Spare Neurons - Sunday, 07/01/2012

THREE FOR KG:

So much for Kevin Garnett holding the Boston Celtics hostage during free agency. Garnett has agreed to two years (plus an option) at a 50% discount to last year's salary.  Kudos for general manager Danny Ainge for wrapping KG up at a team-friendly discount.  Now Pierce, Rondo, and Garnett are locked up for the near future. With Avery Bradley still signed-on that is four starters ready to go.  Center is a huge gaping wound that needs to be bandaged, but with no bigs available in free agency, do the Celtics make a run to bring back Nenad Krstic? The Celtics still own the rights to Nenad Krstic? Well, kind of.   Anyone can bring Kristic back  by buying him out of his Russian League contract, but the Celtics would still have his "Larry Bird Rights" and could re-sign him for more money going over the cap without (any real kind of) penalty.

Yes, Greg Steimsma should return, and the Celtics could bring back Brandon Bass, but neither is really the impact big man they need next to KG.  The bench still needs offense, be it Ray Allen or OJ Mayo (one of those two, hopefully), but Krstic could be a big who can rebound and stretch the floor on offense (he has that great step-back 17 footer just like KG) and keep things running steady until the young bigs are ready to contribute.

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LATE NIGHT LOSERS:

Staying up for the West Coast games is hard enough.  Watching the Red Sox drop two of three games to the lowly Seattle Mariners on walk-offs in the bottom of the ninth and extra innings is just plain depressing.  Typical Red Sox baseball, leave Fenway Park and leave their bats behind as well. Losing to the King, Felix Hernandez, being shut-out  on the road is almost excusable. Last night, however, should never happened. Ten runners left on base; One for twelve with runners in scoring position; these are the stats of losers.  The Red Sox should have had sweep in their minds going out to Safeco Field against the most pathetic offense in baseball.  Instead they waste another good start (this time by Josh Beckett) and move on to game four of the series hoping to salvage a split with Felix Doubront on the hill.

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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO:

Nice to see super-reporter Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston still hard at work digging up Patriots news in the doldrums between the mini-camps and training camp.  His Sunday morning "quick hit thoughts"--yet another reason why consumers do not bother putting out cash for the Boston Globe on Sunday Morning, although Greg Bedard does a great job with Reiss's old Globe Sunday Notes (which originated there with the legendary Will McDonough)--each week at ESPNBoston.com are a must-read.  He dug this up this week:

Players with Patriots ties on Canadian Football League rosters this year (the season began this weekend): Defensive end Shawn Crable (Hamilton Tiger Cats), defensive endMarques Murrell (Montreal Alouettes), and linebacker Deron Mayo, brother of Jerod Mayo (Calgary Stampeders). The CFL season began this past week.

Great stuff. Check him out at New England Patriots Blog (which he should push to take the name back from when he was at the Globe: Reiss's Pieces. C'mon Mike, take back that which is yours! )

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