Trade rumors are swirling around the Celtics Thursday morning. Ray Allen’s name was coming up in big trades. Other Celtics were coming up in parts of other deals. While players will tell you they ignore this speculation, they don’t. They know what is going on, that their name is in play. Guys were talking about it at a morning practice for the Lakers
So how does Doc Rivers diffuse this? This is the story he told myself and other reporters pregame last night.
At breakfast he called those players one at a time over to his table - often a sign a player is about to be told some news. They would make the slow march over to him. Then Rivers would tell them he just wanted to say hello.
“The guys mentioned in trades, I thought they would be nervous. It was a good joke.’'
Funny guy. Real funny guy.
