Cup of Joe. Olynyk in, Smart out for All Star Rising Star Challenge


Good morning! Welcome to CelticsLife's morning column, Cup of Joe. Each morning we feature a few quick-hitters from the previous night; the important stuff, the not so important stuff. The weird, the wild, the in between. A nice, mindless morning column to start your day off with. So pull up a chair, grab your Morning Joe, and find out what happened last night while you were sleeping.

Olynyk slated for World Team, Marcus Smart could be named an alternate

U.S. team

Trey Burke (Jazz) , Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Pistons), Michael Carter-Williams (76ers), Zach LaVine (Timberwolves), Shabazz Muhammad (Timberwolves), Nerlens Noel (76ers), Victor Oladipo (Magic), Elfrid Payton (Magic), Mason Plumlee (Nets), Cody Zeller (Hornets)

World team

Steven Adams (Thunder), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), Bojan Bogdanovic (Nets), Gorgui Dieng (Timberwolves), Dante Exum (Jazz), Rudy Gobert (Jazz), Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), Kelly Olynyk (Celtics), Dennis Schroder (Hawks), Andrew Wiggins (Timberwolves)
Source: SI.com

As the title states, A. Sherrod Blakely is reporting that a league source says that Marucs Smart would get 'strong consideration' for an injury replacement spot. As deserving as Smart is - particularly over other USA guards like KCP and Zach Lavine - it's almost harder to believe that Kings guard Ben McLemore was left off the roster as well.

Smart appears to be taking the snub in stride, congratulating the participants and saying he'll spend the time off getting healthy according to Gary Washburn.

Thunder had a deal in place for Reggie Jackson

The Oklahoma City Thunder were close to trading Reggie Jackson to the Denver Nuggets, according to a source.

Jackson is reportedly expected to be moved before the trade deadline.
Source: Frank Isola

While Isola doesn't mention who the Nuggets would've sent to Oklahoma City, I think ti's safe to assume it would've included either Aaron Afflalo or Wilson Chandler (with the Nuggets also taking back Anthony Morrow to make the financials work).

Reggie Jackson is in the final year of his contract. Yes, I did add that sentence because I'm hinting that I wouldn't want the Celtics to sacrifice anything of value for Jackson.

Start Your Morning Off With... Klay Thompson getting the NBA Jam Treatment



Vintage WTHHT: What the Hell Happened to.... Eric Montross
authored by TB727

In this week's edition of "What the Hell Happened To" we look back at the career of Eric Montross. I wasn't as down on the pick at the time and thought Montross (especially if Robert Parish stuck around one more year) could be groomed to be the starting center for years to come. Well Chief left for Charlotte and Eric was forced to learn things as an NBA center as his own.

See I wouldn't be so grumpy about Montross but he was picked a slot ahead of Eddie Jones, whom the enemy picked at number 10 and who obviously went on to a much more successful career than Mongoose. The thing is his rookie year, Eric was quite solid- 10 ppg and almost 7.5 rpg in 78 games, 75 of which he started. That Celtics team made the playoffs in 1995 and gave Orlando the scare of a lifetime before bowing out in 4 games and shutting down the Boston Garden permanently.