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Celtics Four-Point Play (9/27)

Here’s the Celtics Four-Point Play to appear every Wednesday (I know, today’s the belated edition) on Sports of Boston. This is where I will compile four (4) small and related Celtics facts and offer my own spin on a variety of Celtics news stories. The general format will be a short blurb about the story first, then my reaction tabbed underneath it.

1. As I reported earlier today (Celtics get Batista and Jones) and was first reported by the Globe, the Celtics have agreed to deals with Uruguayan center Esteban Batista and swingman Dahntay Jones. Batista played sparingly with Atlanta last season, but his eye-popping performance in the FIBA Americas Championship (a tournament-leading 12.4 rebounds per game) is what made him an attractive free agent on the market. Jones had served as a scorer off the bench during his career with the Grizzles, averaging 7.5 points per game last season.

• Danny Ainge made a couple of good moves here, bringing in guys to compete for spots in training camp. The two additions bring the Celtics roster to 17, which is two more than the league maximum. So what does that mean for Jackie Manuel and Brandon Wallace? Well, I guess they’re both going to have to play harder to earn their spots, and they won’t have to back in. Personally, I see Batista definitely making the team, due to his size and apparent rebounding ability. At 24, he still has time to develop, and may become a solid backup center.
• I’m not so sure about Jones. He’s a veteran, which gives him the edge right away. I’d lean towards the former Duke star over Wallace and Manuel, as they both will probably playing for the NBDL this year anyway. Jones is a great dunker, and is probably known for his dunk over 7’6″ Houston center Yao Ming.

2. Celticsblog.com got a hold of a picture of the new Celtics Italian jerseys to be worn when the team plays its preseason games there in early October. It’s similar to the Celtics away green and black jerseys, but the word Boston on the front is colored left to right like an Italian flag (green, white, red).

• As a half-Italian, I may be biased, but I think this jersey is sweet. It’s as good or better than our St. Patty’s Day uniforms (thanks for the pose, Perk). In fact, I would pay a good amount of money for a Pierce or KG jersey in these special Italian colors.
• As far as best uniform ever, I wouldn’t go that far. I don’t care for the San Diego Chargers, or LT for that matter, but I just LOVE their powder blue jerseys. Steelers (hate them) have cool colors too.

3. A Rajon Rondo blog update: He hasn’t posted in 13 days, but I haven’t commented on his latest post yet, so here goes. In the post, Rondo discussed his return to Boston and meeting all the new players.

I’m back in Boston now…and I’ve officially met everyone on the team. These guys are coo. I didn’t know what to expect at first because these are All-Stars that I will be playing with, but everyone is really coo and down to earth. We all have been chillin with each other and our team chemistry seems to be great. We got together a few nights this week over Paul’s house and played spades, and today we all went golfing. I’ve continued my work outs, and they have been going well! I’m really looking forward to the season now! The preseason starts in a few weeks…until then, I will just be working out everyday. I’ll holla!

• Rondo seems excited about the season, and it’s good to see that they’re all chillin’ at Pierce’s house and going golfing together. That’ll help with team-bonding. I think the trip to Italy though will do wonders for team chemistry. These 17 guys all will be in a new environment together, and for the most part will have to rely on each other because they don’t know anyone else.

4. Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn will take some breaks from announcing this season, according to the Boston Globe.

Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman have been calling Celtics games together for 26 years; they teamed to cover some Providence College games for two years before that. That’s longer than most marriages, pointed out Gorman, who has been married 21 years.

But the two will have some break time this season, when Heinsohn forgoes some of the team’s road trips to stay home with his wife. In his stead will be Donny Marshall, the former NBA veteran and University of Connecticut star. In addition to joining Gorman as color analyst for 13 games, Marshall will be the studio analyst on the pregame and postgame shows alongside Gary Tanguay. Greg Dickerson, who again will be the courtside reporter, will be at road games for the first time.

FSN announced the personnel moves yesterday as part of even bigger changes that are happening at the station. As of Oct. 1, it will become Comcast SportsNet, feature expanded game night coverage, and air a weekly magazine show Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., starting Nov. 5, that will be hosted by Marshall.

• I was saddened to hear that Tommy won’t be announcing all the games with Mike and the crew this season, but I guess I understand if he’s going to spend more time with his ailing wife. I kind of like Marshall as a replacement; he seems to have a good knowledge of the game and more important makes plenty of good points. I wonder if there will be Marshall points during games he announces…though I just don’t think I like the ring to it.
• I’m kind of glad that Dickerson isn’t the color commentator, because I think he’s more fit for a play-by-play role. Marshall should be fine part-time. Dickerson on the sidelines should be fine too. In fact, I’ll take anyone on the sidelines over Willy May.

About KC Downey

KC is the "head coach" of the Sports of Boston, LLC blog network. Follow him on Twitter: @kc_downey

Tags: Celtics, Dahntay Jones, Esteban Batista, Four-Point Play, Rajon Rondo, Tommy Heinsohn, Yao Ming