FanHouse Celtics

We're just a week into the season, so don't get mad if your team isn't where you might have expected. It's just that if we go by what we've actually seen, as opposed to what's been predicted, then this is for the most part where teams should fall based on their early performances. But if you're offended by the spot your favorite team holds, fear not: they likely have 79 regular season games remaining to right the ship.

Sam Jones won 10 NBA championships, more than anyone in history except for Bill Russell. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984. He was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996. He scored more than 15,000 points in his 12 seasons with the Boston Celtics (1957-69), carving a reputation as one of the greatest clutch shooters -- and winners -- that the league has ever seen.

Yet despite his legendary career, he can walk through a shopping mall or a downtown hotel lobby today without being recognized, arguably the most under-exposed great in basketball history.

Jones, 76, sat down with FanHouse earlier this week to discuss a variety of topics, ranging from his strange disconnect with the franchise he represented so well, to the racism that drove him out of coaching in the early '70s, to his sometimes unflattering view of today's NBA stars.

His opinions might surprise you.

There were two lingering questions for the Celtics coming into this, a season where they are widely expected to contend for a championship. The first was the status of Kevin Garnett's knee which appears to be just fine. You can notice a very slight hobble by Garnett after an ill-advised dunk, but that could just be reverberations from the accompanying unnecessary screaming.

The other was the contract status of Rajon Rondo, who was working on an extension to avoid entering restricted free agency by remaining with the Celtics. Talks had slowed, and Rondo was making comments to the effect that it was possible he wouldn't end up in Boston.

Bad news for the rest of the league: he will end up in Boston. Early Monday after a fortunate extension from the league for all teams in negotiations, the Celtics and Rondo reached an agreement on a 5-year, $55 million extension, according to ESPN.

Chris Paul is the best point guard in the game today, and Rajon Rondo isn't too far behind at the position, probably in most people's top five. But besides being great at what they do, these guys have something else in common: they play the game with a noticeable chip on their shoulder.

So it shouldn't come as any surprise that when the two went head-to-head in Boston on Sunday, things got a little heated during the game, and words were exchanged on the court after the final buzzer had sounded.

Home sweet home. Well, for one night anyway. In front of a 42-inch big screen on opening night in the NBA. Let's go ahead and try to read too much into it ...

• You can't tell me the Cleveland Cavaliers aren't going to come knocking for Stephen Jackson at some point. Looks like LeBron James is going to need some more help.

Hard as this is to say, it doesn't seem like Shaquille O'Neal can even be your No. 2 option. Apparently, the Cavs are reluctant to give up Zydrunas Ilgauskas for Jackson because Cleveland doesn't want to get smaller.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis won't miss the entire season with his thumb injury, as initially thought possible. But he'll still sit for the six to eight weeks, according to Yahoo!'s Marc Spears, who spoke with Davis on Tuesday after the third-year forward underwent surgery earlier in the day.

While missing two months is certainly better than the entire year, it doesn't mean the Celtics are any more pleased about the injury, which Davis admits occurred when he threw a punch at a long-time friend after an argument escalated over the weekend.

Update 9/27: After undergoing surgery on his thumb, Glen Davis will miss six-to-eight weeks.

Injuries, for professional basketball players, are sometimes just an unfortunate part of the business. You can't help it if an injury is sustained in practice, or even during a preseason game, if you're going out and giving maximum effort for the team that pays you millions of dollars to do so.

But what about off the court, when a player isn't doing anything related to basketball? That's when some personal discretion might come into play, and apparently, the Celtics' Glen Davis doesn't have any. Because he reportedly sustained a "non-basketball" injury, which, according to at least one report, just might keep him out for the entire season.

Saturday is Halloween, but don't expect many NBA owners and general managers in this shaky economy to dress up as Bill Gates and throw money around.

Oct. 31 is the annual deadline for one-time first-round picks entering their fourth seasons to be eligible to sign extensions that would kick in for their fifth seasons. For stars, it's a chance to land their first really big contract.

But much is silent as the deadline approaches, meaning the overwhelming number of eligible players from the 2006 first round will become restricted free agents next summer. Three players from that draft -- Andrea Bargnani of Toronto and LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy of Portland -- have inked extensions, but not a lot more activity is expected.

With the start of the 2009-10 season looming, NBA FanHouse walks through the Valley of the Most Likely; we shall fear no topic.

Last year we handed out this prestigious award to the Lakers' Sasha Vujacic. He basically won the award for being a pest that other NBA players didn't respect. Plus he had girlie hair. With Sasha now sans girlie hair (per request of Phil Jackson), it's time to crown a new winner. The obvious choice: Kevin Garnett.

Garnett has been one of the league's best players this decade. Part of what makes him so great is his intensity. Early in his career, KG was capable of harnessing that intensity in a positive way. In his later years? Not so much.