Avery Bradley notched nine steals last night for the Maine Red Claws, tying a D-League record in the process. I should be impressed, right? Okay, I’m impressed. Nine steals is a whole lot of steals, especially in a professional basketball game. But though I’m admittedly impressed, I wouldn’t call myself encouraged.

Why not? Because we knew Bradley’s defense puts opponents in a phone booth. We knew he could play defense at an NBA level even before he made the NBA, and we still know he can play defense at an NBA level even after his demotion from the NBA. What we were looking for Bradley to work on was offense, where Bradley has proven to be a shaky ball handler and unsure shooter. And do you want to know his offensive stats from last night? 4-13 shooting, six turnovers, and though he did post 14 points and seven assists, the shooting and ball handling — the two things I was hoping would improve — haven’t shown any indication of being NBA-ready.

Through seven games in Maine, Bradley’s shooting 39.8% from the field. He’s turning the ball over 4.29 times per game, in only 30 minutes per game. And while I like his three-point shooting (36.4%), every statistical indication says that Bradley’s still figuring out his role as a point guard. That will take time, I know, especially considering that Bradley played off the ball during his lone college season.

But if Bradley can’t handle the ball or shoot a decent percentage at the D-League level, he’s not ready to handle the ball or shoot a decent percentage at an NBA level. No matter how many steals he accumulates in one game.

All that said — nine steals? Damn, that’s a lot.

The newest member of the Maine Red Claws

ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg has all the scoop from today’s Celtics practice.

Here are the most important pieces of news:

• Avery Bradley sent to Maine Red Claws

Noting it could happen as early as Friday, Rivers said rookie Avery Bradley will be optioned to Boston’s NBA Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws in order to log more on-court action.

“We’re going to send Avery down pretty soon,” said Rivers. “So that he can get some reps; Playing basketball. He needs to play basketball. Especially with our schedule and the fact that we don’t practice at all.”

My Take: For those wondering if Bradley’s D-League assignment will open up a roster spot for, I don’t know, let’s say, Rasheed Wallace, the answer is no. D-League assignees still occupy a roster spot. I think this decision is in the best interest of Bradley. At this point, it is painfully obvious that Bradley is not ready to contribute to the Celtics. Bradley needs some playing experience to learn how to run a team as a point guard. He wasn’t going to get it in Boston, so it’ll be good for him to get the chance in Maine.

• Kevin Garnett practices, will not play Friday against Bobcats

“[Garnett] went through probably half the practice — more than that actually — and looked pretty good,” said Rivers. “No, he’s not playing [Friday]. He looked pretty good; He actually, besides his wind and stuff, his movements were very good.”

Asked if he could be back in the starting lineup for Monday’s showdown with visiting Orlando, Rivers seemed more optimistic about that.

“Maybe, I want to see him another practice,” said Rivers. “He’s getting close.”

My Take: For the sake of my mental health, I need to see Garnett on the court ASAP. I’m going crazy watching the Celtics stumble through January without KG and worrying about his health. Until Garnett actually steps on the floor, I do not trust what any member of the Celtics organization has to say about his health. We’ve danced to this song before. Garnett is described as “day-to-day” or “close” to return, yet the date keeps getting pushed farther and farther back.

• Jermaine O’Neal has MRI, surgery appears  likely

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said center Jermaine O’Neal underwent an MRI Wednesday on his ailing left knee and, while he hadn’t seen the results yet, Rivers indicated that surgery was a likely possibility as Boston looks to cure what’s nagged at O’Neal during his first three months with the team.

My Take: To further clarify, surgery is imminent for O’Neal. However, O’Neal and the Celtics have to decide if he will have the surgery now, or after the season. It seems highly probably the surgery will occur sooner, rather than later. For anyone who has watched O’Neal play this season, this news should come as no surprise. He’s clearly been hobbled on the rare instances he’s taken the floor for the Celtics. I had high hopes way back when Jermaine was signed. Unfortunately, he can’t stay health.

If anyone still wanted Von Wafer cut and Stephane Lasme called up to the Boston Celtics, well, it’s not happening. Lasme underwent successful surgery Wednesday to repair a stress fracture in his left foot.

For Lasme, this all sucks. It really, really sucks. He was *this close* to making the Celtics, but instead had to settle for the Red Claws when Wafer took Lasme’s spot late in preseason. I look back to one game, the game in Toronto, when Lasme couldn’t travel with the Celtics because of visa issues. That day Wafer started to separate himself by scoring 14 points. Lasme probably watched at home on television, kicking himself for the visa issues that might have ultimately cost him a spot in the NBA.

Lasme was sent down to the Red Claws. Playing overseas for big money wasn’t an option, because Lasme needs employment in the United States to fulfill residency requirements. He was forced to turn down more money from a Russian team so he could stay in America with his wife and daughter.

Now he can’t even play for the Red Claws, can’t even continue his quest to become an NBA player. And Lasme isn’t a young 20-year old, either. He’ll be 28 years old in December. The window of opportunity won’t stay open for too long. Few teams will be willing to roll the dice on a 30-year old 15th man, I can promise.

Chris Forsberg reported that Lasme faces a “lengthy recovery,” and will be sidelined “indefinitely.” The Red Claws retain his rights, and GM Jon Jennings said the team looks forward to Lasme’s recovery. But this is a serious setback, one that could keep Lasme from ever reaching the NBA, just when it seemed he was closer to achieving his dreams than ever before.

I’ve written about Magnum Rolle before. At the time, I did not know the Maine Red Claws center was actually named after the TV character Magnum P.I.

No, he really was.

“My mom was a big fan,” Rolle explained to Steve Weinman of NBA D-League.com. Oh, that explains it then. I guess Rolle is just lucky his mom wasn’t a big fan of Austin Powers’s Ivana Humpalot.

Should the Celtics enter the market for another big man, which remains possible according to Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge, Rolle might not be the worst place to look. He was the first draft pick of the Maine Red Claws, who happen to be the Celtics’ D-League Affiliate. He displays a lot of upside and a lot of athleticism, and Red Claws GM Jon Jennings said Rolle should be called up to the NBA before long.

The 6’11″, 240-pound center, who started his career at LSU before graduating from Lousiana Tech, at least shows potential.

“Unfortunately,” Jennings told Weinman, “We probably won’t have him around for a long time because he is an obvious call-up candidate. He’s 6-11 with long arms and he runs the floor as well as any wing player. He’s got great hands for a big man, catches the ball on the run and has the ability to do so many different things.”

Which just goes to prove my theory — any time a D-League big man can catch the ball on the run, you have to sign him up. Just have to.

I cautioned in an earlier post about getting too caught up in Rolle’s upside. When big men start their careers in the D-League, that’s normally a scarlet letter. If you’re 6’11″ and worth a damn, chances are you’re on an NBA roster somewhere. Rolle was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in this past year’s draft, with the 51st pick, but couldn’t make the Pacers’s roster. For a frame of reference, Josh McRoberts starts for the Pacers and Solomon Jones was also one of the players who made Indiana’s roster ahead of Rolle (though Jones’s guaranteed contract probably figured into the decision).

One more problem with adding Rolle to the Celtics? Rivers doesn’t exactly drool over young, unproven players.

Still, keep Rolle in mind when discussing big man possibilities. He’s on the Celtics’ D-League Affiliate, and he certainly has upside and length galore. Somewhere, Jay Bilas salivates.

Why should you care about Magnum Rolle? Besides the fact that he was blessed with a wonderful name, I mean.

For starters, he was the Maine Red Claws’ first draft pick (third overall), so he’ll play for the Celtics’ D-League affiliate. The Lousiana Tech product is 6’11″ tall and 225 pounds, so he’s got good size, and he adds to that a wingspan and athleticism that make him a prospect with solid upside. Rolle plays center and power forward, so if  (when?) the O’Neal brothers see any time on the injured list (injuries? for those guys? pshhh) Rolle could be a call-up option.

Rolle was called “the steal of the D-League draft” by NBA Fanhouse’s Matt Moore, who wrote that Rolle “should be considered one of the top call-up prospects with an excellent combination of size, range, and athleticism.” DraftExpress wrote the following sentence about Rolle: “He runs the floor like a guard, displays good lateral quickness, and is extremely quick off the floor.”

Sounds good so far, right? But there’s a reason big men end up in the D-League — they have serious problems. If a player is 6’11″ and worth a damn, he’ll be in the NBA. Rolle was drafted in the second round of this year’s draft by the Indiana Pacers, and couldn’t make a team that Solomon Jones did. He couldn’t make a team that plays Josh McRoberts, so far, 24 minutes per game. Once in a while, a D-League big man prospect will get called up and make some kind of minimal impact – Ian Mahinmi comes to mind, even though he hasn’t really made any impact whatsoever. But if you’re looking for a quality big, one who could play minutes on a contender, the D-League normally isn’t the place to find one. D-League big men, as a rule, have issues.

Does that mean Rolle has zero potential? No, not at all. Any time you can find a 6’11″ player with long arms and bouncy legs, he has a chance to be good. But Rolle, who averaged 13.9 points per game last season for Louisiana Tech, needs to add weight to his toothpick frame and skill to his raw game. Once he does, maybe he’ll prove Fanhouse’s Moore right:

“Rolle has as many weaknesses as any D-League draft prospect, but is also a stellar prospect and more than that is an actual viable big man,” Moore wrote. “Think of it! A viable! NBA D-League! Big! Those never exist!”

For the rest of Maine’s draft choices, click here.

I’ve got to admit, this is the one time I could have broken news before Chris Forsberg. I’ve been playing pickup basketball with some kids who play for my old high school team, and one of them was stuttering a couple weeks ago: “I… I… I just p-p-played p-p-pickup with P-P-Paul H-H-Harris.”

I responded, “Okay, now calm down. He’s not THAT good. You don’t have to stutter like you just saw Michael Jordan. I mean, you’re blessed with ’the privilege’ of playing pickup against me twice a week and I haven’t seen you go gaga like that yet.”

The kid took three (very) deep breaths, took himself down a couple notches, and started speaking regular English.

“I just played against Paul Harris, man,” he said. “He’s been working out at L.A. Fitness for weeks now. He signed with the Red Claws.”

I nodded, replied “oh, I see,” and wondered to myself, why in the world did seeing Paul Harris, of all people, make this kid drool? Then I remembered myself in high school, the one time I played pickup basketball against someone noteworthy. And I use the word “noteworthy” loosely.

Long story short, Kenyon Martin’s half brother Richard Roby (or at least someone who claimed to be Kenyon Martin’s half brother Richard Roby, and I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t Roby would do that) came to my local park. We played a couple games. He was playing at Colorado at the time and was considered a first-round prospect, so he was pretty damn good. Good enough to murder me, at least. But I finished playing the games, walked home, and immediately called everyone I knew.

“Guess what I did today?”

“What?”

“Played basketball against Richardy Roby at Bliss Park!”

“Who the hell is Richard Roby?”

“Oh.”

Anyway, I remembered why this kid was so hyped about playing Paul Harris. As for the Red Claws? Lasme could be a Celtic within a month, whenever the Celtics get rid of Von Wafer. (I kid, I kid… but seriously.) Harris and Tiny Gallon are both intriguing prospects for the future. Harris is only a 6’2″ (or so) bruiser with limited guard skills, but he’s tough and super-athletic. And Gallon has a lot of talent, to go with his soft shooting touch in a big man’s body. If he can work himself into good shape, Gallon could become a real player.

I don’t see Mario West as a future Celtics call-up (even though I’d hate to have him defend me), and I know very little about Lamonte Ulmer (6’6″, 215-lb. wing from URI; averaged 12.1 ppg and 7.4 rpg in senior season) or Jamar Smith (6’3″ shooting guard from the University of Southern Indiana; D2 Player of the Year by at least one publication, averaging 21.6 ppg).

But damn it!, I could have broken news before Chris Forsberg. If only my stuttering, salivating source had been a little more reliable.