BIG BABY!

There, it had to be said. The Celtics have a grand total of two bench players that I like (sorry Stephon Marbury, you haven’t won me over yet) and now that Leon Powe is out with a torn ligament in his left knee and Glen Davis is starting for the injured KG, that number is actually 0. But more Big Baby in our lives is good for everyone, with the exception of the Orlando Magic and their fans.

The only spot Glen Davis is not money from on the court is the dunk

In the Celtics 11 playoffs games, Davis is averaging an overtime-assisted 37.5 minutes, 16 points and 6.6 rebounds a game. He’d actually make a halfway decent fantasy player if he got the opportunity to start next season. In the 16 starts he made during the regular season (again due to KG absence), Davis averaged 12.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in about 33 minutes a game. That line basically puts him on par with someone like Michael Beasley this season.

Of course, it took Davis about 5 more minutes in his starts than Beasley to rack up the same kind of stats. Plus, Beasley is a rookie who stands to improve more than Davis next season. I don’t really want to think about KG getting hurt or not being able to start the season healthy, but Glen Davis is a bonafide NBA player, a fact that we weren’t really sure about at some points during the season.

In a great post, CelticsBlog credits Doc Rivers with enabling Davis to get the reps and confidence during the season to hit that game winning shot. It’s such a crazy idea it’s probably true. All those missed jumpers weren’t pretty, but maybe they were useful.

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Line of the Night: It’s fitting that the regular season should end on a Danny Granger LotN (1.58) performance, seeing that he’s one of GMTR’s most improved players (Indiana – sadly – not one of our most improved teams). Granger grabbed the last night of the regular season by the horns, smacked it a few times across the face and scored 35 points with 9 boards, going 10-16 from the floor and 5-7 from three. He also had 3 steals and 3 blocks. Granger = first round pick next season. Mark it down in your Shawn Marion circa Phoenix Suns Trapper Keeper.

Honorable Mentions: Too little, too late for Caron Butler (1.43) owners. Butler scored 39 points and added 7 boards and 4 threes in a loss to Boston. Thanks for another year of less than 70 games played Caron; Speaking of too little, too late – Shawn Marion (1.17) scored a season high 34 points (on 15-18 shooting) for Toronto as they beat the Bulls 109-98 (more on that below); and another one of GMTR’s most improved players, Kevin Durant (1.00), had 26 and 9 with 4 steals as OKC destroyed the Clippers 126-85.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Who-hoo! No more free agents, no more waiver-wire, no more of Don Nelson’s dirty looks. Fittingly, if we were to hand out a WWLotN, it’d have to go to Anthony Morrow (0.98) who exploded for 33 and 12 in a Warriors loss to the Suns. The undrafted rookie swingman is actually a nice little sleeper next year (points + rebounds + threes), provided he can squeeze out a role in Don Nelson’s “system.” And speaking of Nelson, a big thank you to him and his crazy bag of craziness, as Nelson and the Warriors were clearly the engine that made this daily waiver wire discussion run.

The Biggest Loser: The Chicago Bulls. A Bulls win or a Sixers loss would have given Chicago the 6th seed in the East, where they would have faced off against the possibly Hedo Turkoglu-less Orlando Magic. Neither of those things happened, so the Bulls fell to the 7th spot and instead have to head to Boston to face the Celtics. KG might not be 100%, but it’s still a much tougher matchup for the Bulls.

All Eyez on Me: Divert your eyes, there’s nothing more to see here. The regular season is mercifully over. I won’t have to wake up at 5am anymore to write these posts… thank god.

To wrap things up, the Bulls couldn’t finish strong and the Sixers took advantage. The dependable Spurs clinched the 3rd seed in the West with a win over the Hornets (of course they did), while the Rockets fell to 5th with a loss to the Mavs. Thanks to that win, the Mavs earned the 6 spot, while Portland’s win over Denver pushed gave them the 4th seed and the all important first round home series. The loss didn’t matter to Denver, the second seed, because they had already clinched the season series over Portland. Got all that?

You can view the first round playoff schedule at NBA.com. Or if you prefer NBA Playoff preview in video format, Youtube to the rescue. Sportige looks at who has the most to prove in this playoffs and Cuzoogle is giving away free stuff if you leave a comment on their site about who is going to make the NBA finals.

Trivia Question of the Day: Who is the only Phoenix Sun to play in all 82 games this season? The answer is: Grant “Ironman” Hill.

Just because the regular season is over, doesn’t mean GMTR is going away. We still have some recapping to do of the fantasy year that was and we’ll check in throughout the playoffs and offseason.

Dont miss a day of the Fantasy NBA. Subscribe to Give Me The Rock  right now. You can also get bonus (and easily digestible) content by following GMTR on Twitter, or join the Give Me The Rock Room on FriendFeed to get posts, Twitters, and Midnight Snacks all in one place. You can even become a fan of GMTR on Facebook!
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No one wants to draft a player on the wrong end of his career curve, especially if the guy is on a Big Ben Wallace like decline. Therefore, it seems like the safe and easy thing to ignore players who we feel for some reason are too old, too likely to get hurt, or are generally in for a bad year.

But, unlike the rookies who hold so much promise but rarely live up to expectations (at least their first year), it’s usually the creaky old vet who will put in a solid – if a bit boring – year, provided his knees don’t explode or he doesn’t pull a Stephon Marbury and joins a planet that only exists inside his own head.

While veterans can often give you some of the best draft day value, there are specific types of guys that have the greatest chance for success.

The Previously Injured Vet: This type of player usually holds the most promise, provided you can identify who they are. Avoid the always injured vet (Grant Hill) and the currently injured vet (Yao Ming) and you should be in good shape. Someone like Jermaine O’Neal is a good candidate despite increasingly inching towards always being injured. He missed a good portion of last season with a knee injury and there are a lot of people down on his game right now (which I can understand). But, if he is healthy and can play up to his potential on the Raptors this season, he’ll be a 20 and 10 player.

One word of caution: be careful not to overpay for someone like O’Neal. Don’t draft him in the second round just because you think he’ll play like a second rounder this season. The point is to draft him low if you get the chance because of the injury risk you’ll be taking with him.

More of the walking wounded: Dwyane Wade, Gilbert Arenas

The Mysteriously Underperforming Vet: This guy typically scares the crap out of people because, well, he sucked last season. And unlike the injured vet he doesn’t have an excuse to explain his poor performance. Kirk Hinrich fits that description spot on. After four years of being a top 10 guard in the league, Hinrich’s scoring fell off the map last year and he ended the season ranked at #90 on the GMTR player rater. Upon close inspection, it appears that Hinrich’s fall was almost solely due a decrease in minutes per game, which affected his counting stats across the board. If you think that Hinrich will go back to seeing 35 minutes a game, you’ve got yourself a solid guard that you’ll be able to get at a discount.

But watch out for: The player who underperforms because he’s toast, aka Ben Wallace or was never what people thought he was to begin with, like Boris Diaw. Unfortunately it’s tough to call this one in advance, so occasionally you’ll get draft that lemon. Or incredible shrinking Ben Wallace, as it were.

Other underperformers: Zach Randolph, Tayshaun Prince, Charlie Villanueva, Eddy Curry

The Straight-Up Crazy Vet: Crazy always comes cheap. Did you know that Ron Artest finished last season ranked #20 on the rater? Do you know anyone that will be taking Artest in the 2nd round this year? Hell no. Besides his tendency to miss a lot of games, he’s also insane, which isn’t the best trait to have in a player. I’ve drafted Artest on a number of occasions, sometimes with great results, like in 06/07, sometimes with very, very bad results, like in 2004.

Other people I wouldn’t want to be stuck in an elevator with: Stephen Jackson, Stephon Marbury

The Dust in the Wind Vet: The lowest risk/reward of the veterans, but they often end up more valuable than the rookies being drafted before them in the later rounds. These guys are old and their game looks it, but they’re still in the league for a reason and they usually do enough of the little things to be a decent value fantasy pick. If you’re in a league with daily changes, it often pays to plug and play these type of players when the situation calls for it.

Other players that smell like cats and Ovaltine: Kenyon Martin, Derek Fisher, Jerry Stackhouse, Brent Barry

The This Year Everything Will Be Different Vet: Wow, look at Kwame Brown, he’s practicing hard this off season… Darko will be more comfortable on the Grizzles this year… Don’t count out Darius Miles.

Probably want to stay away from these guys.

One final word on drafting the more risky veterans. Whether you drafted them high or low, if you’ve taken a risk on a player and they’ve fallen off a cliff or started just as crappy as they finished the year prior, don’t be afraid to drop or trade these guys at the beginning of the season. It will hurt, but sometimes the risk doesn’t pay off and you don’t need to be dragging Kwame Brown around like an anchor on your team for three months before you decide its not going to work out.

If I’ve missed any type of veteran that you think make good picks on draft day, hit up the comments and let us know who you will be drafting this year.

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Some slightly coherent thoughts about game 6 (which is why I didn’t attempt to write anything at 12:30 last night):

• So, Nels was spot on in his prediction of the Celtics in 6. I’ll admit I was a little more worried about the C’s in this series for a number of reasons, the most serious of those being 1a) the fact that the Celtics could barely get by the Hawks and the Cavs and 1b) Doc Rivers. But, I guess I didn’t realize how soft the Lakers were. I mean, wouldn’t you say they gave up on this game mid-way through the second quarter? And they gave up on the Zen Master? Inconceivable.
• Speaking of Doc, is he a good coach now? Was he channeling the ghost of Red Auerbach this series a la Bill Cosby in Ghost Dad? The only thing I can say with confidence about Doc is that he takes a hell of a Gatorade shower.
• After game 5, I was glad to see KG show up and hit a ton of big shots. That crazy one-handed hanging runner over Odom was ridiculous. Oh wait, more video. Odenized is awesome.
• I think Jeff Van Gundy likes James Posey. A lot. Probably a little more than is healthy.
• There is nothing quite as reassuring as watching a wide open Ray Allen line up in the corner for a three.
• This season, I was able to talk myself into at least respecting the talent that is Kobe Bryant. But the more I watch the guy, the more I dislike him. At this point, just looking at his face annoys me.
• It was great when Lamar Odom finally decided to show up and start balling for the first time in the series. Too bad it was when the Lakers were losing by 40 in the 4th quarter of game 6. I mean, really Lamar, that’s what it took to motivate you?
• One of my favorite plays of the game was a quick, easy to miss move by PJ Brown in the 4th. The announcers didn’t mention anything about it, but it started when Gasol got the ball in the post and started his patented “I’m going to back my ass up into you until I work my way close enough to the hoop for a layup” move that he used on Brown and Leon Powe a lot. As Gasol thrusted his ass backwards, Brown quickly sidestepped it. Gasol went flying backwards to the ground and had to throw the ball away to keep from traveling. I was laughing out loud after that move.
• Congrats to Pierce, KG, and Allen. All three guys deserved to win at least one ring during their careers.

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For a team that was dogged most of the season for not having one, the Celtics are getting plenty of game changing play from their bench during the playoffs. Last night it was Leon Powe, who I hear warms up before games by doing cock pushups (at least that’s what his ABC halftime profile said), scoring 21 points in less than 15 minutes on the floor. He also threw down a few.

The Celtics are also playing some great – dare I say glorious – defense against the Lakers. Swarming Kobe away from the basket, disrupting the triangle offense, and controlling the glass. With the exception of Gasol, the Lakers are also doing their part by settling for long jumpers instead of going aggressively to the basket. Or maybe you agree with Phil Jackson that it’s the ref s who are in the bag for Boston.

Wait. Is it too late for my playoff prediction? Celtics in 4! Celtics sweep! Lakers suck!

Alright that was fun. But in reality, the Lakers are too good to allow that to happen. Kobe is too good to let Boston take 2 out of 3 in LA. This series is going back to Boston. Mark my words. In pencil. So I can erase them when I’m wrong.

Nels’ prediction of the Celtics in 6 is looking particularly prescient today.

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The Celtics are older, but not so old that they’ll be outrun or out hustled by the Lakers. Just old enough to have enough at stake that they have to win it now. The Lakers can make another run next year, and probably the year after that and still be successful. The Celtics might not have as large a window, so their Big 3 will be fighting harder for it. Celtics in 6.

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Our Sensei had 18 points and a most beastly 16 rebounds. He delivered a victory when loss seemed all around.

The beast also shot 8-11 from the floor, blocked a couple shots and had 2 steals in the Celtics 106-102 last night. He out rebounded Detroit by himself in the first half.

Perkins, who looks more 33 than 23, is already in his fifth year with the Celtics after being drafted out of high school. He plays with crazy energy and often lets his emotions run wild all over his game – which results in both good (his two blocks last night were of the “get the hell out of my house” variety. He had one on Amir Johnson, I think, that was especially brutal) and bad (like a traveling violation while trying to take his man one-on-one. Perk shouldn’t be allowed to go one-on-one in a 2 man game).

You wouldn’t think a team with KG would need any more energy, but that’s how Perk plays the game. He’s a beast.

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Here’s a really noticeable example.

Seriously? I am starting to think they’re fake. Or at the very least, heavily digitally edited. I mean, is it really possible that in every ad, two different people blink at the exact same time? I don’t think so. I think they probably edited it because someone found it distracting when they blinked at different times.

Whatever the case, they are really cool ads, but I do have a hard time watching them now without noticing the blinking. And now I inflict that suffering on you as well.

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0. Evidently, LeBron said the Wizards suck.
1. Publicly, DeShawn Stevenson said LeBron was overrated.
2. LeBron said that responding to DeShawn would be like Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy.
3. Soulja boy showed up at Game 3.
4. Jay-Z recorded a track dissing DeShawn (you can download it at the link up there)

I’m pretty sure R. Kelly is orchestrating this whole thing. Just you wait. When a midget shows up in the beef, then you’ll believe me.

I’m cutting short the whole MisPlaced CapitaliZation ScanDal because Becky through out an Arrested Development reference. I almost felt like that was worth a whole post by itself, but there really isn’t anything more to write. Too bad I had the Suns getting to the WCF in my BallHype Bracket. But, since none of the series are over yet, I am still tied for first place overall.

And finally, LOLSonics. It’s almost like today is Friday with all this stuff that going around.

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