The Boston Celtics are falling apart faster than the rubber of a blown tire flying off the rim on a car being driven by a negligent driver who is trying to get to a service station as fast as possible.

The driver seems to be sitting in the car, pushing on the gas, holding the wheel firmly, reassuring himself “I can make it, just a little further and it will be ok!”

Is Danny Ainge the negligent driver in my aforementioned analogy? Time will tell. One thing going for Ainge is that he is pretty crafty. But he needs to make moves, and any indecisiveness could prove to be costly.

Ainge’s Celtics have three valuable trading chips in Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and especially, Paul Pierce. All possess value to teams in need of that one player to push them over the hump, or in the form of an expiring contract (cough, cough, Garnett).

I look up and down the Celtics roster in search of answers, and I sit there, scratching my head, wondering if Ainge has been receiving random packages in the mail from Robert Parish, consuming he contents of those packages, and then thinking his current roster is going to make it happen.

Ainge can take solace knowing that Rajon Rondo is a solid piece to build around. He is still young but at the same time he is experienced enough to lead the rebuilding movement. Having a gem of a point guard can accelerate the rebuilding process and the Celtics course correction of becoming a contender.

The Celtics can aim their trade radar right at the hearts of teams who need prime time, seasoned veterans. If Ainge positions himself wisely, he can target teams based on the following 3 factors:

Send Ray Allen to a team with youth but lacking a deadeye shooter to spread their offense.

The Ideal Trade:

Ray Allen to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Anthony Randolph and Martell Webster.

Shipping Ray Allen off for Anthony Randolph and Martell Webster is mutually beneficial for both teams. Anthony Randolph is the type of player Doc Rivers could reach and unlock his unbelievable upside. Martell Webster is an athletic player when healthy, and if he regains his form, is a low-risk, high-reward type energy player who hits the three.

There are many other potential deals out there, naturally, but I feel Anthony Randolph has a lot more potential than other 6’11 prospects in the league.

Garnett could be sent off to a team in need of a fat expiring contract.

The reality is Garnett is as impossible to trade as a player can be. He has $21,161,308 remaining on his contract. A team in need of his services could not mortgage that much of their roster to make the push. The only viable trade option the Celtics could pursue would be teams that are looking to clear cap space to go after big free agents during the off season.

Paul Pierce could be swapped out for a equal caliber, younger player. 

The Ideal trade:

Paul Pierce to Indiana Pacer for Danny Granger and Lance Stephenson.

Paul Pierce to the Indiana Pacers for Danny Granger and Lance Stephenson. The Celtics with Danny Granger and Rajon Rondo would represent a solid 1-2 punch that would allow the Celtics to build around immediately. Granger would be Paul Pierce light, but he has much more left in the tank than Pierce does at this point. Lance Stephenson is another player who, like Anthony Randolph, has amazing upside but needs to get to a coach and roster that has an opportunity to allow him to play through his mistakes.

The reality

A roster featuring Rondo and Granger with a bunch of young guys is a good place for the Celtics to rebuild with. If Anthony Randoph could reach his potential, there are three solid players to fill in the cracks with. Webster and Stephenson could be more of write offs than long term solutions, but if Jeff Green recovers from his heart surgery, you have another young player that which you can solid your roster with.

Ultimately, Ainge must realize that the wheel has indeed gone flat, and that he is driving on three instead of four tires. Celtics fans must cling to the hope that Ainge will realize the gravity of his situation, park, get out of the car, and change the tire.

So to speak.

He’s back. He’s looking fit, and sweating like a pig, in all of his 6 minutes, he scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting, and 2-2 from the free throw line. He also grabbed a few boards. Perhaps it was the South Beach Diet, but whatever it was, Eddy Curry is looking ready to resume a career that was tailspinning out of control with the New York Knicks.

If Curry can get into game shape, and even play a platoon role of 15 minutes a night, the Miami Heat will stand to be the front runners for this years NBA title.

This is because the one thing the Heat truly need this year will be a large man in the middle with some semblance of offensive skills. Joel Anthony, this means you.

Its ironic that I say that it took Eddy Curry losing 100 pounds to be that big body, but its true. As insane as his career has gone, Curry can still impact games due to his size and strength. That is, once his legs catch up to speed.

It doesn’t take an NBA mastermind to figure out that Joel Anthony is not the long-term solution for the Heat in the middle, but Eddy Curry try well could be.

Curry has every reason to be motivated. He has two hall of famers (sorry Chris Bosh, I just don’t see it happening for you) around him, and real opportunities to win rings. After a career playing for nothing but absolute bottom dwellers, this is his chance to be on a winner.

Even more noteworthy is that he is still only 29 years old. If he can get into shape and be productive, he still has a few potentially good years left in him.

Eddy Curry, if he comes around (HUGE IF), could bring some serious spice for the Heat.

I really don’t like it when ESPN insider writers waste time to blow up a huge deal about something like Dwyane Wade telling the world he has started eating salad. I pay a premium to have access to inside information. This is not what I had in mind when I shelled out the cash, and clicked agree.

No offense, but at age 30, if you are only starting to eat salad now, whoa nellie…. just think of how good you COULD have been had you been eating properly your entire career. It really blows my mind that these NBA athletes boyishly joke about how they hate salad.

Recently , Kevin Love had been boasting about his diet, and how he lost 25 pounds just by eating right. My god man, what has the world come to? (In the case of Love, at least he figured this out while still being young, and he is crouching it this season – kudos)

Everyone in the NBA should have to eat under a mandated list of healthy and nutritious meals. I am not joking, its your job to be in optimal physical shape.

If I am an owner, and you are a multimillion dollar basketball machine, that’s it. It’s going to be in the contract. Once you agreed to be paid a huge contract, you should be responsible to do everything possible to take the absolute best care of your body.

Ask any nutritionist where fitness starts. You will predominantly receive one answer, and one answer only. That’s nutrition.

Too often we here of athletes coming into training camp out of shape, planning to play into shape.

YOU ARE A FREAKING PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE.

Am I missing something here?

It is YOUR JOB to be in shape, and eat right.

Somehow, people find this is a newsworthy concept. I find it disgusting that this whole story coincides with a new year beginning, and writers, likely on a new year resolution of their own to get in shape, thinks “hey, I know, I’ll just write a piece on how D Wade eats salad, and finally, at age 30, decides he will start to take care of himself now. Why not write about it? it fits the theme of the new year?”

Are you kidding me????

Nutrition is extremely important in storing energy that can be consumed and accessed by the body to use for endurance, stamina, and enhanced performance.

On that note, it is the one legal performance enhancing substance. I am shocked that it took Wade this long to figure this out.

It’s scary to imagine what these players could do if they bought into eating foods that are good for them, and not just good tasting. It’s also scary to imagine what these writers could enlighten us with if they decided to write about something worthy of a read.

Let me start by mentioning I don’t believe statistical measurements such as power rankings are truthful in resulting in NBA championships. Furthermore, I don’t know when the last team ranked first actually won any jewelry as a result of their top ranking. To top it off, I don’t possess the time or the patience to investigate this sort of phenomenon as well.

This is a crazy season due to the stunted quantity of games, back-to-back-to-backs, and overall lack of rest. This type of scenario should indeed favor young legs, so long as the injury bug can be avoided.

Ok, all disclaimers aside, lets take a look at these Philadelphia 76ers.

THE X FACTOR

I can start by saying that this 76ers team’s success can be directly linked to the night and day turnaround in the performance of center Spencer Hawes. His play has been amazing thus far this season, and if he continues to keep this up, I will continue to believe that the Sixers can be a legitimate force in the East.

Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Elton Brand, and Jodie Meeks, along with Hawes, have seemingly bought into and gelled under the guidance of Doug Collins. Their defense is solid, and their surprising offensive output has combined to thrust them to the top of ESPN analyst John Hollingers Power Rankings.

THE BENCH

Unlike the usual suspects, such as the Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks, to name a few, the 76ers bench is substantially better in comparison. Lou WIlliams is currently leading the team in scoring as the ignition to the offense for the second unit.

Former #2 overall pick Evan Turner is coming around, and Thaddeus Young is making his usual solid contribution on defense and offense.

Something that really pops off the charts: The 76ers have 3 reserves averaging over 10 points per game. Williams is leading the team in scoring while Evans and Young are both over 10 a night. I don’t know if there is any other team in the league who has three bench players averaging over 10 a night.

It’s a small sample size, and as legs and conditioning improve, shots start dropping more frequently, and teams start improving their overall play, it will be interesting to see how things level off in relationship to the Sixers.

Regardless of ratings, pundits’ commentary, these Sixers seemed poised and confident to make sure that all the naysayers shouting “fluke” are choking on their words.

DeMarcus Cousins has won. Coach Paul Westphal has been terminated, and Golden State Warriors castaway Keith Smart has taken over the reigns as interim head coach.

Cousins has been a mercurial and unstable quantity to any team since his high school days. His lone season at Kentucky was the same. He slipped from potential #1 overall pick to 5th based on his head case reputation. In his brief time in the NBA, Cousins’ immaturity and easily-roughed-feathers has caused him to be a serious distraction. Luckily for Cousins, he is extremely talented, and a massive individual, which usually prevails over all other logic by NBA management decision makers.

What’s sad to me is that instead of supporting your system, and backing the disciplinary actions of your coach in order to teach Cousins there are serious consequences, the Sacramento Kings opted to fire Westphal. In doing so, they made Westphal the sacrificial lamb. Kings management decided to please Cousins, instead of thinking of the long term consequences their actions might bring.

And it makes you wonder why the Kings have not been heading in the right direction.

Sure, Paul Westphal did erroneously take it out on Cousins publicly, and we will never truly know who really said what. Agents will always side by their client, but which person do you truly believe tried more than the other to make things work?

The thing I am concerned with is that this opens the door for more athletes to think that they can get away with this type of behavior. Sadly, if an individual is talented enough, they can. In a league that should remain professional, where acting “adult” should be paramount, these young men are being taught that if you keep whining or acting like a baby, you eventually get what you want.

In any other profession, acting how Cousins has would make him impossible to hire, and quite easy to fire. Imagine if Cousins was in your office, acting the way he did, saying something (allegedly) “if you don’t like it, send me to another company.” Job recommendation? Yeah right.

Sure it’s not fair. It’s the NBA, where everyone gets a a pass, and everyone is extremely valuable if they are talented at putting a ball into a basket. People give these players passes because they are celebrities in most social circles, and adored by the public. They are the heroes of the teams we support and love. Even judges rule against them using a lighter gavel because they believe that famous people are exposed to a different life than us common, ticket-buying folks.

If you are team management, you must think about developing your talent, and the long term goals of you franchise.

The Sacramento Kings shot themselves in the foot by siding with an immature 21-year-old-man-child. Instead of taking a hard line with Cousins and teaching him to grow up, potentially increasing the value of his long term abilities, they have instead giving Cousins the throne, and made him the King of Sacramento.

Ricky Rubio is turning heads all around NBA circles. Sometimes it’s simply because fans and players alike can’t follow or predict his passes, and other times because they cannot believe he actually made the pass he just made. Regardless of which cause, two things are certain:

1. You should not take your eyes of the court while Rubio is in the game.

2.Ricky Rubio has Minnesota TImberwolves fans falling in love.

Having watched every minute of Rubio play this year it’s instantly apparent that he makes everyone around him significantly better. His style of play is infectious, and players are willing to hustle to their spots within Rick Adelmen’s offense in order to present Rubio with passing options off the pick and roll. He makes passes other players wouldn’t dare attempt, and thus far, his teammates are converting them.

Rubio has used his 27 minutes a game in highly productive fashion, currently averaging 8.8 points, 6.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds while hitting 50% of his threes. It’s a relatively small sample size thus far, and likely to level out during the season, but Rubio is proving you can’t allow him to catch and shoot. He can hit the set shot.

Rubio single handedly led the drive to finish off the Mavericks on January 1st, making the Dallas’ defense look like a bunch of loiters on the court at times. His use of the pick and roll with Kevin Love is quickly developed into a tandem Minnesota will thrive off of watching for years to come.

Rubio is quickly proving he is capable of being the man at the helm in crunch time. He is calm, poised, and has lead his team against the Spurs and the Mavericks to victory, winning the last two games.

It is also notable that Rubio and the Wolves have not lost by more than 3 points in their 3 losses to Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, and the Miami Heat. This is a huge turnaround from previous seasons. The Wolves are in games, late in the game.

I commend Rick Adelmen for his approach to ease Rubio into games, but it is only a matter of time until he is the unquestioned starter in Minnesota. He is simply too good, and having his energy and infectious play to start games will only provide better winning opportunities for the Timberwolves.

Another point I made about Rubio, while he was struggling a bit in Spain over the past two years, was that there is no hand checking allowed in the NBA. This is a distinctive advantage to his style of play; one he will continue to use to exploit defenses night in and night out. Once his ability to shoot off the dribble improves, Rubio could potentially be the most lethal administrator of the pick and pop in basketball. The potential is there.

Rubio is already proving critics wrong, only if it’s a small sample size of 5 games, and 27 minutes per game. If you look at just a few things you will realize he is playing with the best team he has ever had. He has Derrick Williams catching reverse  alley-oop dunks that he tosses from half court. He has defenders snapping ankles trying to close out on their man as Rubio creates passing lanes nobody could see. He has three point weapons in Anthony Tolliver, Kevin Love, Wes Johnson, and J.J. Barea. He has a young team and a coach who knows how to turn marginal players into potential all stars.

Essentially, Ricky Rubio has more assets for his game to develop than ever before.

This season marks the first season in a long time for Minnesota Timberwolves fans to truly be excited about their future. Additionally, with this current roster, it proves that as crazy as we all might have thought David Kahn to be, he might actually be on to something.

On that note: David Kahn, get Kevin Love inked to that extension YESTERDAY. At all costs please make sure you have the Love and Rubio duo locked up as long as you can.

It has become quite apparent 2 games into the 2011-2012 NBA season that Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are in trouble this season. Bryant is playing his usual great quality game but it appears the the Lakers are a mess while Andrew Bynum is sitting out the first 4 games of the year due to his suspension.

Even with Bynum, do the Lakers have what it takes to make some noise this year?

I don’t think so.

Kobe is a year older, and has had two “mad-scientist” procedures performed on him by a doctor in Germany. He just suffered a slight tear in a ligament in his shooting hand. He claims it cannot get any worse, but over a grueling schedule due to the shortened season, there will be a lot of wear-and-tear on his wrist.

Add into the fold the recent news of his pending divorce, and Kobe is getting press for all the wrong reasons. How will he cope? I am guessing that the egotistical Kobe will be the usual Kobe Bryant everyone either hates or loves. He is to sociopathic to allow something like a divorce to bother him.

You can bet that NBA teams will perform a vintage “Karate kid” and sweep the wrist. All scouting reports and pre-lakers matchup practices will make sure of this. Any time Kobe takes it to the rack, expect to see hacks going directly at his wrist. This defensive strategy will be implemented league-wide to try and slow down the league’s best player.

The second fact is that there is no point guard worth mentioning on their roster. Whoever the Lakers face, their PG match ups will be a nightmare. During their second game, the Kings starting back court lit the Lakers up for a combined 47 points. You simply will not win when players can score like this.

Lamar Odom being “given” to the Mavericks. This move makes zero sense. You don’t just give away the 6th man of the year. Odom is a jack of all trades, and does it in a 7-foot frame. You just don’t let that get away. Period. And if you do, you get at least get something for it.

All said and done, the Lakers are not near being a championship caliber team after the moves they made. If they do manage to make a big trade this season, it will further deplete and disrupt the lineup, but perhaps it might give them some hope for the next season.

To get someone like Dwight Howard you will have lose Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, which will leave the lakers with Kobe, Dwight, and Metta World Peace.

Yikes.

Call me crazy, but C.J. Miles? Am I about to write about C.J. Miles?

Really? Am I on drugs? Sheesh…..

Has the NBA lockout and lack of viable and meaningful content gotten so dreary that they have to waste time on sites like ESPN.com and Yahoo.com to highlight the fact that C.J. Miles is getting slimmer?

Well, here is what strikes me with a bit of anger. It is a double edged sort of anger, really.

1.The media must have something better to do. if they don’t they should leak something, or simply make something up, ethics be damned. The invention of a story would be better than reading that someone like a role player such as Miles is on the path to stardom now that he has lost a bit of weight.

2. The larger and more overlying issue is this: C.J. Miles is a professional athlete. He should be in peak shape.  He is not a player like Baron Davis or Shaquille O’Neal, a player who no matter how fat they get, seem to never let their talent elude their grasp long enough as to not being able to regain form.

Surely Miles is not Eddy Curry, who is someone whom if lost a ton of weight, would be a shocking new story.

He should be in peak shape, he has all day, everyday, to do so. If he is not, this is the equivalent of saying he basically played his career to date out of shape.

The bottom line is, there has got to be something more newsworthy than NBA players and diets. Why not go on a personal crusade to attack every owner and every NBA player to get their story on the lockout.

Maybe ask Wilson Chandler why he is such a dumb-ass, oh, wait, that’s right he is a stoner- for heading to China and forgoing an NBA deal.

What is this world coming to? Seriously!

After recently meeting Kobe Bryant while he was promoting his SMART Car brand presence here in China, I was surprised that he was so polite. He was indeed a confident man, and very to the point and at times almost rude in order to explain to people he could function without too much of their guidance.

I sensed he had an angry side.

It seems that Kobe has taken to unleashing his anger in the house of God, as he decided to take the law into his own hands and disrupt someone’s religious experience in church. Kobe allegedly confronted someone who he thought was taking his photograph during a service in San Diego. The victim had to receive treatment as a result of the pain.

Kobe of course denies he hurt the guy. But news flash Kobe, us mortal humans don’t spend our time in a gym becoming as strong as it takes to become NBA superstars, and if you grab one of us mortals from a awkward angle, even at half-strength, you might cause damage.

Of course we all know how the strength and magnitude of injuries caused by rich celebrities can exponentially seem more painful since it was caused by the same hands might also be able to write a fat settlement check.

I can honestly say I could sense from first hand experience Kobe is a very short tempered individual. He could sugar coat it a bit better in China, where he had blankets of security guards, and local Chinese worshipers surrounding him. When he was in an isolated incident, in a church, he simply could not keep it together.

All I can say to Kobe is: “So what.”

Who cares if someone takes your picture. You should be used to it by now. Regardless of how distasteful the location, you need to keep it under control, you are a superstar for crying out loud.

Worse though, is that Thomas Hagos, age 20, of San Diego, by no means a well conditioned athlete, unlikely capable of battling ground toe to toe with Bryant, was not taking Kobe’s picture, and therefore was a complete victim to a situation likely manifested by Kobe’s own self absorbed super-ego.

Kobe, get help, cool that temper, and chill out. Take it from someone who truly has met you face to face, and worked together with you here in China: Not everybody loves Kobe, not everyone is obsessed with taking your photo.

Get over yourself already.

Police plan to speak to Bryant after they have questioned Hagos about the incident.

Dennis Rodman, if looked at strictly through goggles preventative of allowing any off court antics/behavior, is the best rebounder the game has ever seen.

He is entering the Hall of Fame and deserves all the credit in the world.

Sure he is colorful, and many dislike him. Regardless of this, I have yet to see anyone else sacrifice his body and fly parallel to the ground in order to save a loose ball. He is the embodiment of the word hustle.

Speaking of colorful, after making an agreement to keep it under control during his enshrinement speech, the Hall of Fame agreed to put his wardrobe on display as well. Creepy…

People don’t realize he was actually not a bad offensive player. He just chose to sacrifice those numbers and not even try in order to appease his teammates. He learned from the great Chuck Daly that if you keep the team happy, and play your role better than anyone else, you will become champions.

Congrats Worm, you deserve this amazing honor.