Around the league: Unofficial trading period kicks off, Celtics finding their footing

It’s that time of year when the NBA rumour mill kicks into overdrive and here’s the annual warning to treat every “report” with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Dec. 15 kicks off the unofficial start of the trading period that runs until mid-February because it’s the first day a player signed as a free agent last summer can be dealt.

What that means for the likes of Phoenix’s Trevor Ariza, arguably the most coveted player on that list of on-the-market assets, remains uncertain but there will be tons of chatter over the next 48 hours about possible transactions.

Locally, there’s little to no chance the Raptors will even be on the periphery of any legitimate discussions.

Here they come: Don’t look now but the Boston Celtics seem to have figured things out and are putting the Eastern Conference on notice.

The Celtics beat the Washington Wizards in overtime on Wednesday — Kyrie Irving was outstanding and drilled the game-winning shot — for their seventh consecutive victory.

A couple of lineup moves, primarily bringing Gordon Hayward off the bench, have paid huge dividends.

The Celtics were missing Al Horford and Jaylen Brown for Wednesday’s win so maybe there was something to the thought they just had too many good players to figure things out early in the season.

Irving’s 38 points Wednesday were the most he has had in a game since he put up 43 against the Raptors in mid-November.

Another step up the ladder: The season hasn’t gone too swimmingly for the Spurs but coaching icon Gregg Popovich continues his ascent up the all-time ranks.

The Spurs’ win on Monday over the Phoenix Suns was victory No. 1,211 for Popovich, moving him past Pat Riley and into fourth place on the all-time list.

Yes, it has a lot to do with simple longevity, but not too many coaches have been able to last nearly as long or be nearly as successful as Popovich, now in his 23rd season with San Antonio.

Don Nelson (1,335), Lenny Wilkens (1,332) and Jerry Sloan (1,221) are the only coaches with more wins.

Keeping score, a day later: Fans who went to bed Tuesday night thinking the Houston Rockets had beaten the Portland Trail Blazers 111-103 found out differently on Wednesday afternoon.

The league reviews every play of every game and makes whatever statistical changes deemed necessary (things like rebound and assist totals) and whoever reviewed the Houston-Portland game noticed a rather important error.

The scorer’s table had somehow missed a successful C.J. McCollum free throw in the final 90 seconds and the final score was officially changed to 111-104.

It’s the kind of day-after housekeeping the league does every day of the season but it’s rare they find missed points. On the move?: Stop us if you’ve heard this before, particularly if you have any knowledge of how the Sacramento Kings got a nifty new arena.

Suns owner Robert Sarver is holding the prospect of moving his franchise to Seattle if he can wrangle concessions out of the civic government for improvements to the team’s arena.

There are many issues to still to be resolved and votes to be held but Sarver is asking for about $150 million (all figures U.S.) in government help while paying $80 million on his own for renovations to the 20-yearold downtown arena.

Seattle, of course, remains the flavour of the month for any NBA owner looking for a soft landing spot to hold their city hostage.