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Your Morning Dump... Where Sheed is contemplating a comeback

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Rasheed Wallace is contemplating a comeback to the NBA, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Wallace, who retired after 15 seasons in 2010, has been working out and probing some close league friends about possible destinations to sign for the rest of the season, sources said.

At 6-foot-11, Wallace, 37, had been one of the most versatile and talented power forwards of his era. One league source who has talked with Wallace recently describes him as “serious” about a return to the NBA this season. Nevertheless, no teams contacted by Yahoo! Sports reported that they had any contact with Wallace, or his representative.

When reached on Friday, Wallace’s agent, Bill Strickland, would only tell Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears: “As a veteran player, [Wallace] knows what it takes to be reinstated.”

Yahoo! Sports

We've joked (and cried) about Rasheed Wallace comeback speculation since 2010. But it was all conjecture, i.e. Bleacher Report garbage. Unfortunately, this is a credible report from one of the league's top basketball writers. 

Can Rasheed Wallace really be in basketball shape? He was out-of-shape for most of the 2010 season. Had he cut back on those postgame Bud Lights, who knows what might have happened in the final minutes of Game 7.

If Rasheed Wallace is truly in shape, would Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers be interested? Their rebounding is so bad, they'd have to consider him. 

And it's not a given that Sheed wants to come to Boston. He might have his sights on Miami (say goodbye Eddy Curry) or a Western conference contender.

On Page 2, Ainge is not afraid make major changes.

Your Morning Dump... Where Doc's kid is tearin' it up

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Austin Rivers amazes me more and more each time I see him. Not only does he have a sweet jumpshot, but this kid has some serious hops.

Here's a clip courtesy of Ball Is Life from day 2 of the North Carolina ProAm. Austin gets the crowd out of their seats on 3 seperate plays:

Look closely.  Yes, the number 8 the Austin is dunking on is Rasheed Wallace. 

WEEI has a different angle courtesy of HoopMixTape.com

The Decisions for Danny

Editor's Note:  Please welcome Jacob Noble to the Red's Army crew.  Jacob has just joined the team.  Please enjoy the first of many great posts Jacob will write for us.

Being a lifetime Celtic fan makes these Finals hard to watch because what we saw during the regular season out of the Boston Celtics was not how they played in the second round against the Eastern Conference Finals champs. 

For my first post on Redsarmy, I wanted to give the readers an idea of how I would construct a team (the Celtics) and give you some of my thoughts and insight on this team.  Next season the Celtics will have $66,267,129 expensed in player contracts for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Jermaine O’Neal, Avery Bradley and will owe Rasheed Wallace half a million.

The Boston Celtics do not have too many decisions to make this upcoming season.  The players who are becoming free agents are Nenad Krstic, Glen Davis, Von Wafer, Delonte West, Troy Murphy, Sasha Pavlovic, Carlos Arroyo and Chris Johnson (not the football player).

Glen Davis is a starting point to show my analytical thinking.  I believe the Celtics will be outbid for his services, however if the CBA becomes a hard cap like the owners are pushing for then ignore this outbid comment.  Let us continue as though the current CBA will be in effect next year, I believe Glen can field anywhere from $6 to $10 million per season, if he didn’t play poorly in the playoffs I would lean more towards the $10. The Celtics need not to get into a bidding war and let the big guy play elsewhere.

Someone please stuff a sock in Stephen A's throat?

Because every time Stephen A. Smith opens his yapper around here... he says something like this that just melts my frontal lobe. 

“He was alluding [in June] to coming back once the trading deadline expired if the Celtics needed him, that he would think about it,” Smith said. “And throughout this year, he had been saying one day, he wants to come back, the other day, he doesn’t want to come back. … He was going back and forth throughout the year. One day he wants to come back, another day he doesn’t want to come back. One minute he’s thinking about going to Orlando, the next minute he misses all the boys he was with in Boston last year.

“So, I simply said I think he’s going to end up coming back to Boston, because I believe that Boston is going to be the team that fights the Lakers for the world championship, and I believe that Doc Rivers is the ultimate motivator. And I think if you have an opportunity to play for Doc Rivers for a couple of months, that’s not something that you’re going to turn down. I still believe that. I still believe that Rasheed Wallace is going to come back.”

Stop. Just.... just stop.  I've already had this debate on Twitter... but we really... REALLY need to get past this whole Sheed fascination. 

Aside from a few decent playoff games, he was mind-numbingly frustrating last year.  It took him all season long to get into any kind of shape.... so imagine what he'll be if he comes back after all this time off.

No... no thanks.  I'm perfectly happy rationalizing Troy Murphy.  Don't throw this in our laps.  I'm already developing an ulcer just thinking about what the comments will look like on this post.

Stephen A: Sheed wants to come back to C's

Via Slam: 

“[Stephen A.] Smith said that the Celtics counter the Heat’s athleticism with ‘brute size’ and Rasheed Wallace will come out of retirement to come back to the Celtics. Smith said Wallace told him that’s the plan, because he wants another shot at the Lakers in the NBA Finals.”

Sigh...

The C's already have size coming to the team.  His name is Kendrick Perkins.  Then you have Shaq and Jermaine.  Adding Sheed puts a huge limit on minutes that can only be solved if Perk is not really healthy... or if Baby just sits against Miami.   And I don't see either happening.  

Furthermore... the C's have a full roster of 15.  I don't know who they're going to give up on to bring Sheed back.  

The worst thing is this will just fuel more "bring Sheed back" talk.  If he was out of shape while playing for the C's last season... what kind of shape will he be in when he comes back from NOT being forced to practice?  And what good is his size going to be if he's just taking ill-advised 3's? 

Sorry.. I'm not buying it.  I don't think Sheed is back in Boston this year. 

Your Morning Dump... A look ahead to the Celtics schedule

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

As the new year approaches, the Celtics are set to start an intimidating January slate. Following a New Year's Eve visit from the New Orleans Hornets, the Celtics will play five games in seven days, a span that includes trips to Toronto and Chicago.

After not playing more than 14 games in a month to start the 2010-11 season, the Celtics will play 16 games in January, culminating with a four-game western trip that includes tilts with the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers to wrap up the month.

ESPN Boston

The Celtics have 9 games over the next two weeks - Kevin Garnett's expected absence.

What can we expect from this team over those 9 games? Are 6 wins reasonable?

They do have the benefit of playing 7 of those 9 at home. And I gotta think Rajon Rondo returns soon.

It would be nice to see Garnett return in time for the January 17th rematch with the Orlando Magic.

On Page 2, Danny Ainge refutes the need for Sheed.

What is the obsession with Rasheed coming back?

Last season, Rasheed Wallace came into camp out of shape, he jacked 3's like his life depended on it, got T'd up seemingly every other game, and was accused of promoting the blase' attitude that led to a spate of second half collapses. 

In short, a lot of people didn't really like him and what he brought to the team.  He turned it on for the playoffs, which was great until his lack of conditioning caught up to him in the Finals.

But it seems like this season you can't go a day without someone on Twitter asking one of the local writers or someone in the comments of one of the 92 C's blogs (we're a proud 89th and holding steady!) asking or wishing for Sheed's return. 

So my question is... well, I asked it in the headline.  

What the hell is everyone's obsession with getting Rasheed Wallace back?  Why do fans of a 22-4 team want to make such a monumental change to this team?  And do people not realize that we're a full capacity with the roster?  Who gets cut to bring Sheed in?  

I'm at a loss... I just don't get it.

Would we be better off with Sheed?

Last year, Sheed took the brunt of blame for what struggles the Celtics had.

We were lazy during the regular season -- clearly his laziness was rubbing off. Our complaints to the refs were reaching new highs -- again, Wallace fingerprints all over it. We weren't tough enough inside, took too many jumpshots, and seemed entitled.

So the only solace I took from the conclusion of last year was the quick reports coming out that Sheed was hanging up his Air Force Ones. 

A month into this season, Sheed's in his rocking chair and I'm reconsidering.

The 2010-2011 Celtics already look bored to a pretty frustrating degree, with terrible losses to this weekend, and other than KG's minor resurgence and Rondo's continuing progression, we haven't had a lot to get excited about.

Which brings me to this question: Did we give Sheed too much blame?

His play was underwhelming last year -- 9 points, 4 boards, and a block, and from my non-expert eye, I thought his interior defense (especially within the Celtics team concept) was lousy. 

But look at his replacement. Jermaine O'Neal seems like a nice enough guy and everything, but 5.5 pts, 3.5 boards (in admittedly fewer minutes) isn't really helping much. And now he's hurt, which is obviously a shock to all of us.

It makes me wonder: Might we be better off with Sheed still on the roster? 

The argument for is that Sheed did stretch the defense, even though he missed the vast majority of his threes, and in his time in Boston he fell in line behind Doc and the veterans. He was surprisingly durable, knows the system and all the players' tendencies, and would have a chip on his shoulder from how last year ended.

The argument against is probably that this team might be at its limit with big/crazy personalities. Shaq, Baby, Delonte, KG...throw Sheed in the mix and maybe things would really get out of control. And let's not forget that Sheed was out of shape for about 80% of last year. And that he probably would have been suspended for the entire year already with the new technical foul rules.

Obviously, we have all season to wonder about this, and we won't really know 'til we see what we get out of JO come May and June. But I fear we might not see an upgrade from the most reviled player from last year's team.

Fan shots from the open practice

A few Red's Army readers were at last night's open practice at the Garden and they passed along some pictures and video. 

That there is a photo of Perk and... Rasheed Wallace!!  What the hell was Sheed doing there?  Oh, and all that red is his Phillies gear.  Not shocking that he'd be repping Philly hard.  He was never shy about doing that. 

After the jump, more pictures and video, courtesy of our readers.  Thanks a lot guys!!

Sheed says he's done... Pierce ain't so sure

Rasheed Wallace made an appearance at Paul Pierce's camp today... and he reaffirmed that he's done.

When asked by CSNNE.com about whether his NBA career was indeed wrapped up, Wallace responded, "Like Christmas."

But Paul Pierce isn't buying it.

"I told him, 'Go ahead, do all you need to do,' " Pierce said. " 'Take the kids everywhere. We'll see you in February.' "

I'll go ahead and make the obvious joke here.  Sheed doesn't have to retire to take the first 5 months of the season off.

I'm not ruling anything out... and I know sometimes it takes a couple of tries for a retirement to take... but I believe Sheed on this one.

But as a bonus... check out this quote from Pierce when asked about his contract.

"Everybody knew I was coming back. I didn't need a special."

Eat that, LeBron.  See you in a couple of months.