Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Crowder got into shoving matches. He cussed out teammates. He argued with coaches. “Anything you could think of,” he said, “I was doing it. All the knucklehead stuff.” The outbursts weren’t occasional, either.
“He was fighting us every day,” Williams said. “I was fighting him every day.”
Butler, a senior, considered himself the team leader. Crowder clashed with him, too.
Jay King with sort of a “part two” to Adam Himmelsbach’s piece on Crowder that ran on Thursday. This one has a fair bit of background on Crowder’s rather circuitous route to from junior college to a starting gig in Boston.
SPOILERS: There are no cute baby pics.
Page 2: Meet Evan Turner
Could it be that Turner, too, had to stop thinking of himself as that No. 2 pick in 2010?
“I’d really like to believe that,” said Darius. “Evan really had a hard knock against him because of that No. 2 thing. But he’s greatly improved in a lot of ways. I’ve seen it in the way he prepares for games and the way he is with the media. He’s better dealing with the media.
“The change in the situation has helped him as well,” he said. “The Celtics like him for his work ethic. They like that he’s a gym rat who just loves the game of basketball.”
Mark Murphy was not going to be outdone by King and Himmelsbach this week. Click above to read about the life and times of Evan Turner, the Celtics’ premier wit and suddenly a valuable cog in an improbable collection of draft picks and factory seconds.
Seriously. Take a moment and look at the Celtics’ roster and how it was assembled:
G: Isaiah Thomas – Boston sent Phoenix the 27th pick in the draft + Marcus Thornton
G: Avery Bradley – drafted
SF: Jae Crowder – ‘throw-in’ in the Rondo trade
PF: Sullinger – drafted
C: Amir Johnson – free agent
G: Marcus Smart – drafted
G/SF: Evan Turner – bargain basement free agent signing (seriously, he didn’t even get the full mid-level exception)
SF/PF: Jonas Jerebko – salary filler in the Tayshaun Prince trade
PF/C: Kelly Olynyk – drafted
C: Tyler Zeller – salary filler in the Cavs/Paul Pierce trade exception deal
With the sole exception of the Isaiah Thomas deal, every player on this roster that Boston traded for ended up here either because Boston was facilitating another team’s plans (Cleveland signing Lebron), or because the other team thought they were getting a better player (Rondo to Dallas, Prince to Detroit). Evan Turner had been given up for dead after a disastrous stint in Pacerland. I don’t know if this team was assembled by Danny Ainge or Emma Lazarus.
Page 3: Where the Celtics are ready for the playoffs this time (we hope)
“Last year you didn’t know what to expect, I mean I didn’t, I’d never been to the playoffs. I didn’t know what it was like other than watching it on TV,”
Just a reminder where the Celtics were in terms of playoff experience last year.
Also, as Jay King tweeted after posting links to that article, even though the Celtics are, superficially, much the same as they were at the start of last season’s playoffs, a lot has also changed. Sullinger is healthy, Crowder is starting, and Tyler Zeller’s coming off the bench.
Yes, Atlanta is a good team, but even with their health and experience handicaps last year, the Celtics were competitive with a better Cavs team, and they have improved more year over year than the Hawks have (if anything the Hawks have regressed somewhat). It’s going to be a tough series, but I give the C’s a decent shot at pulling off the (mild) upset.
Finally: The greatest game ever played
Cowens is asked whether Game 5 was the best basketball game he ever played in.
COWENS: [Deadpan.] No. Because I fouled out.
…
HEINSOHN: When it was over, Jo Jo laid down on the floor and couldn’t get up again. He gave it everything he had.
This has been a truly awesome week for Celtics coverage. Chad Finn’s article is spiced up with archival footage that almost makes it feel like you were there! If, as family snap shots and grainy videos tell me, the 70s were blurry and out of focus most of the time.
The rest of the links:
MassLive: Brad Stevens: Brooklyn Nets wise to hire Ronald Nored, former Boston Celtics assistant, as D-League coach | Isaiah Thomas writes essay on how he couldn’t believe how much Celtics fans loved him – and how much he’d love Boston | NBA Draft tiebreakers: Boston Celtics win one, finish third in another
Boston Herald: Murphy: Who has the edge in Celtics-Hawks series? | Jae Crowder has faith in his ankle for playoffs | Bulpett: What is Celtics’ ceiling in these playoffs?
Boston.com: NBA Eastern Conference playoff preview: The Celtics have a shot | Isaiah Thomas is even shorter than his official height
Boston Globe: Underdog Celtics gearing up for red-hot Hawks
ESPN Boston: Isaiah Thomas knows he must stand tall for Celtics to excel in playoffs
CSNNE: Consider Thomas’ Players’ Tribune letter a strong pitch | Consider Thomas’ Players’ Tribune letter a strong pitch
