WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) -- Kevin Garnett flashed a rare public smile. Kendrick Perkins replaced his customary grimace with a grin. Paul Pierce kept laughing.
Shaquille O'Neal is starting training camp with the Boston Celtics and his teammates are nearly giddy with delight.
"Shaq is going to be Shaq, all the publicity and all the circus that's going to come with it," Pierce said Monday. "He's one of the biggest stars that this game has ever seen, so you've got to expect it. I'm happy to have the opportunity to say I have a chance to play with him and just be in the locker room with him."
And what a locker room it will be.
The rapping and comedic stylings of "Shaq Diesel." The goofiness of Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Nate Robinson. The intensity and verbosity of Garnett. The seriousness of Ray Allen. The head-shaking of Pierce as he takes it all in.
And the head-scratching of coach Doc Rivers as he tries to make it work.
"I hope it's easy. I have a feeling it's not going to be," Rivers said the day before the official start of training camp in Newport, R.I. "We have a lot of personalities. There's no doubt about that, probably more than we've ever had. Having said that, I also think this is the most talented group we've had, as far as deep on the bench."
Chances are O'Neal will be part of that bench, and he has no complaints about it as he enters his 20th NBA season. He already played a subordinate role last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James.
"My first 17 years were all about me and scoring," he said. "That part of my game is over now. It's time for me to be a damn good role player."
With the Big 3 of Pierce, Garnett and Allen returning for their fourth season as teammates, the 345-pound O'Neal is a Very Big 4th on a team that came close to its second NBA le in three years before blowing a 13-point lead in the second half and losing Game 7 to the Los Angeles Lakers, 83-79.
"I don't think you ever get over it," said Rivers, who thinks it can motivate his team. "It has to push you a little bit."
There was a point soon after that game that Rivers felt he would step down as coach to watch his children play for their college teams.
"I was, at that time, leaning heavily to not coming back," he said.
If that had happened, Pierce said, the Celtics probably wouldn't have signed Shaq or re-signed Allen and Robinson. Pierce, himself, said he would have had "a tougher decision" on whether to return. Instead, he briefly opted out of his contract then signed a four-year deal.
"The locker room's going to be fun because you have a lot of strong personalities, but you've got a lot of good personalities," Pierce said, "and that's a good thing. The guys are going to mesh well together."
Boston's rebounding problems were costly against the Lakers, especially after Perkins hurt his knee in Game 6. He's not expected back until February so the Celtics signed the 7-foot-1 Shaq and 6-11 Jermaine O'Neal to two-year contracts.
Perkins made it clear, in a good-humored way, that the starting center job is his when he's healthy.
"I don't want to start nothing, but, really, my spot is not up for grabs," he said. "When I come back I will be in my spot and then everybody else just has to adjust to me after that."
Meanwhile, Shaq looked good in pickup games last week with some of his teammates.
"In one pickup game he got three fastbreak layups," Pierce said. "You hardly hear about Shaq getting fastbreak layups."
Maybe it's his offseason diet.
He said he's cut back on hamburgers, fried chicken and cornbread. But he might partake of a local favorite if, as he said, he brings his television show "Shaq vs." to Boston. In previous episodes, he swam against Michael Phelps and played golf with Charles Barkley.
"Me and you in a clam chowder eating contest," he challenged one reporter.
For all the joking, the Celtics are very serious about pursuing the 18th NBA le in team history.
To do that, they'll have to get past the Miami Heat and their Big 3 of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and then the Lakers with Kobe Bryant, whose five championship rings are one more than Shaq's collection, a fact Bryant has pointed out.
"I heard it my whole career. I've been the measuring stick for excellence," Shaq said. "So I'm glad to see I'm still relevant. But I would have been more upset, more hurt if Tim Duncan would have made the comment. I don't compete with guards. They have the ball more than I do. They shoot way more than I do.
"I'm only competing with Tim Duncan. Hopefully, I can get No. 5 before Tim Duncan."
To reach the NBA finals, the Celtics must stop James' quest for his first championship, and Garnett welcomes the challenge.
"We're not going to back down from anything," he said. "I'm really excited. I don't like us. I love us."
Perkins made it clear, in a good-humored way, that the starting center job is his when he's healthy.
"I don't want to start nothing, but, really, my spot is not up for grabs," he said. "When I come back I will be in my spot and then everybody else just has to adjust to me after that."Suuuuuure, whatever you say Perk.
Shaq said he's cut back on hamburgers, fried chicken and cornbread.
and speaking of all the publicity let me hit you with this one..of course this is edited but I have the real deal in my archives...Sad thing about this is that Shaq is paying via marriage what dozens of cats hit for free...Ashy Larry - "Shaq is going to be Shaq, all the publicity and all the circus that's going to come with it," Pierce said Monday.
Shaq is the real fool... able yes -- wifey -- no...
Here they are eating waffles:
Consider it done...give me a day or two to setup a new account so I can PM you the info...these busta ass non LA s ain't getting 4 free...
And knowing the context of the relationship you and Kool have with each other, you'll probably send him a video of you jerking off to that as a thank you.
Cause you know I don't swing that way.
Your boy Kool, however...
Shaq, Celtics take aim at Heat target
By Adrian Wojnarowski
As Shaquille O’Neal sold his prospective franchise on his job candidacy, he privately asked some executives and coaches: Would you rather go into Miami with me, or without me? History tells him it’ll take elders to topple these Miami Heat, and there’s such loathing lingering for old man Riles and his preening, shiny superstars.
“They got a great 1-2,” says Shaq, who disdains Chris Bosh so much he refuses to make it three. And then he started listing the Celtics, the long list of young stars and old champions fighting the fade into twilight. “Everyone is young this, young that. I’ve been in [the NBA Finals] six times in the last [16 years] years, and I haven’t seen a young team make it all the way and win it. They may look better, but they don’t do what we do.”
The Heat aren’t that young, but perhaps Shaq is getting that old. Whatever happened this summer, he just knew he wanted to be in that fight on the shores of Biscayne Bay. Doc Rivers had ached over that Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, and one July night, flickering on his television, were LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Bosh declaring themselves ready for the world on an elevated platform of a smoky arena stage. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen had never welcomed themselves to Boston so boldly, but this was a different day, a different franchise, a different world.
“That gave everyone an easy visual, but in some ways, you’ve got to have an arrogance if you’re going to win,” Rivers told Yahoo! Sports. “Hey, it’s like you got Babe Ruth in some ways.”
For all the disdain that comes from those in the Eastern Conference with the most to lose with the Heat’s resurrection – Dan Gilbert, Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy – Rivers is reverential when it comes to his old coach’s genius. Rivers loves Pat Riley and considers it the most spectacular coup of his NBA life. “He has such a gift,” Rivers said. “Let me put it this way: He’s the best vision seller I’ve ever seen in my life. He knew that if it came down to selling a vision, everybody was at a disadvantage.”
Riles was selling a vision born of a true track record. After all the disingenuous assassinations that Cleveland and Toronto officials delivered once they had failed to keep James and Bosh, there was no hiding the truth that they had nothing to sell them. No vision, no championship pedigree. Now, they just have sob stories and those framed $14 million trade exceptions mounted on office walls.
There’s a reason Rivers is a champion: He acknowledges the greatness, the guts, of Riley to dream that big and deliver such a historic happening. It wasn’t free agency that transformed the Celtics under Rivers, but those trades for Garnett and Allen in 2007. “Everyone anointed us,” Rivers said. “You couldn’t hold it back.”
Perhaps no team has ever been a bigger target in sports, and that’s so much of the reason these Celtics have come to camp so invigorated. Boston believes it can beat the Heat, and here’s the most important reason why: Everyone has been mesmerized with what they’re seeing out of Garnett. “Explosive again,” Rivers marveled.
In practice on Wednesday, the Celtics watched Garnett do things they hadn’t seen in two years. Once, he grabbed a rebound, fired the outlet pass and recovered to still beat every big man down the floor. No one witnessed that a year ago. Not once. He’s been fantastic for the Celtics and that can change everything. Boston can go back to guards Rajon Rondo and Delonte West pressuring the ball again because they know Garnett has the quickness to shadow the ball on the backline.
The ability of Garnett to come all the way back from his knee issues of the past two years will, Rivers says, “make or break us.”
Until his dying days, Red Auerbach told Rivers over and over: Fill your roster with agitators. Danny Ainge was one of the most effective the old coach ever had, and Ainge has now constructed his own roster with agitators big and small. Boston will come heavy, with toughness and ferocity, fearless of these Heat. Every day, Rivers reminds himself to tell the Celtics they’re the defending Eastern Conference champions, because that’s easily lost amid the relentless deification of the Heat.
Boston won’t come out fast. Not with West suspended 10 games and Kendrick Perkins out until February and Rivers monitoring his player’s minutes to make sure everyone’s fresh for the playoffs. Rivers has kept it civil with the Heat, but he knows his players hate most of them, and this entire buildup brings a level of loathing that makes the coach feel like these are the old days. As much as anyone, Shaq knows his history, and he knows all these determined Celtics souls – all this depth that Ainge and Rivers call the best talent they’ve ever had in Boston – promise to challenge the Heat in a way no one else can.
“We’ll continue to go at our slow pace and creep up on everybody,” Pierce said.
Old man Riles and Wade and James and Bosh will be waiting, because Riley’s vision was validated. Boston must go through Miami for a shot at the Lakers again. That summer haul never did move Rivers to criticize Riley, because the Celtics are full of talent and toughness. Shaq wanted to know: Would you rather go into Miami with or without me. This goes for all these Celtics, all these players who watched that preening summer spectacle with a thought in mind: Until you come through us, stop your celebrating and come get the defending Eastern Conference champions.
Celts vs. Heat should be good, if KG is healthy. We havent had a really high skill level and high intensity rivalry in the East in a long while. Even in the 90's those heat/Knicks were very tough but offensively challenged. For 1 season at least (hopefully) we have a veteran team with a hight talent/skill level ...vs. a younger even more talented team.
This could be special ...
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
