Gathered a few thoughts — basketball and otherwise — over the offseason. Need to clear them out before spending what could possibly be the next nine months dealing with games at the Garden. . . .
• Speaking of the Celtics, I’m a bit surprised that so much preseason mind is being paid to who’ll get to start. Shouldn’t we all just accept that, beyond Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Gordon Hayward, it’s going to be a fluid situation?
Matchups may dictate a specific collection on different nights, and, even if the Celts can stay away from major injury, they’ll have the luxury of erring on the side of caution with nagging hurts.
The most certain thing that can be said about the rotation is that Brad Stevens will be reaching for a sledgehammer when he goes to his bench.
The Celtics haven’t had a crew of reserves this good since the mid-1980s. Expansion later in that decade began to decimate the quality of depth around the league, but with a lot of the Celts’ recent draft picks growing into their potential and some good veterans — and injured stars having returned — this is going to be a major weapon.
• The Patriots’ week could only be better if they were playing the Bengals. “We’re on to Detroit,” sounds great if we’re referring to Marvin Gaye’s bio, but there was a melodic quality when Bill Belichick kept singing the “Cincinnati” chorus four years ago.
In a football sense, while Sunday’s loss in Jacksonville was hard on the eyes, haven’t we all seen this movie?
The Pats were 1-3 to begin 2001, and no one could forget the 31-0 loss to Buffalo in the 2003 opener. They lost by two touchdowns in Pittsburgh in October 2004, got hammered by the Chiefs in 2014, and were shut out by the Bills in 2016. Each of those seasons ended, uh, rather well.
That doesn’t mean the Patriots are bound for another Super Bowl ring, just that the sky isn’t falling — yet.
• The Red Sox bullpen has had some troubling moments of late, but I don’t worry so much because, in a relative sense, other clubs’ relievers have had their issues, too.
The way I’ve always looked at it is that there are bound to be imperfections and inconsistencies with the guys between the starters and the closer. If they were better and more reliable, they’d be one of the latter two.
Having said that, I reserve the right to throw objects and recommend corporal punishment for any reliever who walks the first hitter in any inning. Lord that drives me nuts.
• Pete Maravich’s name came up last week — specifically the reason why he retired from the Celtics in training camp before the 1980-81 season. Pistol was 33 at the time, and the word I’d always been told was that he wasn’t enjoying life under Bill Fitch. (Dave Cowens retired during that camp, as well, before making a brief comeback with Milwaukee in 1982-83.)
I did some digging on others who’d ended their careers voluntarily while he was head coach, and the responses were interesting. I wouldn’t pin it all on the coach, but the circumstantial evidence is that, for a time, Fitch was running a close second to Age 65 in getting people to retire.
That said, I still like the guy. The numbers from his Cleveland and Clippers years are probably keeping him out of the Hall of Fame, but always respect a coaching lifer.
• You probably weren’t drawing any great conclusions from the wins over UMass and Holy Cross, but Boston College had an entertaining win at Wake Forest, and it’s nice to see the Eagles competitive again.
I’ve never fully understood the animosity toward BC football around here (though maybe I’m just running with the wrong crowd). The school brings the major college game to our back yard, and that alone should be appreciated. And if you get mad when their fans are a bit loud when talking about their glory years, well, isn’t that feeling a bit tough to square with your Patriot pride? Think about it.
• And while you’re thinking, I’ll go back to sticking to basketball. Thank you for your indulgence.
