C’s notebook spring cleaning
Pre-shutdown talk with Ainge
A lot of cleaning can be accomplished during a quarantine. I’ve discovered furniture I never knew I had.
Getting to the notebook, I found a discussion I had with Danny Ainge just before COVID-19 gave a violent shake to the Etch-ASketch that is our world as we know (make that knew) it.
Some of this, such as Kemba Walker’s health, could be rendered moot if the NBA finishes out this season in some form. The rest he’s getting now should benefit his knee. But in the absence of true basketball nourishment, here is some food for thought. …
The emergence of Jayson Tatum has been remarkable on a number of levels, but there was a good deal of talk within the Celtics that accommodations would have to be made by all to make certain his greater game still fit with others — and that others could fit with his greater game.
Much of how the Celts will succeed in the future depends on how well Tatum can deal with the additional attention from opponents and turn it into an even more deadly weapon than simply his offensive game.
“I think he’s playing really well obviously, and I’m not worried at all about him being able to make passes out of doubles, especially with his size and length,” Ainge told the Herald then. “It’s just our team learning to adapt to him and Kemba and Gordon (Hayward) and Jaylen (Brown) and Marcus (Smart) — like them all figuring one another out.
“I think that’s the only challenge we’re facing. But Jayson being able to pass out of double-teams will be easy for him. It’s just a matter of our team recognizing it. I’m not worried about that going forward.”
As for the growth in Tatum’s game, Ainge said, “I think he’s getting a lot of opportunities, a lot of chances. He’s been playing really well. I don’t want to jinx any of that. I’m excited about his development and Jaylen’s development and Marcus’. I think that they’re all getting better right before our eyes.”
Walker, meanwhile, missed six of seven games with left knee soreness before playing in the last three before the league shut down. And whether it’s trouble with the knee or difficulty finding a rhythm in limited or staggered minutes, his shooting has been off for a while.
The importance of getting and keeping Walker right was addressed.
“I think managing all of our players is important, but, yeah, managing Kemba is very important because Kemba has the ability, as we saw in November and December, to be very, very special,” Ainge said. “And he was doing a lot of the same things that we see Jayson doing now. It’s important that we have those guys playing their best to give us the best chance in the playoffs.”
As for whether playing for Team USA last summer was the cause of the lingering knee problem, Ainge said, “It’s a good question. I’m not sure of the answer to that, but, yeah, I think that it probably could just be playing over the entire summer with the national team and the wear and tear over the course of this year so far. But I don’t think there’s anything that we would do different, just maybe manage it a little better. That’s what we’re trying to do now.”
The Celtics did survive fairly well without Walker, but the need for his contribution is unquestioned.
“Absolutely,” said Ainge. “Heavens yes. Kemba is a great teammate, is a great player. Our guys have been developing all year.”
Walker’s abilities as a teammate seem to have played a larger-than-anticipated role in how well the Celts had done thus far, and the contrast from last season is never quite out of the picture.
“I think, again, and we’ve talked about this a lot, opportunity is huge in this business,” Ainge said. “You’ve got to get those opportunities to have a chance, and I think there are opportunities that each one of our guys have had this year because we really haven’t even had our best players for like 10 games all year. And I think that opens up opportunities for others to do more.
“But, yeah, I think that all of the guys’ attitudes this year have been pleasant, great, and there’s been more on the same page. Last year, we just had more mouths to feed, and it just didn’t work. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. And this year we have less mouths to feed, so to speak, and it’s been better. But it would be nice to have everybody healthy, because I think we’re going to need everybody in order to reach where we want to be.”
One of the places the Celtics wanted to be was higher in the Eastern Conference playoff seeding, though with 18 games left and being three games behind Toronto, the chance for moving up to No. 2 was growing remote. And now it’s likely there will just be a few regular season games if there are any — and if there’s more season at all.
But here’s what Ainge had to say on the importance of getting the second seed: “I don’t know. Everybody goes through this all the time. I don’t know the answer to that. It’s still too early to tell. But I think that it’s something that we would like, of course, but it’s not more important than being healthy. And it never is. Listen, I think home court is important in the playoffs. I don’t think it’s an end all-be all, but I do think it’s important.”
At the end of the discussion, the subject of general managers saying it was difficult to work out deals with Trader Danny because he was always trying to hit a home run was raised. It was noted that, as opposed to his front office peers around the league, he had hit two homers for the Blue Jays in his three-year MLB career.
“Two more than anybody else,” he said with a laugh.