Tag Archives: Jabari Bird

“Mutual Interest” Between Jamal Crawford and Celtics

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Jamal Crawford could be shipping up to Boston.

According to Jared Weiss of the Athletic, there is apparently mutual interest between the 38-year old and the Boston Celtics. The Celtics don’t currently have a roster spot available. However, with the recent fiasco around Jabari Bird, Bird is expected to be released from the roster at some point in the near future. This leaves the door open for the team to sign the 3-time Sixth Man of the Year, likely for a one year contract.

Crawford has had an illustrious career, spanning across eighteen seasons and seven teams. He spent most of his time with the Clippers and the Knicks, being with both for five seasons. Crawford also spent four years with the Bulls, two years with the Hawks, and one season each with Portland, Golden State, and most recently Minnesota. Crawford has produced a stat line of 15 points and 3.4 assists per game over the course of his career. While he only shoots 41% from the field, “JCrossover” is a 35% career three point shooter.

His Fit

The fit with the Celtics is clear. Crawford can become a solid shooting specialist off of the bench. Crawford proved last year with the Timberwolves that he’s still got it, even in the twilight of his career. In 20 minutes per game last year, he averaged 10.3 PPG off the bench for Minnesota. Though his defense is lacking, he would provide an offensive spark that was missing from the second unit last year.

Crawford would also be another veteran presence in the Celtics locker room. Boston is a very young team, and he would join Horford as one of the older players on the team. With a litany of developing guards, Crawford could serve as a useful mentor for the younger players.

If Boston is able to get a deal done, Crawford would be a valuable addition to the team. He would make an already deep squad even deeper if he ends up replacing Bird on the roster. Though he’s nearing the end of his career, he wants to get one more ring, and Boston could end up being the place for him to win one.

Jabari Bird Arrested for Assault on Friday

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Jabari Bird is in a whole lot of trouble.

The young Celtics guard was arrested Friday night in Brighton, Massachusetts. As of this morning, he was in custody at St. Elizabeth’s hospital. The matters appear to be very serious- the Domestic Violence Unit of the BPD became involved in the situation. Charges against Bird include assault, strangulation and kidnapping. There’s no doubt that this is going to be a sticky situation for the 24-year-old. While allegations against athletes are always hairy, this certainly does not look good for Jabari Bird.

The Boston Celtics released a statement regarding the matter on Saturday morning. It read, “We are aware of the incident involving Jabari Bird and are taking it very seriously. We are actively gathering information and will reserve further comment at this time.” It was a pretty standard statement for this type of situation, but it’s clear that Boston is on top of the situation.

What it Means

After the Summer League concluded, many fans had high hopes for Jabari Bird. He appeared to intrigue the Celtics as well, as the team inked him to a contract in late July. Bird, 24, spent last season as a two-way player, moving between Boston and the G-League affiliate Maine Red Claws. The NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is where he really stood out, though. He averaged team-highs in both points and rebounds, gathering 18.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

Though Bird wasn’t expected to play very much at all this season, fans were still excited about him. After this arrest, however, his future with the team becomes far more cloudy. According to sources, the Celtics aren’t expected to make any roster move regarding him on Saturday, but if the Celtics’ findings reflect poorly on the guard, there’s a good chance he’ll be swiftly shown the door. Seeing as he’s not likely to contribute to the team much, the Celtics won’t hesitate to cut Bird the second they decide that the allegations carry weight.

Fans will now play the waiting game to see if more information will trickle out throughout Saturday afternoon and over the weekend. Hopefully Bird is innocent and the allegations are false, but it certainly doesn’t seem that way. If true, there’s no place for someone like that on the Celtics.

The Celtics and Warriors go toe to toe in 2k19’s Player Ratings

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The two juggernauts could go to battle in the finals this season. Let’s see how 2k19 rated these star studded rosters.

Both Golden State and Boston enter this season with sizeable expectations. How will these rosters look in video game form you ask? No need to fear, as 2k19 has officially released team rosters for all 30 teams. While the team overall ratings have not yet been released, we can speculate those rankings fairly easily. But i’ll leave that open for interpretation.

Ratings for Golden State

  1. Kevin Durant sf, 97
  2. Stephen Curry pg, 95
  3. Demarcus Cousins c, 90
  4. Klay Thompson sg, 89
  5. Draymond Green pf, 87
  6. Andre Iguodala sf, 77
  7. Jordan Bell pf, 76
  8. Jonas Jerebko pf,76
  9. Shaun Livingston pg, 75
  10. Quinn Cook pg, 75
  11. Nick Young sf, 74
  12. Patrick McCaw sg, 73
  13. Kevon Looney pf,71
  14. Damian Jones c,70
  15. Chris Boucher pf,69

Golden State’s Takeaways

Demarcus Cousins receiving a 90 overall after missing almost two-thirds of last season comes as a bit of a surprise. What’s an even bigger surprise is the fact that he received a higher ranking than Klay Thompson. A pleasant surprise is the rankings of Jordan Bell and Kevin Durant. While many thought of Durant as a 99 overall talent, he still ranks in the top 5 again in this edition. Bell is a unique player that will develop over time. Fans could expect his overall to only rise from here.

Celtics lineup ratings

  1. Kyrie Irving pg, 93
  2. Gordon Hayward sf,88
  3. Jayson Tatum sf, 87
  4. Al Horford c, 88
  5. Jaylen Brown sf, 84
  6. Marcus Smart pg, 80
  7. Marcus Morris pf, 78
  8. Terry Rozier pg, 78
  9. Aron Baynes c,75
  10. Shane Larkin pg, 70
  11. Daniel Theis c, 70
  12. Guerschon Yabusele pf, 69
  13. Semi Ojeleye pf, 68
  14. Kadeem Allen sg, 68
  15. Jabari Bird sg, 67
  16. Robert Williams c, not yet rated

 Boston’s Takeaways

Although Boston’s roster is lower ranked that Golden State, this team still looks impressive. One point to mention- Shane Larkin is on the 2k roster, but has signed overseas during the offseason. While Al and Theis look a little underrated, the rating will adjust throughout the season thanks to the various amounts of game updates. While it is undetermined as of now, the rating for Robert Williams will be interesting to watch. Kyrie comes in as the 2nd highest rated point guard in the league behind Curry, and Jayson Tatum got a very favorable 87 overall after just one season. Brown rounds out the top 5 on the C’s frontline with an 84, but that number could easily rise by mid-season.

Conclusion

While we cannot debate a potential match-up off of a video game ratings list,  we can have fun playing it. This is one of the few variables that you can control in the palm of your hands. So enjoy 2k19 when it comes out, but do remember it is a video game. Let’s keep Jacksonville in our hearts as we play these competitive games in the future.

All ratings and info were received from 2kratings.com 

Bird

What To Do With Jabari Bird As He Continues To Impress (@jaxbrown725)

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It was in April when I tweeted about some kid from the The University of California who came off the bench for the Celtics with a firey style of play. The game was vs the Chicago Bulls and I instantly became a fan of Jabari Bird. If you check out the highlights, you’ll see a quick flashy guard who finishes well at the hoop. He can throw it down and if left open enough, knock down the J. But why is nobody talking about this dude?

Photo credit: usatoday.com

 Well, 8.8 MPG to go along with 3 PPG isn’t going to get you on SportsCenter. However, he did shoot 57% on all attempts, so there’s that right? Admittedly, he didn’t play much in the 2017-2018 campaign to get a great look, but if you’ve been following the Summer League, I wouldn’t sleep on Jaylen Browns old college teammate. Here’s why.

Jabari Bird History Lesson

At 6’6” and 190 lbs, Bird was a 4-star ESPN recruit from the class of 2013. Not only did he lead his high school team to an overall 100-8 record, Jabari was also named to the McDonald’s High School All-American game and was scouted as the No. 20 overall recruit in his class. He didn’t perform great in the game, but did show flashes of his hops and energy. Bird appeared to have stepped it up a bit and improved his game in his four years of college.

From 2013 to 2017, Jabari Bird was ballin’ out from the get-go. Having played with Jaylen Brown, he took a backseat to scoring, but soon afterwards took off. His ball handling and floor control was clearly what needed the most attention, but he could score. Just check out these numbers from Birds time in college:

Photo credit: californiagoldenblogs.com

Freshman: 2013-2014

11 – 10+ point games/ 2 – 20+ point games

Sophomore: 2014-2015

11 – 10+ point games/ 1 – 20+ point game

Junior: 2015-2016

21 – 10+ point games/ 4 – 20+ point games

Senior: 2016-2017

20 – 10+ point games/ 8 – 20+ point games 

Ending with 1,227 career points and finishing fifth all-time in Cal’s history in 3PM (187), Bird led the team in scoring in his final year with the Bears. Unfortunately, his team didn’t make the NCAA tournament in his last year, so the focus switched to trying to get on an NBA squad with a summer full of workouts and pre-draft screenings. Scouting report reading being athletic and having a decent shot, shot section and ball handling were hit points for some teams. Come draft night at pick 56, Danny Ainge made the call to select another Bird to wear Boston threads.

Maine Lobstah to a Bahston Celtic 

With being drafted, Jabari’s contract was two-way, which means he spends time with the NBAs team G-league affiliate, but not more than 45 days with the NBA team. This is to get players accustomed to the NBA life and style of play – a pseudo farm system. With that said, Jabari’s time with the Maine Red Claws, the C’s G league affiliate, was not wasted. He started in the 20 games, averaging 19.3 PPG in 35.2 MPG, continuing the sweet shooting he was known for. Adding to his resume, Bird was selected as an all-star for the G-League All-Star game before being called to Boston. So far, pretty impressive.

Photo credit: Pressherald.com

Swinging back around to April, Bird made five appearances sporadically until the game versus Chicago on the 6th. In that game, he played 24 minuets, shot 7/10 (70%), 1/2 (50%) from 3, and finished with 15pts, 3ast, and 3rbs. There were slashes to the rim, shots falling, and a few dunks thrown down that got Tommy and Mike out of their seats.

From that day, I knew he was special. He ended up with 9pts and 5rbs the next game, but you didn’t hear much about him after that. Why? A deep roster with a deeper bench will do that. Plus, he needed time to develop in the G-league. But have you seen him this summer?

Time To Leave The Nest? 

Summer League hoops is pretty entertaining if you’re into following players, progression, story lines and good old round ball. Sometime you get a few competive games and get to check out the talent.

Enter the young Boston Celtics. With a team already filled to the brim with talent, the summer league unit showed no less. Yabu, Semi, Bird, and Williams were straight up mashing.

Reaching the Summer League quarter finals, the Celtics fell to the Dallas Mavericks, but that didn’t stop Bird from showing out. Jabari led the team with 16.8 PPG on 57% shooting, 6 RPG, and 3 APG. It’s clear he can get the ball in the bucket, but what’s his value to the team at the moment? With the signing of Smart, it leaves less seats on the bench at his position and more of a reason for Jabari to spread his wings elsewhere.

You might not know the name now, but if you’re a die hard you might be familiar with the thoroughbred scorer who can add a layer to the bench if utilized correctly. It’ll certainly be tough to spread minuets, and you would hate to see a talent like Bird suffocate in the G-League. So what do you do? Do you trade him? A perfect scenario for a sneaky GM would be to low-ball Boston and get a gem. Or do you keep him, and see how next year pans out? Either way, keep an eye on this Jabari Bird fella, especially if he continues to play for the green and white.

Photo credit: Celticslife.com

Jabari Bird- Ready to Contribute?

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WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

“He’s more ready than anybody. He can guard at a high level. He can play, and he will outplay a lot of people.” 

Jaylen Brown said this about Jabari Bird, his former Cal teammate, after Bird’s first minutes as one of Brown’s newest NBA teammates.  In the past, Brown has called Bird his mentor from when he first arrived at Cal. The script has flipped.  Brown now tries to hype up his mentor-turned-protege, but there is some validity to the statement. Brad Stevens echoed Brown’s comments, speaking positively of Bird’s chances in the NBA.

 

“Defensively, I think he has a chance to be really good. Through preseason, I felt like he was one of our better perimeter defenders. I feel like he has huge upside.”    

When the coach says this after going to you late in the game, and keeps you in for half of the 4th quarter, it carries some weight. Stevens preaches defense first for every player. The development of scoring weapon Jabari Bird will be approached the same way. During the game, announcer Brian Scalabrine said, “It’s defense that will get you on the court, but offense that will keep you there.” He was talking about Terry Rozier, but the same can be said for Bird. If he can continue to show his defensive prowess in practice, we could see him getting more time.

Jabari Bird has a two-way contract, something new to the NBA this season. It allows teams to sign up to two additional players who can spend up to 45 days with the team. The rest of their time is spent in the G-league.  This allows teams to keep a specific player in their system. Two-way contracts can be converted to one-year minimum deals at the discretion of the NBA team. If Bird has more performances like he did against the 76ers, this could be an option for the Celtics. They are already suffering from the injury bug, and looking internally for answers might be the best option.

 

UNCHARTERED WATERS

As Coach Stevens tries to find lineups that work, Bird has found himself thrown into the fire. This is important for Bird. Using him this early in the season is interesting because of the limit placed on these players. If the Celtics continue to use him now, they will have to make a decision sooner than later. Bird will become a restricted free agent when he completes his 45-day limit with the team. We should expect the Celtics to use all of his days and get to this point. The high praise from his teammates and coaches proves they will want to take a harder look at him.

It is possible the Celtics let the contract play out before making a decision on Bird.  Don’t be surprised if they convert it to a minimum deal before then. They need another player to fill a roster spot right now, and Bird checks out. Several options have surfaced which would be solid choices for the final roster slot.   But if Bird continues to prove his worth on the court, he might be the best choice. Signing him now would free up the ability to sign another player to a two-way contract. The deadline to use this slot is January 15th.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Bird has always played with high energy on both ends of the floor, and his NBA career has started no differently. If he continues to see minutes, he will start to show his scoring ability. He shot 37% from three-territory last season at Cal, and 44% in Summer League. Athleticism and quickness are a big part of Bird’s game. He uses these skills to get into the paint with cuts and drives. He made 64% of his looks around the rim last season at Cal.

A former McDonald’s All-American Five-star recruit, his college career improved considerably while at Cal. Four-year college players like Bird are rare.  Very skilled offensively, he shows he can guard at a high level. Scouts tend to shy away from four-year guys.  They think that group doesn’t have as much upside as younger guys. If he can continue to trend in the right direction, we should bank on seeing more of Jabari Bird.

“I know I can play with anybody, and I’m ready.” – Jabari Bird