Boston Celtics

Morning sports update: Why Wyc Grousbeck compared the Celtics’ current offseason to 2007

Also: Celtics draft trivia, Mookie Betts on free agency, and a Red Sox comeback.

Wyc Grousbeck
Wyc Grousbeck in 2017. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

By Hayden Bird

3 minutes to read

The Toronto Raptors won the NBA title on Thursday night, defeating the two-time defending champion Warriors 114-110. It was Toronto’s first NBA championship in team history.

And the Red Sox rallied from an early 6-1 deficit to beat the Rangers, 7-6.

How Wyc Grousbeck views the upcoming offseason for the Celtics: Celtics co-owner and CEO Wyc Grousbeck compared the impending NBA offseason to a past fault line in team history: the summer of 2007.

“This is the most uncertain offseason since 2007,” Grousbeck told Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald in a recent interview. The callback to 2007 is a reference to the team assembling the “Big Three” of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. Yet it only happened because — as Grousbeck explained to Murphy — the team convinced Pierce to not request a trade away from Boston.

Advertisement:

In current circumstances, it’s the future of Kyrie Irving (and the trade possibility of Anthony Davis) that concerns Grousbeck and Celtics management. Irving is reportedly planning to opt out of his contract in Boston and — unlike Pierce in 2007 — signs at the moment point to his departure. The Celtics are plotting some offseason moves of their own.

“There’s definitely scenarios being spun inside the basketball office,” Grousbeck told Murphy. “I’m there every day listening to them, that involve a number of players. I’ve heard a lot of scenarios. We’ll just see what happens.”

Trivia: The NBA draft is less than a week away. Barring a trade, the Celtics have three first-round draft picks. Boston has had a trio of first round picks in three previous drafts (2001, 2004, and 2016). How many of those nine picks can you name?

Advertisement:

(Answer at the bottom).

Hint: Their initials are JF, KB, JJ, AJ, DW, TA, JB, GY, AZ.

More from Boston.com:

Mookie Betts talked about his future

: During an appearance on Rob Bradford’s “Bradfo Sho,” Mookie Betts — who can become a free agent after the 2020 season — was asked about how he deals with separating business and work.

“It’s kind of tough as you’re playing you kind of wonder what is going to happen to you as you go through arbitration or as you go through free agency,” Betts told Bradford. “It’s one of those things you have to find a way to separate the two. Even though this is a business you do have people here that you’re with every day, like your family. You want to go play for them and you want to win with them. You have to find a way to do that but understand that there is a business side to it. You have to find a way to understand.”

The Biggio name is back: Cavan Biggio, a 24-year-old rookie with the Blue Jays, hit two home runs on Thursday night in a 12-3 win over the Orioles.

Biggio is the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who collected 3,060 career hits in his 20 MLB seasons. Jayson Stark, a baseball writer for The Athletic, pointed out that it’s the first time a Biggio has hit multiple home runs in a game since 2006:

Advertisement:

On this day: In 1974, the Angels beat the Red Sox 4-3 in 15 innings as right-hander Nolan Ryan struck out 19 Boston batters over 13 innings. It was a game that would look unrecognizable to fans in 2019, as Ryan’s counterpart (Red Sox starter Luis Tiant) pitched 14.1 innings to top Ryan’s innings total.

Daily highlight: Michael Chavis pulled his best Adrian Beltre impression, hitting a home run from his knees:

Also, enjoy a goal from Team USA field hockey at the FIH Series Finals. The Americans fell 2-1 to South Africa in the semifinals.

https://twitter.com/brlive/status/1139495197203718144

Trivia answer: Joseph Forte, Kedrick Brown, Joe Johnson, Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Jaylen Brown, Guerschon Yabusele, Ante Zizic.