Headlines From Day One Of Camp

I've never intended this space to be a place for Celtics news; it's more of a place for readers to find my analysis and hopefully contribute some of their own. If you're interested in that sort of thing, I invite you to check out -- as I do -- any of the excellent links listed on the right-hand side of this page.

With that said, there are a few things from the first day of training camp that I think are worth mentioning:

First, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, Kevin Garnett is back in form, looking as healthy as he did before the knee injury that ended his 2008-09 season. According to Washburn, there's no tape on Garnett's knee, and he's not running with the limp in his gait we so often saw last year.

Second, there's a little bit of controversy regarding Glen Davis. During Monday's media day, Big Baby sounded a bit frustrated. Yesterday, Doc and Danny responded.

Personally, I think this is a non-story, and an illustration of the dangers of discussing these sorts of things in the media. The first part of Baby's statement reveals that he thinks he's more valuable than most other people do, but that's hardly a unique attribute among NBA players. With the second part of his statement, Baby seems to acknowledge that he's a role player, and notes that the things he's been asked to do to carry out that role on the basketball court have changed over the years, and may change again this year.

Doc's response seems more focused on the first part of the statement, which is not surprising, because he didn't read or hear Baby's comments (he was told about them by a reporter) and that's the part of the statement that is most controversial and therefore fodder for the media.

Something to keep an eye on, I guess, but this is hardly the first time something like this has happened with Davis and I can't imagine it's suddenly going to blow up.

Finally, in my third offseason review post, I didn't mention Tony Gaffney, mainly because I didn't think he had much of a shot of making the team. However, rumor is that the last roster spot is a tossup between him and Von Wafer, so a few words are called for.

Gaffney is a journeyman out of UMass who the Celtics signed toward the end of last season (you may have noticed him on the bench in civilian clothes during the playoffs). He's long and athletic, a hard worker whose forte is defense. That makes his battle with Wafer an interesting one, since Wafer has been something of a malcontent in his young career and is known for his offense.

To me, Gaffney fills the bigger need. But he's also the unknown quantity, having never played an NBA minute. In theory, at 6-8, he can guard both forward positions -- he's considered a three but unless memory fails me, he played four in college -- and the 6-6 Marquis Daniels is the only guy currently on the bench who can guard small forwards. Additionally, we've got a lot of guards in the bench mix, so Wafer is kind of duplicative (though he's the biggest of the bunch at 6-5). But we don't yet have any indication that Gaffney can play at this level, and we know that Wafer can. Ultimately, particularly with Boston's emphasis on defense, if Gaffney loses out to Wafer, it will be because -- like Darius Miles in camp before the 2008-09 season -- the staff doesn't think the kid can contribute at this level.

Wafer, by the way, hurt his ankle on Tuesday, though it doesn't sound particularly serious.