Fran Blinebury lists contenders and leaves out Boston Celtics
Don't let Garnett get ahold of Blinebury. Please.
When a team misses a championship ring by six minutes, then significantly improves its depth (not to mention its insanity), NBA.com’s Fran Blinebury decides it isn’t a true contender.
Yet even in these earliest days there are the teams — Lakers, Heat, Magic, Mavericks, Spurs — that certainly will be contending in the championship mix and others — Timberwolves, Pistons, Raptors, Warriors — that just as surely will have representatives in Secaucus, N.J. for the 2011 Draft Lottery.
He just forgot the Boston Celtics, right? He couldn’t possibly think the Mavericks — the Mavericks! — are a contender but the Celtics aren’t. Nope, Blinebury didn’t forget. He considers the Celtics to be one of the “tightrope teams” — teams that will either be “performing breathtaking feats at a high level or going splat.”
Boston CelticsHow does a team that made a stirring playoff run last spring and won the Eastern Conference title get onto this list? Simply by growing a year older and then adding a 38-year-old center in Shaquille O’Neal. Age was the great leveler of the court for the Celtics all through the 2009-10 regular season as Kevin Garnett struggled to get back to full strength and without his defensive edge Boston lost its spark. With Miami’s significant upgrade and Orlando’s abundance of talent, can the aging Celtics afford to give up too much ground over the regular season and then turn on the playoff fireworks again? And with underappreciated Kendrick Perkins likely missing the first half of the season, there’s going to be a great deal of pressure on the aging Shaq. Can Ray Allen and Paul Pierce stay healthy? Can Rajon Rondo keep taking his game to new heights? We know the Celtics’ Big Three Plus One can cause havoc in the playoffs. But can they get there in one piece?
So let me get this straight: a team that made a stirring playoff run last spring and won the Eastern Conference title earned a spot on the “tightrope” list by growing a year older, but the Spurs — a team that didn’t make a stirring playoff run last spring, gets injured more often than Evel Knievel in his prime, and also added one year of age — made the contender list. Ah, that makes perfect sense.
Nothing to see here, folks. Just another NBA writer outdoing himself with sheer genius.
Related posts:
Celtics Blog | Jay King | September 21, 2010
Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Kevin Garnett, San Antonio Spurs
I love how everybody just mentions Shaq to sum up the Celtics’s offseason, and forgets about Jermain O’Neal. JO will most likely be the starter in Perk’s abscence and will contribute a lot to the starting lineup. And when the Celts are rolling through the playoffs because of their experience and depth, people will once again jump on the bandwagon. We are one year older, but KG is one year healthier, Rondo is one year better (scary thought), and this team is one year more experienced.
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You should take Blinebury’s spot on NBA.com.
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Is Fran Blindbury seeking out attention, seriously, that list is a joke. Yeah, Shaq was our big acquisition to right those six minutes of the game 7. Enough of that fool, does anyone else think of a praying mantis when seeing Garnett in that defensive stance?
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Another idiot hoops writer that probalby never played the game. How guys like this get paid is way beyond me. You guys deserve this guy’s position and salary. Let me know if you ever need a recommendation! Go Cs…
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If onlyyou were the head of ESPN or NBA.com, I’d be living the life.
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