Post by jb on Oct 13, 2007 21:34:14 GMT -5
After eight years covering the NBA for the Denver Post, Marc Spears joined the Boston Globe as the Celtics beat writer at an apocalyptic time in the franchise's history.
While his premier exposure to the Boston fan base came on our show on August 26th, he was interviewed a month later by Hoops Hype, and gave this interesting quote on the timing of his hiring.
After being in Denver for eight years I felt it was time for me to go to a bigger market and a bigger paper. There are also television and radio opportunities in Boston that aren't available in Denver. My timing was also good because I will be covering the most high profile team in the league. I first was contacted by The Boston Globe in July. About two weeks before I interviewed they landed Garnett, which made an already attractive job much more intriguing.
Marc hasn't really had much time to get his feet on the ground in Boston, being carried aloft to Rome and London to cover the first week of training camp and the two games the team played "over there."
In his report after the Rome game , he showed he understands completely the issue at hand for the coaching staff in melding the trio of superstars into a "team" worthy of carrying on the great Celtics tradition.
Said Pierce, "It was great to give the ball to Kev, give the ball to Ray. We'll see what happens."
Allen said he felt pressured while playing in Seattle and Milwaukee to play well offensively for his team to win. But on this off shooting night, Garnett and Pierce picked up the offensive slack for him.
"It's not like it's me trying to carry the load of the team and everybody behind is like, 'Well, what do we do now?' " Allen said. "We have so much happening at any given time."
Allen said he felt pressured while playing in Seattle and Milwaukee to play well offensively for his team to win. But on this off shooting night, Garnett and Pierce picked up the offensive slack for him.
"It's not like it's me trying to carry the load of the team and everybody behind is like, 'Well, what do we do now?' " Allen said. "We have so much happening at any given time."
In an article from London , he honed in on Kendrick Perkins, who perhaps unconsciously embodied all that was great about the franchise, in his reaction to being the second leading scorer.
..........Perkins knows that once the regular season starts, he will likely become the fifth scoring option of the Celtics' starting five.
"I'm not worried about it," Perkins said. "I always say I just want to lose myself within the team. If we go win it all and I average 2 points, we all still get rewarded. If I average 2 points and we win it all, I will have nothing to complain about."
"I'm not worried about it," Perkins said. "I always say I just want to lose myself within the team. If we go win it all and I average 2 points, we all still get rewarded. If I average 2 points and we win it all, I will have nothing to complain about."
Also from London , Marc encountered the greatest Celtics legend of all time and left us with this cryptic report:
Among those in the crowd of 18,689 was Celtics legend Bill Russell, who declined comment,................
I'd give anything for some video of that encounter, but I'm sure Marc will fill us in with the details, as well as his observations on the state of the team, their performance overseas and of course, his opinion of their championship potential.
We hope you will join us.