Celtics' Bass Happy To Be Back In Boston

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20141005/SPORTS/141007747/2000/NEWS/?Start=1



Celtics' Bass happy to be back in Boston



By Scott Souza
Daily News staff
Posted Oct. 5, 2014 @ 9:06 pm
Updated Oct 5, 2014 at 10:21 PM



WALTHAM – One of the first questions Brandon Bass was asked during Celtics media day last Monday was whether he was surprised to still be here in Boston.

One of the few remaining holdovers from the championship window chose to answer it this way: “I am happy to be here.”
Within a franchise that has undergone nearly a complete overhaul since taking the Miami Heat to Game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference finals, Bass has been a somewhat unexpected constant. Though rumors of him being dealt arrive as regularly as the change of seasons – including one last December when reports surfaced he was all but gone in a deal for then-Houston Rockets center Omer Asik – he remains in a Celtic uniform for his fourth season heading into Monday night’s preseason opener against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.

Which is the way the 28-year-old insists he wants it. While many nine-year veterans would be looking to move on to an established contender, Bass is more than content to try to help second-year coach Brad Stevens rebuild this team into one.

“Boston has kind of made it my home away from home,” he said prior to Sunday’s workout where he planned to practice through a scratched cornea in his right eye suffered during Friday’s open scrimmage. “(Early in my career) I only had two-year deals. I signed the (contract) extension (in 2012) and was able to make it three years. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get better and improve. Hopefully, they’ll want me to stick around a little longer.”

While there has been much talk of which Celtics might be willing, and able, to take on more leadership responsibilities this season, Bass grabbed them from the outset of the post-Big 3 era. Last year during training camp, he said he wanted to take what he learned from playing alongside Kevin Garnett and become the “leader of the defense” on the team. He became more engrained in the community through his learn-to-swim campaign where he took lessons alongside inner city youth.

At the end of last season, the team honored him with the Red Auerbach Award as the player whose contributions on and off the court exemplify what it means to be a Celtic.

Yet, while Stevens has lauded his example, his role on this year’s team is one of many questions the coach will have to sort out during preseason. While Bass had sturdy numbers last year – 11.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in about 28 minutes per night – he will be pressed for those minutes in the frontcourt with the addition of center Tyler Zeller, and the development of Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger.

Bass said last Monday he tries not to worry about how that will all play out – just as he tries not to worry about the trade rumors that are seemingly always hovering over him – and that he wants to help this team win through hard work, effort and lessons learned from the franchise’s previous regime.

“Dedicate your life to your craft,” he said of his advice to the younger players. “That’s the only way you can achieve something special. Everybody’s trying to get there. But not everybody has dedicated their life to it. The guys who dedicate their life to it, they stick.”

Defense is one area where Bass has dedicated a lot of his efforts. While he wasn’t especially known for it with the Dallas Mavericks and Orlando Magic, he gained a reputation for it under Doc Rivers when the former coach put him on Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James during the 2012 playoffs and he excelled.

“I guess when you are on a team with Kevin Garnett, and you’re competing for championships, you get recognized for things that in another place you wouldn’t be recognized for,” he said. “But I always took pride (in my defense), and I will always take pride in it.”

Offensively, his game has evolved as he’s gone from being largely a one-trick pony under Rivers to a more well-rounded player under Stevens.

“When I first got here I didn’t need to do anything but catch and shoot,” he said. “(Rajon) Rondo made sure everybody, for the most part, just caught the ball and shot. This year everybody is probably going to have a few assists.”

Bass is smart enough to know that being one of the few links to the team’s successful past does little to ensure he will be part of its longterm future. Trade rumors will follow him, and younger players who figure more into that future will press him for playing time.
But one thing he’s made clear is that he’s not looking to move on from the first of his NBA homes that’s given him a sense of stability.

“If this is the place you want to be,” he said, “this is the place you want to be.”




bob
MY NOTE:  THIS is the part that grabbed me:  “When I first got here I didn’t need to do anything but catch and shoot,” he said. “(Rajon) Rondo made sure everybody, for the most part, just caught the ball and shot. This year everybody is probably going to have a few assists.” That sounds to me like the offense is going to be going through a lot of hands this year and not just through one set and I like that. A lot.



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For the past couple of years, I've actually wished Rondo had fewer assists but the team as a whole had more assists. It's one of the reasons I called the offense "Rondo-centric." Sort of predictable; and predictability can lead to stagnation. People talk about spreading out the scoring, but it can be just as effective to spread out the playmaking. That's what a good motion offense can accomplish.

Sam