Post Draft Depth Chart

[spf211]

I have included the players first that we already own for next year -- names with asteriks included are free agents:

PG - Rondo / Pruitt -- FA: House * / Cassell *
SG - R. Allen / JR Giddens -- FA: T. Allen *
SF - Pierce / Bill Walker -- FA: Posey *
PF - Garnett / Powe / Davis / Scalabrine
C - Perkins -- FA: PJ Brown * / Pollard *

We have a bit more frontcourt depth than I think we're given credit for. Powe/Davis serve to either push Garnett to the 5 or, at least in Powe's case, play at the 5 in an undersized capacity. While I'll agree that we do need at least one veteran with length (IE: PJ Brown) our depth 1-3 should remain a priority.

I think you can always finagle the 4/5 spot with some versatility from Garnett/Powe, and Perkins getting his fouling under control will help here too, but early in the season you're going to want to extend the legs of Pierce and Ray Allen in particular -- and right now the only players we have under contract at their positions off the bench are the ones we just drafted.

Posey can help here a ton, we all know he's the priority. I don't discount Tony Allen either. The market for Tony's services is not going to be great, we can sign him without using any money that cuts into our exception, he knows the system and he's defense oriented. I see the Celtics bringing Tony Allen back.

Maybe the trick on bringing Eddie House back would be years versus money. Despite helping out at different stops throughout the NBA, teams have always hesitated giving Eddie multi-year deals. If I'm the Celtics I try to see if $1.5-2 million a year over 2-3 years gets it done. You can have Pruitt start getting in the mix so you rely less on House, but as we saw in the playoffs Eddie is a veteran leader that can make big plays (and hit big shots) down the stretch.

My chart coming out of the offseason:

PG - Rondo / House / Pruitt
SG - R. Allen / T. Allen / Giddens
SF - Pierce / Posey / Walker
PF - Garnett / Davis / Scalabrine
C - Perkins / Powe / F.A. *

That's a 15 man roster.

* Cheapest professional 5 you can find -- cut him or the worst of Walker, Pruitt, Giddens, Davis during the season if a better center option emerges on the market.

[Dirty Water]

I'd resign Pollard on the cheap.

[Rocky5000]

I like your lineup. I do think it's unlikely that we keep all 3 of Posey, Tony, and House, though. Although I'm happy with the guys we picked up, I kinda wish we had been able to solve the backup center problem through the draft. The FAs available at C don't seem that great.

[Albin]

I think we carry a high level of risk if we use Powe and Big Baby as backups. Last year, we had some level of "surprise" with those two players. Both were unknown quantities, and other teams almost took them for granted. That wont happen again this year.

It works with some matchups - they can handle guys like Turiaf, but not quality starters with size, eg. Ilgauskas, Dwight Howard, Rasheed. If our bigs get in foul trouble, we need a backup who can hold their own against veteran bigs with size. That's why P.J. saw so much time in the playoffs.

To reduce that risk, Danny should be shopping for a veteran big as the primary backup. If not for the whole season, then by the trade deadline going into the playoffs.

I see that as a bigger priority than backup PG or wing. (As long as we keep Posey)

1. Posey
2. Veteran Big with size
3. Backup PG/SG

(Big) IF Pruitt can give us 10 minutes off the bench by the end of the year, we're fine at PG. Rondo can play 38 minutes in the playoffs. In the regular season, we can make do with Rondo/Pruitt/Allen and any scrub who can handle the ball.


Go after Delonte West and Alonzo Mourning. We could maybe get 'Zo on the cheap, but Delonte will cost money (and will likely just stay in Cleveland).

[jfs1000d]

TA is gone. Not enough value to bring him back with the drafting of Giddens and Walker.

Also, we will get exposed at the backup 4 and especially the 5. . If Perk gets hurt (which is an almost certainty) we have no backup length. Celts need a vet with length to backup the 4 and 5 spots. I think Baby and Power are redundant, but as long as they are cheap let's keep them.

Vet point is needed on the cheap. Here is what roster should look like

PG: Rondo/House/Pruitt/VET BACKUP
SG: Ray Allen/Giddens
SF: Paul Pierce/Posey/Walker
PF: Garnett/Baby/Powe
C: Perk/Scalibrine/VET WITH LENGTH

That's a 15 player roster.

Notice the backup PG position has 3 vying. Pruitt and House could also see some time at shooting guard. Posey and Pierce tutor Walker.

[celticfan42487]

Wow danny has work to do. He'll need another amazing offseason. This is why it would be so vital to not use the MLE on Posey. Man if we had that MLE we could get that vet PG and C and be fine. Wish Scalabrine's 3 million wasn't on our book <:0

[spf211]

TA is gone. Not enough value to bring him back with the drafting of Giddens and Walker.

I see it as just the opposite, really.

Tony Allen is a known quantity for Rivers and his coaching staff -- Giddens and Walker currently are not. I do expect one, if not both, to see rotation minutes next year but right now they are unknowns; especially with Walker starting his career injured.

Tony Allen is a defensive player that already knows the defensive scheme in Boston.

Tony Allen is a player Doc Rivers trusted enough to play spot minutes at the point in the playoffs.

Tony Allen is a player you probably won't compete with teams to sign and when you do sign him, you're not dipping into MLE or Veteran's Exception money that you'll want to use on other priorities (Posey, frontcourt).

IMO the Celtics need that backcourt help and Tony Allen is a combo guard that can play two different positions. Either they risk that Giddens or Walker can be major contributors this season (neither of which will ever see minutes at the 1) or they dip into that exception money to bring in a veteran combo guard.

[spf211]

Wow danny has work to do. He'll need another amazing offseason. This is why it would be so vital to not use the MLE on Posey. Man if we had that MLE we could get that vet PG and C and be fine. Wish Scalabrine's 3 million wasn't on our book <:0

Well Scalabrine's $3 million isn't the difference between us being over the cap -- far from it -- and without his contract we don't get under; so it's not like he's eating up $3 million we could spend elsewhere. If that's your objective, look at Ray Allen, Pierce or Garnett -- one of those three would have to go before we could spend FA money and, even then, wouldn't bring back a FA of viable impact with their loss.

The more I look at this PJ Brown is the biggest "loss" that the team is going to have to handle. If they play their cards right, they can realistically bring back House and Posey (Tony Allen to boot). We're talking about a player, however, that wasn't necessary until the final months of the season so I don't see how going overboard to get a Brown-type player (whose equivalent we can find / un-retire in the middle of the season) is worth losing your most vital bench player in James Posey.

Without Posey do the Celtics win the championship? They certainly don't win 66 games and that might have cost them homecourt advantage. PJ Brown was a critical element, no doubt about it, but IMO Posey was a bigger factor and will be more difficult to replace; if not impossible. Grant Hill is not his equal.

[Fencer reregistered]

The future is now. Tony is clearly worth a roster spot over Walker (who they may try to stash overseas) or even Giddens (who will however surely get one too). And a roster slot is the only scarce resource he takes up.

Sam or (my current preference) another vet PG is needed too.

So we have 5-6 wing players -- Pierce, Allen, Posey, Allen, Giddens, maybe Walker
And we have 3-4 point/small guards -- Rondo, Pruitt, Sam/other vet, House

We have four returning PFs and one returning center, plus one center we want back who is leaning to retirement. PJ Brown or a replacement is the "16th" guy.

So only one guy has to fall off the list for the numbers to work. For every additional guy who falls off somehow, a new one can be added -- but how will he be paid?

So my current projection is that we go a few days into FA seeing if we can make a great get with the full MLE. If we can, we ask Posey to take a hometown discount, and give him a compelling reason for doing so. If not, we give him the MLE, and otherwise only acquire vets on the cheap.

[GreenMachine]

This is how I look at it...

We have the starting 5:
Rondo
Ray
PP
KG
Perk

We have the Vet 5:
___________ (House?)
___________ (Tony?)
___________ (Posey?)
Scall
___________ (PJ? or Pollard?)

And we have the Kidie 5:
Gabe
Giddens
Walker
Powe
Baby

So it looks like we have some work to do on the Vet Bench. My guess is we keep House and Posey - so we have two spots to fill - and DA may leave one of them open - or sign an undrafted rook who we can cut later if there is a Vet we want to pick up mid-season.

On the positive side - the 'kidie 5' we had a few years ago (Sebb, West, Green, Gomes, AL) is what got us Ray and KG. There is NO doubt in my mind that 2/3 years from now - when Ray is ready to become the 6th man - some of these kids DA gets late in the draft will be valuable enough to trade for an established guy... and this is the greatness of DA - and why we will be good long after This big three is past their primes!!!

[Gomes3PC]

Jamaal Magloire would be a decent option with the LLE to find a backup center. He's got legit center size, decent athleticism, and only 30. His production has been in decline and got no minutes in Dallas, so he likely will be available cheaply.

Old friend Theo Ratliff is also a FA, although I bet he sticks in Detroit. Patrick O'Bryant deserves a second chance somewhere. Nellie hated the kid from the minute he got there because he didn't fit his system. At worst he's tall and can learn from Thibodeau and Clifford Ray.

Other big men available:
Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, Jake Voskuhl, Michael Doleac, Desagana Diop, Chris Andersen, Francisco Elson, Primoz Brezec

Of those guys, I like Diop, Ratliff, Magloire, and Andersen. Elson or Doleac would not be terrible either. I'd prefer we pass on Pollard since he's more injury-prone than Perk is himself.