There was a lot of talk about Jacoby Ellsbury coming into this Red Sox season. Much of the talks were about him being in a contract year and the chances of him being back in Boston next year. Ellsbury’s career thus far is full of ups and downs. He came in during the 2007 playoffs, took over for Coco Crisp, and helped the Red Sox win a World Series. He had two solid seasons in ’08 and ’09, stealing 50 and 70 bases respectively, and showing off his great speed in center field. Red Sox fans looked at him as the next great thing for the Red Sox, and he also looked like the Sox permanent leadoff hitter for a long time.

Injuries

In 2010, Ellsbury collided with Adrian Beltre, broke his ribs, and was only able to play in 18 games. This brought up a lot of questions about Ellsbury’s toughness and brought a lot of questions about his future with Boston. Ellsbury came back in 2011 and had the best year of his career, hitting .321 with 32 HR, 105 RBI, and 39 stolen bases. He also finished second in the MVP voting and immediately was considered one of the best outfielders in the league, and had just entered his prime. With a historic collapse of the Red Sox and another injury plagued season in 2012, there was a lot of talk of trading Ellsbury at the end of the 2012 season. Many thought if he was not traded, he would walk once he was a free agent after the 2013 season.

This Season

The 2013 season is here and Jacoby Ellsbury is still in the outfield for the Boston Red Sox. He is in a contract year and he is looking to land a big contract like previous Scott Boras clients. Though, he is not off to the start he or his agent hoped that he would be. Ellsbury, through 44 games, is hitting .241 with only 1 HR and 14 RBI. He does have 14 stolen bases and is on a pace for almost 50, but he has struggled in a big year for him.

This topic has been closely watched since the season started. There has not been much talk about it due to the fact that people thought he would turn it around. Now that we are over a quarter through the season, people are starting to play more attention to his struggles.

There are a lot of theories on this topic right now in Boston. Some people feel that he is just in a rut and will turn it around, others feel that Ellsbury is not giving it his all right now. On sites like WEEI and Boston.com, you will see all positive things with Jacoby, there will be no bad-mouthing him and they all agree he will turn it around and we will see the power again. Other sites that aren’t directly connected to Red Sox ownership have different opinions…

Either way, Jacoby Ellsbury needs to turn it around soon or he is going to cost himself millions of dollars. I have watched the a lot of the games this season and the one thing that I am seeing from Ellsbury is that he is not playing hard. He does not look like he’s out there swinging hard and playing hard like we have seen in the past. His lack of production is showing this lack of effort. I do not think he is milking it out there, but I do believe he is playing at a lower level trying to avoid an injury in his contract year. If Ellsbury finishes the season with poor numbers, there is still a team that will overpay for him in the offseason. But the fact that he is more concerned with his health instead of doing what he can to help the team win, brings me back to 2010 when he missed 144 games due to an injury that keeps most players out for maybe 2 months. Since that injury, people have labeled Ellsbury as soft, and the fact that he is playing like this to avoid injury (in my opinion), shows that he is not a player that represents Boston like the fans want. Boston is a blue collar city who loves tough players who play through injuries, this is why Dustin Pedroia is loved and players like JD Drew were not.

If Jacoby Ellsbury cannot get a big contract, I can see Boras doing what he did with Adrian Beltre and seeing if he can get a 1-year contract somewhere to prove he is worth the big money. Unless the Red Sox can sign him for $10-$12 million per year, I would not give him a long term contract. The Red Sox have Jackie Bradley Jr. waiting in Pawtucket, and everyone who has seen the kid play says he is the next big thing. Why would you overpay for an injury prone outfielder who is pushing 30 with Scott Boras as his agent?

It was a good run, as we saw some great things out of Jacoby Ellsbury, but the negatives outweigh the positives and I think it is in the best interest for the Red Sox to move on from Ellsbury once the season is over.

© jsmith for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Featured, Opinion, Red Sox.

LeBron James may be the league MVP and his team may be in the middle of a dominating postseason run, but in typical Boston fashion let’s gloat about one of our guys. The subject of conversation: Avery Bradley.

The Celtics guard was recently voted to the NBA’s second all-defensive team after receiving ten first team votes and five second team votes. This tally gave Bradley more total voting points (two points per first place vote, one per second) than both Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah, the centers on the first team. Going into an offseason filled with questions, Bradley and his defensive tenacity provide a sense of stability for the C’s.

Looking a little further down the line, Bradley will be a restricted free agent following the 2013-2014 campaign. So, barring an injury, expect next season’s Bradley to show just how essential an asset he can be to a team and, hopefully, earn a long term deal with the Celtics.

To put Bradley’s abilities into perspective, at 22, he is the youngest member of either all-defensive team this year. Plus, he received the honor after playing (and starting) in just 50 games. Mainstays on the league’s top defenders list like Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard both played 75+ games and ended with defensive stats on par with career averages. Regardless, the two had ten fewer voting points than Bradley combined and were absent from first and second team alike.

In comparison to last season, Bradley played fourteen fewer games in 2012-2013, recording seven more minutes per game and twenty-one more total steals. So, while vets like Kobe and Howard continue to produce on the defensive end, it appears that the coaches voted for Bradley based on the shear prowess and impact he brings to that side of the ball. There is no reason to believe Bradley’s defensive production will fall off soon, especially if he continues to look to “shut everybody down,” every time he takes the floor.

In terms of on-court synergy, Bradley is like the security blanket Tony Allen provided for the 2008 championship team: a consistent defensive stopper that reduces chances of a scorer/star (Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen in the past) getting in foul trouble. That Celtics team, and all teams since, were based on defense, and to quote Kevin Garnett, “grit and balls”.

Bradley is synonymous with this style of play, as exemplified by his performance in the Game 6 comeback against the Knicks. Despite the eventual result of the game, a previously struggling Bradley served as a catalyst to continue closing the once near-thirty point deficit. It would appear that hanging out with Pierce and KG for three years has rubbed off on Bradley a little bit.

The biggest criticism of Bradley is his offensive game, which gains more attention on a regular basis than does his defense. He is seen as limited and inconsistent and Doc Rivers has often benched him in crunch time. However, his in-your-face on-ball defense leads to takeaways, fast breaks, and high percentage shots for himself and teammates.

The loss of Rondo this season forced Bradley to play out of position at times as the team’s primary ball handler. Bradley is not a true point guard and excels when moving without the ball. Bradley has shown the ability to catch-and-shoot from the corner off of a kick-out and is adept at sharp cuts to the paint for easy scores. When the Celtics get healthy or choose to rebuild Bradley should be able to return to his natural offensive role as an off-ball guard.

The assumed formula for success in today’s NBA is combining multiple superstars in hope that they will gel together. Still, without sufficient support from guys like Bradley, a team will never be complete. He not only puts relentless pressure on opposing teams but also relieves pressure for his teammates with his honey badger-esque play.

The quality of a team can expose and outperform star power and athleticism- Exhibit A: the current playoff runs of the Memphis Grizzlies and Indiana Pacers. The Celtics have enough to rebuild without out blowing it up and, with Bradley as part of a young nucleus, are at least one piece closer to Banner 18.

© Kevin MacPhee for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Opinion.

The Conference Finals are now underway; it’s San Antonio vs Memphis and Miami vs Indiana. While Miami remains rested after cruising, Indiana was late in finishing off New York. San Antonio dispatched the upstart Warriors, while the Grizzlies manhandled the heavily favored Thunder.

In our panel, that extra rest for Miami, not to mention their Big Three, has kept them as the favorite, while Memphis’ win over a powerhouse contender has earned them respect as well.

As before, picking the winner of a series is worth two points, while picking how may games each series will last is worth one point.

So check below to find out how precisely how our panelists believe the next two series will go, and come back once the Finals are set for the results.

Previous Results:

• Second Round
• First Round

© John for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, NBA, Now!, Opinion.

The NBA is now down to its last four teams of the season. It’s now Miami vs Indiana and Memphis vs San Antonio. Memphis and Miami each cruised to five-game victories, while Indiana took their sweet time winning in six games and San Antonio also held off Golden State in six.

The lower seeded Pacers and Grizzlies were a bit of a surprise against the star-studded Knicks and Thunder respectively, but Miami and San Antonio’s victories kept our panelists close in the standings.

It’s still anyone’s game with two rounds left to go, so check below for the complete results so far, and check back later for the third round’s picks.

Table Legend

• Two-point picks are boldfaced.
• One-point picks are italicized.
• Zero-point picks are crossed out.

Previous Results:

• First Round

© John for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, NBA, Now!, Opinion.

The second round of the NHL Playoffs is underway, and it should be fun. Chicago and Detroit face off for the last times in the same division. Boston and the Rangers face each other in the playoffs for the first time in 40 years. The Penguins face a Senators team that just won’t go away. Los Angeles finally hosts four games in a playoff series, but against a well-rested Sharks squad coming off a sweep as the road team.

All of it makes the series pretty difficult to choose, as just one of the series had a unanimous winner as predicted by our panel. No sweeps were predicted in this round, but predictions for how many games each series will last were also quite diverse.

As before, picking the winner of a series is worth two points, while picking how may games each series will last is worth one point.

That all opens the door for some big movement in the standings after the second round, so check below for the second round picks, and come back once the round is complete for all the results.

Previous Results:

• First Round

© John for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, NHL, Now!, Opinion.

What a first round. The only team to sweep an opponent was a #6 seed. The Bruins undertook a comeback for the ages. Pittsburgh was given a run for their money by the Islanders. All of that produced a variety of levels of success for our panel.

The Penguins, Blackhawks and Bruins were all solid choices, and the Sharks weren’t far behind. The rest of the field, difficult to pick, produced mixed results. The length of each series was also hard to choose, further widening the scoring gap between our experts.

So be sure to check the results below to see who’s in the lead, and come back Thursday for the next round’s picks.

Table Legend

• Two-point picks are boldfaced.
• One-point picks are italicized.
• Zero-point picks are crossed out.

© John for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, NHL, Now!, Opinion.

The Celtics’ 2012-13 season came to a close on Friday, as the New York Knicks came away from TD Garden with an 88-80 win in game 6 of their first-round playoff series. It was the end of a rollercoaster season for the Celtics: they got off to a bad 14-17 start but won six straight games in January, then lost six straight right after that before losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season to a torn ACL.

When many thought the Celtics were at risk of not even making the playoffs without Rondo, they bounced back with seven consecutive wins, eventually leveling off to finish the regular season at 41-40, in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

While the C’s showed plenty of toughness in winning two games after finding themselves down 3-0 to the Knicks, their lack of offensive firepower was also on full display as they failed to score more than 80 points in any of the four playoff losses. Now, they face a long offseason with a lot of uncertainty regarding what this team will look like in 2013-14. Let’s look at Boston’s key offseason issues:

Will the veterans be back?

The biggest question is whether the team’s veteran stars, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, will return for one more season. The soon-to-be 37-year-old Garnett is under contract for two more seasons, but he has suggested in the past that he could retire after 2013-14, or perhaps even sooner. However, the disappointing end to this season could make him decide to come back for one more, and he has consistently shown that he can still be an elite player in the league. While his scoring numbers are declining, he earned his 15th All-Star nomination this year. KG averaged 13.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists in the Celtics’ six playoff games, his best postseason averages in those categories since he came to Boston.

Many believe that Pierce, for his part, will be back next year, the final season on his current contract. Although he struggled offensively for large stretches of the season, he stepped up his game in a big way after Rondo went down, and ended up recording 18.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game on the season. Moreover, he was largely healthy all year, missing just four games, which bodes well should he return for 2012-13.

As for head coach Doc Rivers, who signed a five-year contract in 2011, he said in his postgame press conference following the Celtics’ elimination that he doesn’t know whether he’ll be back. After the 2010-11 season, he was reportedly considering taking a break from coaching altogether to spend time with his family, but the deal he signed then seemed to put those plans to rest. Rivers’s return would probably go a long way towards convincing Garnett to come back as well. There is little doubt that Garnett and Pierce would like to make one more run at a championship with a healthy Rondo as their floor leader.

Finally, there is always the possibility of a major trade taking place this offseason. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported back in March that Pierce was almost traded to the Dallas Mavericks at the deadline, in a three-team deal that would have brought the Atlanta Hawks’ Josh Smith to Boston. In the end, it was only general manager Danny Ainge’s refusal to give up a first-round pick along with Pierce that stopped the trade from happening. In any case, the news is just the latest evidence that Ainge is not going to get sentimental if he sees the chance to swing a good deal.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith spoke on Monday about a potential mega-deal that would see Garnett and Pierce both traded to the L.A. Clippers, where Rivers would sign on as coach. The Celtics would receive Eric Bledsoe, Caron Butler and Blake Griffin in the blockbuster. Smith himself essentially acknowledged that this rumor should be taken with a grain of salt, but Ainge is not one to shy away from a trade of that caliber, and there was also talk of negotiations with the Clippers leading up to last February’s deadline.

Free agency and the Draft

If there was one thing we learned from Rondo’s injury, it was that the Celtics need a backup point guard and do not have one on the roster right now. Avery Bradley is turning into an elite defensive player, and Courtney Lee had some good games down the stretch, but neither has the ability to be an NBA floor general. Other than that, Boston’s roster is actually in pretty good shape going into 2013-14, as Chris Wilcox is the only impending free agent.

A look at this year’s free-agent point guards reveals a handful of names Ainge could find enticing this summer, including former Celtics Nate Robinson, who is currently lighting it up in the playoffs with the Chicago Bulls, and Leandro Barbosa. Also among this year’s crop of reliable (and presumably affordable) veterans are Will Bynum, José Calderón, Randy Foye, Devin Harris, Jarrett Jack, Beno Udrih and Mo Williams.

This isn’t to say that Ainge will only be looking to upgrade the point guard position. Aside from the trade possibilities mentioned above, Josh Smith is an unrestricted free agent this summer, and the Celtics’ interest in him has been the subject of many rumors over the past couple of years. Then again, Smith will probably be looking for a max contract, as will another of this year’s top free agents, Dwight Howard. The chances of Boston landing either of them are probably slim, and surely dependent financially on Garnett’s and Pierce’s decisions on their future.

Still, Ainge will surely at least explore the possibility of adding a big man through free agency, given the abundant questions that surround the Celtics’ front court. If Garnett does come back, it will probably be for just one season. Jared Sullinger showed great potential this season, but missed the final three months after undergoing back surgery. Brandon Bass had a mostly disappointing year, althought his improved play in the final month at least has us hoping that he could return to his 2011-12 form next season.

As for June’s Draft, the Celtics will have only one pick, since their second-rounder went to the Houston Rockets in the Lee sign-and-trade last year. The good news is that they own the 16th selection, which is their highest since 2007, when they took Jeff Green with the fifth overall pick and promptly traded him to the Seattle SuperSonics for Ray Allen. While this year’s draft is considered to be quite weak, the C’s still have a chance to draft a quality player.

© Nick García for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, Opinion.

The NBA is down to its final eight teams, and it was a fun first round to get to this point. Three lower seeded teams won their series, despite all eight losing Game 1. New York and OKC were given scares, while San Antonio and Miami (with 2013 League-MVP LeBron James) rolled to sweeps.

The second round looks to be very competitive, so we’re here to bring you our picks. The aforementioned, well-rested Heat and Spurs are picked to once more roll on to the final four. The Thunder and Knicks are also favored, but their resilient Round 1 opponents have cost them a bit of favor in the next round.

As before, correctly guessing a series winner is worth two points, while guessing how many games a series will last is worth one point.

So check below for the picks, and come back once the Conference Championships are set for the results.

Previous Results:

• First Round

© John for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, NBA, Now!, Opinion.

The first round is complete, and had plenty of drama. The Warriors pulled off a big upset against the best home team in the NBA. Houston pushed the Thunder before finally falling in six. The Bulls fought off the Nets in a grueling seven-game series. Now, they have the honor of facing a Miami team that’s had a week off to rest up and prepare. Good luck with that.

The Bulls were the only team to defy the predictions of all five of our panelists, who all had the Nets moving on. One person, though, was able to have the clairvoyance to see Golden State’s victory, which certainly helped out their cause. Memphis and Los Angeles were entertaining to watch as expected. Only two panelists picked the Grizzlies, but all five knew it would be close.

So where does this leave everyone after the first round is done? Check below for the results, and check back Monday for the second round selections.

Table Legend

• Two-point picks are boldfaced.
• One-point picks are italicized.
• Zero-point picks are crossed out.

© John for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Celtics, Featured, NBA, Now!, Opinion.

The playoffs are upon us, and there are plenty of good match-ups. Boston backed into the postseason and faces Toronto, who you don’t usually see in May. The Blackhawks and Penguins easily solidified their positions. Ottawa barely avoided Pittsburgh in the first round, while Minnesota is just happy to be in, winning a tiebreaker over Columbus.

All of that mix made for some interesting choices for our expert panel. Aside from the two #1/#8 series, only Boston and Toronto had a unanimous winner in all pick sets. And whoever got the nod in their series, St Louis and Los Angeles look to be the most fun to watch, with everyone but one choosing the series to go a full seven games.

As usual, correctly guessing the winner of a series is worth two points, while guessing how many games a series will last is worth one point.

So now that everything is underway, be sure to check below for everyone’s picks, and check back for the results after the first round is complete.

© John for Sports of Boston, 2013. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, NHL, Now!, Opinion.