Sunday, July 08, 2012
What timing: Avery Bradley to undergo another operation
Oh, great. The day after Ray Allen leaves the Celts, it’s announced the guy
who’s supposed to replace him is going to have another operation. The Celts
were hinting at this earlier, letting it be known Avery Bradley wouldn’t be
back until late in the calendar year. The suggestion was that his recovery was
taking a bit longer than thought. But there was a little more to it than that: Bradley needs
more surgery. … Ugh. … Still think the Celts made the tough decision concerning
Allen, etc. But …
Speaking of Ray, I’m a little surprised by this story about the
alleged “stunned” management reaction to Allen’s departure and how they “honestly never envisioned” him
leaving for the Heat. My reaction: Oh, c’mon. They’re not stunned. They tried
trading him a couple times last season. They were willing to let him play
second-string behind Bradley before Bradley got hurt. They didn’t fall over
themselves trying to re-sign Allen, and the talk of Ray heading to the Heat has
been all over the newspapers and airwaves for weeks. To top it all off, the
Celts signed Jason Terry last week, just as Allen began visiting other teams. The
Celts knew what was likely going to happen. Maybe Danny and Doc are trying to come across as stunned, perhaps for internal and external PR reasons. But Ray's departure is actually one of the least
surprising off-season moves by a Boston sports star in recent memory.
