Rajon Rondo

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NBA 2014: Our six-pack of Sleepers for Draft Day

Posted by fantasyfurnace on October 13, 2014
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

A new season is on the horizon with pre-season games already underway. Whistles will be blowing, technicals will be handed out (right? Joey Crawford)?, and buzzer beaters will be dropping. We have selected six potential sleepers for this season in this, the most popular and read of all our Basketball articles. Enjoy the 2014-’15 season and good luck in your leagues!

1. DeMarre Carroll-Forward-Hawks- This likely mid-round candidate, will continue to help your team in multiple categories such as points, steals, 3PT, FG%, and FT%, plus Carroll has committed himself to the 3-pointer as he had his best year in this category in 2013-’14. We see him knocking down around 2 shots from downtown per game while averaging around the same amount of steals. Throw in a half-dozen REB and you’ve got yourself a nice all around player who should be available at around pick 60.

2. Marcus Smart-Point Guard-Celtics- Smart, the sixth overall pick in the draft, will make for a good news-bad news scenario… He won’t start in Boston unless Rajon Rondo is traded or injured, and as we went to post, rumors regarding possible destinations for Rondo still abound. The good news is that should the 20 year old lottery pick actually get the start, his owners will garner a ton of assists and steals. His aggressiveness was obvious playing for Oklahoma St. where last season, averaging just under 33 MPG, Smart tallied 18 PTS, 5.9 REB, 4.8 AST, 1.58 3PM, 2.87 STL, and even managed a little over 0.50 BLK per game.

#36 Oklahoma St. star and Celtic lottery pick Marcus Smart has the recipe for a huge sleeper season should the Rajon Rondo rumors of a trade come to fruiyion. Photo: Fernando Medina/Getty Images

#36 Oklahoma St. star and Celtic lottery pick Marcus Smart has the recipe to be a huge sleeper season should the rumors surrounding the possible trading of Rajon Rondo come to fruition. Photo: Fernando Medina/Getty Images

3. Larry Sanders-Foward/Center-Bucks- Sanders, often misused under last year’s head coach Larry Drew, will have an ideal opportunity to exell under new coach and avid big-time fan of Sanders, Jason Kidd. Kidd if you’ll remember, tried his best to secure Sanders’ services last year when he was with the Nets, so you can be sure that the 6′ 11″ center will have the chance to become a top-5 roto center this season. We are projecting that Sanders will put up 10 PTS, 10 REB, and around 2.90 BLK per game.

4. Markieff Morris-Forward/Center-Suns- The 25 year old has seen his minutes rise every year over his three years in the league and this season will be no different due to the departure of Channing Frye. Already having had a mini-breakout season last year, this sixth-man-of-the-year candidate last season, could help your team in five categories. Our projections of 16 PTS, 7 REB, 1 STL, .472 FG%, & .790 FT%  are all completely attainable making Morris a top roto option.

#11 Markieff Morris climbes over Blake Griffith for the basket. The Furnace says that Morris' minutes will be increased with the absence of Channing Frye, making the 25 yr. old a sleeper Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images.

#11 Markieff Morris, shown here, climbs over Blake Griffith for the stuff. The Furnace says that Morris’ minutes will be increased with the absence of Channing Frye, making the 25 yr. old a sleeper candidate this season. Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images.

 

5. Jose Calderon-Point Guard-Knicks- It has been a while since New York has had a true all around point guard and they now have a very talented one in Jose Calderon. He had to share the ball all too often with Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis with the Mavericks last year, but will be afforded more minutes and have more success in the Knicks’ triangle offense. Calderon’s assists dropped off from almost 9 per game while in Toronto to 4.7 last season with the Mavs so his potential for amassing dimes is well known. An excellent FT shooter (.852% for his career),  Calderon, who will see his touches increased, is projected to heave up over two 3 pointers and 1 steal per game.

6.Gorgui Dieng-Center-Timberwolves- At some point in his career, the multi-talented Dieng will become a top 10 roto center in this league. Minnesota still has Nikola Pekovic but any injury or fall-off in production would foster a move towards inserting Dieng who, in fifteen starts last year, averaged 12.2PPG, 12.0 RPG, to go along with 1.7 BPG. There is no question that Dieng is destined to becoming one of the best defensive big men in the NBA. If you are in a deep enough league, preferably with two starting centers, Dieng is well worth a stash as he is just too good for the Timberwolves to keep off the court.

#5 Gorgui Dieng blocks Nets' Tyshawn Taylor from making an easy layup. Dieng could see extended playing time as Nikola Pekovic has had ankle issues in the past says the Furnace. Photo: AP

#5 Gorgui Dieng blocks Nets’ Tyshawn Taylor from making an easy layup. Dieng could see extended playing time as Nikola Pekovic has had ankle issues in the past says the Furnace. Photo: AP

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Who was more of a quitter: Doc Rivers (2013) or Jeff Van Gundy (in 2002)?

Posted by fantasyfurnace on June 29, 2013
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 13 Comments

The question is intriguing. The answer is complicated. This past week, Celtics coach Doc Rivers up and bolted to the L.A, Clippers for a No. 1 pick in 2015. His team, anchored by two veterans; Paul Pierce who turns 36 this October, and Kevin Garnett who just turned 37 last month were in the way of Boston entering into a re-building mode. The Nets were the only team that could accommodate and afford the two All-Stars and have something to give the CEltics in return, so Danny Ainge made the deal this past week, garnering three future first round picks plus four players.

So Rivers ends up with the Clippers, surely a contender in 2014, while leaving a Celtic team that will win 40 games, be competitive, but who will do no damage in next year’s playoffs. There are those who say that he quit on the team because they would not have been in contention, to go to a team already poised to go deep into the 2014 post season.

Ex-Celtic Coach Doc Rivers is taking his career 587-473 record as well as his talent to David Butler II, USA TODAY Sports Angeles. Photo:

Ex-Celtic Coach Doc Rivers is taking his career 587-473 record as well as his talent to Los Angeles. Photo: David Butler II, USA TODAY Sports

Jeff Van Gundy, who had been an assistant coach of the N.Y. Knicks for six years prior to landing the head coaching duties in 1995, was very successful, taking the team to the Conference Semi-Finals his first three years, the NBA Finals (in his 4th) and Conference Finals in his 5th season, and then lost in the first round of the playoffs in ’00-’01 season. In his seventh year as Knick coach, and after just 19 games, Van Gundy shocked everyone when he just decided to quit the team after having posted a 10-9 record at that point in the season.

Highly popular Ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy abruptly left the club after just 19 games in the beginning of the '01-'02 season. Photo AP

Highly popular Ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy abruptly left the club after just 19 games in the beginning of the ’01-’02 season. Photo AP

So which one of these two elite NBA coaches was more of a quitter?

I don’t think put in the same situation as Doc Rivers that you wouldn’t make the same decision that he did, although there are reports that Danny Ainge didn’t even want him back. We’ll just have to wait and see how that story shakes out. Regrets? Rivers has a few. He’ll always feel that he and the Celts should have won a couple more championsips but injuries to Rajon Rondo one season and Paul Pierce another, prevented that from happening. We’ll say this about Doc, what he did is similar to the move LeBron James made. Something better came along and with the “Win now mentality” ever so prevelant in most sports today, he chose the place where he felt the opportunity for winning now was more prevelant, and you can’t blame him for that.

Jeff Van Gundy’s departure, on the other hand was more bizarre and selfish given his previous success with the N.Y. Knick franchise. He had invested 13 years with the organization as assistant and head coach. To this day he ranks third in franchise history in wins. Red Holzman had 783 wins and a .595 winning percentage, Joe Lapchick 573 and a  .595 WP and Jeff Van Gundy 420 wins with a .590 WP. He certainly was in good company with those two legends in front of him. Van Gundy was one of the most popular coaches the Knicks ever had, one who was not afraid to run on the floor to prevent fights from getting out of hand and to protect his players.

Knick fans were shocked and upset upon hearing that Van Gundy had just decided to hang ’em up after just 19 games into the 2001-2002 season. What has helped endear him to the fans even more, was his admission recently that he, unlike Rivers, was the quitter between the two coaches. Van Gundy has said that he regrets the way he did it, without allowing more time to contemplate the decison. He actually regrets making it so hastily, much more than the actual decision.

That takes a certain kind of individual to come out with this revelation 11 years after it happened without prodding or going through a gruesome interview. He didn’t have to say a word. Or he could have just said that Rivers was the bigger quitter. But he didn’t. He is too classy & professional to do that. If you remember when Avery Johnson was let go by the Nets last season and P.J. Carleismo was made interim coach,Van Gundy, when asked if he would seek that job, said that…” there was nothing to discuss…the Nets already have a coach.”

The Knicks, over the next eight seasons after Van Gundy quit the team, never won 40 games. In fact they they didn’t win even 30 games in three of those seasons. The fans were left with a team that never had the same identity it did when Van Gundy was there, nor the personnel. The fans were also upset with his sudden departure, but after what he said this week, they would undoubtedly take him back in a heartbeat!

The Boston Celtics: Our take on their season; where do they go from here?

Posted by fantasyfurnace on June 10, 2012
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

Now that the Boston Celtics, a franchise donning seventeen World Championship banners from the rafters of  T.D. Garden, has been officially eliminated from any further play this season, it is time to review and prognosticate on where they were in December and who will be with them going into next season.

The NBA lockout prior to the beginning of the 21011-2012 season hurt many teams. However it had worse of an impact on the Boston Celtic players more than most of the other teams in the NBA save for the Spurs and maybe the Lakers, due mainly to some of the aging stars on this storied franchise; Ray Allen turns 37 next month, Kevin Garnett 36,  Paul Pierce 34.

This was probably the last time these three will take the floor in the same uniform. Photo: Celticshub.com

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that KG and Pierce both did not begin the season in ‘basketball’ shape and it took a while for the two of them to shake of their collective rust. After their loss on opening day against the N.Y. Knicks, the Celtics went 4-8 over their next 12. The rust on their so called ‘big three’ was beginning to show.

However, they deserve an enormous amount of credit for turning their season around and being able to finish the regular season fourth in the Eastern Conference 12 games over .500.  And, as everyone knows by now, they gave a pretty good showing of themselves throughout the playoffs except for game six in the Heat series when they had Miami on the perverbial ropes and allowed LeBron to go off for 45/15/5, while getting blown out of the game!

With their elimination on Saturday night in Miami, the media and fan base have already begun discussions concerning the future of some of the Celtics players; in particular the ‘big three’ of Allen, Garnett, and Pierce. Garnett is an unrestricted free agent, but we think he will more than likely get resigned for an additional two years- so also believes coach Doc Rivers. Now whether he’ll get to play both seasons is another story.

Pierce has two years to go on his contract with Boston who owes him $16,790 million in 2013 and $15,333 million in ’14. With that kind of money owed, and at 34 years old, he will be returning next season.

Ray Allen, another unrestricted free agent is unsigned for 2013 and with Avery Bradley poised to take over at the two, Allen will be traded to a team in need of some outside shooting and there are always plenty of them. Case in point take Steve Novak and what his presence did to help open for floor for the N.Y. Knicks.  And Bradley is already signed, (and quite reasonably) over the next three years at $1.6 million, $2.5 million, and $3.6 million.

Rajon Rondo of course will be going nowhere. He has three years left on his contact and is the centerpiece of the franchise. Brendan Bass, the great pickup from Orlando in the off-season, should be returning as well and will be negotiating his final $4 million contract which ends following the 2013 season. He played a key roll for the Celtics this season averaging 12.5/6./1.0 but was more than serviceable in the absence of Glen ‘Baby’ Davis.

Brandon Bass was an excellent pickup of the Celtics this season. Photo: thenbamemes.tumblr.com

As for game seven on Saturday night…”Honestly, I thought we had nothing left”, Rivers said of their 20-6 collapse at the end of the game. Changes are on the horizon. They did all they could with what they had. It’s time to move on…

In the final analysis, the Celts deserve a pat on the back for taking their post season play as far as they did with the personnel they had. Even with their age & their lack of quickness up and down the court, they still came within one game of getting to the finals. Although we couldn’t see a very much younger and faster OKC team with a stacked bench losing to the Celtics in the finals, our hats are still off to them for a job well done by the team, and their standout coach, Doc Rivers.

Well-liked coach Doc Rivers deserves much of the credit for the Celtics run this season. Photo: Celticstown.com