Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender athletes.

- Supreme Court strikes down Trump's order ending birthright citizenship.

- President Trump responds to Supreme Court ruling.

- Could a Jaylen Brown trade to Cavaliers result in LeBron James in Cleveland? But why not with the Celtics?

Celtics Free Agents

According to this list - the Boston Celtics really only have three free agents this upcoming off-season: Grant Williams, Blake Griffin, and Danilo Gallinari (who never played a second for Boston since signing because of injury). 

Gallinari has a $6.8 million player option for next year and I'd expect him to be in a Celtics uniform next season. Grant Williams is a restricted free agent so I'd expect the Celtics to let him test the market and then decide if they want to match whatever offer he receives. Williams is a pest that I enjoy watching. If he's playing against your team - you'd definitely dislike the guy. Blake Griffin may simply retire (or sign a 1-year contract at the veteran minimum).

The big question this summer will be if Jaylen Brown becomes eligible for a super-max extension and if he signs it.

This is a long way around the barn way of saying that the Boston Celtics team that takes the floor tonight against the Miami heat will be mostly intact next season as well (barring trades or injuries). That's good news for Boston fans.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Al Gore (71) is younger than Donald Trump (73), Joe Biden (76), Bernie Sanders (78) and the same age as Hillary Clinton (71). I think the reasons nobody ever brings his name up is because Manbearpig is so unlikable and some realize what he's been pedaling all these years won't hold up under the close scrutiny he'd receive on the campaign trail... As long as the protests continue in Hong Kong the NBA will not be free of the controversy surrounding their relationship to China. And if China puts down the protests with violence then the NBA is going to have end their business relationship with the communists or the results to their contracts in the US will be catastrophic... I stand by my opinion on the movie Birdman. Love Michael Keaton but this movie was completely overrated crap. Has anyone bothered to rewatch this movie since it came out 5-years ago? You don't ever see it playing on cable. You know why? Because it was crap... Due to the uncertainty of the revenue from China I think Celtics forward/guard Jaylen Brown would be wise to sign rookie contract extension for about $20-25 million a year. That money might not be available in a year because as I noted above the situation in Hong Kong is not going away and if the Chinese revenue goes away the salary cap comes down and teams will have much less to spend... And speaking of China and the NBA... 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Cancer "vaccine" ready for human trials;

Of the 90 mice affected by lymphoma, 87 were cancer-free after the first treatment, and the last three were rid of cancer with a second injection.

- 1816 the year without a Summer

- I can tell you first hand - the lessons of Total Immersion really work! If you swim laps for exercise or relaxation this is a must read!

- Heh heh

- Tolstoy's 10 Rules for Life

- Google's Project Loon utilizes balloons to bring the Internet to remote areas. Meanwhile Elon Musk plans low Earth orbit satellites for broadband. This sort of reminds me of the story of NASA trying to develop a pen that would work in zero gravity while the Russians just went with pencils.

- The Celtics thinking behind the drafting of Brown and Tatum.

State of the Celtics

The state of the Celtics right now is fantastic! Fresh off a beating of the World Champion Golden State Warriors - Boston now has a 14-game winning streak going. Not only did the Celtics beat Golden State -they held the high scoring Warriors to just 88 points! In a now "3 and D" league nobody in playing better "D" than Boston.

The team was led the other night by second-year star in the making Jalyen Brown who turns out was playing despite the fact his best friend committed suicide the night before. Danny Ainge took a lot of heat for taking Brown with the 3rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft but Brown is shaking out to be at least the clear 3rd best player from that draft class and an argument can be made that he's the best overall with many preferring him over the second pick Brandon Ingram and 1st pick Ben Simmons not yet showing he's durable enough for the NBA. (Don't sleep on Milwaukee's Malcolm Brogdon who was the 36th pick in that draft either.)

Ainge should also be praised for clearly winning the trade that brought Kyrie Irving to Boston. Even if the Nets pick ends up being number 1 overall in this year's NBA Draft and even if Isiah Thomas returns from injury to once again be an All-Star - Kyrie Irving has been the perfect fit for Boston on and off the court. How can you not like a guy who picks number 11 for his uniform to honor his dad whose number 11 is retired by Boston University. A dad who insists on letting his son be the "big baller" on the court while he quietly supports his son from the stands.

Oh and about that Nets pick - right now the Lakers (6-10) actually have a worse record than Brooklyn (6-9) and the Celtics own LA's pick. There's currently 8 NBA teams with a worse record than the Nets. Danny Ainge knew what he was doing.

Speaking of Ainge knowing what he's doing - how about Jayson Tatum? Tatum was the 3rd pick in this year's draft but he's easily been the best player out of that draft so far. Trading the first overall pick for Tatum and the Lakers' number one next year is making people think of the Joe Barry Carroll trade for Parrish and McHale. Ainge knows what he's doing.

Ainge clearly knew what he was doing when he signed Brad Stevens to be the coach. You cannot mention the best coaches in the NBA without bringing up Stevens' name. Players now want to come to Boston because they know Stevens will make them better players.

I'm going to end this State of the Celtics by bringing up Al Horford. This is not an afterthought. Horford to me is to the Celtics what Phil Hartman was to SNL. He's the glue that holds the show together. Al Horford quietly does so many things well - 15.5 points per game, 9 rebounds and 4.4 assists - that he's easy to overlook. Celtics fans know his importance and how good an overall player Al is. And we appreciate that as a free agent he chose to play here.

The State of the Celtics right now is fantastic! Danny Ainge knows what he's doing.

In Danny We Trust

Been thinking of the Celtics recently but have held off saying anything (until today). It bugs me that some in Boston won't be happy with Danny Ainge even if he lands Kevin Durant (he won't) but the fact is next year's team will be better than this year's version. And this year's version was on the cusp of being a real contender in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics have essentially lost Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger (soon) but have upgraded those players with Jaylen Brown and Al Horford. This new roster is a 50-win capable team with Danny still having the assets and cap space to make another impactful move. The Celtics right now are probably the second best team in the East and a LeBron James hamstring injury away from being the best.

I've been stewing about how the media treats the Celtics since the NBA Draft when Boston took Jaylen Brown with the 3rd overall pick. That announcement was met by boos from yahoos who wanted the Celtics to mortgage that pick and half the roster for Jimmy Butler or at least to pick a guy like Dunn or Heild that the watch college ball only during March Madness yahoos knew of. I had not seen a single minute of Brown in college and did not have him in for private workouts but you know who did see lots of film on Brown and who did have him in for private workouts? Danny Ainge. And you know who is really excited to have Jaylen Brown? Danny Ainge. Do you know who's basketball judgement I trust more than a bunch of braying yahoos? Danny Ainge.

Some compared the yahoos booing the Jaylen Brown pick to the Knicks fans booing the Porzingis pick last year. To me it brought back memories of Paul Pierce getting picked 10th in the 1998 Draft. That pick was made by Red Aeurbach which I guess puts Ainge into some good company for getting booed by know-nothing yahoos.

Three years ago yesterday Boston signed Brad Stevens to be their coach and this offseason the Celtics signed him to an extension. This young Celtics team has been built for long term success and Danny Ainge is the architect of that success.