do it. When he came back to the bubble and they were about to play, his knee was in the same exact shape that it was before the pandemic and then they had to do two months to try to get him in condition to play these playoff games. I think that was when the discontent started. It wasn’t from the Kemba side. I think it was from the Celtics side initially.”

and

“They just felt like they spent all this money on a guy who had a bad knee and then didn’t take care of it before the bubble so I think they were hoping he could rehab it for year two but at the same time, I don’t feel like they had a lot of loyalty after how it played out,” Simmons explained. “You could argue that if he was any better in the Toronto and Miami series, they make the Finals. If he’s even 80 percent Kemba (they do), and he just wasn’t healthy. I think, from that standpoint, they were either like, ‘This guy didn’t work on his knee correctly or his knee is degenerative. Either way, we’re in trouble.’”

Regardless of the sourcing here, this point sort of has to be true. It was weird that he had all that time and didn't come in ready to roll. So the conclusions here have to be on point.

I’m not sure it has to be true.  Just because Kemba’s knee didn’t heal doesn’t mean that he didn’t follow the training staff’s advice.  I mean, that same training staff was directly in charge of Isaiah Thomas’ rehabilitation, and they not only misdiagnosed him, but allowed him to play through an injury that screwed up the rest of his career.

At the time, Kemba reported that he rehabbed:

Unfortunately, it's still bothering me even after I've put in a lot of work and did the necessary things to try to get it right."

There weren’t public complaints about him either:

“He has a smile on his face, he has brings joy to the game, to the team, and to the entire organization on a daily basis,” shared Ainge. “And he’s just great to be around. That’s why I just feel so bad. It’s his first time on this on this big of a stage. And he gave everything that he had, and he played well, but we know that he wasn’t himself.”
“He’s a terrific leader, and a terrific teammate”

Then from December:

"Maybe we didn't do him justice by bringing him back too fast into the bubble, being hurt and finding some urgency to get him ready during the regular season," Ainge said. "We don't want to make that mistake, if it even was a mistake, this time. I'm not blaming anybody. It's not a perfect science. It's guesswork, and we're trying to do the best with the information that we have and get him as strong and healthy as he can be, so he's ready to make it through the year."

[greg683x]

There’s a lot that could be completely false here but there’s one thing that’s undeniable…..

The last 4 marquee players the Celtics have lured to Boston:

Al Horford:  opted out of his contract to sign with a division rival.

Gordon Hayward:  often injured, rumors his family hated Boston, wanted to leave, unhappiness with his role

Kyrie:  I really don’t need to write anything here.

Kemba Walker:  reportedly disgruntled and traded before his contract was up.

The fact was Al Horfords situation was head and shoulders above all else here is cringe worthy


…….not a great platform to leap off of when pitching to future free agents