Who the Celtics should go after in free agency

What can or will the Boston Celtics do this off season via acquisitions that will bring them closer to a championship? That is the ultimate question. Many people have answers. Some are pie in the sky like getting Kevin Durant. That is not happening.

So what is Plan B which is really Plan A for Danny Ainge. I doubt he'll ask me. I'll tell him anyways. Hassan Whiteside.

First let's look at the Top 20 players based on Win Shares for the 2015-16 season. Interesting to note that the 20 players have less combined championships than Tim Duncan does by himself.

The 5 free agents are in yellow.

NAME	AGE	WS	RD	PICK	CHAMPIONSHIP	TEAMS	TRANSACTIONS
Stephen Curry ▪ GSW	28	16.3	1	7	1	1	0
Kevin Durant ▪ OKC	28	13.5	1	2	0	1	0
Russell Westbrook ▪ OKC	28	13.4	1	4	0	1	0
Kawhi Leonard ▪ SAS	25	12.9	1	15	1	1	0
LeBron James ▪ CLE	32	12.1	1	1	2	3	FA twice
Chris Paul ▪ LAC	31	11.8	1	4	0	2	Trade
James Harden ▪ HOU	27	11.7	1	3	0	2	Trade
Kyle Lowry ▪ TOR	30	11.4	1	24	0	3	Traded twice
DeAndre Jordan ▪ LAC	28	11.0	2	35	0	1	0
Draymond Green ▪ GSW	26	10.1	2	35	1	1	0
LaMarcus Aldridge ▪ SAS	31	9.7	1	2	0	2	FA
Isaiah Thomas ▪ BOS	27	9.4	2	30	0	3	Traded twice
Paul Millsap ▪ ATL	31	9.4	2	47	0	2	FA
DeMar DeRozan ▪ TOR	27	9.3	1	9	0	1	0
Hassan Whiteside ▪ MIA	27	9.1	2	33	0	2	FA
Kemba Walker ▪ CHO	26	9.0	1	9	0	1	0
Al Horford ▪ ATL	30	8.9	1	3	0	1	0
Damian Lillard ▪ POR	26	8.7	1	6	0	1	0
Paul George ▪ IND	26	8.3	1	10	0	1	0
Gordon Hayward ▪ UTA	26	8.1	1	9	0	1	0

Top need for the Celtics is a rim protector. My choice would be Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside had knee problems early in his career but has recovered to become a force in the NBA in the last 2 years. Is he a risk? Yes. But the Celtics aren't getting Lebron or Durant. So they need to shoot for high risk, high reward. He reminds me of Dennis Rodman on the defensive end plus he can score. Whiteside hasn't logged a lot of minutes in his career and he is one of the youngest free agents available. Oh, and thankfully he is not one of those bigs that feels the need to fire up 3's. He has never attempted one.

Here are Whiteside's career numbers.

Season	Tm	G	FG%	2P%	FT%	TRB	BLK	PTS
2010-11	SAC	1	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.0	0.0	0.0
2011-12	SAC	18	0.444	0.444	0.417	2.2	0.8	1.6
2014-15	MIA	48	0.628	0.628	0.500	10.0	2.6	11.8
2015-16	MIA	65	0.618	0.618	0.635	11.8	3.8	14.1

Al Horford does nothing for me. Good player on decent teams for years in Atlanta. However, the Hawks just hover in that middle of the pack and were never able to get over the hump.

How have Cam Neely/Don Sweeney done in year one?

We are almost one year since Cam Neely and the Boston Bruins named Don Sweeney their new general manager replacing Peter Chiarelli. How do the first year of moves look.

The major pieces the Bruins moved on from were Milan Lucic, Doug Hamilton, Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg. Minor pieces were Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille.

Replacing them were Matt Beleskey, Jimmy Hayes, Matt Irwin, Colin Miller and Zac Rinaldo. Along with late additions John Michael-Liles and Lee Stempniak.

For the five games remaining in the season, plus, hopefully the playoffs, which set of players would you rather have right now.

My answer, without question, is the players the Bruins moved on from.

Here are the 2015-16 statistics for all the changes to the roster Neely and Sweeney have made over the last year.

The Newbies

Player	Age	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	TOI	ATOI
Matt Beleskey	27	75	14	21	35	9	1,185	15:48
Jimmy Hayes	26	74	13	16	29	-12	1,032	13:57
Colin Miller	23	39	3	12	15	2	621	15:55
Frank Vatrano	21	34	7	3	10	-1	407	11:57
Landon Ferraro	24	53	5	5	10	-8	581	10:58
Lee Stempniak	32	14	2	6	8	3	217	15:30
Tyler Randell	24	27	6	0	6	-2	189	6:59
Joonas Kemppainen	27	44	2	3	5	-6	552	12:32
Zac Rinaldo	25	52	1	2	3	-5	431	8:18
John-Michael Liles	35	12	0	2	2	-4	229	19:03
Noel Acciari	24	14	0	1	1	-3	138	9:51
Tommy Cross	26	3	0	1	1	-1	39	13:05
Matt Irwin	28	2	0	0	0	-5	30	14:56
Jonas Gustavsson	31	22	0	0	0	0	1,164	52:55
TOTAL			53	72	125	-33

Here are the 2015-16 NHL statistics for players Neely and Sweeney jettisoned during the off season.

Note: Simon Gagne retired

The Departed

Player	Age	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	TOI	ATOI
Milan Lucic	27	75	17	33	50	22	1,291	17:13
Carl Soderberg	30	77	12	36	48	-5	1,388	18:02
Reilly Smith	24	76	24	23	47	15	1,418	18:40
Dougie Hamilton	22	77	11	30	41	-12	1,523	19:47
Matt Bartkowski	27	74	5	10	15	-22	1,372	18:33
Gregory Campbell	32	76	3	8	11	-8	798	10:30
David Warsofsky	25	9	0	1	1	-2	147	16:19
Craig Cunningham	25	10	0	1	1	-1	101	10:05
Bobby Robins	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:00
Matt Lindblad	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:00
Niklas Svedberg	26	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:00
Daniel Paille	31	12	0	0	0	-2	137	11:25
Simon Gagne	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:00
Brian Ferlin	23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:00
TOTAL			72	142	214	-15		.

How do the Red Sox starters stack up at Fenway Park

Here are the career stats for the six projected starters for the Boston Red Sox in games they have pitched just at Fenway Park.

Price is phenomenal--Wright, Buchholz and Rodriguez are serviceable--why Porcello and Kelly are disaster.

NAME	GAMES	W	L	WIN %	IP	HR	BB	K	WHIP	ERA
Price	11	6	1	0.857	74	4	21	60	0.95	1.95
Wright	11	4	2	0.667	49 2/3	5	15	41	1.19	3.26
Buchholz	82	33	26	0.559	504 1/3	37	179	404	1.34	3.93
Rodriguez	12	6	2	0.750	70 2/3	9	19	54	1.27	3.95
Porcello	17	7	8	0.467	102 2/3	14	23	90	1.32	4.65
Kelly	17	7	5	0.583	93 2/3	8	37	78	1.49	4.90
TOTAL	150	63	44	0.589	895	77	294	727	1.31	3.91

Bruins - Last 15 games - Even Strength scoring

In the last 15 games, the Bruins have gone (6-7-2, 14 pts) to put their playoff chances in peril.

Also, one side note, if I hear one more time "you never know what can happen if they make the playoffs, hot goalie, blah , blah" I am going to throw up. NEWS FLASH. The games they are playing now are the playoffs. They have to win now.

S who is the blame? How about the entire team for its complete inability to put the puck in the net.

The Bruins have scored 29 goals in the last 15 games. That is a measly (1.9) points a game. Here is the breakdown.

SITUATION	GOALS
Even Strength	20
Power Play	6
Shorthanded	1
3 on 3 - OT	2
TOTAL	29

However, the biggest problem is that the B's can't score at even strength. So who gets the lion's share of the blame pie for the last 15 games. Let's see who the biggest culprits are at 5 on 5. How about Matt Beleskey, 1 point in the last 15 games with a (-7). Jimmy Hayes, 0 points in his last 14 games with a (-6) and Ryan Spooner with 1 point in his last 14 games with a (-3).

Here are the Bruins forwards stats at even strength for the last 15 games. As you can see, the highest scoring Bruin is averaging only (.4) points per game at even strength. Just awful.

NAME	POS	G	A	PTS	PLUS/MINUS	TOI
Matt Beleskey	LW	0	1	1	-7	244:43:00
Jimmy Hayes	RW	0	0	0	-6	196:10:00
Ryan Spooner	C	1	0	1	-3	211:00:00
Noel Acciari	C	0	1	1	-3	137:55:00
Landon Ferraro	C	1	1	2	-3	130:52:00
Tyler Randell	RW	1	0	1	-2	18:44
Brett Connolly	RW	1	1	2	-1	93:54:00
David Krejci	C	1	4	5	0	301:12:00
Patrice Bergeron	C	4	1	5	0	290:40:00
Brad Marchand	LW	2	4	6	0	279:15:00
Loui Eriksson	LW	1	4	5	0	278:11:00
David Pastrnak	RW	4	1	5	0	207:04:00
Joonas Kemppainen	LW	0	1	1	1	8:56
Zac Rinaldo	C	0	0	0	1	7:47
Frank Vatrano	LW	1	1	2	2	49:03:00
Lee Stempniak	RW	1	5	6	3	216:55:00

Here is the defense. Ugh.

NAME	POS	G	A	PTS	PLUS/MINUS	TOI
Dennis Seidenberg	D	0	1	1	-5	270:24:00
John-Michael Liles	D	0	1	1	-4	228:36:00
Joseph Morrow	D	0	0	0	-1	77:22:00
Kevan Miller	D	1	0	1	-1	217:38:00
Zdeno Chara	D	1	2	3	0	350:12:00
Adam McQuaid	D	0	0	0	1	280:11:00
Zach Trotman	D	0	0	0	1	10:12
Torey Krug	D	0	3	3	4	325:37:00

Odds that the Bruins make the playoffs

What was unthinkable two weeks ago has become reality for the Bruins. They could be on the outside looking in when the playoffs role around for the second year in a row. Completely unacceptable even for a team that has major talent issue on defense.

The Bruins are (2-7-1) in their last ten games while averaging a mere 1.6 goals a game. That isn't going to get it done. What is going to get it done?

Here are the odds based on all the scenarios in the last 5 games. Bottom line is this. Boston has to get 5 out of 10 of the remaining points to have a better than 50% chance of making the playoffs. And they are staring at a first round match up with Washington, Tampa Bay or Florida.

Total Points	Record	Pct In	Washington	Tampa Bay	Florida	NY Islanders
98	(5-0-0)	100.0%	0.0%	48.0%	51.0%	1.0%
97	(4-0-1)	100.0%	0.0%	48.0%	51.0%	0.0%
96	(4-1-0)	99.8%	0.1%	48.0%	50.0%	0.0%
96	(3-0-2)	99.6%	0.2%	47.0%	50.0%	0.0%
95	(3-1-1)	97.2%	0.7%	44.0%	46.0%	0.0%
95	(2-0-3)	94.6%	10.0%	41.0%	43.0%	0.0%
94	(3-2-0)	91.4%	10.0%	40.0%	42.0%	0.0%
94	(2-1-2)	87.3%	13.0%	36.0%	38.0%	0.0%
94	(1-0-4)	80.3%	15.0%	32.0%	33.0%	0.0%
93	(2-2-1)	70.5%	16.0%	27.0%	28.0%	0.0%
93	(1-1-3)	59.2%	16.0%	21.0%	22.0%	0.0%
93	(0-0-5)	46.6%	15.0%	15.0%	16.0%	0.0%
92	(2-3-0)	52.8%	11.0%	20.0%	21.0%	0.0%
92	(1-2-2)	42.9%	13.0%	15.0%	15.0%	0.0%
92	(0-1-4)	30.2%	10.0%	10.0%	10.0%	0.0%
91	(1-3-1)	22.5%	0.8%	0.7%	0.8%	0.0%
91	(0-2-3)	12.2%	0.6%	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
90	(1-4-0)	11.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.0%
90	(0-3-2)	5.8%	0.3%	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
89	(0-4-1)	1.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
88	(0-5-0)	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

source: Sports Club Stats

Here is the remaining home/away and opponent winning percentage for the Bruins and their two biggest competitors, Detroit and Philadelphia.

TEAM	HOME	AWAY	OPP WIN PCT
Boston	3	2	0.576
Detroit	4	1	0.556
Philadelphia	3	4	0.585

Here are Boston, Detroit and Philadephia's remaining schedule.

DATE	TEAMS	TIME
Wednesday, March 30	Washington at Philadelphia	8:00 PM
Friday, April 1	Minnesota at Detroit	7:30 PM
Friday, April 1	Boston at St. Louis	8:00 PM
Saturday, April 2	Ottawa at Philadelphia	1:00 PM
Saturday, April 2	Detroit at Toronto	7:00 PM
Sunday, April 3	Boston at Chicago	12:30 PM
Sunday, April 3	Philadelphia at Pittsburgh	5:00 PM
Tuesday, April 5	Carolina at Boston	7:00 PM
Wednesday, April 6	Philadelphia at Detroit	8:00 PM
Thursday, April 7	Detroit at Boston	7:00 PM
Thursday, April 7	Toronto at Philadelphia	7:00 PM
Saturday, April 9	Ottawa at Boston	12:30 PM
Saturday, April 9	Detroit at NY Rangers	12:30 PM
Saturday, April 9	Pittsburgh at Philadelphia	3:00 PM
Sunday, April 10	Philadelphia at NY Islanders	7:00 PM

What did the Red Sox get for $83.1 million in 2015? Zero!

I know major league athletes make a lot of money. I also know the dollar amounts are so ridiculous that people lose sight that this is real money, Millions of dollars of real money.

With that in mind, how could/can the Red Sox just pour money on terrible talent. It is really beyond comprehension that a team can spend $83.1 million in 2015 on this collection of mediocre talent and get this little a return on their investment.

Here are the individual and combined numbers for Ramirez, Sandoval, Napoli, Victorinio, Castillo and Craig last year. For $83.1 million they mustered a grand total of 49 HR's, 176 RBI's and a feeble .659 OPS. Are you kidding me?

Name	Salary	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Hanley Ramirez	$19,750,000	105	401	59	100	12	1	19	53	21	71	0.249	0.291	0.426	0.717
Pablo Sandoval	$17,600,000	126	470	43	115	25	1	10	47	25	73	0.245	0.292	0.366	0.658
Mike Napoli	$16,000,000	98	329	37	68	18	1	13	40	45	99	0.207	0.307	0.386	0.693
Shane Victorino	$13,000,000	33	94	10	23	2	0	1	4	9	14	0.245	0.324	0.298	0.622
Rusney Castillo	$11,271,000	80	273	35	69	10	2	5	29	13	54	0.253	0.288	0.359	0.647
Allen Craig	$5,500,000	36	79	6	12	1	0	1	3	7	26	0.152	0.239	0.203	0.441
TOTALS	$83,121,000	478	1,646	190	387	68	5	49	176	120	337	0.235	0.287	0.372	0.659

For comparison looks look at what Toronto got out of Josh Donaldson or Colorado got out of Nolan Arendo for a combined $4.8 million. Ouch! Either player alone almost outperformed the entire collection of smegma from above.

Name	Salary	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Nolan Arenado	$512,500	157	616	97	177	43	4	42	130	34	110	0.287	0.323	0.575	0.898
Josh Donaldson	$4,300,000	158	620	122	184	41	2	41	123	73	133	0.297	0.371	0.568	0.939
TOTALS	$4,812,500	315	1,236	219	361	84	6	83	253	107	243	0.292	0.347	0.572	0.919

Also, the money the Red Sox spent on the under performing group from above was more than the entire payroll for 6 teams.

TEAM	TOTAL PAYROLL
Houston Astros	$81,450,835
Oakland Athletics	$80,376,830
Cleveland Indians	$77,404,413
Arizona Diamondbacks	$76,781,801
Tampa Bay Rays	$73,582,652
Miami Marlins	$63,590,525