Heat up the Habachi and getcha popcorn ready!!

The new-look Boston Celtics will have “the Big Three” in the line-up tonight when they host Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards in Beantown. The Celts made the most noise in the offseason acquiring Kevin Garnett via a blockbuster trade with the T-Wolves and signing swingman Ray Allen who became a free agent in June.  Together they form one of the most lethal threesomes in the league since Magic and the Lakeshow in the mid-eighties.

Mateen Cleaves: Journeyman?

So my boy Mateen got cut by yet another NBA franchise on Thursday. Suprise Suprise. the two-time NCAA Big 10 player of the year, and starting point guard who led the Michigan State Spartans to the promise land in 2000, finds himself in a place that is becoming all to familiar for the seven year NBA vetaran. Out of a J-O-B.

I remember being on a high school basketball trip to Hawaii in December of 1999, and seeing the Sparts flexin their muscles at the beach one day, and seeing this guy, all 6′2″ 190 (give or take) pounds of him in person, thinking, this guys legit. I’m standing here next to a future NBA champ. Christ, even Coach Izzo named his son after him, and who in their right mind names a white kid Mateen, even if he is adopted. His game was flawless, he had court vision, deep range, speed, and from where i was standing, pecks that make my ex girlfriend look like a teenager. True Story.

Then came the NBA draft. Judgement day, I watched in anticipation, as bust after bust, including the likes of Marcus Fizer, Dermarr Johnson and Courtney Alexander, were taken until the “Flintsone,” native of Flint Michigan was selected 14th overall by his hometown Detroit Pistons. A match made in heaven…I thought. Hometown boy comin into a comfortable situation down the highway from where he torched college zone defenses in the road to the final four the year before. On top of that, the Pistons signed up and comer Chauncey Billups to run the point, so MC would have the opportunity to share minutes with C-Bill who was coming off career highs the year before with Minnesota.

Little did i know, being drafted to the Pistons was in fact the beginning of the end for my boy Mateen. Despite appearing in 78 games with Detroit, Teen, only started in eight, six of which were due to injuries to starting point CB1. He averaged 5.4ppg and a dissapointing 2.7 apg with just under two turnovers a game in just 16 mins average of playing time. To throw salt in the wound, when the Pistons missed the playoffs that spring, Cleaves became a forgotten man and the team placed him on waivers during the off-season.

Since being castaway from the Motor city worse than Tom Hanks and Fedex, Cleaves has earned the title no one earns or wants in the League. NBA Journeyman aka. Cant quite cut it on any roster, aka. your washed up pal, retire. With stints in Sacremento, Cleveland, Seattle, Toronto, the NBA’s Development league and now New Jersey, Cleaves will be in search of his 7th NBA team in as many years and i gotta say, Fred Flinstone aint gettin any younger. Cleaves turned 30  on September 7th, with today’s news, the vet may think of  making a quiet exit from the league, and take up coaching, im sure T to tha Izzo’s got a spot for him.