The Post-Rondo Celtics - Where Do They Go From Here?

(Along with our man Thunderstolt, we sent out an APB for The King after it was announced Sunday that Rajon Rondo was done for the season with a torn ACL. To dispute some rumblings in the New England, our man sent us a couple bullet points regarding his beloved Celtics)

The Celtics are not a better team without Rondo

The King: Incredibly, some Celtics fans have suggested that the Celtics may be better off without Rondo, citing statistics such as his +/- this year. There are a million ways to prove such thinking is ludicrous, but I’ll do it simply by providing one link:

KOBEsh: I have nothing further to add. People are stupid.

Instant Trade Analysis: Justin Upton to the Braves

Atlanta Braves get: OF Justin Upton, 3B Chris Johnson

Arizona Diamondbacks get: 3B/OF Martin Prado, SP Randall Delgado and minor leaguers SS Nick Ahmed, 1B Brandon Drury and SP Zeke Spruill

Since Ted Turner sold the Braves several seasons ago, Atlanta management has subtly turned a team with a nine figure payroll into shrewd, budget conscious operation with an eye always towards the future. Instead of spending multi-millions to sign or retain high-salaried veterans, the Braves have kept a healthy mix of older players with young, emerging prospects, which seem to sprout from their minor league system as steadily as Milton Bradley felony charges.

Although we had a couple initial thoughts here at MAMBINO HQ regarding this trade, we turned to resident Braves fan and writer The King for his thoughts. Let's get to it:

MAMBINO Predictions for the NBA's MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year

MVP: LeBron James

The King: After winning back-to-back MVPs in the 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 seasons, Michael Jordan was the heavy favorite to win the award for a third consecutive time and fourth overall going into the 1992-1993 season. Despite averaging a monstrous 32.6 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 5.5 APG Jordan lost the MVP to Sir Charles.

LeBron James, who has won three of the last four MVPs, finds himself in similar position with 67% of NBA general managers predicting that he will once again take home the MVP.  Does Kevin Durant or any other player have a legitimate chance of dethroning the King? Sorry LeBron haters, it’s not going to happen. Here’s why:  

MAMBINO's 2012-2013 NBA Season Preview Wrap-Up

After six weeks, our massive 2012-2013 team-by-team preview has come to an end. Shout out to the entire ridiculously pseudonymed MAMBINO writing crew--El Miz, Bocker Knocker, The CDP, El Mariachi, AO, The King, Mr. Marquez and Thunderstolt--for all their contributions. They turned out better than I could have possibly imagined; insightful, well-considered, funny and most of all, right. 

If you haven't already, check out our predictions for expected Eastern and Western Conference finishes, as well as our 30 team preview series. You'll dig.


Coming this week: our picks for all the MVP, DPOY and ROY awards, as well as most and least disappointing/improved/suprising and of course, 2012-2013 NBA champion.

Do They Have Enough to Get Past Miami? - Boston Celtics Season Preview

(The King is again traveling. Posting on his behalf. You know the drill)

Starting Five: PG Rajon Rondo, SG Avery Bradley (when healthy), SF Paul Pierce, PF Brandon Bass, C Kevin Garnett

Key Bench Players: G Jason Terry, G Courtney Lee, F Jeff Green, PF Jared Sullinger, PF/C Chris Wilcox, C Fab Melo. C Darko Milicic

Notable offseason additions: Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Jeff Green (missed last season due to health problems), Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo (first round draft picks)

Notable Offseason subtractions: G Ray Allen, F Mickael Pietrus, G Keyon Dooling

If the last few years had proven anything to us, it’s that the Celtics team that shows up to play this spring will perform vastly different than the one that coasts through the 82 game regular season.  Unlike every other team in the league, the Celtics have little to play for during the regular season. Any squad that relies on high-intensity defense and has a “Big Three” that consists of two 35+ year olds, one of which has knees that are less sturdy than a rope bridge during an earthquake, will not be consistent enough to challenge for the conference’s top two seeds. Yet, because the Eastern Conference is so shallow, the chances that Boston fails to clinch one of the top six seeds are pretty low unless they have significant injuries.

The Boston Celtics real season begins when the playoffs start. The NBA playoff structure will require the Celtics to defeat three teams in their NBA Finals quest but the fact is, only one team matters. Unlike the Western Conference which can lay claim to six legitimate title-contending teams, the Eastern Conference has only one elite team – the defending champion Miami Heat. If you’re good enough to beat the Heat, you’re going to beat any other team you match up against in the Eastern Conference playoffs barring injuries. For that reason, the remainder of this preview is going to focus exclusively on how the Celtics match up against the Heat.

The Celtics team that lost the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games last year had no hope of defeating the champs this year. Fortunately for the C's, the squad they’ve built this year is far better than the one that couldn’t hold onto a 3-2 series last year. For Boston, it's all about beating Miami. Let's take a look at how the team's offseason changes impact their ability to combat the defending champs:

Keep Building - Utah Jazz Season Preview

(As per usual, The King is in transit today. I'm posting on his behalf)

Starting Five: PG Mo Williams, SG Gordon Hayward, SF Marvin Williams, PF Paul Millsap, C Al Jefferson

Key Bench Players: PG Earl Watson, SG Raja Bell, SG Randy Foye, SG Alec Burks, SF Jeremy Evans, PF Derrick Favors, C Enes Kanter

Notable offseason additions: PG Devin Harris, G Mo Williams

Notable offseason subtractions: SG Randy Foye, SF Josh Howard
Kevin O’Connor received an awful lot of Executive of the Year Support for someone who failed at their job. 

Back in February, 2011, O’Connor made the decision to start the rebuilding process when he traded Deron Williams to the Nets for Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and two first round picks. It was a great move by O’Connor – the Jazz had no chance of competing before Williams became a free agent and inevitably left utah. By trading him with a year and a half left on his contract, he was able to maximize his value and avoid the fiasco the Nuggets experienced in trading Carmelo Anthony. 

O’Connor, like everybody else, figured the Jazz would have to endure a losing year but be rewarded with the lottery pick in a loaded 2012 draft that would help the team in their rebuilding process. The Jazz roster didn’t buy into the plan however, finishing a surprising 36-30 and earning the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs.  As result, they lost their lottery protected pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves (in a trade involving Darius Songaila and Antonio Daniels from 2009, of all things).

Missing out on a lottery pick because the Jazz overachieved likely didn’t upset most fans. What is likely upsetting them however, or at least should be, is that management is convinced the Jazz are ready to contend, as evidenced by the trades for Mo and Marvin Williams. 

Kyrie Irving, Future Top-5 Player? - Cleveland Cavaliers Season Preview

(Some magic from The King, who's mobile today and so I'm posting on his behalf)

Starting Five: PG Kyrie Irving, SG CJ Miles, SF Alonzo Gee, PF Tristan Thompson, C Anderson Varejao

Key Bench Players: PG Donald Sloan, SG Daniel Gibson, SG Dion Waiters, SF Omri Caspi,  PF Jon Leuer, and C Tyler Zeller

Notable offseason additions: Dion Waiters (4^th overall pick), Tyler Zeller (17^th overall pack), C.J. Miles

Notable Offseason subtractions: G Antwan Jamison

Losing LeBron James was the best thing that ever happened to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I certainly didn’t think this was true at the time, but in hindsight, this was the only possible way for the Cavaliers to win a championship. If the Cavs had resigned LeBron, they would have become a rich man’s version of the late-1980s Hawks: a team with one star player surrounded by limited talent that was not good enough to compete with the league’s current elite, yet too good to pick early in the draft where the vast majority of stars emerge. Not to mention, the Cavaliers had zero payroll flexibility with gigantic contracts for overpaid players--in other words, they weren't going to be able to get better through free agency. The Cavs’ hopes for a championship would hinge on unearthing an All-Star (or perhaps two) with cheap, late round first draft picks to compete with the league’s up-and-coming teams such as the Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant? Who has had the better career?

It's no secret that THE GREAT MAMBINO features a number of Simmons disciples here. We drink the Kool-Aid, heavily so, and listen to the musings of a man who spends an impossible amount of time thinking about basketball as a mere hobby.

Of course, with a false prophet, you've got to have the good book. And of course, in this sacriligious perversion of an analogy, the bible is The Book of Basketball. For the uninitiated, Simmons wrote a mammoth 700 page dissertation, the premise of which was that the Basketball Hall of Fame should be organized into a pyramid. In this concept, Simmons sets 96 players into five groupings, moving numerically upwards from several-time All-Stars, to the immortals of the NBA. In other words, Bill found a neat, clean (and profitable) way to rank the greatest ballers of all-time from bottom to top, with justifications, disguised as chapters, for each man.

It shouldn't surprise any loyal reader of MAMBINO that we'd naturally gravitate towards the particular ranking of one Kobe Bean Bryant. Simmons begrudgingly respects Kobe, though every part of his green and white being is dead set against ever truly liking the Black Mamba. Thus, when I read the updated paperback rankings in 2010 after the Lakers' 16th championship, I was surprised to see that Kobe had been elevated from the 16th spot, all the way to number 8. Just behind Tim Duncan.

And thus the debate started. While I have the utmost respect for Tim Duncan, who rightly wears the Barkley-ian badge of "Best Power Forward Ever" proudly upon his lean shoulder, I simply don't believe that he could ever outrank Kobe on the pyramid. The King, an infrequent contributor to MAMBINO and Boston-area scumbag, heartily disagrees.

This debate raged throughout the playoffs, and as both men were unceremoniously dumped from contention (is there any other way?), the stage was set for a late-August post where we scrap for any reason at all to talk about basketball. So here it is: Kobe or Duncan? Who has had the better career?

MAMBINO's Eastern Conference Finals Preview

The Miami Heat versus the Boston Celtics. As soon as Derrick Rose got hurt five weeks ago, this is the matchup we all saw coming. And it is going to get messy.

Even in missing starting power forward Chris Bosh and no one on the Miami roster peaking right now save for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, essentially every person whose opinion you care about is picking the Heat to win this series. I suppose this more than anything is a testament to the greatness of South Beach's best two players, who are playing at an otherwordly level right now.

Barring an unforseen injury to the Heat's two remaining All-Stars, this series will be a romp. In our series preview, we'll let you know why, but also, what the hell Boston would have to do to squeak out the massive upset. The King, our resident Celtics fan, will try to decode a method to the madness that would be a Boston series win. Here we go:

MAMBINO NBA Playoffs Roundtable

Look, we know you guys get sick of just me and BockerKnocker dominating the page. We get it. Handsome doesn't translate on the internet, otherwise you'd probably want more of us. But technology being the way it is, we're going to share the MAMBINO wealth and open up a NBA Playoffs roundtable to our stable of fine friends and writers - AO, El Miz, Thunderstolt, The King and of course, us two idiots. We're going to ask a few key questions in any series, and give our aficionados room to answer. Let's go!

Running Diary - Celtics/Hawks Playoffs Game 2

One of the more intense sports debates I’ve had was three years ago about who was better now and who would have the better career: Jacoby Ellsbury or Brett Gardner. While three of us, including one Yankees fan, could agree that Ellsbury was superior, another Yankees fan was convinced that Gardner was the superior player. Fast forward to this offseason, I asked that same guy if he still thought Gardner was the better player to which he responded, “I said he was a better fit for the Yankees team at that time, not that he was a better player.” That situation right there exemplifies one of the annoying habits of many sports fans – revisionist history.

I’ve always wondered if I am guilty of this particularly in circumstances when I’m watching a game. For that reason, I decided to do a Bill Simmons-style running diary of the Celtics and Hawks game. Let's hit it:

Boston Celtics Playoff Game 1 Recap: With a Celtics Bias

Anybody who had watched the first two Atlanta-Boston matchups this year (Boston rested their starters for the third game) knew this one was going to an ugly matchup. This game certainly “lived up” to its expectations as the Hawks beat the Celtics 83-74 in a game where each team scored 19 points or less in three quarters. Below are the game’s biggest stories:
 

2012 Atlanta Braves Preview

No one was a bigger fan of the Boston Red Sox last year than the Atlanta Braves. That’s because the story of the Red Sox historical collapse largely overshadowed the Braves’ equally historical collapse, saving the Braves from being the main focus of the “What the hell happened?” at the end of the regular MLB season (though Atlanta received more than its fair share of criticism). The Braves’ demise is well-documented, so there isn’t a need to go into a ton of detail here. The quick summary: Atlanta had an 8.5 game lead over the eventual World Series Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, on September 5. Due to a combination of an overworked bullpen, an anemic offense (which had struggled all year but particularly down the stretch) and injuries, the Braves had a 9-18 record for the remainder of the year, including a 3-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals. The Braves were officially eliminated on the last day of the season when a Phillies team with nothing to play for beat them 4-3 in 13 innings after stud rookie closer Craig Kimbrel could not hold onto a 1-run lead in the bottom of the 9th. That choking act was just one of many painful defeats for the Braves during September as they loss some games in truly spectacular fashion (e.g. they lost a game to the Marlins when Chipper Jones lost a ground ball in the lights with two outs and a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. How you lose a ground ball in the lights is still beyond me but Chipper has earned the right to make excuses).

Tim Tebow Will Work Out for the Jets

Hailing from the woods of New Hampshire, few things please me more than Jets fans whining and complaining about their overrated team (with the Shake Shack double burger I had for lunch yesterday being a notable exception). With that said, this is getting ridiculous. Every Jets fan I talk to, which is a lot since I’m in the New York area, is criticizing the Jets trade for Tim Tebow. I enjoy Jets fans being in emotional pain, so I’ve yet to point out that this indeed was actually a very good trade for the Jets.

Here’s why:

Why Tony Parker is Underrated

(KOBEsh: Presented here is the maiden post from MAMBINO contributor and soon-to-be media darling The King. Our newest correspondent comes to us by way of New Hampshire, where as a kid he had access to a handful of channels, including FOX and TBS. Thus, his allegiances are a strange brew of the Atlanta Braves, Dallas Cowboys and Boston Celtics. He is known around the Boston area for being the kid who would attempt (and fail) any eating challenge in the Boston College cafeteria, and is still the only man to nearly paralyze himself doing pull-ups in the D train on the Boston T)

Parker, shocked at BK leaving him off the roster

BockerKnocker, I feel bad for you man. After publishing your post on the 2012 NBA all-stars, you must be more embarrassed than Christina Aguilera was at Etta James’ funeral. I thought you knew basketball, but leaving MVP candidate Tony Parker off your Western Conference All-Star roster exposed who you truly are. You are just like too many other NBA fans who do not give Tony Parker the respect he so deserves. The fact is, Tony Parker is an elite NBA point guard and one of the most underrated players in the National Basketball Association. Here’s why: