Bill Simmons on the Celtics off-season

[MJohnnyboy]

Bill Simmons came out with part 2 of his new article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090728

44. Sounds and bong and it sounds like lots of fun. Won't you get on my back for a piggyback ride? Get on my back for a piggyback riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide.

The song Stillwater sang backstage before every concert goes to new Celtic Rasheed Wallace, who's hoping for a piggyback ride to a second ring. Look, it's hard to criticize your team for spending $20 million to upgrade a position that Mikki Moore and Brian Scalabrine manned last season. But Sheed will be 35 years old and is coming off a brutal contract year. He coasted on his reputation these past two seasons and helped two coaches get fired. Last season, he looked disinterested, took bad shots at the wrong times and never posted up. (In the words of William Miller, "I was there. I WAS THERE.") Considering the Celtics had trouble with everyone who went small against them last season, weren't they better off targeting a third swing guy who could make 3s and defend hot scorers (and please don't tell me Marquis Daniels is the answer) over frontcourt insurance? Also, what makes anyone think Kendrick Perkins -- a young warrior who really came on last season, but an emotional guy for better or worse -- won't be affected with Rasheed breathing down his neck for playing time?

The most confusing part of this NBA summer: most fans and media members failing to realize Sheed and Ron Artest earned their contracts on reputation alone. Artest can only defend physical small forwards and slipped noticeably as an offensive player (among qualifiers, he ranked last in two-point shooting percentage and third-to-last in two-point jumpshots). Sheed hasn't been effective in the playoffs since 2006 and submitted an epic stinkbomb in the 2009 Cleveland sweep (6.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 36.7 percent FG). Aren't these facts relevant? For all we know, the Lakers and Celtics BOTH made themselves worse.

45. Just make us look cool.
I will quote you warmly and accurately.
Well, that's what I'm worried about.

Get used to it, Boston fans: Your team is now the most hated in the NBA.
To the Celtics, the consensus choice to represent the East in the 2010 Finals even though we don't know about KG's knees; how much Ray Allen has left; if Rasheed will be good; how they're going to defend quick perimeter guys or handle anyone who might go small; how much Paul Pierce has left as a franchise scorer; and most of all, how an enigma like Rajon Rondo will respond to Danny Ainge inexplicably shopping him around AND publicly flaming him for the second half of June. Yes, I am concerned. Another concern: Did the Celtics just assemble the most hated NBA team of this decade? Everyone outside of Boston turned on Rondo and KG last season. Throw in Wallace's antics and Perkins' physical style, as well as the natural distaste for any Boston success, and the Celtics suddenly look like the league's premier bullying/chest-bumping/ref-badgering villains. So much for the days of ubuntu. Will they embrace this new identity? How will this play out?

Your thoughts?

[Roy Hobbs]

I think Simmons has tried so hard to prove that:

1) He's objective; and

2) He's smarter than both Boston fans and Celtics' management ...

... that he's turned into a hater.  Thus, why he picked LA two years ago, and Cleveland last year.

[GroverTheClover]

I don't care that the rest of the nation hates Boston sports. I might get more emails/facebook posts when we lose but I'm not losing any sleep over it.

As far as the Sheed portion, Simmons only focused on Sheed's negatives while overlooking his strengths. It's his opinion and he's entitled to it, but I disagree with it.

[crownsy]

I agree with roy, it seems like Bill's new gimmick to prove he isn't a boston sports fan who happens to write for ESPN is to hammer boston teams until they win, at which point he writes a touching piece about how special it is that they won to him.

See: sox 2007, celtics 2008.

[Jeff]

I was totally going to go with an article about how hated we'll be next year, especially if we get Bowen

I'll probably still run with the idea, but I hate that he printed it before me

[GroverTheClover]

I agree with roy, it seems like Bill's new gimmick to prove he isn't a boston sports fan who happens to write for ESPN is to hammer boston teams until they win, at which point he writes a touching piece about how special it is that they won to him.

See: sox 2007, celtics 2008.

Or to say "x" will win instead of a Boston team, but when a Boston team wins to call it a "reverse jinx"...

[Michael Anthony]

Simmons makes some very good points in both sections.

44)
Sheed was worth the money to upgrade from Moore and Scal, but not based on his performance last season.
A James Posey-like swing forward may have contributed more to this team.
Sheed could have a negative effect on the young, emotional Perkins - already a technical foul producer.

All valid points.

45)
The announcers really got on our guys last off-season, Rondo in particular, for their physical play. Our bigs are amongst the most intimidating in the league, our guards have swagger, and Pierce is a physical 3. We will be villians in the Bad Boys mode, but that does not bother me.

[Roy Hobbs]

I agree with roy, it seems like Bill's new gimmick to prove he isn't a boston sports fan who happens to write for ESPN is to hammer boston teams until they win, at which point he writes a touching piece about how special it is that they won to him.

See: sox 2007, celtics 2008.

Or to say "x" will win instead of a Boston team, but when a Boston team wins to call it a "reverse jinx"...

Even after telling fans how he didn't believe in "jinxes" and "reverse jinxes" previously.

[Chris]

2 things.

1. This team has not changed a lot personality-wise in 2008.  Posey was nearly as unlikable as Rasheed, and was known as a dirty player, who also had a bit of dog in him, when the games didn't matter.  KG was just as bad, and Perk was even worse than he was now.  And they also had Sam Cassell to help talk trash.

I don't disagree that this team has become villainous.  But he makes it sound like it is something new.  The only thing that has changed is that they won a championship, and became targets.  But the attitude is still the same as the Ubuntu year.

2. If he wants any more for the MLE than Sheed or Artest, then he is just greedy.  Both of those guys are absolute steals.  Yeah, neither of them are still at the top of their game, but thats why they are not making $12 million a year.  But they are still two of the best players available out there.  

I have been hesitant to say this in the past, but I think living in LA has finally gotten to Simmons.  He has lost what it means to be a fan.  No one here cares what other people think of the C's.  

Yeah, there are questions for the Celtics.  But they have absolutely, positively helped themselves dramatically this offseason.  And to question that is downright ridiculous.

[blake]

He is just trying to not sound like a homer.

I find it weird though that he doesn't mention that the matchup problems for teams last year were when teams went big, not when they went small.  I don't remember losing a series to a team that went small on us.  Small ball doesn't win.  To think of Sheed as a liability on defense is pretty humorous to me.  

[Michael Anthony]

Full disclosure, I am a big Simmons fan.

Could the argument be made that adding Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon (Cleveland's MLE) to our wing, signing Nesterovic (LLE) to backup Perkins, and retaining Big Baby would make as much sense as adding Sheed, Daniels, and Najera (for example)?

[crownsy]

Simmons makes some very good points in both sections.

44)
Sheed was worth the money to upgrade from Moore and Scal, but not based on his performance last season.
A James Posey-like swing forward may have contributed more to this team.
Sheed could have a negative effect on the young, emotional Perkins - already a technical foul producer.

All valid points.

expect that he doesn't acknowledge dainels as a stop gap there, nor give people the celtics could have targeted instead.

outside of ron artest and moon, who is pretty much slightly better than the guy we are landing to be our back up three, who should the celtics have gone after?

[paintitgreen]

Full disclosure, I am a big Simmons fan.

Could the argument be made that adding Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon (Cleveland's MLE) to our wing, signing Nesterovic (LLE) to backup Perkins, and retaining Big Baby would make as much sense as adding Sheed, Daniels, and Najera (for example)?

Especially depending on what happens with Perk and whether we get a real backup 3 (Daniels to me is a good backup guard to pair with House, not a 3), I think the argument could easily be made.

I like what we did, though.

[crownsy]

Full disclosure, I am a big Simmons fan.

Could the argument be made that adding Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon (Cleveland's MLE) to our wing, signing Nesterovic (LLE) to backup Perkins, and retaining Big Baby would make as much sense as adding Sheed, Daniels, and Najera (for example)?

Especially depending on what happens with Perk and whether we get a real backup 3 (Daniels to me is a good backup guard to pair with House, not a 3), I think the argument could easily be made.

I like what we did, though.

He's a 6'6 guy with length who plays more SF than SG in indy, why is he not a backup 3 option in your mind? just curious.

[JHTruth]

Yeah Simmons has really tried hard recently to seem as though he's not a C's fan. I think his editors have rode him for a while about it.

He makes some valid points. We'll just have to see how the season plays out. He doesn't know how it's going to go anymore than we do. We're just going to have to see the thing ont he court..