Agent confirms McDyess to re-sign with Detroit
For all NBA teams not based in Detroit, their slim hopes of landing Antonio McDyess have come to an end.
McDyess's agent, Andy Miller, said late last night that McDyess decided to return to the Pistons by signing a minimum contract that is expected to pay as much as $1.9 million for the rest of this season. Miller said McDyess cited a preseason commitment to fight for a title, familiarity, and a lack of interest in starting from scratch elsewhere as the main reasons for a return to Detroit.
The Pistons traded McDyess, Chauncey Billups, and Cheikh Samb to the Nuggets for Allen Iverson Nov. 3. After being bought out of his contract shortly afterward, indications were that McDyess would return to Detroit even though he can't re-sign until Dec. 7 due to NBA rules. The Celtics were among 18 suitors and president Danny Ainge made calls to Miller and McDyess. Although Miller said his client looked at a few scenarios, the defending champions never seemed to be a contender.
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Season of plenty
Kendrick Perkins credited the Celtics' bench with allowing the starters to be able to sit out most of the second half of the last three games. "Our bench could be starters anywhere else, it's like we never lose a beat," said Perkins after the Celtics' 118-103 win over Toronto. The reserves have played well enough to allow observers to forget about James Posey, who left in free agency. "We're not going to replace Posey. We can't," coach Doc Rivers said. "He did certain things we can't do, but, as a collective group, we can be better and I think we're proving that. . . . If we lost four or five games, Posey would be in the paper every day and we'd have to talk about it. But, when you win games, they don't talk about it."
T-day looming
Perkins earned his eighth technical, called for taunting by Dick Bavetta. Once a player reaches 16 technicals for a season, he is suspended. "I don't need to worry about that," Perkins said. "I talked to [Bavetta] in a polite way. It might get overturned, and we've got to move forward. It's 16 [the limit] and I'm cool. I'm only on [eight]."
Pass the gravy
The Celtics learned from their previous meeting with the Raptors, a 94-87 home win. "The first half [of that Nov. 10 game], we played as poorly as we can play," Rivers said. "We took quick jump shots, we played like a finesse team, which we're not." This time, the Celtics performed to Rivers's specifications from the start. "We had a ton of layups, out of sets, which is really nice," Rivers said. "I thought our execution was really good, our spacing was terrific. We kept making the extra pass. I thought we passed up too many jump shots for layups and posts - and I'll pass up those jump shots all day."
Eating it up
Kevin Garnett was booed early on by Toronto fans, partly because of a confrontation with Jose Calderon in the last meeting. "He's not going at anyone, really, he's just intense," Rivers said of Garnett. "He's not trying to do it, he's not saying, 'You know what I'm going to do today is try to get under Calderon's skin.' It's just who he is. He plays with a great amount of emotion and intensity, he's not doing it to show anyone up, to embarrass anyone. He's doing it because of the competition. I've never had a problem with guys doing that. I have a problem with guys who [trash talk] knowing the cameras are on them. I never liked that. Just come to our practice - that's who he is, he's into the game. I wish every player on every team were into the game like that - we'd enjoy it more. The fine line, I guess, is he could get a taunting foul or technical. That could happen, then I'd have to act to scale it back. But I think the officials know the difference between taunting and intensity." 