Catching up with the Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox ….

Here are a few sports takes:
BOSTON CELTICS: Celtics fans are upset that once again President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge failed to pull off a major trade before or during the NBA draft, but given Ainge’s poor track record of making no or only inconsequential trades at the deadline or during the draft, no one should have been surprised that nothing of consequence happened to help the team.
Fans were particularly angry that the Celts lost Gordon Hayward, who opted out of the fourth year of his contract, in free agency without getting anything in return (he signed a four-year $120-million contract with the mediocre Charlotte Hornets), and their ire is somewhat understandable.
After all, Ainge hasn’t made a big move at the draft for a player since 2007, when he traded for Ray Allen, and then a few weeks later, acquired Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Those moves, of course, gave the Celtics a Big Three along with Paul Pierce en route to winning the franchise's 17th title in 2008, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in six games, and then blowing a 3-2 lead in the2010 NBA finals, also to the Lakers, as they lost the title after leading late in the fourth quarter in Game 7.
Some think that Ainge is too particular, and asks for too much in trades, but that’s all speculation as it’s hard to say what trades were available and how they affected the NBA’s very complicated salary cap.
Despite some calls for Ainge to be fired, that won’t happen, and it shouldn’t, either, as he’s still done far more good than bad for the Celtics, and he still has a very good roster.
Ainge did sign two free agents after Hayward signed with the Hornets: big man Tristan Thompson from the Cleveland Cavaliers and guard Jeff Teague from the Atlanta Hawks. And signing one of their franchise cornerstones, Jayson Tatum, to a long-term contract extension made a lot of sense.
The Celtics should be a top-ranked team again in the new season, which is tentatively set to start Dec. 22, and they should be poised to make a deep run into the playoffs. But how far they can go will depend on Ainge’s ability to greatly Improve the bench, so the starters don’t get burned out.
PATRIOTS: Barring a miracle finish where the Patriots run the table to turn their current 4-6 record into a 10-6 one, or go 5-1 to finish 9-7, the Patriots are on track to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008. If they go no better than 5-11, they might even be in position to pluck a decent quarterback in the draft. But be careful what you wish for, because two or three more Patriot wins will only make them a mediocre team for years to come, so be careful if you’re rooting for the Patriots to win most of the rest of their games.
Of course, if Cam Newton were able to finish games off better, they would have had a chance to win a few of those close games that they lost this year, but that’s another story.
My advice: Just watch and-or listen to their games the next six weeks and enjoy them, because the team as constituted is not worthy of being in the playoff hunt, --- let alone being considered a legitimate threat for a Super Bowl berth.
RED SOX: It’s shaping up to be a slowly-developing free-agent season, but don’t expect the Sox to make any splashy moves, with the exception of possibly going after a decent starting pitcher. …. So far, the move to rehire Alex Cora as manager sounds like it may wind up being the best thing for the club (I admit I was wrong about hiring Cora), especially with some of the players genuinely excited to see Cora back.
Third baseman Rafael Devers, as many have said, should especially benefit from Cora’s presence as he strives to bounce back from his horrendous defensive year at third base during the 60-game 2020 season. But it remains to be seen whether fans in New England and around the country razz him for his prominent role in the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal.
READ ABOUT THE KID: It’s taken me a while to start reading Ben Bradlee Jr.’s 2013 800-page biography of Ted Williams (“The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams”), but now that I’ve been reading about his rise in the minor leagues, the book is turning out to be fascinating as Bradlee weaves many personal stories about Williams’ rough upbringing into his progress in baseball, which reveals some answers about his temperamental and complicated personality.
It will take me a while to get through the rest of the book after a slow start, but it should be well worth the effort.