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1) The Knee Part One

There are many fine reporters covering basketball in Boston. Just off the top of my head: Steve Bulpett, Scott Souza, Bob Ryan, whoever is replacing Marc Spears, plus TV heads like the CSN guys, and probably a dozen others. These fine folks are PROFESSIONAL REPORTERS. They have the actual telephone numbers and email addresses of Ainge, Doc, Wyc and the other bigwig types...

...how come none of them can make a simple phone call and get the detailed truth about Garnett's surgery? How come when they interview any of the aforementioned honchos they NEVER press them about The Knee? WHY? You're members of the press. Press them!


2) The Knee Part Two

Zach Lowe of Celticshub.com has an interesting article today on the subject. Here's a quote from that piece from Will Carroll aka @injuryexpert, the gent who's got Bill Simmons all bugged up on the issue: "I can’t talk about sourcing, but heard that this was more than just a simple chip/spur removal and that there was some repair work done to the tendon itself. That’s not uncommon or even a bad thing, it’s just that it’s much more serious than they’re letting on. I think the Celtics suddenly feel like they need to be the Pats in regards to information"

Somebody make that phone call huh?


3) The Knee Part Three

That bit about feeling like they "need to be like the Pats in regards to information" has some merit. Last season Wyc talked admiringly about the Patriots disinformation strategy regarding players' health. He seemed kind of giddy about confusing the opposition with vague injury information.

In football (In case you're unfamiliar with football, it's a strange game played with a funny shaped ball where there is no dribbling, players travel constantly, the refs' signal for traveling means something called "illegal procedure" and players foul each other on every play while the officials just ignore it. For example the quarterback can be shooting the ball and get hacked right on the arm and he NEVER gets to the free throw line. It's very confusing.)

Anyway. In football, injuries really matter because you prepare all week for a single game and whether a key guy is playing or not IS valuable information. In basketball does such info really mean that much? I don't get the secrecy.


4) The Knee Part Four (a letter)

Dear Wyc, Danny and Senator Steve,

Please just tell us what's going on. What bad thing could possibly happen if we all know the truth? Thank you for you consideration.

Love, Gant


5) I'm skipping 5 today except to say only 5 days left until camp opens.


6) The Knee Part Five

Garnett will play less this year. If he plays less due to prudent minute allotment that's wonderful. He's in his 30's; the Celtics have depth; a moderate lessening of court time makes sense. But if he's physically hampered all year, well you know what that means- a very steep climb in the playoffs set to a soundtrack of chronic message board whining. Ooh that would be unpleasant.


7) The Knee Part Six

Or. OR. ORRRRR!!!! He's fine. That's a possibility too. Yes it is. Mr. Sportsguy and Dr. Injuryguy and Conspiracyguys around the land could all be mistaken. Maybe Kevin Garnett will ease on to the court without so much as a hiccup. He'll start opening day. Spelled by his close friend Rasheed he'll play steady moderate minutes. He'll be his former awesome self. Wouldn't that be swell?


8) Last Man on the Second Five

Say KG is healthy and regular five starts. Also say Doc gradually subs in a completely different unit with no starters on the floor for parts of the game. You have Rasheed, Big Baby, Marquisy and Eddie House on the floor. Who is the fifth man? Is it Bill Walker at 3? Is it JR Giddens at 2? Is it Scalabrine? Is it Tony Allen?


9) Some Other Questions to be Determined in Preseason

Will Lester make the team?
Who will go to Maine?
Who will wear a uniform and play?
Who will wear a uniform and watch?
Who will wear a suit on the sidelines?


10) The Knee Part Seven (another letter)

Dear God,

I'm sorry to bother You with something like this. I know You have a lot on Your plate and are really busy. The world has become very confusing. It really helps many people to forget about their troubles if they can watch the Celtics play without injuries. I'm not going to ask You to take part in divine-point-shaving, but please let Kevin Garnett's knee be healthy.

Also thank You for making the planet. You did a great job in a very short time. It's beautiful. I'm sorry we sort of wrecked it. We'll try to do better with that in the future.

Love, Gant

All the secrets will be revealed in a few days.........

I know in Canada that the personal privacy legislation has gotten pretty rigid, and I wonder how much of the vagueness around althlete inuries now is at least party due to legislation like that. Not saying this is the case, but if KG didn't give approval for the Celtics to release the details, does US legislation allow the Celtics to release it?

I hope that the Celtics aren't doing a mis-information campaign, in large part because I can't figure out what the point would be to doing so in the off-season. Surely they're not trying to make the opposition game preparation be in question for the first pre-season game, which is about as far as a mis-information campaign would actually work.

Nice work Gant, I look forward to your "10 things" posts.

An-knee hopes the Celtics have this year of adding to their man-knee titles, is dependent upon our kneed for a healthy Garnett!

I cant see Sheed siging here if KG is hurt, we will see soon though Im just keeping my fingers crossed.

the silver lining to the concerns about KG's health is we can work him in slowly. We just acquired Sheed and have retanined Big Baby hell even Scal can chip in from here and there. All those guys were starting at some point last year and might be asked to play starters mins off the bench some nights probablly until Feb/March when we might want to increase KG's role.

No offense Gant but this post was very difficult to read. You used two colons in the opening sentence. There's a long list of grammar mistakes but I'll stop there and focus on your argument.

"He will play less" (#6) conflicts with "He's fine" (#7). What is your argument?

Number 1-7 focuses on the knee, Number 8 and 9 re-directs our attention to the second unit and Lester Hudson, and #10 re-focuses us on the knee which is also an open letter to God. The fact that your appealing to God reveals one truth: nobody really knows the severity of the injury except for KG (and maybe God).

I'm not trying to be overly critical here but an argument in this format isn't appealing. I've read your comments on other posts and you make some very strong points. I suggest tailoring your argument in greater detail rather than commenting on a bunch of general assertions. It allows the discussion to flow.

best post sense i've been reading them. And I've been reading long before I signed up to post.
However KG's knee isn't ever going to be 100% anymore ever period. He still will be better then the above avg player and with sheed and big baby on board I am not concerned with his slow recovery or playing time.
But I'll go a step further and ask for divine tampering for the banner 18.

hairybyrd wrote:No offense Gant but this post was very difficult to read. You used two colons in the opening sentence. There's a long list of grammar mistakes but I'll stop there and focus on your argument.

"He will play less" (#6) conflicts with "He's fine" (#7). What is your argument?

Number 1-7 focuses on the knee, Number 8 and 9 re-directs our attention to the second unit and Lester Hudson, and #10 re-focuses us on the knee which is also an open letter to God. The fact that your appealing to God reveals one truth: nobody really knows the severity of the injury except for KG (and maybe God).

I'm not trying to be overly critical here but an argument in this format isn't appealing. I've read your comments on other posts and you make some very strong points. I suggest tailoring your argument in greater detail rather than commenting on a bunch of general assertions. It allows the discussion to flow.

Get over yourself. This is a message board and Gant's "10 Things" is one of the best things about this board.

I'm not even going to comment on your fascination with Gant's colon...

3pt % wrote:Get over yourself. This is a message board and Gant's "10 Things" is one of the best things about this board.

I'm not even going to comment on your fascination with Gant's colon...

This is a message board and that's why we interrogate discussion from all angles. People disagree with me all the time but it's OK because when it does happen I am forced to think about something I had not previously considered, and from that I usually learn something new. I respect most opinions but that does not mean that I have to agree. Constructive criticism is at the core of the discussion board because without it everyone would just be patting each other on the back all of the time.

Gant.......keep on keeping on.........some posters have a colon problem......

You're not likely to find a single person on this board to agree with you on this. This "format" is fine. And the content is entertaining. And if you don't understand that the two "conflicting" points were merely different potential outcomes, then you need to stop reading Strunk & White and take some reading comprehension classes.

Clearly this particular Gant post was somewhat single-toned, but it was still entertaining. And as far as all of the purported grammatical concerns, have you ever been on the internet before? That was pretty darn clean, I thought. Of all the posts to criticize for poor grammar, you pick that one? Weird.

hairybyrd wrote:

3pt % wrote:Get over yourself. This is a message board and Gant's "10 Things" is one of the best things about this board.

I'm not even going to comment on your fascination with Gant's colon...

This is a message board and that's why we interrogate discussion from all angles. People disagree with me all the time but it's OK because when it does happen I am forced to think about something I had not previously considered, and from that I usually learn something new. I respect most opinions but that does not mean that I have to agree. Constructive criticism is at the core of the discussion board because without it everyone would just be patting each other on the back all of the time.

Point taken. I won't mention grammar on this board again. Gant, you should know that I was trying to offer some constructive criticism. I'm sorry that it was taken out of context. I thought that you made some good points (in this post and posts of the past) but it could have been presented in a more effective manner. Won't happen again. The Celts are awesome.

No worries.

Nothing here is an issue. The whole world's got real problems. The Celtics are how I get away from all that.

::: :

hairybyrd, me thinks you haven't been in the land of RealGM for too long. So let me introduce you to the wonderful world of degenerate Celtics posters. Mr. Gant aka Gant aka Giant Ant (sorry I made that last one up) has been doing these "10 things" postings for a few years now. This is really the only way he can express himself so we all tend to indulge his lack of grammer, focus, and comprehension. He's usually funny and often insightful but I can understand how a newbie might not understand his format. My suggestion is to sit back and enjoy the ride!

Gant wrote:No worries.

Nothing here is an issue. The whole world's got real problems. The Celtics are how I get away from all that.

::: :

Thanks man. I agree.