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.

Celtics Continue Roll Against Sacramento, Crown Kings: 99-81

 

Trade the team, something's wrong here! We won without Rondo? How can this be!?!?!

Seriously, though, folks...I know these are the lowly Kings but A) they did it in the second game P.R.I. (Post Rondo Injury); B) this team absolutely pasted us the last time we played; and C) it was the quintessential cliché "total team effort" that would have probably beaten most other teams not in Seattle Sacramento.

Since the Fall of the House of Rondo, bazillions (BAZILLIONS, not Brazilians...sorry, Leandro) of Fairweathers expressed their well-honed kneejerk opinions about how the absence of Rondo basically guarantees that the Celtics will finish behind the Kentucky Colonels and the Yakima Sun Kings and out of the Playoffs for the first time in five years.

While rumors of their collective death have been greatly exaggerated, I'll admit that it still remains to be seen whether the C's will keep up their new brand of hippie-ball in which they share the round, orange love and deliver a slew of well-balanced butt-whuppin's to the rest of the NBA. However, if tonight (and Sunday, for that matter) is any indication...

Tonight, the Celtics went through competitive warm-ups, otherwise known as the "First Quarter," and then proceeded to form Voltron and enter "Crush...Kill...Destroy!" mode in quarter 2, dropping 59 points in the half and carrying a 21 point lead into the 3rd quarter. From this point on, contrary to a momentary lapse that allowed the Kings back to within 14 points in the 4th, the game was nothing more than extended Geno-time.

So, how did we do it you may be asking (and by "you," I am referring to the grandmother of six who accidentally stumbled onto this blog after mistyping "Greenhands" as she was looking for gardening gloves)? I would allude once more to the aforementioned Hippie-Ball. Six Celtics scored in double figures. Paul Pierce was the team high-scorer and he only got 16 for Pistol-Pete's sake!

The Captain added 10 rebounds 4 assists and 1 steal with only 3 turnovers and the rest of the team did their best Outsiders impression and continued to "Do It For Rondo." Kevin Garnett scored 13 points, snagged 9 rebounds and was the high man with assists for the night, posting 5 to go with 2 blocks and a steal; Jeff Green scored a seemingly effortless 12 points as did Jason Terry, who also added 4 assists; and Avery Bradley scored 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

And, since the blogosphere is in maximum overdrive from the Rudy Gay trade with the ESPN Trade Machine about to blow a virtual gasket with Celtics fans crying over spilled Calderon and lamenting the trades that could have been, allow me to talk about one that did happen a little over a year ago that should have even the Littlest Chicken breathing a sigh of relief.

Brandon Bass, one of the six double-figure Celtics tonight, scored 12 points and got 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. You know what the other half of that trade that sent him to Boston got? A broken foot, that's what (I smell a classic trap game coming up on Friday with no Big Baby to push our guys into a competitive lather).

One of the most notable of many notable items? The rebel-without-a-point-guard Celtics out-assisted the Kings, who happen to carry at least three above-average PG's, by a count of 22 to 13.

In any case, I think those folks that Doc Rivers referred to who were beginning to write the Celtics' eulogy are going to be getting a serious case of carpal tunnel from sitting at their computers, hands on the keyboard, waiting for the end to come. Relax, folks...and enjoy this brand of Socialist, share-the-wealth Hippie-Ball while you can. I hear the Celtics are about to trade for World-B.-Free and a 1984 second round draft pick.

Box Score

Tale Of The Tape

Kings Give Celtics The Royal Flush: 96-118

The Celtics were banished back to Boston by the Sacramento Kings to close out their disappointing road trip with a 22-point loss.

The C's are now 2 games below .500 and hold the distinction, according to Celtics Broadcaster Extraordinaire Mike Gorman, of being the first team since the 1977 Celtics to have lost three consecutive games by a total of 18 or more points each. The Kings have now won 6 out of their last 7 home games.

Things can't get much worse, but they CAN get worse. Thus far, the Celtics have remained turmoil-free with respect to finger pointing and accusations, which is positive because they'll need to come together to right their listing ship.

Now, don't get me wrong...they can and will get it together. As Celtics from Rajon Rondo (who returned after a one game absence due to a hip injury) to Kevin Garnett to Coach Doc Rivers have said, the team as a whole still plays too singularly. That is, there are 15 individuals who must figure out what it takes to play as one team.

On this night, you could almost hear each player running the defensive schemes over in their heads, which led to hesitancy that gave way to stiff and mechanical play that allowed the Kings to punch gaping holes in the Charmin-soft middle of the Celtics' defense to the tune of 56 interior points to the Celtics' 38.

Six Celtics scored in double figures, but it mattered not as the Kings buried them in a 4th quarter barrage of 3-pointers that put a game out of reach that was already slipping away thanks to a triple-double from reported malcontent DeMarcus Cousins and a performance from Isaiah Thomas that made stat checkers wonder if they had accidentally pulled up one of the old games of the Hall-Of-Fame Detroit Bad Boy himself.

I won't get into individual stats for the Celtics (or the Kings, for that matter. You can check them in the Box Score and Tale Of The Tape links if you REAAAALY want to), but the C's were once again out-shot (53.7% to 41.4% from the field and 50% to 31.8% from Threeland), out-rebounded (45 to 36), and out-run (20 fast-break points to 9).

Things don't figure to get any easier with a return to the Garden, however, as the Celtics return home to face the Memphis Grizzlies and old friend Tony Allen on Wednesday, but at least the Green will have two days off to turn their books to the same page. Maybe some trust exercises are in order, with someone standing on a chair while the rest of the team waits to catch them from behind as they fall.

Aaaannnnyyyywaayyyy...

Tale Of The Tape

Box Score

C's In No Golden State After Loss To Warriors: 83-101

Well, at least they held it under 20 this time.

Okay, seriously...keeping this mercifully short...

As completely BS as this sounds, this was a blowout to be sure, but it was a different kind of blowout than the one the Celtics experienced against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The C's were down by 20 at a number of junctures during this game and I won't hem and haw on it: the Warriors played a good game. But, it was a game that the Celtics were able to climb back into even as late as the fourth quarter with some solid defense and shot-making. Unfortunately the shot-making -- or more accurately, the lack thereof -- is what really cost the C's the game.

The Celtics shot 36% from the floor to Golden State's 52.1% (and an NBA Jams-"he's-on-fire"-esque 63.2% from Threeland) making it a moot point that they got the Warriors to turn the ball over 19 times to their own 13, as well as rendering insignificant the points-in-the-paint disparity of 30 for the C's vs. 24 for Golden State.

True, it didn't help that Rajon Rondo was a scratch for the game with some hip and leg injuries (apparently sustained in Los Angeles) and the old plotline that features the Celtics getting outrebounded by their opponents (46-38 this time) returned like a dead soap-opera villain to add to an already heavy burden, but the Celtics just could NOT buy a basket for significant portions of this game. You can credit the Warriors "D" for some of it, but many of the missed shots were ridiculously open looks.

The glimmers of sunlight in this otherwise overcast performance were Courtney Lee's 18 points; Jared Sullenger's 12 points on 6-8 shooting, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and one strong statement about his grit as he sustained a whack to the nose but came back onto the floor with blood streaming down his nostril and over his lips before being summoned back to the bench to be worked on by cut man head trainer Ed Lacerte.

Jeff Green had a noteworthy 9 rebounds, but shot 2-11 as if trying to outdo Paul Pierce who shot a miserable 4-20. Jason Terry hit just 6-19 shots and Garnett -- one of the only Celtics to shoot 50% from the floor -- was the antithesis of aggressive, taking only 6 shots for the game.

The Celtics woeful road trip will come to a merciful end tomorrow night as they face the 10 and 19 Sacramento Kings. The C's will enter that game under the .500 mark for the first time this season since their 2-3 start.

Tale Of The Tape

Box Score

THE BUZZ

Boston Celtics vs. Sacramento Kings
Sunday, December 30, 2012

9:00 p.m.

@ Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento, CA

With 11-9 Season Thus Far, C's Hope For December To Remember

"Long December And There's Reason To Believe, Maybe This Year Will Be Better Than The Last."

   -- Adam Duritz, Counting Crows

 

Of course, last December didn’t officially start until Christmas Day because of the lockout, but the C’s were still a dismal 1 and 3 for the month anyway.  

This December, however, the deck is stacked with some fairly stiff challenges that should provide a good barometer as to how far along this current crop of Green has come and what categories, if any, they continue to lag in.  And, while it’s not a “make or break” month for the season, it will allow Doc Rivers and the players themselves to see how well the team’s 10 fresh faces are integrating with the core 5 as they continue to make their push towards Banner #18 in earnest.

The good news? The Boyz from Boston are 11-9 (2-2 in December) and only four spots out of first place in the Atlantic Division heading into the rest of their schedule for December. The not-so-good news? The Celtics have two road trips -- one three-game and another four-game stretch on the road.
 
The C's will kick off the first day of the rest of the month by facing a Nowitzki-free but dangerous Dallas Mavericks team tonight at the Garden before hitting the road against the Jeremy Lin/James Harden-led Houston Rockets (9-10), League-leading San Antonio Spurs (17-4), and the always-tough if Rose-less Chicago Bulls before returning home to host a better-than-their-record Cleveland Cavaliers with a fresh Kyrie Irving, who just returned to the lineup after sitting for the past 11 games with an injured finger. The C's end their 2-game home stand against the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that has won two-out-of-three games against the C's already.
 
The Celtics will then embark upon their road show with the "Christmastime In Brooklyn Spectacular" and then take a California swing against the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and the Sacramento Kings to end the month.

While the C's appear to be heading in the right direction by flexing a beefier defense and an offense that features a more consistent and comfortable Jeff Green and Jason Terry, it remains to be seen whether the C's have it completely figured out. My guess is that they'll end the "Holiday Month" with more gifts under the tree than lumps of coal in their stockings. 

The Future begins tonight, GreenHeadz! Dallas Mavericks at the Garden! 8:00 pm!
LET'S GO, C'S!!!