When the Goodman League competes against the Indy Pro-Am on Sept. 24,  Celtics draft pick JaJuan Johnson will reportedly suit up for the Indy Pro-Am squad. He will compete against Jeff Green, who could potentially be Johnson’s teammate whenever the NBA returns.

John Wall, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley and DeMarcus Cousins have all committed to join Green in representation of the Goodman League, according to separate reports by Mike Wells and Michael Lee. Johnson’s Indy Pro-Am team will reportedly also include Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Eric Gordon, George Hill, Lance Stephenson and Gordon Hayward.

Note: I am about to ramble about Gordon Hayward for a short period of time, just because his name triggered some great NBA League Pass memories. Bear with me.

On April 5, 2011, Hayward put on one of last season’s least-expected shows, metaphorically staring Kobe Bryant straight in the eyes until Kobe blinked.

Two nights before, Hayward had established a career high of 19 points against the Sacramento Kings, but nothing about his bland rookie season signaled that Hayward was ready to build on the career night, especially not against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Jazz had played the Lakers earlier in the week and Hayward was both inefficient and  unproductive. He finished the game with 7 points on 3-9 shooting, playing 29 minutes and barely putting his fingerprints on the game. The Jazz lost after leading by 17 points and Hayward scored only two points in the second half, an alley-oop from Earl Watson after the game was already out of reach.

The Lakers were on a typical tear, winning 17 of their past 19 games, and the Jazz were somewhere between listless and helpless, losers of eight straight, a franchise in shambles after Jerry Sloan’s retirement and Deron Williams’s trade, a franchise watching idly as the memories of two great decades burned slowly to the ground. Al Jefferson was acquired in the offseason, but he and Paul Millsap did not mesh in the front-court. Derrick Favors came to Utah as part of the Williams trade, and he could provide occasional entertainment with a fierce dunk or a high-flying block, but his prime was years away at best. Tyrone Corbin tried to fill Sloan’s enormous shoes, but Utah’s talent was lower than it had been in years and Corbin, well, Corbin was not Sloan. Meanwhile, the Jazz’s lottery draft choice, the league’s next white hope, Gordon Hayward blended into the background, struggling to deal with the strength and quickness of his NBA opponents.

Kobe Bryant is not normally the right prescription for a rookie struggling to find his NBA calling. But the second time Hayward played Kobe that week, he transformed into something different, something better, the player Utah hoped he would be, a player his parents and friends could be proud of, a player who dueled against Kobe Bryant and scored 22 points, including 10 in the final quarter, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 5 assists, drilled the game-winning free throw, forced Bryant into a turnover on the game’s final possession, and walked off the court with at least one new fan.

“I’m very, very fond of him. He’s a very-skilled, all-around player,” said Kobe Bryant. “I think he’s going to have a very bright future in this league. He reminds me of a more talented Jeff Hornacek. Jeff couldn’t put the ball on the floor as well as (Hayward) can.”

Less than two weeks later, the Jazz ended their season by beating the Denver Nuggers. Hayward pumped in 34 points.

It’s crazy, but this wasn’t even my favorite Rondo play last night.

Remember when Rondo drove down the left lane in transition, stopping at the block? He looked lost, like he had nobody to pass to. But if you thought that, you haven’t watched much Rajon Rondo. He looked one way, then another. Finally, Shaq caught up to the play, and Rondo bounced a sweet little pass to the trailing Shaq for an and-one.

Cherish this season, folks. Rondo is playing a true point guard role like it’s only been played once or twice in NBA history.

Manu Ginobili had a monster block of Kevin Garnett last night. It was truly vicious. Check it out.

From that angle, it looks cleaner than an OCD-diagnosed person’s room. But it wasn’t. Ginobili got it clean, but George Hill hacked Garnett before Ginobili could even get there.

This doesn’t take away from Ginobili’s block. He made a magnificent play. But, as everyone lauds Manu’s block, I had to stick up for my boy Garnett: He definitely got fouled.

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn’t mean we have to. Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day.

Manu did a lot. Ray did not.

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “‘I think the start of the third quarter kind of tore the game away,’ said Shelden Williams. ‘We kind of got robotic in the second half and couldn’t come back.’ The Celtics used to be robotic in the third quarter, in a good way. That’s no longer the case. And of all the trademarks this team needs in order to maintain a championship level, third-quarter competitiveness could be the most important.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “The Celtics are in the middle of a six-game homestand, with Oklahoma City, Houston, and Cleveland on tap. Having gained a sense of consistency in the past month, they didn’t view last night’s loss as a momentum-killer, but more as a throwaway. ‘You trip up a little bit here, but what we’re doing, the mission that we’re on doesn’t change,’ said Allen. Or as Rondo succinctly put it, ‘Scratch this one.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Paul Pierce initially collapsed, much to the horror of the crowd, after taking a Manu Ginobili elbow to his right shoulder with 5:59 left in the third quarter. The captain stayed in the game and made 1-of-2 during that trip to the free throw line. He’s not concerned. ‘It’s a little sore,’ Pierce said. ‘It’s a stinger. I got some numbness down the right side of my arm, but hopefully it doesn’t get any worse.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “But then the Celtics were awful last night. They were outscored by five in the second quarter and by 16 in the third as Manu Ginobili took them apart. The Spurs began getting to virtually every loose ball. The Celts seemed sound asleep while their guests were kicking sand in their faces on the way to a 94-73 loss. It is the kind of stuff that will send them home early from the postseason. With nine games and a little more than two weeks left in this fall turned winter turned spring training, it is impossible to predict with any certainty what this team will do once push comes to playoffs.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘When you’re down by 20 with two minutes to go against San Antonio, you pretty much know,’ said Paul Pierce. ‘The way they played is the way we usually play, and we just got an old-fashioned butt whupping. They came out with more of a sense of urgency in the second quarter – just the extra effort plays. They had us on our heels most of the second half.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “The Celtics did a decent job on Tim Duncan (8 points, 9 rebounds over 26:31), but Rivers said the team had no answer for Ginobili. ‘Oh, I could look at the box score before the game and say, ‘I would take that on their end.’ Except for Ginobili, he said. “When Ginobili has points and assists they usually win. And 28.7 assists is a great indicator for them. That means his hand print [is there and] Ginobili dominated this game. All the loose balls that he kept alive, that he didn’t get credit for, defensive plays — I thought he single-handedly was the will of the game. And then Blair just followed in. But once you get a chance to beat a team on the road, and a team like us, your energy does go up. And you can see that with them in the fourth quarter. It was going to be tough to turn it around.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Popovich has the same issues as Celtics coach Doc Rivers. He has to preserve his veterans for the postseason, season his youngsters, and fight for playoff seeding simultaneously. Popovich accomplished all three last night. George Hill (15 points) is turning into quite a player with Tony Parker out with a broken right hand. Ginobili wore out the Celtics with 28 points, and he was two steps into the paint before any Celtic reacted. ‘Playing against the Spurs, you know, it’s the extra pass,’ Rivers said. ‘You’re not going to beat them off the bounce. And it seemed like we were hellbent in trying to do that. And it’s like [Popovich] said before the game to me, ‘You’re not going to beat the Celtics off the bounce.’ And they didn’t. They moved the ball. They kept swinging it, kept passing it. They did what we were supposed to do.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Playing against Finley for the first time since letting him go, Popovich made two things clear: the matchup was not with Finley alone, and that there are no hard feelings. ‘I don’t blame him a lick,’ Popovich said. ‘He’s one of the greatest guys I’ve ever coached, but he wanted to keep playing. He didn’t want to sit on the bench for the rest of the season. There’s nothing wrong with that. He wanted to play.’”

Have a link I might want to look at? Send it my way by email (jayking@celticstown.com) or Twitter.

Michael Finley shooting hoops with Ray Allen. Finley has pretended to be a better shooter than Ray since becoming his teammate.

Yesterday, Michael Finley went through what he deemed his first real practice as a Celtic. So what was the biggest difference between a Celtics practice and a Spurs practice? (CSNNE)

“Lot of talking. Trash talking, I guess,” Finley continued. “A lot more aggressiveness, a lot more of letting the players just go out and play. There was also a lot less teaching than we had at San Antonio, but each team different, each approach is different, and I think the approach Doc takes with this team is suited for this team.”

I’m not too surprised to hear the Spurs don’t do much yapping at each other during practice. Tim Duncan is about as emotional on a basketball court as my right sock, and I wouldn’t consider guys like Tony Parker, Antonio McDyess or Rojer Mason, Jr. fiery.

Richard Jefferson can’t talk crap because he’s washed up, and Manu Ginobili can’t because all an opponent would need to say in response would be, “Nice bald spot, Manu.” George Hill can’t talk junk because he took naked pictures of himself that got circulated on the internet, and Keith Bogans can’t because he’s horrendous.

Coming from those bland, boring Spurs, Finley is clearly in a new element with notorious woofers like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rasheed Wallace.

Despite the new, different atmosphere, Doc Rivers says Finley has adjusted  just fine.

“So far, [Finley's] as good as I’ve ever had as far as picking things up,” Rivers said. “But not only just picking things up, today we ran a play where you’re supposed to look for a big to slip, and guys who have been here haven’t thrown that pass yet, and the first time [Finley] ran it, Shelden got a lay up. I don’t know what it is but his timing is really good.”

High praise from the Doctor.

Though Finley called himself his own worst critic, even he had to admit the transition from San Antonio has gone better than he expected. (Boston Herald)

“It’s been a smoother transition than what I thought,” Finley said. “I thought it would be a little bit tough coming from a different team, a different organization, switching conferences – all those things going against me. But these guys have welcomed me with open arms, which makes my transition a lot easier and hopefully I can fit in quickly.”

Finley is a pro’s pro, and I don’t think it should come as any shock that he’s been quick to adapt to the Celtics’ schemes.

His shooting, though, has come as a surprise. After going more than a month without a bucket prior to signing with the Celtics, Finley has hit 10 of his first 14 shots with Boston.