At least give the Celtics credit for thinking outside the box. With Operation: Put Some Decent Players Around the Big Three so far yielding a benchwarmer’s dream group of Eddie House, Scot Pollard and Jackie Manuel, the C’s surprised everyone yesterday when word came down that they’d been talking to Reggie Miller about a possible comeback. The first question, of course, (assuming Reggie is even considering this) is whether or not Reggie can still play. He turns 42 this month, and he retired two years ago. Guys have made comebacks after long periods away from the game, and guys have played past the age of 42. But both? We can’t think of an example at the moment. No doubt he can still shoot, and while he probably won’t be putting guys in the hamster wheel anymore, if he’s getting 20 minutes a night and spotting up, there’s no reason he can’t still be effective off the bench. And if the C’s need a game-winner? You have Ray Allen (clutch), Paul Pierce (more clutch), Kevin Garnett (sometimes clutch) and The Most Clutch Shooter EVER on the court all at once. Choose your assist, Rajon … And if Reggie leaves TNT, that opens the door for Jalen Rose to make the transition from bench to press row … Whoever the Celtics bring in, they still need to do something about that bench. Our most vocal in-house C’s fan has been reduced to defending the Pollard signing, while Ainge is telling the Boston Herald, “He’s also started at times over the course of his career. But I think Scot has proven himself to be one of the best offensive rebounders in the game when he’s been allowed to stay out there on the floor.” Bottom line, the guy was OK when he was with the Kings 5 years ago. Since then he’s been taking up space on the bench … Ainge also told the paper, “I like our reserve unit with Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine, who I think had a fantastic year for us defensively. We also have young guys like Brandon Wallace who are going to help. Jackie Manuel might be able to find a role for us as a defensive player.” Sounds like a lot of spin goin’ on there … Seeing as we haven’t heard anyone talking about themselves in 3rd-person lately, it’s good to have Kenyon Martin around. “Kenyon will be doing something on the court with this team,” K-Mart told the Denver Post about his comeback from microfracture surgery. “Whether it’s just me going in and waving, I’m going to contribute in the first game of the season. I expect to play, whether it’s 10 minutes, two minutes — I expect to play.” K-Mart said in the same article, “[The Nuggets] are going to just move the next person in if Kenyon can’t play.” … K-Mart is switching from #6 back to #4 this year, because he wants to dominate like he did when he wore #4 at Cincinnati … Boston might be a little desperate, but the Heat are almost scraping the barrel. They just had Vitaly Potapenko in for a workout, and Jalen is reportedly on their list of possible free agent targets … Maybe the Heat should look into signing this dude. Seriously, 8-foot-5?!? That’s crazy … Sam Dalembert is officially a Canadian citizen now, and officially in for Team Canada in the Olympic qualifying tournament this summer. Barring a sudden change of mind, Steve Nash is out, but national team coach Leo Rautins said there’s a “slight chance” Nash would play if Canada makes the ‘08 Games … We’ve told you before how we’ve seen Nash all around NYC this summer, doing everything from boxing to playing soccer to skateboarding right past one of our guys on the street. Yesterday’s New York Post had an item about Nash trying to get in some pickup soccer with members of the Red Bulls pro team. When that didn’t work out (the only pitch available was a dirt field), according to the article, Nash still played. “Nash wasn’t as picky, and got into a pickup game with the amateur Promotion Factory team of Venancio Ciampa, who said Nash was incredibly fast, untiring and skillful. ‘We won 7-6, and he scored two goals,’ Ciampa said.” … December 4. USC versus Memphis. O.J. Mayo versus Derrick Rose. Circle the calendar … We’re out like defending Pollard …
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MITCHELL & NESS PROMO
August 9th, 2007 at 1:38 am
Chris says:
What John Long did was pretty close to what Reggie would be doing. He played in the league for about ten years, retired for 6 years, then came back for a season at the age of 40 and didnt embarass himself:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/longjo01.html
August 9th, 2007 at 4:46 am
kowtz says:
Yeah, checked his stats…
A guy who on his prime, was a starter, jacked up 20 shots a night, scored 21 pts. a night, and shot 48% on the field while burning more than 30 minutes of tick…
He comes back after 5 years… plays 32 games, about 11 miuntes per, jacking up 3.4 shots a night, making 38% of those, and averaging 4 points per, and HE IS ON AN EXPANSION TEAM TORONTO RAPTORS!
The guy made $272,500 on his last season (96-97, wasn’t this way blow the veteran’s minimum?) while Travis Knight (Last 1st round pick that year) made $220,000…
August 9th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Mobile Site says:
What the?!?! Vitaly Potapenko is still in the league??
August 9th, 2007 at 9:43 am
João says:
Vitaly Potapenko will help the Heat, because they can move Doleac plus a pic to get Pietrus. Doleac and a pic for a starting small foward is not bad … That´s give them :
J-Will
Wade
Pietrus
Haslem
Shaq
and the bench
Smush
Cook
D-Wright
Antoine
Zo
And the team, will not go over the luxury … Young and cheap … not bad at all …
August 9th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Ian says:
joao i dont think that team is top three in the east and thats assuming they get pietrus
a team with antoine isnt top three in any league
reggieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee come backkkkk
best cluth shooter everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
August 9th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Celts Fan says:
Ian, second or third best clutch shooter ever. Gotta put Jordan and possibly Bird ahead of him. That’s no knock on Reggie, but those guys have hit ring-winning shots and boast a clutch resume just as complete as Reggie’s, but that’s like saying, “She’s only the 3rd hottest super model here.”
August 9th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Bust Jlaze says:
This cracks me up…every time a team happens to get the “contender” label, all of a sudden all these old veterans that are without rings come out of the woodwork to try go get theirs! Doesn’t it kinda suck even if they do get one at the end? It’s kinda the same as your boy being a “huge celtics fan” all of a sudden now that KG is there. So now when they win, it can’t POSSIBLY have an authentic feeling of accomplishment, can it?? That’s why I was like “IN YO FACE, KARL MALONE!!” when the LA thing didn’t work out.
August 9th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Tom Toronto says:
Damn, Nash is too good. Maybe we can convince him to join our national soccer team instead? They suck just as bad as our national basketball team, they may be even worse. Good for Dalembert for putting the work in to be a citizen so he can play. Take notes Magloire!
August 9th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Celts Fan says:
Don’t hate on Magloire. No one wants to rep Canada, even if they’re from there, eh
August 9th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
FK in Toronto says:
Magloire is a piece of trash.
Not only does he skip repping team canada, but he is also responsible for running Steve Nash’s charity game out of Toronto, causing drama cause Steve was in ‘his city’.
Too bad we can’t trade him to a new country for a future draft pick
August 9th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
ben says:
Hey celts fan,
go **** yourself!
Sincerely, All of Canada.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Dennis Lu says:
João, I like that trade a lot for the Heat, but why would GS take Doleac and a future 1’st when they should try to win now. They already have a project in Brandon Wright.
I honestly don’t know what to think of GS this season, they’ve actually managed to digress in the off-season so far.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Ian says:
celts i rather have reggie take the game winning three than mj or bird but thats just me
hes gonna make me like a team that has KG and allen on it
i hate them both
bust i felt the same way about malone fuck him
August 9th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Ian says:
bust
reggie isnt coming to a lakers team that won three titles hes coming to an ok to good team that has no real chance at a title this season
but its the east he can get to the finals
August 9th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Bron42 says:
how can you honsetly say they have no real chance? the heat won it with pretty much 2 people and on top of that, the west hasnt been AS abusive as everyone says. Two west teams have won titles recently, the lakers which are trash now and the spurs..all the other years have been east teams…And the spurs aren’t unbeatable.. so if they sure up their bench alil more and gel why wouldn’t they have chance to win a ring coming out of the east? 2 guys who, when they were in the rest, were main parts of why the west was considered the power house conference. Everyone was like “OMG the powerforwards in the west are so crazy compared to the east” but now that KG is in the east he suddenly sucks and wouldn’t have a chance to win? KG and Ducan would probably cancel eachother out. Ray can put up numbers just like parker, pierce can put up numbers like manu. So that leaves it up to the role players which is always shakey for both teams…so i think thats a pretty fair chance at winning. Its basketball man, any team can win anytime with just one shot difference.
August 9th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Celts Fan says:
amen Bron! No one’s saying they will, but they definitely CAN. Btw, heard Allen Houston wants to come back. Not a bad backup plan…
Ian, we’ll have to agree to disagree, but either way, no one would ever not want any of those 3 shooting at the last second, so we’re probably splitting hairs. I do agree w/ you about Malone though. Screw him The only good thing he ever did was spawn the Jimmy Kimmel, “Dis here Kaarl Maloone” skits…
Hey Ben,
Hockey is dead and nobody gives a crap about Canada, eh.
Sincerely,
The Rest of the World
August 9th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
JA says:
Fellas - Bring back the Afternoon Run! Gave me a pick-me-up towards the end of the work day. Cheers.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
D-NICE says:
Watch out fo Miami they jus signed PENNY HARDAWAY!
August 9th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
kowtz says:
Ian
I agree on reggie taking the three rather than MJ, but Bird?
Reggie needs to be set-up for the shot… MJ cand Bird can create their own…
But of course, I would rather let KB24 take the clutch shot anytime over anyone, whether it be a mid range, 30 feet from the basket, or from the parking lot…
And I know every coach in the league NBA would agree with me…
August 10th, 2007 at 2:41 am
Ian says:
about kb hes like 5 for 100 in game winning or tying shots i read that somewhere cant remember
rather have reggie take the three by far over kb
bron and celts sure they got a chance if they get the mavs in the finals sure the spurs are beatable but not by an east team
August 10th, 2007 at 2:46 am
Ian says:
and bron what is that only two west teams have won while all the others have been from the east
is 2 teams for each the dif is spurs lakers 7 east 2
August 10th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Bron42 says:
lol the spurs are beatable by a eastern team cuz if i remember correctly the mavs beat them and then lost to a east team AND its not like the spurs went undefeated on the road either. And yes, its 7-2 if you only stop there, so i guess were not counting the bulls in there? Point is…lets not make it like the west just dominates the east no matter what west team is in the finals. Sure the cavs sucked but even when it was the spurs vs pistons it wasn’t a blow out and they were one rasheed 3 away from winning.
August 10th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Ian says:
ohhh please that mavs are pussies
they won on a bad manu play
and how can u count the bulls when they dont have one player from the 98 squad
guess with a nick like bron u think the east is good
and u think because one team beats another than the one that lost first cant beat the other (did it sound right?)
exp
u think the spurs couldnt play the heat cuz they lost to the mavs that lost to the heat
u mwntioned the pistons sure they were great for 2 seasons but the heat lol please
u saw your cavs that went 2-0 vs the spurs in the regular season get destroyed thats how big the gap is
that in the west there are six teams better than the top team in the east
August 10th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
bron42 says:
for the 50th time my name IS bron, its not a nickname lol not only am i older than him, i’ve played him in high school and currently work for the new jersey nets,so its not a fan thing. I mean should i say because you go by ian, your a 90210 fan or some dumb shit? way to try to rip me cuz my name on here lol
See this is the problem with forums, any idiot can act like they kno what their talking about. When i said the bulls, i was just mentioning teams that won rings in like the last 20 years. Not saying this years bulls.
and also, i was saying, your making it like the best team ALWAYS wins, well the mavs beat the spurs and ur sayin they weren’t better. so ANY east team can somehow beat a west team. And you can’t dis the mavs when again they beat ur amazing spurs. yes the mavs are pussies but they won…and then got smoked by a east team. I mean look at all your supposed power house west teams…suns,mavs,spurs, maybe jazz..only one has won titles in the last 20 years. one team in the west. like 4 different ones have won in the east.
and my cavs? i hate the cavs and lebron is completely overrated. anyone who thought they had a chance against the spurs obviously doesn’t know basketball, then agian this was probably one of the most one sided finals ever. no way your tellin me, the heat, pistons, current celtics, even maybe the pulls, would get swept by the spurs, let along some other overrated west team that happens to get past them.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Ian says:
opps sorry about the bron thing
shit man 90210
Ian is my name