How about this for a crazy idea...

[Hemingway]

Once Tony Allen is healthy we give him major playing time or start him. I know there are a million good reasons not to do this, so I don't need to be reminded, BUT lets face it:

1. If he is going to ever be a player in this league he needs to get consistant minutes to play through his mistakes (like he got a few years ago before getting hurt)

2. He is worth next to nothing right now. Starting for a month might make a team trade something for him and scal.

It might not be the worst idea to give him one more shot if in the form of big minutes for a month stretch that lines up to end around the trade deadline.

[DubaLakers]

So sit Rondo, one of the most underrated players in the game? Playing with those four he'd prbably look OK. What GM would take your bait? Maybe that fool in MIN who gave DEN the pick for Ty Lawson on draft day, he could be bamboozled.

We'll try the same with Sasha Sucksbad, but he wouldn't last as long, at least Tony knows he's not Larry Bird like Sasha thinks he's Kobe.

OT: I'm dying to see the East this year and how it plays out. It would appear BOS is the favorite, but CLE is gonna have a much nicer squad, and we both know how Lebron just makes everything so effortless and easy. Could ORL sneak up on both of them?

The league is so top heavy it's gonna be a lot easier getting wins outside of 5 teams.

Is BOS gonna be like the Spurs and just play for the playoffs and then turn it on? OR burn those old guys up going for the best record ? In other years it may seem stupid for an older team to risk the teams health going for the best record, but with there being so few good teams, the stars could rest up the second half of all those games.

I love how Doc manages players time and how he coaches now if he can just do something about his excessive sweating/oily skin whatever it is, it's uncomfortable to watch.

Tuesdays BOS/CLE game is gonna be fun. I hope to see a BOS/LAL final this year ORL was a letdown and KG back to full health. Later.

[BRUNiNHO91]

I agree. Better yet, I think we should take it up a notch. We start Hudson, Tony, Giddens, Baby and Shelden..than they go beast for the first month of the season, and we trade them for Lebron + Mo Williams..our new line up would be Rondo, Pierce, LeBron, KG, Perk..Williams, Allen, Daniels, baby and Sheed would be our bench...it would solve our back up PG problems too..I love it...get it done Danny!!!!!!!!!


Woosah..Woosah..

[Hemingway]

Well in fairness, I think it would be Ray not Rondo who takes a backseat. I think moving Ray to the second unit at some point is going to make sense so a trial period might be ok.

We could also only do this for the 60-75% of teams we should crush. A second unit of House, Ray, MD, Baby and Sheed is better than most teams starting lineups.

I think Tony could be a small trade chip. He is an expiring so it is low risk. If we get him to play well now a team could think, "heck h played good when their team was bad like ours is now and he is showing flashes again, why not see if e does anything for us?" If a bad team is gonna trade an older player for expirings getting a young player who might pan out for them on the cheap is an added incentive. It could be the difference between trading someone to us over another top team.

[ParticleMan]

this was a good idea when we were in the midst of 30 win seasons. now we're trying to win a title. if playing TA ends up costing us a couple of games which gives cleveland HCA, which is a more likely outcome, that wouldn't be worth it at all.

at this point TA is just an expiring contract. any actual play we get out of him is a bonus.

[Zin5]

this was a good idea when we were in the midst of 30 win seasons. now we're trying to win a title. if playing TA ends up costing us a couple of games which gives cleveland HCA, which is a more likely outcome, that wouldn't be worth it at all.

at this point TA is just an expiring contract. any actual play we get out of him is a bonus.

This pretty much. Winning is more important than getting value out of unnecessary players.

[Hemingway]

this was a good idea when we were in the midst of 30 win seasons. now we're trying to win a title. if playing TA ends up costing us a couple of games which gives cleveland HCA, which is a more likely outcome, that wouldn't be worth it at all.

at this point TA is just an expiring contract. any actual play we get out of him is a bonus.

Unfortunatly for Tony, this is probably the winning idea.

[Scalamental]

It's not a crazy idea at all, it makes perfect sense, just at what cost? 65 vs. 73 wins? I'd do it. Especially if we could net someone better. Cold for me to say as a Tony advocate but its the way it is.

[hairybyrd]

I like this idea. TA is much better when starting than coming off the bench since he needs some time to get into a rhythm. The Celts need to balance the shooting, though. With Rondo, TA and Perk starting the game, the only good shooters are KG and Pierce. The second lineup has some real offensive firepower and not enough shots for Wallace, Davis, Daniels, Ray and House. While I like the idea of starting TA I don't think it would work because of this imbalance in the offense. We need the threat of Ray's 3-ball from the beginning of the game in order to open the lane for Rondo, clear some space for KG and Pierce, and keep the D honest against Perk in the post. Then again, it would improve the defense - Perk, KG, Pierce, TA, Rondo is probably the best defensive lineup in the NBA. It's not that crazy of an idea, it's legit.

[Dave_From_NB]

At this point, I think TA will just get included in a "I'll take the stuff you don't want but is expiring, and give you the stuff I don't want because it isn't expiring" trade, or he just walks at the end of the season into forced retirement. I actually think if he is included in a deal there is a good chance he'll just be bought out by the receiving team.

Indiana set the market rate for value of TA, which was that they wouldn't take him for free.

[GuyClinch]

No offense man but this is a pretty suspect idea. The C's will be in a race for HCA. That's not to be overlooked when your remember how we won our last championship. The C's are playing for a championship and need to win every game possible.

Playing TA alot of minutes isn't going to boost his value off the charts and will cost the team several wins. And its not just that. Remember their are paying fans who go to see these games. Do you want 20,000 people wondering WTF your coach is doing playing a bench guy as a starter? Do you think the coach would be happy disappointing those people who shelled out hundreds of dollars to see a game?

This one of those ideas that sounds good when your typing it on the internet but is just a bit crazy overall. OTOH I do think Doc might showcase TA a bit especially if we are playing against a trading partner. That's an okay idea..

If its some road game and the opposing coach wants to see if TA can play.. Then go ahead and showcase him provided he plays well enough not to screw up that game..

Pete

[Hemingway]

Tony just isn't a good fit here. If Ray goes down, you would think hed get a chance but his lack of a shot would keep him from playing with the starters. If PP goes down his lack of size would keep him from playing with the starters (though in fairness this one would probably go night by night.)

[ParticleMan]

Another problem with "showcasing" TA is that he actually has to play well for it to work. It's like when we tried to showcase Scal and he sucked so royally it basically stuck us with the contract for the full 5 years. Given that TA plays well in about 1 out of every 5 games, I'm not sure the percentages are with us to showcase him. Better to just get him healthy and say "oh when he's healthy he can really produce, we just have HOFers in front of him, that's why he doesn't get any burn". GMs often pay more for what they don't know than what they see.