Category: Sports

For the second straight year Red Sox Nation was on the cusp of entering the final week of March wondering what in the name of Haywood Sullivan was going on up there in the executive suite. It seemed Chaim Bloom was again in the increasingly hated (for me) bargain basement mode while Rome burned.

But news broke Saturday that John Henry has finally opened his wallet to outbid the Yanks and others for free agent Trevor Story. A major get that let some of the Nation’s building frustration escape. Though Chaim’s not out of the woods just yet.

But enjoy it for the day before getting back to the important business of grousing about the other issues that need addressing before the season starts.

Trevor Story implications: Signing him was a two-fer, as the former shortstop (for now) gives them a solid fielding second baseman with major offensive pop. It also sends Kike Hernandez out to right field to fill both the offensive and defensive holes left by the departure of Hunter Renfroe that everyone has been wondering about all winter. It also provides insurance at short if Xander Bogaerts opts out and leaves at the end of the year.

So, since Bloom “only” had to go six years and $25 million per to get all that, job well done. Especially since Texas gave their arguably not as good and definitely more injury-prone new shortstop Corey Seager a whopping $330 million over 10 years to get him.

Losing Kyle Schwarber: Letting him walk was a missed opportunity. Keeping him would have given them three more years of contractual control at DH and let them trade J.D. Martinez when every team in the NL suddenly needs one. It would have been revenue-neutral too, as Schwarber will get less per year than the $20 million the Sox pay J.D., while also making the line-up less right-handed dominant than it is now.

With the line-up and defense settled, we turn to pitching, which looks like a hodge-podge mess.

Starting pitching: The good news is the stat geeks tell us number of wins by a starter is totally circumstantial and unimportant. Phew! Because the six guys likely to get the bulk of the starts — Chris Sale, Nate Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck and newcomers Rich Hill and Michael Wacha — won a combined 34 games against 35 losses in 2021. Which means if 90 is the target, they need 56 wins from the pen. And while I like the promise Houck and Pivetta showed in 2021, am hopeful Sale and Eovaldi can avoid the injuries that have plagued their careers, wonder when it’ll end for the ageless Hill and have no faith in Wacha, the group as a whole doesn’t provide a lot of confidence.

So there are many questions looking for answers here, with the biggest coming from Chris Sale. The 5-1, 3.16 numbers after he returned from his 18-month Tommy John surgery absence look good. But it was a different story in the final 10 days of the regular season and in the playoffs when he struggled mightily. Was it natural fatigue or something more alarming?

Now comes the latest, a stress fracture in the ribcage. He’s calling it “a freak thing,” but it’s another reminder making you wonder if he has the body to face the rigors of pitching the 200-plus innings a year needed from your ace. Especially considering his last healthy season was way back in 2017. I don’t see him making a full 200-inning season anymore, which suggests a role change could be needed. Which brings us to the bullpen.

The bullpen: I know Tampa Bay won 100 games with a bullpen filled with guys making under a million dollars. But we also saw them knocked around in the playoffs, so I’d prefer a hybrid approach so you’re not bringing in seven new bargain basement guys every year as Chaim did in 2021 and basically is doing now, beyond Matt Barnes, who they’re stuck with after giving him an extension during his tremendous first half last year, and 2021 scrap heap find Garrett Whitlock. But beyond Whitlock, I had zero confidence in the pen after Barnes’ astonishing second-half collapse, because it has control issues and was used far too much by the suddenly micro-managing Alex Cora in games it was needed in. And 2022 starts out the same way.

Closer: To solidify the back end I’d make Sale the closer when he comes back for three reasons: (1) Pitching one inning every other day and 70 over the entire year would likely keep the arm fresher for the whole year instead of dealing with the dramatic second-half drop-offs that have plagued him since his days in Chicago; (2) Pitching just one inning gives him a better chance to regain the life to his fast ball and snap to his slider that have been missing since July 2018. (3) There’s no guarantee it’ll work, but almost every great closer was originally a failed starter. Including Mariano Rivera, who had durability issues starting. Not to mention the one-season record for saves is held by John Smoltz, set when arm issues prevented him from starting for three seasons.

Bottom line on the pitching: I know $30 million is usually too much to sink into a closer, but the money is already spent and the issue now is how to get the best bang for their $30 million.

So the Sox should not waste any more time. When Sale comes back, leave Houck in the rotation, give the seventh to Barnes, the eighth to Whitlock, and bite the bullet to make Sale the ninth-inning closer.

OK, so while I think it’s how you spend it, not how much, with payroll pruning done and David Price finally coming off the books after 2022 it’s time to spend to find more quality for the rotation and pen to give them a real chance in 2022.

News Item: Baseball Lockout Ends

I said last week that baseball’s work stoppage would amount to a big nothing, and it did when a deal was struck on Thursday. Big whoop.

Although echoing the media hysteria mentioned last week was Boston Globe Sports Business Reporter Michael Silverman describing it as something that “infuriated fans.” It did? Where’s the evidence of that, pal?

There was some reporting on the financials, but they didn’t seem to have much significance so you have to wonder what it was all about.

The dumbest part is that if the All-Star game is tied after nine innings the league that wins the Home Run Derby will now be declared the winner. How stupid is that? Just leave it a tie, Rob.

What was bargaining in mutually agreed upon changes like a universal DH throughout baseball, and the mechanism to address more changes for 2023. They include pace of play issues, possibly banning the infield shift and making the bases larger. Not sure if I’m for the ban, as major leaguers should learn to hit the other way to beat it, and I don’t get what larger bases will do, but both sides working together to improve the game is progress.

News Item: Round 1 To Brooklyn

Brooklyn took the early lead in the debate over who won the James Harden–Ben Simmons trade.

Thanks to a complete 3-17, 11-point no show by Harden, Philly got smoked by 29 at home in the first match-up since the trade went down and Simmons didn’t even play. But, to his credit, he did show up on the bench to get roasted and he gets a bonus point for that.

News Item: Stat Geekdom Finally Comes Up With Good One

Here’s a stat from the new-age stat geekdom I can get behind. It’s Celtics center Robert Williams holding everyone he defends to 6 percentage points below their normal field goal percentage. That means if the combined FG percentage of the guys he covers is 50, they only shoot 44 percent against him. That tells you what kind of man-on-man defender he is.

News Item: Ridley Suspended For Doing Something NFL Promotes

When I was in the PR business in the ’90s and the NH Lottery was my client, a bill was advancing in the legislature to make football betting cards legal. I went one day with Lottery Director Jim Wimsatt to hear a young NFL PR flack, who my memory says was a young Roger Goodell, though a search couldn’t verify that, testify before the committee considering it, to voice the NFL’s opposition to the bill. After it was over Wimsatt, who loved talking to the press, did an impromptu press conference and predicted the NFL would be against betting on football until it could figure out how to get a piece of the action.

He was correct; that day has now arrived and their ongoing hypocrisy is worse than ever, exemplified specifically by suspending wide receiver Calvin Ridley last week for at least a year for betting on a few games while he was sidelined with mental health issues. A suspension handed out by an organization that is the official sports betting partner of Draft Kings, in whom Patriots owner Bob Kraft was one of the early investors, and whose game broadcasts every Sunday are chock full of ads promoting legal betting on its games.

And while I have nothing against sports betting, it seems ludicrous to suspend an inactive player for doing what ads on their games are inviting viewers to do. So, Roger, is gambling good or bad?, ’cause your actions send a very mixed message.

News Item: NFL Free Agency Opens

To paraphrase the famed sideline rant by legendary Green Bay Coach Vince Lombardi during a breakdown for his five-time champion Packers, here’s a question for Coach B as the new NFL year gets started: What The Heck Is Going On Down There?!

A year ago the Pats had the best secondary in football. But that was before he failed to get a long-term deal done with JC Jackson in advance of his free agency year even as he was throwing $175 million around at lesser free agents. And that was before he screwed up the Stephon Gilmore stalemate. Now both are gone with no obvious successors.

No SB was won in the Brady era without a top-flight cornerback. Ty Law was there for the first three. Then you put up a doughnut for 10 years until Darrelle Revis arrived in 2014, followed by Malcolm Butler in 2016 and Gilmore in 2018.

News Item: Flores Lawsuit Gets Stronger

The lawsuit ex-Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed against the NFL for discriminatory hiring practices picked up a little ammo last week thanks to moves related to two big-name quarterbacks. Quarterback-needy (OK, QB-desperate) Denver’s choice of Nathaniel Hackett and rejection of Flores was based on the notion the ex-Green Bay OC could bring disgruntled and wanting out of GB Aaron Rodgers with him to Denver to solve their QB ills. And since Flores couldn’t make that happen, his interview was a sham, the latest bogus Rooney Rule forced interview. But Rodgers magically became un-disgruntled when the Pack made the reigning MVP the highest-paid player in history. Which I always suspected his phony disgruntled act was designed to produce all along. That forced Denver, ah, to punt, sending three players and a boatload of draft picks to Seattle for QB Russell Wilson. Since they could have done that no matter who the HC was, that weakened the rationale for taking Hackett in the first place, and should give his legal team an extra arrow in the quiver.

News Item: Brady Un-Retires

I don’t care if you play or don’t play. So our only question is, Hey, Tom, when did you become such an attention-seeker?

Well, with the announcement last week that the first two series of the 2022 baseball season have been canceled due to the lockout, get ready for an onslaught of sky-is-falling claims from the baseball media.

You’ll hear familiar phrases like “tone deaf,” “greedy,” “exploitation,” baseball’s becoming a “niche” sport and it could go the way of horse racing and boxing, which at the midpoint of 20th century were two of the nation’s three most popular sports. Oh, and of course there’s also the “how could they do this?” unseemly money grab when people are suffering in a brutal war in Ukraine.

The latter is valid, but was also used during the dust-up over who’d get what during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

In fact, the onslaught has already started with no fewer than four columns in the Boston Globe last week alone. The last was by usual voice of reason Tara Sullivan and carried the title “Indifference has replaced interest in baseball and it is unfathomable the sport let itself get here.”

Two came from Dan Shaughnessy. I call him the prince of darkness because of his knack for making any misstep seem like a triple homicide. I’ve been reading the guy since the 1980s and during that time there have been numerous sports work stoppages and last week’s columns were dusted off “Armageddon is here” iterations of those written during the other disputes.

Then there was young Chris Gasper’s Norma Rae-inspired screed that (seemingly) took longer to read than War and Peace. It took the owners to task for exploiting the poor players. Problem is that amid all the overwriting he never got around to why we should care that players are being exploited.

And while I know full well the owners are lying and have been crying poor since before miserly Charles Comiskey’s pernicious ways made it seem like a good idea to eight of his White Sox players to throw the 1919 World Series, let me infuse all this with a little perspective. Or is it reality? Or sanity maybe?

The Players Association just rejected a proposal to make the minimum annual salary $700k as too low; the annual average salary is north of $4 million while an unlikable stiff like Bryce Harper makes $40 million a year for each of the next eight years. A guy who was so indispensable the Nationals won the World Series right after he left as a free agent.

So if that’s what exploitation is, someone, please, please, PLEASE exploit me like that!

Since the players are the actual product they certainly have a right to fight for what they help the owners take in. But with what they already get, why should anyone care one what they get, win or lose? Especially when they individually are just as greedy as the owners.

They claim to all be in it together. But that‘s only because a united front gives them needed leverage in their fight with the owners. But once that’s out of the way, it’s every man for himself.

Consider Max Scherzer, who took the Yankees to task last week for manipulating the competitive balance tax to hold their spending at the luxury tax threshold at “just” $188 million. Which he said considering their profitability they shouldn’t do.

That’s the same Scherzer who just signed a deal with the Mets to make a whopping $42 million for each of the next three years, while the guys at the bottom are making $600k. If Max were really interested in all his brothers in the labor battle he could kick, say $12 million of his $42 million into a fund for the guys at the bottom to split at the end of the year like a World Series share. It would still leave him with $30 million per, which I’m guessing he can get by on. And if others in his tax bracket like Harper and Mookie Betts did the same they could probably get the minimum guys over a million a year.

But we don’t hear that from Max, because he wants to get every last dime he can get out of the free market for himself. Especially since that’s what the Players Association preaches in fighting to avoid a salary cap like the one in the NBA that’s such a drag on salaries poor Russell Westbrook only makes $47 million a year.

Besides, that would be socialism. Except isn’t that, for better or worse, what a union actually is?

Fine. But if Max and his exploited compadres can do that, why can’t the Yankees? Then it’s may the better man/group win.

As for this adding to the woes of baseball’s declining national interest, I would point out that since there has not been a work stoppage in baseball, none of the decline (between 2007 and 2019) has anything to do with bickering over money.

Not to mention that while some may grumble during it, it’s all soon forgotten and fans come back every time. True even when a strike canceled the 1994 World Series and an entire NHL season was wiped out by the lockout of 2004-05. So don’t listen to the doomsday prediction because history shows they’re wrong every time.

As for the fan indifference mentioned by Ms. Sullivan, while it’s real at the moment, I’d argue it’s not specifically for the sport itself. It’s more of the “been there done that, so wake me when it’s over” variety.

So instead of looking at the glass being half full, this could actually be an opportunity to fix what really is causing the decline in attendance. Make one of the bargaining concessions be putting a structure in place for players and owners to jointly address everything from the cost of tickets to the pace of play to altering the way stat geek baseball is sucking the excitement out of the game.

That would make this stoppage constructive and if it takes until even July, it’s time well spent.

Last weekend ESPN released its ranking of the 75 players on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, and as you might expect I have some thoughts.

Given the evolution of the skills it’s hard to compare the pioneers with the players in the uber-athletic, crazy shooting 21st-century game. So these thoughts are based on how players dominated their era. Bonus points are given to their impact on winning in the playoffs and after joining a team. Like for Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul–Jabbar and Shaq, when the C’s, Bucks and Magic went from 29 to 61, 27 to 56 and 21 to 41 wins respectively the year they arrived in town.

Doesn’t belong

Carmelo Anthony (69): He scored a lot of points, 28,042 and counting. But so did Dan Issel (27,482), Vince Carter (26,728), Alex English (25,613) and Artis Gilmore (24,941), who also was a great rebounder, while Melo is a ball hog non-defender with zero playoff success.

Anthony Davis (71): His high is pretty high, but it’s too early to be here. Especially since he made the playoffs just twice in his first seven seasons, has no MVP and his title came as the second dog to LeBron.

Let me think about this

Russell Westbrook (68): Super stats, but hard to play with because he never gave it up until he couldn’t get his shot and that’s why he’s won bupkis.

James Harden (50): The most effortless scorer I’ve ever seen. But he doesn’t even try on defense and rewarding that goes against my grain Plus, while it’s irrational, I really hate the beard.

Who’s missing

The candidates are the four mentioned above, along with Bernard King, Pau Gasol, Bob Lanier, Chris Mullen, Joe Dumars, Dennis Johnson, Jo Jo White, David Thompson, Dwight Howard and Klay Thompson. All were/are better than Melo. On highest peak I’ll add King.

Surprising, but they deserve to be here

Dennis Rodman (67): Say what you will about him, but he personified the fact that greatness doesn’t have to be about scoring. He was vital to five championship teams when he was a smothering defender who gave Bird fits with Detroit and later was arguably the best post-Chamberlain/Russell rebounder the NBA has seen.

Bob McAdoo (45): All the injuries fog how dynamic he was with Buffalo when the under-sized centers battle between Dave Cowens (61) and him was so cool to watch. Then as the showtime Lakers’ sixth man he juiced the fast break to be even crazier when he replaced Kareem.

Too high

Giannis Antetokounmpo (18): But only because he’s just at mid-career with one title and two MVPs. So can’t see him yet ahead of the early dominance of George Mikan (28), who won seven titles in 10 (NBA/BAA) seasons, or later Lakers Jerry West (19) and Elgin Baylor (20).

Pete Maravich (54): Truly unbelievable in college, but not so in the NBA. Belongs in high 70s, maybe.

Kevin McHale (39): We all love Kevey, whose defensive versatility was vastly underrated and who for a few years was downright unstoppable. But Cedric Maxwell was more important to two of his three title teams and I’ve got him just eighth on my all-time Celtics list behind Cowens, Paul Pierce (62), Sam Jones (60) and Robert Parish (63). Sorry, Bob Ryan, Elvin Hayes (58) was better for much longer too.

Chris Paul (29): With him still looking for his first title, with no MVP or even being over .500 in the playoffs, he’s certainly not better than Steve Nash (37 — two MVPs), Bob Cousy (34 — six titles, one MVP, who invented what everyone does today in real time on the fly) or Allen Iverson (31).

Are you kidding me?

Willis Reed (57): Earl Monroe (55) is my favorite Knick ever and I loved watching Walt Frazier (41) grow from the pilfering, defense-first player he came to the NBA as to the unstoppable scorer he became. But even with Clyde actually being the real star of the Willis Reed game (36 points, 18 assists, 10 steals), sorry, those guys weren’t better than the Captain. Are they daft? Reed was the heart and soul of the golden era ’70s Knicks and the Finals MVP on both championship teams. No blanking way.

Reed was also better than his somehow ranked 48 rival Wes Unseld (teammate The Big E was better than big Wes too) and especially stat boy but no titles and no MVP Patrick Ewing (40). Reed is the greatest Knick ever and it ain’t close.

The Top 10: You can quibble with a place or two, like I’d flip Kobe (10) and Shaq (11) because it’s not a coincidence the big fella was the Finals MVP for all three of their shared championships. But aside from one glaring mistake they mostly got it right with, from 1 to 11: Jordan, LeBron, Kareem, Magic, Wilt, Russell, Bird, Duncan, Big O, Kobe and Shaq.

The Big Mistake: Superior talent, great stats and major awards are nice. But the only stat that actually matters is winning and a guy’s impact on that. Jordan won six MVPs and six titles (which might have been eight straight if he hadn’t retired the first time). Kareem matched both and is the all-time scorer. But Bill Russell matched the MVPs while winning 11 titles in 13 years and never lost a deciding Game 7. And no, he didn’t always play with the most talent. His final title came when he was at the end (averaged under 10 points a game) and, beyond a prime-of-life John Havlicek, was playing with aging starters and a bench full of scrubs against L.A. with three from the Top 75. But thanks to the incomparable will to win he still won. The winning started when he arrived and ended when he left. They now call him the greatest winner ever. But in my book, if you’re the “greatest winner” that also means you’re the greatest player.

The Celtics went into the All-Star break within one infuriating Jayson Tatum isolation play on a 10-game winning streak. With them having won 11 of their last 13 most will say that’s me seeing the glass as half empty.

But while I know that it got him a makeable 18-foot buzzer-beater in a 112-111 loss to 19-41 Detroit, I also know putting that Kobe wannabe shot/game in the top drawer had a big part in why they suddenly were/are playing so well. I could go into more detail, but suffice it to say I think it’s better for all when he aggressively takes it to the basket as he did during all but one play in the streak.

As for the streak, it’s nice, but I’m not gaga over it yet, as aside from the 50-point dismantling of Philly, six wins were against under-.500 teams, while Miami and Denver had half their top players out with injuries.

Still, there were clear signs of playing more effectively as a unified team, which is the best news as the second half starts in Brooklyn on Thursday night.

Here are a few other NBA stories making news at the break.

Speaking of Brooklyn, Bill Parcells once famously said, “You are what your record says you are.” So since their record is 4 and 10 in the 14 games the unvaxxed Kyrie Irving has played I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal whether he plays or not.

Rodney Dangerfield You’re Waaaay Off Award: To me, for saying Phoenix would have a hangover season after going to the finals last summer. Wrong. At 48-10 they have the league’s best record and lead Golden State by 6 1/2 games out West. My bad.

I also didn’t see Memphis (41-19) and Cleveland (35-23) getting as good so quickly behind their young stars. Ja Morant is already among the NBA’s 10 best players while Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are going to be big-time players for the Cavs.

Incidentally, think New Orleans regrets taking the always injured Zion Williamson over Morant in the 2019 draft?

Not sure what planet Tracy McGrady moved to after he retired. But hearing him say that Giannis Antetokounmpo would “struggle” in McGrady’s era is evidence it’s in a galaxy far, far away.

How about the L.A. Lakers rescinding the season tickets for life given by the late owner Jerry Buss to Laker all-timer Jerry West? But that’s what a franchise now run by daughter Jeannie did to a guy who, as an iconic player, coach and GM, was instrumental in building it to be worth $2 billion or so today. Better yet, they didn’t even tell him. They did it with a text to his wife. Classy.

Actually, here’s a real example of class. Got to love Joel Embiid paying the $20,000 fine of just-up-from-the-D-Leaguer Jose Alvarez after the two got double T’s for jawing at each other in a recent Sixers-Pelicans tilt. The picture of the 6-foot Alvarez standing chest to chest with the 7-foot Embiid is hilarious. The big fella reportedly said he did it because “there was nothing to it beyond just two guys jawing. He’s on a two-way contract, I make a lot more money and liked his spunk.” Not sure spunk-hating Lou Grant would do it, but it was classy.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. After building ridiculous expectations on a mediocre for most franchises barely-make-the-playoff season, the ravenous New York media is now killing coach Tom Thibodeau because the Knicks haven’t lived up to the not in touch with reality expectations they set in the first place. Even though they’re the ones who hailed bust Kemba Walker as a savior mainly because he played his high school ball in the Bronx. Ditto for ever inconsistent free agent Evan Fournier. While it’s true the Knicks have struggled, who’s really to blame for the natives being restless, a team that’s at the level everyone outside New York thought they would be at, or a media horde dumb enough to pitch them far above what they actually were?

And remember, these are the same doofuses who proclaimed the now twice traded 7’3” Kristaps Porzingis as an emerging superstar even though he did his best work 30 feet from the basket. Who turned out to be an injury-prone middling player with a one of a kind name.

Ben Simmons Saga Finally Ends: The short summary of the James Harden–Ben Simmons blockbuster trade is that each team gave up a guy who quit on them for someone who could quit on them in the future.

But when the final results are in I expect Brooklyn to win this deal big for two reasons.

First, Nets GM Sean Marks got more by getting a much younger and signed for three more years headliner in Simmons, a solid three-ball shooter in Seth Curry and two first-round picks for the unhappy Harden, whom they likely were going to lose as a free agent in four months.

Second, who remembers the fall-away jump shooting Michael Jordan in Washington? Or how about Russell Westbrook in L.A. now?

To keep Harden, Philly will have to give him a five-year deal worth north of $250 million. A contract that starts at 33 for a guy who clearly is much bigger than in Houston and has seen his scoring average drop from 34 per to 22 a night in two years. If the size is age, not just being out of shape, that will affect his killer first step, which in turn will make his killer step back easier to defend. All of which means they’ll eventually be paying $50 million to a guy who’s lost half his offensive arsenal.

Thus Philly had better win a title in the first two years or this could be a catastrophe, because like with Westbrook they’ll never be able to dump the contract at the end.

I don’t know about you, but I was perplexed by almost every one of the many deals made during last week’s NBA trading deadline period. Were those teams trying to improve? Blow things up? Or just getting worse without even realizing they were? On most, I couldn’t tell which it was.

That was the case on the big deals GM Brad Stevens made. Neither struck me as “I love that,” or even “I’ll take that.” But I decided to think about them before jumping to conclusions.

After I did, I don’t think they won either trade mentioned below head to head, or even in relation to this season. But oddly they did probably win both for long-term reasons, and that made the risks taken for the remainder of 2021-22 worth it.

Here’s an analysis of the gains and losses of the day.

Celtics trades: In the end they were about exchanging the short-term offensive punch of Dennis Schroder and Josh Richardson for the immediate defensive prowess and long-term roster-building benefits of Derrick White and Daniel Theis.

Dennis Schroder: He gave them needed penetration in the half-court and an ability to score in bunches. I’m not sure if White can do either. But what you couldn’t get around is that he’s one and done in Boston, and by trading him now Stevens opted for the big picture and was right to do so.

Josh Richardson: I hate losing this guy. Especially after he found his groove in mid-January as a high-energy scorer off the bench. He also usually came in for Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and they didn’t get anyone back who can do that. So that leaves two holes to fill.

Daniel Theis: Nobody likes Theis better than me. But getting him back for what Schroeder did for the team seemed like an odd choice. But, if you accept the premise White is an upgrade over Schroeder, there are two reasons to like this deal. First, he’s a tough, gritty, versatile defender who fights his guy on every play. And if Philly lies ahead in the playoffs, between Al Horford, Rob Williamsand Theis they now have 18 fouls per game to throw at Joel Embiid and they may need all of them. Second, lament Schroeder’s loss all you want, but they got a player of value signed through 2025 for a guy who is gone in June no matter what. That helps long-term depth.

Derrick White: In giving up Richardson, Romeo Langford and another first-round pick my first thought was that they overpaid for White. But, since I’ve only seen him play a few times I don’t have a lot to go on.

Based on what I do know, he scores 14 a game, shoots 31 percent on threes, not quite a point guard, but can play it and is a solid, versatile defender. He sounds like Marcus Smart 2.0, and is that really what they needed?

On the bright side, he scores about the same as Schroeder, is a much better defender, learned how to play under Gregg Popovich so you know he’s team-oriented and is signed at a reasonable/ tradable $17 million per through 2025, which makes it seem like an upgrade. Stevens said this was a no-brainer. It had better be, because he’s the key new guy.

The bench: By trading seven guys it’s thin in numbers and talent. It also left gaping holes to be filled by proven guys getting expanded roles, unproven guys being asked to do things they haven’t done yet or by getting lucky in the buyout market. The options are these:

Grant Williams: I’m guessing those Tatum replacement minutes go to Grant. He’s not remotely the same kind of player, but he’s got the size to defend the players Tatum does. Plus while limited offensively he’s somehow gone from an abysmal 25 percent three-point shooter as a rookie to their best distance shooter percentage-wise at 41.3 percent. I’m still not confident any time he lines up to take one, but the numbers are the numbers

Bench scoring: What they’ve clearly done is put the onus for this on two guys who’ve given very little indication they can do it consistently. Payton Pritchard has had his moments, so if he can ever give it up instead of dribbling the offense into submission and stop shooting from the parking lot maybe he can develop the distance shooting consistency he seems capable of. As for Aaron Nesmith, I trust him about as much as I would a Tesla if I were sitting in the backseat of one of their self-driving cars. First, he’s a three-point shooter who can’t make threes. At least so far. And while he certainly hustles, he does it without any kind of plan. So it’s like watching the bumper cars ride at Canobie Lake as he crashes into anything that moves. But, while it’s probably wishful thinking, with the same size and range as Richardson it would be more beneficial if he can develop into something than if Pritchard does. Though what matters most is for one of them to do it.

Trading first-round picks: Maybe they’re gun-shy after all the blown picks. But I’m not comfortable giving up two in a row. So fix the talent evaluation part with better scouts, and stop giving up picks, because low-salaried, productive young guys are valuable.

Brad Stevens: I hated using a first-round pick to trade Kemba Walker. They should have just bought him out and got Horford another way. But getting Richardson for a guy who could barely make a layup (Tristan Thompson, who’s already been twice more since leaving Boston) was solid. Now these next two moves have strategic long-term value. So I feel better about young Brad than just two weeks ago.

OK, now comes the stretch run for the suddenly red hot C’s, as we get to see in real time the effect of the new additions.

I’ll be adding to my world record on Sunday of having seen every Super Bowl game ever played. While I can’t say I’m looking at this one with a high degree of anticipation, I do like that I’m part of the crowd that has seen them all. Especially as it’s now a dwindling group. Not quite on par with the shrinking number of D-Day survivors, but it does qualify me to start cataloging my historical record. Which today takes the form of naming my All-time Super Bowl team.

We’ll start with the coach.

Coach – Joe Gibbs: A lot of worthy candidates here, including Vince Lombardi for winning the first two, Chuck Noll for going 4-0, 3-0 Bill Walsh and Tom Coughlin for engineering two, ah, Giant upsets. Coach B did win six times, but he also lost three and got outcoached by Coughlin twice. And there’s also the Malcolm Butler mystery. But it’s supposed to be a QB’s league and Gibbs was 3-0 with three different QB’s, who were all mediocre at best, so I’ll go with him.

Special Teams

Kicker – Adam V: Do I need to explain?

Returner – Desmond Howard: Devin Hester opened SB-41 with a TD return, and Jacoby Jones’ 108-yarder is the longest play in SB history, but Howard destroyed the Parcells Pats in SB-31 with 90 punt return yards and 154 on kickoffs, including a back-breaking 99-yard TD that basically ended the game.

Punter – Ryan Allen: My MVP in SB-53 over Julian Edelman when the Rams scored just 3 points vs. NE mainly because he pinned L.A. inside their 10-yard line five times.

Defense

DE – L. C. Greenwood: The all-time sack leader as Pittsburgh put up two dominant defensive efforts in SB-9 and 10.

DE – Charles Haley: Was a D key for five wins with SF and Dallas.

DT – Mean Joe Greene: Pittsburgh’s D was impenetrable in those just-mentioned wins and he was the leader.

DT – Justin Tuck: With two sacks and two QB hits, he murdered the Pats when the G-Men ended hope of an undefeated season in SB -42.

MLB – Ray Lewis: The Baltimore D was steel against NY in 2000 and vs. SF in 2012 so he gets the nod over Jack Lambert and Mike Singletary.

OLB – Chuck Howley: Even though it came for Dallas in the horrid SB-5 between two inept offenses, the only player from a losing team to be MVP has to get this, right?

OLB – Mike Vrabel: He, Tedy Bruschi and Willie McGinest are tied for most sacks (3) by an LB, but Vrabel drilled Kurt Warner’s arm to force the game-changing duck Ty Law pick-sixed for NE’s early 7-0 lead in SB-36.

CB – Ty Law: There’s part A above and part B was being the lynch pin that shutdown the most prolific passing attack in league history that day.

CB – Larry Brown: Was a starter for three Dallas wins in the ’90s when he had a record three picks, including two vs. Pittsburgh when he was MVP in SB-30.

S – Jake Scott: Was another MVP defender for two picks in the mind-numbingly boring SB-7 match-up with Washington that closed out Miami’s undefeated season.

S – Rodney Harrison: All-time leader in tackles with 34 and had a two-pick day vs. Eagles in SB-39.

Offense

T – Joe Jacoby: Was dominant in three SB wins, especially as John Riggins rumbled for 166 and Timmy Smith 204 when the Redskins piled up 276 and 280 rushing yards in wins over Miami and Denver in SB’s 17 and 22

T – Forrest Gregg: The best player Vince Lombardi said he ever coached started when Green Bay won the first two SB’s and as Dallas won SB-6.

G – Russ Grimm: See Jacoby’s entry. He also started in all three games.

G – Larry Allen: The key to the Cowboys’ run of three wins in four years was the running game and he was their best O-lineman.

C – Jeff Bostic: Hard to grade centers but he was part of the Hogs in the three Washington wins.

WR – Jerry Rice: No competition here for the all-time leader in everything.

WR – Deion Branch: Nips Lynn Swann for having 21 catches in SB-38 and 39 when he could have been MVP of the first and was in the second.

TE – Rob Gronkowski: Second behind Rice in total receptions (29), receiving yards (364 tied with Swann) and TD catches (5). No other TE is in the top 10 in any of those categories.

TB – Terrell Davis: He ran for a fourth best 259 yards in two Denver wins with a high of 157 vs. GB in 32.

FB – Franco Harris: All due respect to the plowhorse Riggins, Long Island’s own Matt Snell,the real MVP of the Jets’ earth-shattering upset of Baltimore in SB-3 (not Joe Willie), bruising Larry Csonka and rushing TD leader (5) Emmitt Smith. But it goes to the all-time leading rusher with 354 yards in Pittsburgh’s first four wins.

QB – Joe Montana: Sorry, TB-12 fans. But Joe Cool has the highest QB rating ever at 127.3 to TB’s 97.7, never threw an interception in 122 passes, led the last-minute drive to beat Cincy 20-16 on a pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds left, was a three-time MVP and 4-0 in the big game. He won seven times, has all the records, including the two highest passing yard games (467 and 505), and engineered major comebacks vs. Seattle and vs. Atlanta. But he also lost three times and while he was a five-time MVP, he shouldn’t have been in SB-36, when he threw for only 145 yards while the O scored just one TD, or last year, because when a team blanks Patrick Mahomes the MVP is someone from the D.

When it rains it pours and that’s what happened in sports over just a few days last week. Rather than decide which story is biggest of the big, we’ll give all a mention in News Item fashion and come back to each in more detail during quieter weeks after the Super Bowl.

News Item: Brady Retired

While ESPN stood by its reporting last weekend that forever young Tom Brady was retiring, his father, Tom Sr., said he wasn’t. But Brady made his retirement official via Twitter on Tuesday. My bet is the news was leaked early because the decision was made long ago as part of a deal with his wife where he got to play two more years if they moved to a place she liked living in more than New England. But what do I know.

In any event, if it is the end, I can’t say he was the greatest player ever, because how do you tell if a QB is better at his job than greats like Jerry Rice, Jim Brown or Lawrence Taylor were at their respective, very different, jobs? But I do know after throwing for 40 and 43 TD passes in his last two years, he joins Brown, Sandy Koufax and Barry Sanders as the only guys I know of to retire while still at their peak. And, since he was the best ever at the position most critical to team success, he’s the most valuable football player ever. Something we got to view up close for 20 years. So thanks for the memories. It’s hard to imagine a better fan experience than we got from TB-12.

News Item: Ortiz Walks Through That HoF Door

Since we’re a week behind we won’t rehash the numbers. Instead I’ll say Sox President Sam Kennedy was right saying that David Ortiz is the most important Red Sox player ever. Yes, that means even over Ted Williams. Why? Because he was the straw that stirred the drink as the Sox won their first three World Series in nearly a century, and Ted never even won once. The stats are nice, but winning matters most.

I thought the 78 percent Hall of Fame vote total was a little low (75 percent is needed). It was due to taint from a positive 2003 drug test he disputes, and no votes from nitwit purists who don’t think DH’s who didn’t play the field belong. To them I say, if the defensively indifferent Williams had played now he’d be a DH. It’s been an “official” position for 50 years, so get over it. Besides, when you’re one of just four players to win three rings and hit 500-plus homers, you belong.

So congrats, big fella, for a well-earned honor.

News Item: Bonds and Clemens Controversy Done For Now

With Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds being denied in their final year on the ballot, there were an awful lot of wins and homers that missed the train to Cooperstown on Wednesday, all due to the PED-era backlash. If you vote no on a steroid guy because you think cheating for higher stats is wrong I respect that. Not to mention you’re backed by one of the five voting criteria that speaks to a player’s overall character. However, my problem with that lies with it doesn’t square with Bud Selig cruising in even though he was commissioner when all the cheating went down. If the media and almost every fan knew what was going on, how could coaches, managers, GM’s, owners and the league office not know? Answer: They did know, and looked the other way ’cause chicks dig the long ball. So, while I lean toward the cheaters-should-never-prosper side, I just can’t keep out any pre-2004 testing player if the guy who enabled it all breezed in.

To solve the bloated numbers part, put Bill James’ numerical nonsense to good use for a change to come up with and apply a mathematical factor that normalizes them to pre-PED numbers. Then put up a permanent PED-era exhibit that names names, vote and be done with it.

Enough already.

News Item: The Super Bowl Match-Up

Here are some pre-Super Bowl thoughts on the surprising Cincinnati Bengals and L.A. Rams.

Cincy: (1) Just two seasons ago they were the worst team in the NFL, so being in the SB now is quite a quick turnaround. (2) Hope seeing how the electric Ja’Marr Chase immediately transformed Cincy offensively (with help from Joe Burrow) turns a light bulb on as getting blown out in the second half of the 2006 AFC title did to Coach B. It led to getting Randy Moss because he realized they couldn’t beat Peyton Manning and company anymore unless they outscored them. Ditto for Mac Jones in 2022, because he needs a threat like that to take the next step. (3) How does coming back from 18 down to Patrick Mahomes in thunderous Arrowhead Stadium during an AFC title game compare to the Pats’ comeback vs. Atlanta in SB 51?

L.A.: (1) With the game in L.A. the SB will be a home game for one team for a second straight year. (2) Who had Sony Michel going to the SB again before his former team? (3) To skeptics like me, giving up two first-round picks, a third-rounder and your starting QB to get Matthew Stafford seemed extravagant. But the draft-choice-averse Rams are showing there’s more than one way to skin a cat as they wouldn’t be in the SB without that trade.

News Item: Andy Reid Does It Again

Going for it and failing with no timeouts and five seconds left in the first half, then losing in an OT you never would have been in if you’d kicked the sure FG instead, is the latest in a long line of game management mistakes by Andy.

As the frustration throughout the local basketball community mounts, what ever are we to make of your Boston Celtics?

Many feel with two so called “All-Stars” they’re an under-achieving lot. But I’m not so sure they are. I’m more in the Bill Parcells camp that says you are what your record says you are. Which is a 24-24 team that plays with no passion and will be in a dogfight for the Eastern Conference play-in games for a second straight year.

While talk radio is definitely on their case, other media types are not. ABC broadcaster Doris Burke fawns over their “young stars” like she’s their den mother and likable play-by-play partner Mike Breen does the same. Earth to you two, Jaylen Brown is in Year 6 and for Jayson Tatum it’s 5, so they have no excuse to not have figured it out by now. Then there’s Boston Globe basketball writer Gary Washburn, who goes from writing “they don’t know how to win” columns one day, to, after a close win (that usually involved blowing or erasing a double-digit lead/deficit), an endless series of “they’ve turned the corner” pieces. The most ridiculous was calling a win over the 17-30 Pacers 10 days ago “the most important of the season.” That’s right; he said a horribly played (by both teams) lucky win over 13th-place Indiana was the most important win of the year! Which was followed by losses at home to Charlotte and a horrendous one-point loss to 19-26 Portland Friday night, who was playing the fifth of a six-game East Coast swing with their best player Damian Lillard a DNP, as the C’s somehow went the final 7 minutes and 15 seconds without scoring a field goal.

Meanwhile the Mr. Rogers of the NBA, GM Brad Stevens, fiddles while Rome burns by saving a few bucks to get under the luxury tax line by trading for two injured guys who are done for the season.

So the bottom line is the Celtics are a complete mess. And while I don’t take joy in saying this, it’s happening because they are being led by a first-year coach who’s over his head, a GM who was the franchise’s worst hire since Rick Pitino 20 years ago and owners who seem clueless now that they don’t have Danny Ainge around to give them their media talking points.

Then over in the cheap seats, everyone from Tony Maz to Charles Barkley is looking for remedies: dump Marcus Smart, get something for Dennis Schroder, move Al Horford and the big one, break up Tatum and Brown, etc. And with the trade deadline dead ahead the shouting has intensified with people making ridiculous knee-jerk suggestions that won’t do anything productive in the long run.

That’s because you can’t solve a problem until you identify what it is, and few have.

Here are my thoughts on the chatter.

Most Urgent Need: Bob Cousy just said it, Robert Parish just said it, Paul Pierce too and I’ve been saying it since they kept blowing big leads to Miami in the bubble during the 2020 playoffs.

They need a real point guard. There aren’t a lot of Rondo-like pg’s out there, but they need to find one. because they desperately need order in the half court that gets everyone involved.

Get Another All-Star: As I constantly hear this one I ask, how? After squandering a 10-deep bench and seven first-round picks over three years they don’t have the capital to swing a trade for a really good third guy. All made more infuriating by Ainge giving that final first-rounder, Desmond Bane, to Memphis for nothing, where he’s now averaging 18 points per as a starter for the surprising 32-16 Grizzlies.

Break Up Brown and Tatum: It’s hard to consider this when both have had 50-point nights this year. But building a basketball team is like making a cake, where all the ingredients need to be blended together in the bowl before it becomes a delicious cake. And the reality is Brown plays with blinders on like he’s in the gym by himself and doesn’t have a true basketball instinct in his body, while Tatum is not and never will be the leader they badly need.

So my gut says yes, break them up, but not before getting that point guard. Because we really won’t know if they do fit as the foundation for winning until they have a setup that gives each the ball where they can do something with it, over their usual freelancing that inhibits flow and rarely gets others involved or encourages movement without the ball.

How Do They Get Better? Assuming it’s a break-up, they should do what Bruins GM Harry Sinden did almost 50 years ago when he traded his best and most popular player, Phil Esposito, in a five-player swap with the Rangers that got the B’s the next three best players. Which really came down to trading one A+ level star to fill two big holes with A- level players.

For the C’s that would be a pg and a second scorer. A perfect one would have been Tatum to Cleveland for second overall pick, 7-footer Evan Mobley and pg Darius Garland to give them a reset with bigger, and faster emerging players while improving their depth. However, that ship has sailed with the Cavs now a rising team. But they need something like that.

At the end of the day a shake-up is needed. Which should include the coach (I vote Kevin Garnett). If they can find the right point guard now, do it. But the worst thing they can do is make a move to satisfy the yackers.

In the meantime, compete for the play-in round. But do it by giving PT to Grant Williams, Romeo Langford and Payton Pritchard to improve their trade value for the larger renovation this summer. Or, to see if they can become consistent contributors going forward.

So much for the 2021 Patriots season. A mostly enjoyable year, at least until it ended in disaster on Sunday with Buffalo’s 47-17 demolition of the Bill Belichick AC. It was the culmination of a disappointing final month that saw Mac Jones staggering down the stretch as they lost four of their last five to take some of the shine off their seven-game mid-season winning streak that sent expectations a little higher than they probably should have been.

So with the Pats on vacation, here are a few thoughts that have been piling up since they were flying high.

From the Time Flies department comes news of Jon Lester retiring. For those of us on hand it’s hard to believe it was 17 years ago that summer night in town when he blew away 15 F-Cats. Then it was on to a 16-year big-league career that included a scary bout with cancer, a no-hitter, winning the World Series twice with Boston and a third with the Cubs. And while the overall record of 200 wins and 117 loses for a .636 life winning percentage is terrific, it’s probably gonna fall short of the Hall of Fame. But those stats speak to his consistency, as does the remarkable fact he had identical .639 winning percentages pitching for both the Red Sox and Cubs. Well done, young man.

Richard Seymour gets my vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for being the bedrock of the best team in the 2000’s that won with defense. In the end it should have five famers at least: Ty Law, who’s in already, no-brainers Tom Brady, Adam V, and Randy Moss along with Seymour. Outside chances go to Willie McGinest and the incredibly productive Wes Welker.

How can anyone not love watching the Chiefs line up inside their five-yard line when they do wild things from wild formations? On Sunday vs. Pittsburgh, there was after Travis Kelce took the snap in the wildcat faking hand-offs, then his own plunge before straightening up to fire a bullet to Byron Pringle for a TD, and then how about that underhand TD toss to Jerick McKinnon from Pat Mahomes that looked like he was bowling? So much fun.

If you missed it, UCLA extended Chip Kelly’s contract through 2026. So next time you see him, Chip’s buying!

And bravo to the U for naming Chipper’s former QB (when he OC at the U) Ricky Santos to succeed the retiring Sean McDonnell.

After Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy mentioned last week that Belichick had tied his nemesis Don Shula at 20 seasons with at least 10 wins, a reader emailed to say since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978 Coach B had an unfair advantage over Shula because there were only 14 games in his first 15 seasons. Logical, I suppose. But since the Patriots had a 16-win season, four with 14, two 13’s and five 12’s I figured he didn’t need the extra games to reach “just” 10, so I checked. And it was Shula who actually needed the 16 games to reach 10 wins five times (1978, ’79, ’82, ’92, ’94) while for Coach B it’s four times (’05, ’09, ’18 and this year).

I know the Celtics will lose Dennis Schroder in the off-season because of salary cap rules, so if they somehow can get a first-round pick for him at the trade deadline so be it. But since the last second-round pick to make an impact of consequence for them was Big Baby Davis in 2008, dumping Schroder for a second-round pick doesn’t make any sense unless they’re throwing in the towel and want to give kids more playing time even if they haven’t earned it.

While offensive lineman pushing the pile forward after a back is surrounded has become popular in recent years, it seems to me it’s illegal. Because what the OL’s are doing is pushing the defenders in the back and a block from behind is a clip — no?

With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown having already done it the other night vs. Indiana and Schoerder not far from scoring his 30th point, Celtics announcer Mike Gorman wondered if three teammates had ever scored 30 in the same game. Not having email to the table, I couldn’t let him know about the oddest, most forgotten case of three teammates doing that. It came on March 2, 1962, when guard Richie Guerin scored 39 points, future Celtic Willie Naulls had 33 and rookie Cleveland Buckner had 32 off the bench for the New York Knicks. And they still lost by 22 points, 169-147 to the Philadelphia Warriors because that was the day Wilt Chamberlain had his fabled 100-point game!

Liked Cooper Kupp’s anti-inflation answer when he was on the verge of breaking records for most catches and receiving yards that it won’t mean as much because he’d have done it in a 17-game season and the records broken came in 16 games.