At what point does quirky change to erratic?

Glen Davis has always been a little different, punctuating many of his tweets with “Ayo Baby,” starting public beef with Doc Rivers; crying on the bench during an NBA game; admitting to a debilitating lack of confidence; complaining about his backup role while playing behind Kevin Garnett; screaming obscenities at hecklers; lip-syncing to Colbie Caillat while eating copious amounts of cereal; and punching his friend in the face (and injuring his thumb) while his friend was driving a vehicle. We often overlooked or devalued these outbursts of immaturity/slightly odd behavior; Davis was like everybody’s crazy uncle, the one who loves to laugh and loves a good time, but occasionally lets his quest for fun lead to bad decisions. As long as Davis could still fill in admirably at both big men spots and take charges at an impossible rate, we could overlook the times he overstepped the boundaries of normalcy.

In the past week, Davis has walked a tightrope between quirky and erratic. First, he publicly referred to himself in the third person approximately a dozen times while proclaiming (again) his desire for a larger role. In the same interview, he took a shot at Doc Rivers and seemingly severed whatever good will he still had within the Boston Celtics organization. Davis has always been liable to say anything at any time, but this time seemed like a calculated effort to make his feelings known: he does not envision a future as a Boston Celtic.

Less than a week later, Davis was at it again, this time discussing his new sports psychologist and his need for becoming mentally stronger. He later offered some unsolicited advice to Lebron James (who Davis believes should also visit a sports psychologist) and admitted that Kobe Bryant can rattle him.

“He just pisses me off on the court,” Davis told KFXX in Portland (via Sports Radio Interviews). “You stress him out and he might speak some Spanish to you and you’re like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I know you’re from Italy or somewhere, but his charisma and just the way he’s so poised, it just gets under my skin.”

Somewhere between offering King James advice, bowing down to Kobe and proclaiming Amare Stoudemire “just so hard to guard” (a little more than two months after declaring, “It’s really not that hard [to defend Amare]“), Davis compared the ideal basketball mentality to a passing cloud.

“I hired a sports psychologist to help you tap into the zone … as far as you miss a shot, you don’t worry about that,” he said. “You go to the other end and use that energy to do something else on defense. … Let it pass like a cloud. Clouds pass by you all the time and you don’t worry about it, you’ve just got to keep going. That’s what I’ve been concentrating on, just how to handle things like a professional.”

Though Davis has earned a spot in a toned-down version of Bill Simmons’s “Mike Tyson Zone” (where no actions or words should come as a surprise), he is not quite falling apart in a Marbury-an manner. I doubt Davis will ever smoke marijuana on a live U-Stream, tattoo a brand’s logo on his head, or eat vaseline in front of the viewing world. (Okay, maybe he’ll eat vaseline—but only if he’s really hungry.)

In fact, Davis’s remarks are more reminiscent of Chris Bosh than Stephon Marbury. Davis is unearthing details about himself that most people would keep secret, bearing his inside thoughts to the general public. I’m sure many players believe Lebron James needs a sports psychologist; however, few would say so during a radio interview. Like Bosh—who felt comfortable enough with the media to tell them the Boston crowd made him insecure, and whose media dealings were once described by the sentence: “He talks to the media like a teenage girl having a slumber party”—Davis’s biggest problem is not being crazy. His biggest problem is voicing thoughts many other players have, but most have the common sense to keep private. Many players have problems with coaches; few tell the media about them as frequently as Davis does.

Despite the verbal diarrhea exiting Davis’s mouth recently, ESPN’s David Thorpe listed him as the very best free agent buy this summer (a rating that included predicted price). Maybe he will be. At times, Davis has been a very good player. He filled in for Garnett admirably during the 2009 playoffs, contended for Sixth Man of the Year at the beginning of last season, and at times provides a game-changing force on both ends of the floor. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for Davis to blossom somewhere else, put his skills together more consistently, and let the game come to him rather than try too fiercely to make his presence known.

But to believe Davis will become a solid starter (or even a truly reliable role player) is to overlook a number of indicators working against him. Firstly, he has never scored efficiently. His highest PER (12.86, according to HoopData) is significantly below the league average, and he has only shot more than 45% from the field once. For a guard, that’s not great. For a big man, that’s quite awful, and the poor percentage is mostly due to Davis’s bad shot selection (too many long jumpers) and his tendency to get blocked more often than the most obsessive Facebook stalkers. Additionally, Davis does not rebound well. This past season, his offensive rebounding plummeted (to a 5.7% rebound rate) and his defensive rebound rate, while a career high (16.4%), was still less than Paul Pierce’s. When you consider that NBA players who battle weight issues rarely put together prolonged careers (think: Oliver Miller, Stanley Roberts, Robert “Tractor Traylor”), Davis’s prime might come earlier (and last for a shorter period of time) than most.

Add to that list of shortcomings Davis’s newfound confidence issues, and I’m not sold he’s a good buy this summer—even for a relatively small contract, even for a team he hasn’t yet irritated with childish behavior. I understand that Davis going to a sports psychologist is a good thing, and that it should help him stay away from prolonged slumps like the one he entered last season. But I do not ingest Advil unless I have a headache, I do not take Zyrtec unless I have serious allergies, I do not fetch a sweatshirt from my closet unless I’m cold, and I would not hire a sports psychologist unless my mind was playing severe tricks on me. Davis had serious problems this season preparing himself to play his best basketball. At some point, his game betrayed him, his confidence followed suit, and soon Davis was a shell of his former self, shrinking in the playoffs and playing himself right out of a nice contract. Maybe his mental issues aren’t serious. Maybe they won’t be lasting. But they’re real, and they leave additional question marks for a player who already has his share.

In all likelihood, Davis already played his last game as a Boston Celtic. If (or when) he leaves, I will remember all the good times fondly—the Orlando game-winner that Davis celebrated by running a child over, the Shrek and Donkey game, the good-natured laughs, the well-timed charges, the occasionally manly offensive rebounds and the sometimes-reliable jump shots—but I will not shed a tear.

Danny Ainge’s public speaking does not always inspire confidence. When he described Jeff Green as Boston’s most efficient player during the playoffs, I cringed before checking the stats to make sure my intuition was correct. It was—Green finished the playoffs a few thousand miles from leading Boston in efficiency. Later, when Ainge said Avery Bradley would have been a top-five choice in this year’s draft, my stomach did a similar somersault. Thankfully, the Celtics did not have a top-five pick this season, or else they might have taken the second coming of Mr. Bradley.

Most times, I suspect Ainge has ulterior motives for his comments. By hyping Green’s efficiency, he could potentially sway the opinion of the gullible fraction of Celtics fans, and perhaps even boost Green’s trade value among miserable GMs (note: I understand it would take an Isiah Thomas-ian GM to believe that Green was so efficient). Similarly, I doubt Ainge even believed his own Bradley comments. They were likely said for other reasons, probably to take the heat off a draft selection that, after one year, seems ill-fated. You see, Ainge owns a fiercely competitive disposition; he does not like to admit mistakes, at least publicly.

But sometimes, Ainge’s words fail to stoke my insecurities and instead cause confidence to surge within me like lava in an active volcano. Today, Ainge spoke freely about Boston’s plan this offseason, and his plan echoes everything I would have hoped for. Here are his beliefs (WEEI):

• The Celtics can contend for one more season, but only if they build a superior supporting cast
• After one more year, the championship window will close on the Big Three era
• The Celtics will look everywhere for big men this summer
• E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson are solid, well-schooled players who will contend for playing time next season

And, most importantly:

• Ainge has a strategy for building next year’s team, and that strategy is to balance contending next season with maintaining cap space for the summer of 2012

Ainge did not entirely rule out the possibility that the Celtics could trade for or sign a player with a long-term contract. But for the first time, he noted the Celtics will avoid any long-term contracts this summer unless the right player comes along.

“I shouldn’t say it’s not going to happen,” he said. “It depends on who that player is, but our objective is to not have that happen.”

Ainge added, “The challenge this summer is going to be to try to win a championship and to not jeopardize that cap space that we have for the following year. That’s going to be a real challenge for us. If there is some opportunity to do a good deal that might jeopardize our opportunity to ‘start fresh,’ for lack of a better term, I think that that’s going to be the biggest challenge, that we maintain our patience and stick with the plan through that process.”

We now know Ainge’s mind is in the right place, a place that consists of maximizing the present while also planning for the future. Now, let’s just hope he knows what to do with Jeff Green and Glen Davis go (hint: let them go, or better yet, sign-and-trade them for expiring contracts who will help next year).

The present still matters, of course, but transitioning to the future beckons as Ainge’s biggest challenge yet.

On Wednesday night I entered a movie theater to watch Green Lantern, fully anticipating that it would suck. When my friend first asked me to watch the movie, my response was, “I heard that movie was horrible. But I guess I’m in.” I had nothing else to do, the movie’s special effects didn’t look bad, and if worst came to worst and the flick was as horrendous as advertised, I knew I could just spend two hours staring at Blake Lively on the big screen. Even if the movie lived up to its (miserable) hype, at least I had a fallback plan—ogle a hot chick.

So I strolled into the theater with rock-bottom expectations, expecting this generation’s Gigli. Oddly enough, I didn’t even mind the movie. I’ll be the first to tell you it wasn’t a great movie, or even a good one. The beginning was odd (at best), off-putting, and so poorly made I contemplated walking out after two minutes. Ryan Reynolds still can’t act his way into a fourth-grade class play (though he had certain moments of charm and humor, I guess). Blake Lively looked good, as usual, but brought little else to the table. And the movie’s “corny” factor jumped off the charts, inspiring many “ugh” moments and weird chills.

Despite all that, I almost enjoyed Green Lantern. I went in with expectations lower than Nate Robinson’s toilet seat, and lowered my standards accordingly. By my new standards, the movie was not THAT bad. It was even decently watchable, if only in an “I know this isn’t a good movie, at all, but it’s almost entertaining” way. In the shocker of the century, I actually exited the theater somewhat pleased to have dumped $11 on what will probably go down as the summer’s worst flick. Just two weeks ago, I had watched The Hangover 2; though that movie was certainly better than Green Lantern, I left with a far worst taste in my mouth, mostly because I actually expected a good time.

I entered last night’s NBA Draft with the same feeling I had when I strolled into the theater for Green Lantern. I expected nothing, or at least nothing enjoyable. With the Celtics drafting late in a weak draft, I felt positive Danny Ainge would either trade out of the first round or select someone with little chance of receiving playing time next season. I feared the Celtics might draft BC’s Reggie Jackson, or, in other words, their second straight point guard to keep the bench warm behind Rajon Rondo. I feared they might draft Marquette’s Jimmy Butler, who completely underwhelmed me when I watched him in college. I feared they might draft Jeremy Tyler, a physical freak, yes, but one who averaged 9.8 points for the Tokyo Apache last season. When adding that poor production to his questionable attitude, Tyler has a 98.7% chance of becoming a bust. Hell, my grandmother could average 9.8 points for the Tokyo Apache. I can’t lie—this was the least excited I have been heading into an NBA Draft since, well, ever. I had serious issues about each player the Celtics were rumored to draft.

And then the Celtics made two choices I completely agreed with. JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore aren’t perfect, don’t get me wrong. But they’re winners, they proved themselves through four years college, and they fit needs. The Celtics need shooters and scorers; Johnson and Moore do just that. They need rookies who know how to commit to defense; if you’ve ever watched Purdue play basketball, you know how Johnson and Moore feel about defense. They need polished rookies who could step right in; they picked up two All-Big Ten players with more wins than any other players in Purdue history. They need size on the interior; Johnson’s 6’11, and he can jump, too.

“We’re very fortunate,” Ainge told WEEI. “We got two really good productive college players. Mature kids, great character and attitude. We got some shooting. We got some length and they’ll be a good fit for us.”

I won’t sit here and tell you Johnson and Moore will become All-Stars. In all likelihood, they will never come close. But the Celtics desperately needed depth for next season, and in Johnson and Moore, the Celtics drafted two players who should at the very least compete for playing time. A franchise-altering draft? No. But after entering the draft with my expectations at Green Lantern status, Boston’s selections brought a smile to my face. And I didn’t even need a hot chick to ogle.

The Celtics spent tonight drafting the two winningest players in Purdue basketball history.

After choosing JaJuan Johnson with their first pick, Boston kept with the Purdue theme in the second round of the NBA draft, selecting guard E’Twaun Moore. The 6’4, 191-pound shooting guard proved himself during an impressive four-year career, finishing his career as Purdue’s fourth-leading scorer. He can shoot, he can score from all over the court, and he became known as a hard-nosed player who commits himself to defense. The two new Celtics won more games during their Purdue careers than any other Boilermaker player ever.

With that pedigree, why did Moore fall to the second round? NBA teams question his athleticism and size, which are both average-to-below average for a perimeter player. But he can play the game, and he proved that against the best competition in college basketball for four years.

“I think I am being overlooked, but I couldn’t really say why,” Moore told Draft Express. “Maybe people didn’t see a lot of me during the regular season, or they just haven’t seen a lot of what I can do well. I’m more athletic than what people think, that’s something I think I’ll show in workouts.”

Maybe he has a point: during a study of college wings, Draft Express examined the statistics of NBA-bound collegiate players. Moore tested very well.

“There’s a case to be made that Moore is one of the most underrated players in this draft class,” Draft Express wrote, “and his showing in this sampling does nothing to discourage that notion.”

After trading the 25th pick in the NBA Draft, the Celtics used New Jersey’s 27th selection to select Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson.

Strengths:

The 6’10, 220-pound glass of water can run the floor, jump, and possesses a wingspan that would bring a smile to Jay Bilas’s face. During his senior year at Purdue, Johnson extended his jump shot range and became the Big Ten’s Player of the Year. He used a diverse offensive game and explosive athleticism to score more than 20 points per game as a senior, and defended well enough to be named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year. Also, he’s tall.

Weaknesses:

Johnson could use a few dozen steaks to thicken his wispy frame, which could probably get knocked over by a stationary toothpick. Due to Johnson’s lack of strength, there are questions about whether his defensive ability can translate to the NBA. Some thin players can defend against much stronger players in the post (think Marcus Camby), but others are overpowered far too easily (think Chris Johnson, who played about ten minutes for the Celtics this season). JaJuan could still go either way, but he earned a soft reputation at Purdue.

“His main issue defensively is defending the post,” wrote Draft Express. “He does a good job of using his length to contest shots, but his lack of lower body strength really manifests itself in this aspect of his game, as he struggles to deny post position, and is easily backed down, allowing high percentage shots. Furthermore, he seems to lack a degree of toughness and aggressiveness here, as its not rare to see players pushing him around, and he doesn’t always respond the way you would hope.”

Also, he’s a poor rebounder for his height. In Boston, I guess he’ll fit right in.

Conclusion:

The Celtics could have done a lot worse with their first-round selection. They needed size, and they got it. Not only that, but they got a tall athlete with a decently polished offensive game, one who enters the NBA after a celebrated college career. Yes, he’s a little soft, and yes, he needs to change his attitude toward rebounding. But he’s tall and he’s talented (STAT © Amare), and he should help instantly. Considering that the Celtics were drafting late in the first round of a weak draft, I can’t complain.

NBA Comparison: Poor Man’s LaMarcus Aldridge

For those of you are going to watch the NBA Draft tonight (coverage beginning at 7 p.m. on ESPN), or even if you’re just browsing the internet, come stop by for our live chat.

Ask Jay any questions you may have, follow our instant updates and analysis, or just shoot the shit with us. The chat will go live at 7 p.m. and we’ll be here to analyze both the 25th and 55th picks for the Boston Celtics. We look forward to chatting with you.

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