C's come up short against Spurs; Sign Wallace

The Celtics lost in their second summer league game against the Spurs Monday, 61-53. Though the Spurs are the defending champions, their summer league crew is mostly rookies and journeymen battling for a spot on the best team in the NBA. The Celtics led most of the way, however in the end, The Spurs were able to pull it off after some costly turnovers by the C's. Jackie Butler finished with 16 points and 12 board for the Spurs, and was most definitely the player of the game. However, it is just summer league, and its also Jackie Butler. For the Celtics, Glen Davis made some noise inside with 12 points and 9 rebounds. He may be a little short, but he moves around well down low and knows how to score. He can really make an impact for the team this year.

The biggest story coming out of the game though was the signing of Forward Brandon Wallace. Wallace is an athletic, defensive-minded forward who went undrafted out of South Carolina. Though he didn't have the best game yesterday, the Celtics have been impressed by him enough to sign him to the team. Wallace may provide the Celtics with one of their biggest needs: Defense on the inside. However, just because this is his forte doesn't necessarily mean he's ready to make an impact in the NBA. Still, I like the signing and I'm very curious to see what he can do for us. He even got to show off his jump shot a couple times in the game which is always a plus.

Another player talked about much during the game was Allan Ray. He's not having the greatest summer league so far, but the commentators mentioned that he's most definitely an NBA player. I would agree with this statment, but I feel that there really isn't much room on the Celtics for him, with Ray Allen, Tony Allen, and Gerald Green all looking for minutes at the 2. Gerald can play the 3, but that still doesn't leave a lot of minutes for Ray. My hope is that he has a good summer league and thus can maybe be used in some type of trade. As Ainge had previously mentioned, he isn't done making trades. If Allan Ray shows that he's ready to play some serious NBA minutes, he could be a good fit for a team looking for some depth at the two. On the flipside, we could always look to trade Tony Allen and have Allan Ray back up Ray Allen. This might be too much for Tommy Heinsohn to handle though.

No matter what happens I think the Celtics will look to make some kind of deal, most likely for that defensive presence on the inside. While Brandon Wallace shows potential in that sense, he won't be ready to step up for a while and it seems the Celtics want to win some games soon. A player like Marcus Camby or Andrei Kirelenko would be a great fit, but I'm not sure what it will take to get this kind of deal to happen. I'm not a GM. Maybe Isaac Bearg over at Future GM Thoughts has some ideas as to what the C's should do (Shameless plug).

C's Win Opener

(Celtics.com)

The Celtics won their summer league opener Friday night beating the Portland Trailblazers 74-66. The game gave Celtics fans their first looks at draft picks Gabe Pruitt and Glen Davis. However, overshadowing their pro debuts was the debut of Greg Oden, the #1 overall pick, and a player that has been on the radar of Celtic fans for quite some time.

Though it was just a summer league game, it was entertaining nonetheless, with players like Gerald Green entertaining the crowd and Oden throwing down some vicious blocks. Despite this though, Oden finished with 10 fouls. Welcome to the NBA big guy.

For the C's, the game was all about Leon Powe. The 2nd year power foward out of Cal had a great game putting in 19 points and gathering up 9 rebounds. It's only summer league, but Powe showed that he's definitely capable of making an impact. The only question is how many minutes he gets next year with players like Davis and Ryan Gomes in the fold.

The Celtics play their next game today against San Antonio at 4 p.m. FSN will broadcast the game live and NBA.com is streaming. See you tomorrow for a recap.

Summer League Begins

(Celtics.com)

The summer league kicks off tonight for the C's, and while these games don't count for anything, The Green Party will still be providing coverage. Tonight, the Celtics take on Portland and Greg Oden. Here's the summer league roster thanks to Celtics.com:

Lance Allred (C) - Weber State
Pat Carroll (G/F) - St. Josephs
Glen Davis (F) - LSU
Torin Francis (F) - Notre Dame
Andreas Glyniadakis (C) - Greece
Gerald Green (G/F) - Gulf Shores AcademyEric Hicks (F) - Cincinnati
Leon Powe (F) - California
Gabe Pruitt (G) - USC
Allan Ray (G) - Villanova
Rajon Rondo (G) - Kentucky
Sergio Sanchez (G) - Spain
Brandon Wallace (F) - South Carolina

There should be some competition for a few roster spots, so a lot of these guys will be bringing their A game. I'm very curious to see what Torin Francis can do. At 6'11", he has the size, but the hype he once had has certainly died down.

Competition may have already begun at the point guard spot, according to a blog written by Spanish player Sergio Sanchez. While the translation is rough, it's funny nonetheless:

"Rondo was very nice the first day but later, when he asked me and I told him I played the point like him, he didnt say another word to me! I dont believe it is the competition that would lead to this but ok....I only intend on palying as well as I can and that is it. ..." (link)

The remaining schedule is as follows:
July 9 vs. San Antonio - 1:00
July 11 vs. Chinese National Team - 7:00
July 13 vs. Milwaukee - 5:00
July 14 vs. New York - 1:00

FSN will be broadcasting all the games live, as well as NBA.com which is streaming all the summer league action.

Draft thoughts

Yesterday's draft certainly proved to be an eventful night for the Celtics, making headlines with the acquisition of veteran guard Ray Allen. Overall, I can say I'm one of the few who doesn't mind this deal. Could we have got a better veteran player to complement Pierce? Maybe, but it wasn't worth giving up guys like Gerald Green and Al Jefferson. Could we have drafted a player who in the future could make big contributions? Maybe, but after 3 years of drafting young players I'm not really sure we need another project.

Even though it was a very deep draft I think that Oden and Horford were really the best fits for us, and obviously we couldn't have drafted either of them. I like Brewer a lot but I wonder where he fits in the team with Pierce already there and Gerald Green being our Guard/Forward of the future.

Besides that we had to give up Delonte, and while I've always been a huge fan of him, I'm not too worried. He hustled quite a bit, but I think he's probably a career bench player and is halfway between the two guard positions. As for giving up Wally , I really couldn't be happier.

I've recently come around to siding with those who argue that young guys cannot win on their own. I think that while Allen is older and not the player he once was, he provides the experience that can help the young guys we already have. We still have a great core of young talent with Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Rajon Rondo, Ryan Gomes, Tony Allen, and now Gabe Pruitt (I can see him starting for us in 2 years) and Glen Davis. We have not given away our future.

Allen's shooting will hopefully open up the inside a little more for Big Al to do his thing, while Gomes and Perkins should log a decent amount of minutes in there as well. This deal is not perfect by any means, and Ray Allen isn't the perfect fit for us, but I think I'll go with it for now and see where it takes us. I'm really happy about the Gabe Pruitt pick up. I could be wrong but I think he can contribute greatly in the future.

As for some of the local guys I was following, I was happy to see Jared Dudley from BC get picked high. Even though he's going to the Bobcats, they might not have such a bad team with the addition of Jason Richardson who is fresh of a playoff run with the Warriors. Sean Williams went to New Jersey, which looks like a good fit for them providing he develops into the kind of player that I think he can. Also Stephane Lasme from Umass ended up going to my 2nd favorite team, Golden State so I'll be curious to see what he does there. He's a little undersized, but his great athleticism made him one of the best shot blockers in the country last season.

I also advise you all to check out another new blog, Future GM Thoughts. It's being run by good friend and former roommate Isaac Bearg. He has a lot of good ideas, many of which I'll probably be stealing. That's all for now guys.

Welcome

After failing a few times at blogging, I figure it's best to write about what I know best (or at least think I know best). This has brought me to the creation of The Green Party. A new blog for one of basketball's most storied franchises. However recent developments (and by recent i mean since I was born in 86), have sent the team down a new path. A path that brings us to tomorrow night's NBA Draft. The Draft is probably my 2nd favorite day besides Christmas, and I will be tuning in and returning Friday with my thoughts. The latest news is the Celtics plan on selecting a player at 5, despite rumors that have included KG, Shawn Marion, and Jermaine O'Neal. If i started this blog at the beginning of the week I most likely would have 100 posts with my thoughts on the rumors, but with less than 24 hours to go I'm burnt out. I have no control over what the Celtics will do between now and the draft, and it's probably not worth losing sleep over. I hope you'll all tune in and see the next step in our lengthy rebuilding process. Later guys.