Fill the Holes, Danny

[Jammer]

Celts play 10 men who contribute,
1 (Scalabrine) who doesn't deserve time,
and have 2 (Powe, Pruitt) who only see time in blowouts, even when short handed.

Needs:

1. True Center - team is undersized when Perk is out.

Scot Pollard, for whatever reason (possibly ankle), doesn't see time under Doc Rivers.

Solutions: Scalabrine matches up with Jake Voskuhl of Milwaukee salary wise.

Jake will be a free agent this summer.

Try to pry Jake out with some second round picks or perhaps by adding Gabe Pruitt to deal.

If not, sign Jake Voskuhl or Kurt Thomas this summer.

Celts can probably get Jake for $3 million of MLE, who knows what Kurt Thomas will do.

2. Ball Handler when Rajon Rondo is out.

Solutions: Wait till summer and sign one of:

Beno Udrich of Sacramento,
Chris Duhon of Chicago or
Tyronn Lue of Atlanta.

Or, swap Scalabrine straight up for one of Duhon or Lue,
with some second round picks or Gabe Pruitt added as a sweetener.

3. Another wing scorer/defender when Ray Allen or Tony Allen are not available.

Solutions: MLE won't have anything left this summer.

Sign Allan Houston for the playoff run to an Unguaranteed, Vet minimum contract with no promises.

That fills 3 holes on the bench.

And unloads Scal from taking up a roster spot.

[GreenGrizz]

Eddie is no point guard. You are killing us, Ainge.

[Jammer]

Getting Voskuhl for Scalabrine before the trade deadline, instead of waiting until summer to sign Kurt Thomas or Jake Voskuhl, would solve the problem of being undersized at the center spot.

Somebody has to seal people off the boards.

At least give Pollard a chance.

Or the playoffs can be disappointing.

And the Celts know that they're undersized.

Davis is what, 6' 7" to 6' 7.5"; can't leap, and has short arms.

Powe is what, 6' 6". Get real. Get some height.

It's not like the point guards can make up the difference.

Thank goodness Posey was 6' 7" (w/o shoes) at pre-draft measurements after 4 years of college. At least he's athletic.

[ParticleMan]

I like yourr ideas but I think you are WAAAY overestimating what we can get in return for Scal. Throwing in 2nd rounder doesn't help, for us that basically means end of the 2nd, those are essentially worthless because you can sign undrafted FAs nearly as easily.

[StephenASmith]

Scalabrine is one of the worse players in the NBA. I'll take Matt Bonner over him.

[Jammer]

I like yourr ideas but I think you are WAAAY overestimating what we can get in return for Scal. Throwing in 2nd rounder doesn't help, for us that basically means end of the 2nd, those are essentially worthless because you can sign undrafted FAs nearly as easily.

Thank you.

Well, I said a couple of second rounders. Could be 2 or 3.

Or, use Pruitt as a sweetner.

Picks that late, like you say, essentially give a team the rights to a player.

Frequently teams picking 55-60 will take a 19 year old Euro or South American and wait a few years before bringing the kid over. But you still have their NBA rights.

Sometimes, a team will want a pick back there just to do that. You're right, though, they don't have much value.

But Pruitt as a throw in, does.

Unfortunately, Danny might not want to lose Pruitt to sign Voskuhl, Duhon or Lue when he can simply sign them as unrestricted free agents this summer using the MLE.

And Udrih will also be available.


But, I'm sure Danny would love to unload Scal's lux tax contract, especially when he will be spending close to $6 million this summer with the MLE.

And what will Eddie House want?
8% on $1.5 million. The full LLE (lots of luck). Probably a multi-year guaranteed commitment.

[ParticleMan]

Nah, I don't think you'd get any team to take on Scal's deal AND give us a decent player in return, not for a couple of late 2nds.

Now Pruitt has some value. I woud trade Pruitt for Duhon. Yes, it's a serious downgrade in potential but I like Duhon, he's steady and smart and a pesky defender. I think Pruitt will be better than Duhon in 2 years but we need players right now.

[dwestside]

Eddie is no point guard. You are killing us, Ainge.

30-5. Yeah that's murder.

But yes, I agree a backup point guard is in order ... and I really don't believe Ainge is going to leave them hanging like this for long. He's keeping an eye out for not just an addition, the right addition.

Let's all keep a little perspective here people. They've played poorly the past few games ... but the 29-3 start wasn't a fluke. They'll figure it out.

[Jammer]

Some of the warning signs tonight against the Wizards:

Glen Davis 9:53 minutes, 1 rebound, 1 foul, 1 steal, 0 points.

Scalabrine 7:24 minutes, 1 rebound, 1 foul, 1 turnover, 0-1 field goals.

[rambo_ortega]

^it is because glen davis needs to be paired with a long big man to be more effective instead of teaming him up with a small line up. that would really kill us esp against long, athletic teams.

the reason for our recent slump is the fact that our big weaknesses in the bench are already exposed. and the opponents are already attacking those weaknesses. we don't have another big man who can sustain kg's versatile defense so they attack the boards to fatigue kg and continue to attack the boards if kg sits. that's how big that problem is.

another thing is our ballhandling if rondo is out. teams are now trapping our ballhandlers when rondo sits. we need to solve that other big problem coz that will greatly affect our execution. if we can't solve this, let ray bring up the ball and make plays that would allow ray to operate right away to start our offense.

i just hope we do some moves to be able to go up anytime against the elite teams.

[Datruth345]

beno would be nice

[dwestside]

Scalabrine is one of the worse players in the NBA. I'll take Matt Bonner over him.

And Stephen A Smith is one of the finest sportswriters in the country ...

[GreenMachine]

I know I will get killed for this... but I would trade Baby/TA for a big. If we want to win now... it's the thing to do.

[ddb]

all we need to be a championship team is a backup veteran pg who can handle the ball and run the offense off the bench when rondo isn't out there. tony allen is a turnover waiting to happen. he plays much better at his natural position of shooting guard. same with eddie house. all we need to do is bring in a solid back up guard, move eddie to the 2, tony to the 3, posey can play the 3 and 4 and pollard/baby/scal are fine as a combination right now,

the back up pg spot will kill us down the road in the playoffs.

[threrf23]

I like Baby as an offensive rebounding/finishing under the basket role player. I would try to trade TA/Perk for an upgrade over Perk (the upgrade would start) before trying to trade Baby/TA...not so much a matter of liking Baby more than Perk, just think it would be better fit.

That said, we were playing so well with the current squad, I didn't see tonight's game, but KG finished with how many rebounds? 6. Maybe he was holding back energy. If not, we have to figure out why thats the case.

Chris Andersen is potentially eligible for reinstatement in about 2 weeks. I'd much rather sign him than trade for someone like Voskuhl, who I don't think is much better than we already have. Only way I would trade Scal/Pruitt for Voskuhl was if we were als getting back Ramon Sessions, but I don't see that happening. Nor do I see MIL taking Scal anyway, they've got Charlie V as a jump shooting PF

[Jammer]

Although a solid backup ball handler for Rajon Rondo is needed, it's not the biggest hole on the team.

The biggest hole on the team is the center spot, which is a rebounding void.

It's masked because KG plays about 12 minutes per game at center.

Posey actually plays about 13 minutes at backup power forward, and another 10 minutes at backup small forward.

Big Baby logs, on average, 12 minutes at power forward, when he can get away with it.

Some nights Davis just doesn't fit.

Washington is a bit too athletic for him.

I fear that the Celts will have to wait until summer to sign Voskuhl or Kurt Thomas, because I don't think Milwaukee wants to take any salary back. They would just as soon let Voskuhl's salary simply come off the books at the end of the year.

[GregB]

I would personally sign a guy like Chris Webber. I think we could use his passing and perimeter shooting. We have 3 interior bigmen on this team right now. Outside of KG, We dont have another outside bigman that is any good. I am a big proponent of inside/outside combo at both the 2/3 and the 4/5.

As far as a PG, Their really isnt anyone on the market that would be an upgrade. Our only hope is Cassell continues to be frustrated with the Clips and asks for a buyout.

[celticfan42487]

Webber would be great, like an experience Baby on offense, and at least Scal on defense.

DET fans seemed to like Webber at Center from what I've read, notsomuch at PF.

For some reason though Webber wants DET or $$$. He'd at least want the two year LLE exception and at this point with the draft right around the corner and the promblem beign undercut if Pollard can be healthy in the playoffs it's not worth losing that option to sign Webber for more then vet min.


As for a ballhandler, Mike Wilks can bring a ball up against pressure and is a veteran whoes traveld round the NBA teams more then once. He's played on vet min's his whole carrer. Maybe Boykins too. Ballhandlers at PG are suprisingly available right now.

[DelMonte West]

-= original quote snipped =-



And Stephen A Smith is one of the finest sportswriters in the country ...

*Points to sig*

Also, comparing Bonner and Scal is getting old. We get it, they're both white and have red hair. Let's move on from there, please.

[sox839]

We have the answer his name is planet pollard he must have an injury because the guy should have been playing. A mistake by doc especially in the washington wizard game we could have used the size. Pollard has played well when he is in there.