Celtics Begin To Fill Out Depleted Roster With T-Will Signing

As first reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, the Celtics have signed 6' 6" swingman Terrence Deshon Williams to a 10-day contract.

Drafted in 2009 by the New Jersey Nets, T-Will has had a somewhat checkered playing career in a fairly short time marking stints with the Houston Rockets (where he clashed with Rockets Coach Kevin McHale), Sacramento Kings, Detroit Pistons and most recently as a Guangdong Southern Tiger in the Chinese Basketball League.

Though his phenomenal athleticism and undeniable basketball talent has been recognized by many since his early college days (T-Will scored two triple-doubles as a co-captain for Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals team, a feat only accomplished twice before in team history), he has yet to convince any team that he is worthy of long-term status.

Let me just say now, I think this is a great signing for the Celtics. I've followed T-Will's career in college and got to know his penchant for filling an NBA stat sheet while he (unbeknownst to him) worked for me as a member of a couple of fantasy basketball teams I was running at the time. Against the sentiments of several of my fellow Celtics basketball cognoscenti, I have wanted the Celtics to sign him every time he became available during his young career.

Back in the day, T-Will soared and glided his way to the 2005 Kentucky Derby Basketball Classic slam dunk championship trophy, and Pitino once described him as "A freakish athlete" -- something that the Celtics can use a few more of since our players began resembling a line of human dominoes.

His best season in the League was with Sacramento in the 2011-12 season in which he scored 8.8 PPG, pulled down 4.1 RPG, and passed for 3.1 APG while shooting .461 from the field over 20.5 minutes per game.

With career averages of 7.6 points per game, 3.9 rebounds per game and 2.5 assists per game and career percentages of 40% FG and .358.% 3-PT FG, the potential is there, should Coach Doc Rivers, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Co. be able to get into his head to correct some of the immaturity issues he's displayed in the past. And, with the easy-out of two 10-day contracts providing insurance in case things go south, this one is the quintessential low-risk/potentially-sky-high reward scenario.

And now, some numbers to get you salivating...

As a Net, Williams scored his first career trip-dub in 49 double-overtime minutes against the Chicago Bulls, with 27 points, 13 boards and 10 assists. His career high for assists is 14 and he has snagged 13 boards on three separate occasions.

And, while this should almost NEVER be a credible measuring stick in gauging NBA-level competition, it is interesting to note that T-Will was a key player for the 1st-place Guangdong Tigers (whom he left this past month to attend to a death in the family) -- a team that also features former NBA'ers Yi Jianlian and Ike Diogu -- where he averaged 17.9 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists while playing just under 27 minutes a game.

Check out these video posts from Celticslife.com that shed some light on the person behind the name and some of these highlight videos if you want to get excited.

Hookin' Up Facials, & Rimshots & Throwdowns...

 

Gettin' It Started 
-- As Always --
With One Of The Game's Most Emphatic Dunkers

While the Celtics haven't necessarily been tearing it up these days in the win column, Jeff Green has been Worthy of his reputation as a Dunkzilla and Captain Paul Pierce has spoken his Truth to the rim over the past couple of games. Here, then, for your viewing pleasure are two of Boston's Finest proving once again that they have the right stuff. Enjoy.

 

 

 

The Captain gives a five finger salute to the Alamo during the Spurs/Celtics game on December 15, 2012.

 

 

Maestro Rajon Rondo throws the "Alley" to Jeff Green's "Oop."

 

Rockets' Red Glare Blinds Celtics, San Antonio Spurred To Win Over Boston By Parker & Neal

I preface this blog by saying that, though I, like many, many of our kind, love the Boston Celtics and one of my greatest passions is to watch, root for and talk about the Celtics in just about any and every instance...there are a few things that even I can admit take precedence over the game.

My heart goes out to all of the families and friends touched by the horrendous evil that befell Newtown, Connecticut this week. There are no words to adequately express the feelings of sadness...only the hope that there can somehow be a day when the painful moments are fewer and far between replaced by the happy memories of those who have been lost to the world.

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With that, I will press ahead with the games:

Fits and starts. That's what it's going to be for the Celtics as they look to fine-tune their defensive rotations and get their offensive players marching in synch heading toward the second half of the season in February.

Speaking of synch...it appeared that Rajon Rondo was on the outside of it for most of the night against the Houston Rockets. Yes, I understand that he got another double-double with 15 points and 13 assists with 4 steals. But he also had an uncharacteristic 7 turnovers and seemed to be in the midst of one of those days caught up in an affliction that my aunt used to refer to by its clinical name: "The Dropsies." He just seemed a little bit out of sorts and the rest of the team was also just a little bit off somehow. The game plan seemed keyed in on stopping Jeremy Lin and James Harden, which they did to mixed results, but it also allowed the unheralded Greg Smith to blast off for the stratosphere and help put away the C's in the fourth Quarter.

I could tell you that Captain Paul Pierce had an off night, scoring 18 but on 1-6 shooting, or that Kevin Garnett scored 14, but would that change the score? No. It wouldn't. Celtics lose 89-101.

 

Really, the standout moment was watching Doc, Courtney Lee and Kevin Garnett go over to a still deeply grieving Rockets Coach Kevin McHale and give him some love, the latter embrace bringing him to tears. McHale had recently returned to the sidelines to resume coaching duties following the death of his 23-year-old daughter, Alexandra. This was an extremely touching and personal moment played out before the cameras and as sad as it was to get a window into his pain, it was inspiring to see that there are players who recognize the truly important things in life and that it's about so much more than themselves or how well they can put a ball in a basket.

 

Box Score and Tale Of The Tape

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Now, I'll have to admit...I got caught out in the Christmas shopping rush tonight and didn't make it to watch the game. After reading a couple of other blogs and watching some of the game tape, though, maybe I'm kind fortunate that I spent the evening bouncing off of ravenous hordes of mall zombies and over-sugared screaming-while-texting tweenagers.

Apparently, these are the things that happened on the second night of the C's back-to-back Texas two-step:

Rondo continued his mini-funk, kicking away another 7 turnovers and failing to get to double figures in assists for the first time in 44 games (not including his ejection game against the Brooklyn Nets). Previously, he had gotten into double-digits in 42 of his past 43 games played. Clearly, he's not sharp and appears to be playing tired, and one can only hope that it's just a tiny hiccup in what has been a tremendous season for the League's best point guard. 

Jason Terry, on the other hand, appeared to have ingested some leftover Rocket fuel from the C's opponents the night before, scoring 17 points in the first half, but it turned out to be just exhaust fumes because after his return from the locker room after half time, he experienced some major Jet-lag, managing only a single

point for the rest of the game.   

Garnett continued his less-than-cordial relationship with Tim Duncan (see beginning of "game tape" link), and held him down to a decidedly un-Big-Fundamental night, scoring just 5 points on 2-13 shooting. But, Tony Parker, Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter? Well, you can watch the tape or check out the box score if you care to see for yourself. 

The crazy stats, considering the 15-point loss? The Celtics and Spurs had identical field goal percentage (46.9%), identical free throw percentage (75%), identical rebound figures -- offensive (11) an total (38), and points in the paint (38). The difference? Three-point percentage (37.5% for the Celtics to 48% for the spurs) and 17 turnovers to the Spurs' 12. Now, I've read a few comments about the refs not giving the C's a fair shake in this one, but I don't care if you had three Joey Crawfords out there, the refs don't cause 17 turnovers.

Other than that?

 Box Score

C's Shoot For Holiday Cheer At Children's Hospital, Boston Medical Center

With all of the attention that this blog has devoted to the Celtics' on-court actions, I didn’t want to let too many posts slip by without highlighting some of the good work that the team does off-the-court.

This past week, the team visited the Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center’s pediatric hematology program at Top of the Hub’s Skywalk Observatory for two holiday-themed parties aimed at lifting the spirits of patients at each facility.

ESPN Boston posted a nice article about the visits and several media outlets covered portions of the events, including this video from Boston’s WHDH-Channel 7 that also includes Boston Bruins Coach Claude Julien and Bruins President Cam Neely shopping for toys and sports memorabilia to deliver to hospitalized children.

There’s also a great clip of the visit from NECN, reposted by www.beyondthebuzzer.com, that features Kevin Garnett in a Santa Hat playing Connect Four with a young opponent and talking about the importance that he places on such events.

It appears most if not all of the team attended, from the players to the coaches, all on hand to try and help brighten the lives of children who can still manage to smile in spite of their difficult circumstances.

Keep up the good work, C's.

THE BUZZ: 

Boston Celtics vs. Houston Rockets
Friday, December 14th, 2012
8:00 p.m.
@ The Toyota Center, Houston, TX