Teams who have been desperate for rebounding for the past three years — and especially those who need to acquire rebounding without spending an obscene amount of money — can do a lot worse than Reggie Evans. For all his flaws, and Evans has many as a player, not least of which is an utter inability to put the ball through the hoop, he’s a rebounding machine.

For comparison’s sake, Evans grabbed 25.7% of all available rebounds last season. Kevin Garnett led Boston in rebounds and grabbed 17.5% of available rebounds. Shaq led Boston by grabbing 8.4% of available offensive rebounds. Evans snatched 17.3%, and somehow elevated the notoriously soft Toronto Raptors to the exact same rebound rate (49.5%) held by Boston.

Evans’ younger brother, Tyreke, has more offensive ability in a single hair follicle than Reggie has in his entire body. Yet Reggie Evans has a specialty — dollar for dollar, he rebounds the ball better than just about anybody in the NBA. He’s not perfect. He’s undersized. He shoots like he’s blindfolded and just spent finished ten rounds of dizzy bat. He once grabbed Chris Kaman’s balls. His beard can get quite unkempt. But with such small pockets, the Celtics need to make decisions this summer to improve their team. And Evans, despite his shortcomings, has the potential to take one of Boston’s biggest weaknesses and turn it into a strength.

Sadly, even Evans might be out of their pay zone. He made $5 million last season and is coming off a career year. Damn you, mini mid-level.

The Boston Celtics preseason schedule has been announced, and the C’s will play two games against the Toronto Raptors.

Sunday, Dec. 18: Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors, 1 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 21: Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors, 7:30 p.m.

After nine days of training camp/practices, play might be ugly. I foresee a number of passes thrown into the third row, a handful of (slightly, at least) pudgy players, and more shots than normal that connect with the rim fiercely before bounding off into an opponents’ hands.

Offensive sets will not necessarily be run crisply and defensive rotations will inevitably lack the urgency and cohesiveness we are used to from the Boston Celtics (at least when they are not slogging through the second night of a back-to-back, a random away game against the Sacramento Kings, or any other game during the second half of the past two regular seasons).

But it’s NBA basketball. It will be on TV. And if you’re not excited for that, even if it’s against the Toronto Raptors, it’s a shame.

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “But the reason Jermaine O’Neal sat out had nothing to do with the scoreboard, and everything to do with that still-troublesome left knee. Prior to Friday’s game, Rivers said O’Neal’s left knee was sore and it only got progressively worse in the first half. ‘So I knew in the second half I wasn’t going to go with him,’ Rivers said. ‘And we had a lead, so we just looked at it, and if we could get him through this game and maybe play him tomorrow (against Chicago), it would be great.’”

Mike Petraglia, WEEI – “Using a flare for the dramatic, Doc Rivers explained why Jermaine O’Neal didn’t play in the second half of Friday’s 20-point blowout win over Toronto. Rivers pointed to Boston’s 67-45 halftime lead and O’Neal’s stiff left knee as reasons O’Neal played just nine minutes, allowing Luke Harangody to have his rookie breakout game. Rivers said the hope is that he’ll be ready for the Bulls in Chicago on Saturday night. ‘His knee was sore, so I knew in the second half I wasn’t going to go with him,’ Rivers said of O’Neal’s chronic left knee. ‘And we had a lead, so we just looked at it and if we could get him through this game and maybe play him [Saturday] it would be great. It was a little sore before the game, but it got – at halftime he came to me and said, ‘Man, my knee’s sore.’  So I think his knee’s sore for the rest of his life.  But there’s going to be different degrees of pain.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “He didn’t plan on being able to play for another three weeks, but before last night’s game against the Raptors, Kendrick Perkins was in a rush to get out of the locker room and get some shots up. ‘I’m already late,’ he said. That said, his recovery process from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee is ahead of schedule. After undergoing surgery in July and rehabbing vigorously, Perkins said he will be able to practice in a week and expects to return to the lineup by the end of the month. He hasn’t had to deal with any setbacks or swelling, and after sitting out the first three months of the season, he’s eager to put his rehab in warp speed. ‘It feels like these three weeks are not going by fast enough, but I guess the six months or whatever went by pretty fast,’ said Perkins. ‘Just trying to wait it out, see how it goes.’ In three-on-three workouts, Perkins has gone full tilt, finishing with dunks. … Pressed about whether he expected to start once he returned, Perkins said, ‘Yeah.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “While Rivers didn’t have any formal update on Garnett, he did suggest the Big Ticket could be back on the court as early as Monday’s visit from the Houston Rockets. ‘He’s shooting, doing everything,’ said Rivers. ‘I think he’ll be back early next week. What’s the date again?’ Informed by reporters that two weeks would have him back on Wednesday, Rivers smiled and added, ‘Thank you very much. I think he’ll be back Monday or Wednesday. I think he could play by then.’ Asked if Garnett might need a practice to shake any rust, Rivers smiled again and said: ‘We’re just going to throw him in. If he can’t remember the stuff, we’re in trouble.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “West initially hoped to be back by mid-January, but he said that date is overly optimistic. He’s currently undergoing treatment to relieve stiffness in his wrist. He has yet to be cleared for weight-lifting or full basketball activities. Reluctantly, West acknowledged that the All-Star break in mid-February is a more realistic target.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “West works out four times a day, soaking the wrist, going through different movements and stretches, and working out the scar tissue. ‘That’s all I can do is do the treatments that they gave me,’ he said. ‘My conditioning is there. My body is there. It’s just you can’t force it. You can try as much as you want to work out the stiffness, but it’s only time. It’s just a waiting game for me. Each day it’s loosening up more and more. But I’m still a few weeks away.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Going through most of his rehab with Perkins, a longtime teammate and good friend, has made some of the more mundane aspects of rehabilitation easier to cope with. ‘It’s tough when a team goes on a road trip and you are the only one left behind,’ West said. ‘You have to go in the gym everyday. It’s fun when you have company, someone else you can talk to. It’s not fun riding that treadmill by yourself.’ But West, as optimistic as ever, knows those days will be behind him soon. ‘Only time will tell,’ West said when asked about when he was returning to practice. ‘I’m in the right mainframe; doing as much as I can with the left hand and the basketball. But I can’t force the stiffness out there, the movement. I’m working out four times a day. Each day, it’s loosening up more and more.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “‘It probably does [give Boston a boost],’ Rivers said of Perkins’ impending return. ‘Right now, it gives us energy when anyone comes back on the floor. It’ll help him out, it’ll help our team. It’ll allow me to manage minutes better Shaq and Jermaine, so it’ll do a lot of things.’ But Rivers thinks West’s return might be the key moving forward. ‘It’ll mean a lot more for Nate and the second unit,’ said Rivers. ‘The tough part with Delonte is he was just starting to get our stuff again then — bam — he’s out. Now we have to re-do that. Even though he’s been here, there are different things and it’ll take some time. The sooner we can get him back, he may be even more important than Perk in some ways.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “‘The one thing he is not is shy; I think he was [shy] in all of a half a second and [then] he took a shot,’ joked Celtics coach Doc Rivers. ‘The whole bench started laughing because that’s who he is. And we want him to stay that way.’ Indeed, 10 seconds after checking in for Glen Davis, Harangody drilled a 20-foot jumper. He later added a pair of layups and a 14-foot baseline jumper before the end of the first quarter, doubling his previous career high for points (four) in a mere four minutes. Riding that momentum, Harangody canned his first NBA 3-pointer 30 seconds into the second half, the Garden faithful swooning over their new bench crush. They would serenade him with chants of ‘Ha-ran-go-dy!’ later in the night. … Even as he spent the better part of November and early December glued to the bench, Harangody never got discouraged. ‘On this team, you gotta look around this locker room and realize who’s around,’ Harangody said. ‘I just took it as an honor to be in this locker room with all the Hall of Famers in here.’ … So he’s making the most of his chances, and that means being his shot-happy self. ‘I think we should blame — or thank — [Notre Dame coach] Mike Brey for that,’ Rivers said. ‘I watched him a couple of times against Georgetown when my son was there and he shot it basically every time he touched it. He’s just keeping that tradition going.’ And if he keeps putting up these type of numbers, the Celtics won’t try to change him. ‘He’ll make mistakes because he’s young and he’ll make mistakes because he’s going fast, but he’ll never make a mistake because he’s not going hard,’ Rivers said. ‘To me, as a coach, as long as he doesn’t hurt the team too much with mistakes, you love him.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “But the Celts had friended Harangody long before the fans got into the act. ‘He’s going to fight,’ said Rivers. ‘He’s going to do whatever he needs to do for you. And the guys appreciate that honestly. They love effort. When you get guys that come off the bench and play with the effort and the intensity that he plays with, I really think the starters love that. That’s what gets them up and cheering, and that’s why they like him so much, because they see his effort every day.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “‘The good thing about us is we’re very unselfish and we move the ball well,’ [Shaq] O’Neal said. ‘Ray and Paul and those guys have been shooting the ball well and (Rajon) Rondo is the type that he knows who to get the ball to and he knows when to get it to them. With him back in there, everything is starting to click again.’”

Jessica Camerato, CSNNE – “When Ray Allen missed two free throw late in Wednesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs, he proclaimed that he would take 100 free throws at practice. Well, he didn’t go to that extreme. But he got back into the zone with physical and mental preparation. ‘I was trying to fatigue myself and go back-and-forth to the free throw line and just get that rhythm because free throws are all rhythm too,’ he said. ‘You get to the free throw line, getting your comfort, knowing when you need to go mentally, how your body should feel when you’re at the free throw line, so I was trying to put myself in that situation of feeling fatigue being at the free throw line and still shooting the free throw.’”

Got a tip? An article you think should be included? Send an email to jayking@celticstown.com or hit me up on Twitter @CelticsTown.

Every day, a star is born. That’s what Jay-Z says, at least.

Today was Luke Harangody’s turn to morph into a blazing ball of fire, in the process making Jay-Z look like a prophet. Okay, so I’m entirely hyperbolizing by saying Harangody’s star was born tonight. He’s far more of a fan favorite than a star, and he may head straight back to his spot on the bench immediately upon KG’s return.

But Harangody’s contributions raised a few eyebrows in Celtics nation, including my own. The same reasons he was successful in college allowed him to murder an admittedly porous Toronto Raptors defense this evening. He’s got a motor that never stops, and a nose focused solely on sniffing out the basketball. Most likely, we’ll look back at this as the best game Harangody plays all season. But let’s still enjoy his breakout game and marvel how quickly he’s improved from second-round afterthought to “hmm, his future’s mighty intriguing.”

Need another reason to cherish today, besides Harangody’s unexpected double-double? How ’bout this: Kevin Garnett could return either Monday or Wednesday, and Kendrick Perkins — who has participated in three-on-three games the past two days — should return to practice next week. The Celtics are now 28-7 and still lead the Eastern Conference, and Luke Harangody is only a few months away from surpassing Blake Griffin as the top Rookie of the Year candidate.

I kid, I kid. But Harangody seized tonight as his own, and — though he’s not really a star like I jokingly claimed — the prospects for his NBA future have never shone brighter.

I spent my evening covering a Springfield Armor game, so my analysis of tonight’s 93-79 Celtics win won’t be posted until later. While I catch up on my DVR, just watch this:

Also, because I mentioned “The Air up There” in this title, I feel like I must give a proper Saleh reference. With apologies to Halawi (Saleh’s brother who saves the day), and Jimmy Dolan (the Jimmy Dolan shake and bake’s originator), Saleh’s the best player ever to come out of the Winabi tribe. Additionally, I apologize to the many of you who probably have no idea who or what I’m talking about.

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Sam Jones

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Though Jones won 10 NBA titles as a Celtic, he believes the current team has the potential to surpass all of the old teams. ‘This might be the best Celtics team of all time,’ he said. ‘They’re big, and then you have the shooters outside — Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. You have this guard, Rajon Rondo, he’s unbelievable. These players all contribute to the success of the Celtics. So I truly believe they could win it all. Every time I look at this team I’m amazed at how well they play once they get it going.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Jermaine O’Neal, who has appeared in just 11 games this season, had similar thoughts on the team’s handling of injuries this season. ‘If you want to be a championship-caliber team, you really can’t have excuses,’ he said. ‘The conversation coming into the season, was how deep we are. So do we say now, ‘Kevin’s out for a while, Rondo’s been out,’ do we now say, ‘we should lose?’ No, we shouldn’t say that. All of us have been in positions where we know what it takes to win. Look around our locker room, we’ve got guys who have been around, been in some big-time positions. We just have to do our job better. No excuses.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “He’s not close to offensively being the Jermaine O’Neal of old — one of the best-scoring big men in the league — but that’s not in his current job description. Defense and rebounding, two areas where he’s made sound contributions during the last four games since returning from an 18-game absence, remain his areas of demand. ‘That’s an area I’m familiar with,’ he said. ‘At the same time, we know where our bread is buttered. We still have Paul (Pierce) out there, we still have Ray (Allen), and we have to do a better job of getting them open. As far as the low post and being more involved in the offense, I don’t want to get into that because it’s outside what the team is trying to do and what Doc (Rivers, the C’s coach) is asking me to do,’ he said. ‘His conversation hasn’t changed. If it changes I’ll look into that, but it’s not a problem for me.’ Rhythm may be another matter, but that’s to be expected. ‘It’s coming,’ he said. ‘I’ve only practiced two or three times in two months, so this has probably been the toughest stretch in my career of trying to find it. When you focus to do the things that Doc asks, it’s a difficult transition, but you have to do it. I don’t really think about it. We just have to be willing to do whatever coach asks us to do. I try to be better than I was the game before. I don’t know what to expect. You don’t want to set a goal that puts you outside of what the team needs you to do. I just try to be better the next game and build off what I did in the previous game.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “There weren’t a lot of positives the Boston Celtics could take out of their 83-81 loss to the New Orleans Hornets. But the play of Jermaine O’Neal was certainly one of them. While O’Neal hasn’t come close to playing at the level he has displayed throughout his career, there’s no mistaking his progress. Friday’s loss was indeed another step in the right direction for O’Neal, who had a season high in minutes played (33) in addition to scoring nine points, the most he has scored since returning last week after spending the previous six weeks out with a sore left knee. ‘JO the last three games … he was fantastic,’ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. ‘He’s playing great; he’s doing exactly what we want him to do.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘It’s a very competitive league right now. We won 14 out of 15 and we did not even gain one game against Boston,’ Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. … ‘In the last four years, their record from the beginning of the year to Christmas is the best of all time,’ he said of the Celtics. ‘That’s staggering, that really is. You think about all the great teams and the dynasty of the Bulls … and they didn’t have a stretch like that during a four-year run. And Boston, when you think of it from their perspective, the only thing that’s derailed them has been injuries the last four years.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Now they’ve lost Kevin Garnett to a strained right calf, and again they’ll have to get the most out of what healthy bodies remain. ‘You get used to playing a certain way, and you come in here and expect everything to be together like it always is, then sometimes somebody moves your cheese a little bit,’ said Ray Allen. ‘That’s the kind of position we’re in, where we have to figure it out, and it’s a new challenge. When Delonte went out, that was a new challenge and it forced us to play one way. Then Rondo went down and we had to change again. Now, it’s Kevin.’”

Doug Smith, Toronto Star – “Making a brief stop at home between a pair of three-game road trips, they got precious little good news on the injury front heading into Sunday’s game against the Boston Celtics. Andrea Bargnani, who missed the holiday week trip to Memphis, Dallas and Houston, has been ruled out for the Celtics game, and Jerryd Bayless, who sprained his ankle in Dallas and lasted only eight minutes Friday night in Houston, is doubtful for the Celtics. Sonny Weems will also miss the game and the long-term injured Raptors — Peja Stojakovic and Reggie Evans — are still not available. ‘We go with what we’ve got, it gives other players an opportunity,’ coach Jay Triano said as the injury toll mounted. If there is good news, it looks like starting point guard Jose Calderon will be available, but team officials are still saying his availability will be determined at game time. If there is one saving grace, it’s that the Raptors, who went 1-2 as they limped through the road trip, will be meeting a Boston team suffering through its own spate of injuries.”

Got a tip? An article you think should be included? Send an email to jayking@celticstown.com or hit me up on Twitter @CelticsTown.