Bends Toward Justice

Last night I saw some references to this trade, but it is only being officially announced this hour. KG comes to Boston. Jefferson, Gomes, Green, Telfair, and Ratliff to Minnesota. Every paper, web site, and blog has had time to do a full analysis before the trade even became official. I scanned 'em on NBA.com, and got sucked over to my man Bill Simmons on ESPN.com. He used a gambling analogy about Ainge's move here, and I played off it on my title. The point is Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen are all competitive late-career vets who know they've got a shot at a ring that they may not have ever expected to get just a month ago. Pierce is 30, Garnett 31, Allen 32. None of them has had the kind of support the other two will provide next season. Each of them has carried a team into the playoffs before. All of them are within spitting distance of career decline. Check out some stat lines: Ray Allen PPG: 21.5, APG: 3.9, RPG: 4.6, FG%: 44, FT%: 88, STL: 1.3 Paul Pierce PP

Meg and I just got back from staying three nights in Gorham NH. On the way back today we detoured through Jackson to hike the Black mountain ski trail off Carter Notch Rd. From the peak we could see Tuckerman's Ravine, Wildcat, and Carter Notch and Dome. Above I tried to paste a hybrid image from Google maps to show the place, but it didn't work that way. I think if you click on the question mark you can see it, though.

http://northernoutdoors.com/kennebec_river_maine_white_water_rafting.html Looks like I'll be missing it...

Just got my copy of ESPN the Mag and read Bill Simmons's column about what's so great about NBA summer league in Vegas. He's about got me talked into taking a week to go out there next summer. You can probably read the column online at ESPN.com.

It looks like Glen Davis holds the promise of being the guy I hope he'll be, Gerald Green is still learning how to play basketball (but concentrating on the right thing: defense), Brandon Wallace could be a little like Tayshaun Prince, and Leon Powe is a better player than I've given him credit for. I think the Celtics are going to be much better on D next year than they have been for a long time. Here's a big quote from Sean Grande's wrap up of the summer blog (go to Celtics.com to get the whole thing): ...A very strong week for Rajon Rondo, particularly on defense and on-court leadership. As it stands on July 14, an awful lot could be asked of Rajon this winter. Finding that next level isn't an option, it's going to be a requirement...The out-of-nowhere emergence of Brandon Wallce, so impressive away from the ball, and long and active, that he lived the Summer League dream, signing his a two-year NBA contract next to a box of Lay's Potato Chips downstairs

I just made it into Connecticut. Thought you might want to know.

Meg and I planned to go for our usual Sunday run this morning, but when we first woke up it was raining. Then a couple things conspired to delay us getting going, but we dressed in our running gear, planning to get to it. It continued to rain off and on. Eventually we checked the weather forecast and found out it could be raining any time from now until -- Armageddon, I guess. So Meg's wavering between running right now (after 11:00, and I still haven't had anything to eat), and running tomorrow AM. She asked me what I wanted to do. I hemmed and hawed. She asked again and I said, "I want to eat breakfast!" So she got more specific; when did I want to run? Anyway, we ran right then. While I was running I was thinking that, for me, putting "want" and "run" in the same sentence without a negative is just never going to make a true statement. I STILL never want to run. I do like how I feel knowing I went, though.

Talked with Brad a couple days ago. He's not psyched; thinks they should have gone ahead with a total youth movement. Talked with Pete yesterday. He sees it more positively as an attempt to make a move in the next two years. But thinks they are still a couple pieces away. I'm hoping Theo Ratliff can be one of those pieces. If he can be the defensive and rebounding presence he was three seasons ago (5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in 27 min. per game), they can afford to be aggressive and active on D because they'll have Ratliff, Jefferson, and Perkins eating all the space in the paint. With Green and Gomes and Davis, and I hope, Tony Allen, you're going to see some highlight reel jams, follows and put-backs. I notice they're trying several huge free agents on their summer league team over the next week, along with some guards. Maybe one or two of those guys will turn out to be the missing piece(s), or maybe it's just a case of another year of confidence and ma