Links of the Day (New Corporate Sponsor? Edition)

• From this Chris Sheridan post on TrueHoop, we find the official dessert of RwH.
• I hate how everyone associates the "throw powder in the air" pre-game ritual with LeBron (Kevin Garnett, at least, did it before him), but I have to admit that this picture is pretty cool.

Links of the Day (I'm Guessing It Was Pepperoni Edition)

• Tommy Heinsohn breaks down Boston's transition game against Philadelphia while eating a slice of pizza.
• Considering sports non-fiction is basically the only genre I read for pleasure these days and my family is always hassling me about a Christmas list, I figured I'd share this list of basketball books being released this year, courtesy of The Painted Area. The Free Darko book is particularly intriguing; The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac was really great and I expect this one to be equally good. I've generally resisted the advanced stats movement, but it's part of the dialog about the game now, so I may just pick up the Basketball Prospectus, as well. And the Whelliston book is right in the wheelhouse of stuff I like.
• Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Doc may stick around after this year. It doesn't seem like something worth talking about at the moment, but it's bound to get mentioned here and there.

Preseason: Boston 96, New Jersey 92

The NBA Preseason: Where Marquis Daniels nailing a game-sealing three-pointer happens.

[recap] [box score] [highlights at Red's Army]

The big thing I took from this game is that as things stand now, Shaquille O'Neal should not be our starting center except in emergencies, for a number of reasons.

For one, he's a defensive liability. I knew that, but it's worse than I thought. In the first quarter last night, he gave up an easy bucket on the pick and roll, allowed something like nine quick points to Brook Lopez, and picked up three fouls in just over four minutes (though as Mike Fratello pointed out during the broadcast, the officials tend to call more fouls in the preseason than they do once the games start to count).

With the other positions on the starting unit solid defensively, opponents would attack Shaq. In addition to easy buckets, this would likely lead to foul trouble for the big fella, which throws the rotation out of whack and puts the Celtics in the penalty early. If Shaq comes off the bench, he'd be going up against the other team's second-string, which is typically less capable of exploiting defensive weaknesses.

Second, he fits well with the second team, or at least I think he does, because I haven't actually seen him play with the second team. But he's still a force to be reckoned with offensively (he backed down Lopez for about 12 feet on one first-quarter basket) and I imagine he'd wreak even more havoc against second-stringers. Moreover, with Nate Robinson and Delonte West the likely backcourt off the bench, we've got some real shooters to surround Shaq in the post.

Third, he doesn't fit perfectly with the starting unit. One of the things we heard coming out of training camp is that Kevin Garnett seemed to have a new commitment to working in the post, which is something we all want to see from him. But he can't really do that with Shaq in the game, since the other team isn't going to pay attention to Shaq unless he's near the basket. In contrast, a KG-JON high-low (in either permutation) is something for the other team to worry about.

I still think Shaq was a great signing and will be a valuable player for us this year. But I think Jermaine O'Neal should be the starter, once he gets healthy.

Some bullets:

• One caveat to what I said above about Shaq with the second team is that the current bench unit seems to have a very nice chemistry with each other. As I mentioned before, Robinson and West are shooters, but they aren't just spot-up guys, and Marquis Daniels' value is in his movement without the ball. There's room on the court for all of them and Shaq and Glen Davis; we just need to be conscious about getting too stagnant on O.
• I still have concerns about their size, but I hope Doc plays Robinson, West, and Daniels to start the second and fourth quarters (once Delonte gets back from his ten-game suspension to start the season, of course). They seem to play well together, and just as importantly, it'd save Paul Pierce and Ray Allen a significant amount of minutes over the course of the season.
• Garnett really does look better. His shot isn't falling, but watching him run up and down the court, you can just tell that his leg isn't bothering him the way it was.
• Semih Erden didn't have as good a game against the Nets as he did against the Sixers, but I really like what I've seen so far. He moves well enough, understands the game, and has skills. Most importantly, he's comfortable on the court, despite his youth and relative inexperience. I still don't expect to see a whole lot of him unless injuries hit, but I feel a lot more comfortable about the team if injuries to the big men do become a problem.
• Davis showed some decent variety in his offensive game.
• Pierce looked good attacking the basket.
• None of the guys vying for the 15th spot on the roster did anything to distinguish themselves in a positive way.

Links of the Day (Congratulatory Butt Pat Edition)

• Today's big story was Grant Hill and Reggie Evans getting tossed out of Wednesday's pre-season game for excessive ass slapping. Now, RwH is generally a proponent of this gesture. It's appropriate in many circumstances on the basketball court: Encouragement after a hustle play, an "attaboy" for a particularly good one, appreciation for an opponent, or a "we'll get 'em next time" after a turnover. In fact, instead of giving out "hat tips" to other bloggers and readers for bringing my attention to interesting content (as is customary on the Internet), I think RwH will, from now on, give out ass slaps. With that said -- and contrary to what everyone on the Internet seemed to be saying -- what Hill and Evans did went beyond that. This had nothing to do with the new technical foul guidelines and everything to do with two guys (one a notorious agitator), who had gotten matching techs the previous play continuing to antagonize each other.
• Ass slap to Red's Army for this post calling out Tim Kurkjian for either over-stating the excitement of a playoff no-hitter or under-stating the excitement of a transcendent performance from a basketball player. My friends and I actually had an email discussion about this years ago, and my position was (and still is) that baseball and football have no analog to a truly great performance in basketball for one reason: flow. I've never been in a baseball stadium for a no-hitter, and I know that as a pitcher gets closer to the no-no, the excitement in the stands builds. But he still must sit on the bench for several minutes at a time while his team bats, during which period a number of events can take away from the moment, at least temporarily. Football is the same; a quarterback might complete every pass he throws, but he still has to come off the field every time his team scores. In basketball, players play offense and defense, and you know that when a team scores, they'll have the ball back in less than a minute -- and often in just a few seconds. When someone is putting on a truly transcendent performance on the basketball court, the whole gym is electric. There are no lulls, and that makes a huge difference.
• Another ass slap to Red's Army for first- and second-half highlights (in HD) from the Philly game that make us look awfully good.
• SLAM Online is ranking the top 50 players currently in the NBA. Rajon Rondo is 17th, ahead of Paul Pierce (19th), Kevin Garnett (29th), and Ray Allen (50th). Scanning the list quickly, it appears that this puts Rondo ahead of all point guards not named Rose, Nash, Williams, or Paul. He should be ahead of Rose, but whatever.
• The story behind this Michael Jordan dunk is great.
• I've said that if I ever get a tattoo, it will simply be "Havlicek stole the ball' written across my back. Looks like a Knicks fan has similar loyalty.

Burn for Semih Erden (In The First Preseason Game)

Preseason Game 1: Celtics 93, Sixers 65 [recap|box score]

I don't normally link to game recaps from other Celtics fan blogs, since I figure people who come here generally want my thoughts and know where to get others'. However, I can't watch the preseason games, whereas I think bloggers in Boston can. So if you're interested in the details of this meaningless game, check out these posts from Celtics Hub, Celtics Town, Red's Army, and Celtics Blog. Also, Celtics Life snagged some highlights from NBA.com.

Some of those posts focus on Semih Erden, as does this one, and I'm going to, too, because the one thing that struck me, looking at the box score before I read anything, was that the Turkish newcomer played nearly 24 minutes. That's an awful lot, and it got me thinking about the possible reasons why:

• Necessity. With Kendrick Perkins out until at least February and Jermaine O'Neal sitting due to a sore hamstring, Doc Rivers was a bit shorthanded last night. Given the mileage on and injury history of Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O'Neal, it makes sense to give Erden extended run.
• Evaluation. Erden's been overseas since Boston drafted him, so Doc hasn't had a lot of time with him. Watching him with the Turkish national team is one thing, and working with him in practice is another, but the best way to see what he's got is to get him in a game situation. But if that was Doc's objective, why not play some of the other unknown quantities fighting for roster spots, namely Von Wafer and Mario West, more than 12 and seven minutes, respectively?
• Precaution. The general consensus is that there isn't room for Erden in the rotation this year, and that he'll spend most of the season in Maine with the D-League Red Claws. And it's true, if JON, Shaq, KG, and Big Baby are healthy, there's no room for Erden in the rotation -- particularly when Perk gets back. But that group is old and injury prone, and if Erden is ready to contribute, he could be an insurance policy. Knowing whether he can play could also come in handy if we decide to make a personnel move at the trade deadline, the way we have the last two years; if he's ready, we could address an area other than the post.

My hunch is that it's the first reason, but the third on intrigues me.

A few other quick thoughts on the guys competing to make the roster. It appears that Wafer played the entire final quarter, scoring no points on a very un-Waferlike zero shots, amassing two turnovers as his only stats. The guy he's apparently competing with for the final roster spot, Mario West, played the final seven minutes. It appears from the box score that West, similarly, had no impact on the game. But Stephane Lasme, who entered the game with West, had 12 points and four boards in his playing time, going 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Like the recently cut Tony Gaffney, Lasme -- mostly a shotblocker and defender -- is a UMass product. I haven't heard any rumbling that Lasme has a shot at the roster this season, but if he keeps this up, he'll stay on Boston's radar, for sure.

Second preseason game is tonight against the Nets, and is being broadcast on NBATV, for those of you who get that channel. Tip's at 7 Eastern.

Muy Beno: Links of the Day (A new RwH production)

(Muy Beno, you'll recall, is my oh-so-clever homage to Beno Udrih when I write NBA posts that are not directly related to the Celtics.)

I read a lot on the Internet about pro basketball. A lot. I subscribe to well over 100, maybe approaching 200, blogs through RSS, and several hundred blog posts pass through my Google Reader on any given day, and while I read the full text of very few of them, I scan the headlines and read stuff that intrigues me, stuff that pertains to guys on my fantasy team, and stuff that pertains to players I like.

A lot of blogs throw together a daily links post full of essential reading. That's not my goal; if you want a comprehensive compilation of Celtics coverage, check out Celtics Blog, and if you were worried about missing a single bit of vital information from the excellent basketball blogs out there, you'd subscribe to them yourself. But I do think it'd be fun to share a few items -- maybe a handful -- that are informative, entertaining in themselves, or allow me to amuse myself with commentary and/or witticisms.

As the moniker "Links of the Day" suggests, my ultimate goal is to do this daily. Knowing me and my schedule, however, this could quite quickly turn into "Links Whenever I Feel Like It Or Have The Time." But we'll try it out.

• This video of Dwight Howard training with Hakeem Olajuwon was all over the basketball blogosphere today. The stuff at the beginning and the end is entertaining, and it's cool to catch little tips like the one around 2:30 into the clip, when Hakeem teaches Dwight to hop while catching an entry pass in order to catch the defender off-guard for a quick spin to the baseline. But the other stuff is kind of meh. Howard's athleticism has never been in question, so it's not all that surprising to watch him spin and glide and jump. But on the offensive end, Howard's instincts have always been a little off, and workouts like this one will do little to change that. This surely isn't the first time he's been shown a drop step or a spin move or an up and under. He worked with Patrick Ewing for the last couple of years, and I guarantee you that Ewing wasn't pushing him to shoot the running lefty hooks he resorts to so often. My sense is that Howard, at least at the start, will get one move in his head when he makes the catch and see it through no matter what, which is going to make for some tough possessions. Nice to see Dream playing a bit better than he did in that "Pros vs. Joes" episode.
• I link to this other Howard video only to introduce you to NBA Playbook, an excellent blog that also had this post on the Celtics today.
• Via Ball Don't Lie (and RwH reader Dave Roberts, and a ton of other blogs), a complete list of unlockable characters in the new NBA Jam video game.
• The NBA GM survey is out, and just one GM thinks Boston will win the NBA championship (well, one besides Danny, because GMs weren't allowed to vote for their own team). Considering we were a few minutes (and a Kendrick Perkins injury) away from winning the title in June, this seems low, especially given our off-season additions. I wonder if it's all because of what Miami did, or if Perk's injury caused some GMs to shy away from picking the Cs.
• Dime Magazine proposes new team names for all 30 NBA clubs. If you're strapped for time, the write-ups for the Bulls, Cavs, Lakers, and Sixers were particularly clever. The rest vary from mildly funny to pretty stupid.
• This is a not a headline a basketball fan ever wants to see about his team.

Update on the 15th Man

This is why I try not to blog too much about day-to-day events in the offseason.

After reading all camp that it was Tony Gaffney vs. Von Wafer for the 15th spot, Gaffney gets cut (he's off to Turkey), and the current thought is that it's Wafer vs. Mario West for the last roster spot. Read this if you care about such things.