Sports Redux: Danny's Day of Decision

The nailbiting, the pacing, the swearing, the chainsmoking - they all end tonight. Except maybe at Tommy Heinsohn's house. Tonight, we find out the next step in the Celtics' drive back to relevance. Will Danny Ainge swing one of the deals we've heard about? Will we be welcoming Kevin Garnett (no way), Shawn Marion (probably not), Dikembe Mutombo (possible) or Bill Telfair?

Or will Danny stand pat and actually use his #5 pick to draft a player? The mock drafts are all over the map, but some of the same names keep popping up for the Green. Names like Yi Jianlian, the 7-foot Chinese power forward who apparently has looked pretty good in grainy footage running around chairs. For those of us who remember Thomas Hamilton, that's not so bad, believe us.

If Danny doesn't want to put Tommy Heinsohn in the awkward position of not making uncomfortable China references all season, there are some homegrown players projected to go #5ish. Like Georgetown's Jeff Green, who's got all-around skills but needs work on his shot. Or Brandan Wright, the UNC forward who was a consensus #3 before people started worrying about his upper-body strength. Or Mike Conley, the thinking-man point guard (remember those?) from Ohio State. Or one of the used-to-winning Florida Gators, like Corey Brewer (a tenacious defender), Al Horford (he'll be gone before #5).

Or (cough cough ahem) Joakim Noah, who has "Guy You Hate If He's On The Other Team But You Love Him If He's On Your Side" written all over him. Bostonist would like to once again remind Danny that this is the guy we're hoping for.

The sideshow is the forgotten #2 pick in the second round; most of the young stars on the Celtics Roster that we're counting on (praying for?) came from much later in the draft than the top 10. The one strength we can definitely credit Ainge for is finding legit NBA players in the rough, so we have high hopes for this pick, too.

The Red Sox are on their way back home after getting swept in Seattle. Daisuke Matsuzaka got no support, and Julio Lugo (who has as many hits in the last two weeks as you do) bitched after getting lifted for a pinch-hitter. And Curt Schilling's not coming back until after the All-Star Break. Toronto's only nine back, guys; let's not get silly here.

And who said baseball is a young man's game? Seven starting pitchers were slated to get starts on Wednesday who were all 40 or older. Roger Clemens, Jamie Moyer, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Kenny Rogers, Woody Williams and John Smoltz, if you want to go dig up your 1991 baseball card set. Unfortunately, Rogers and the Tigers got rained out, so baseball history wasn't made. Fortunately, Clemens did get the start, and his teammates rallied around him by getting a runner to second base in a 4-0 Yankee loss in Baltimore.