Where our roster stands now. . .

[Benjamerica]

Rajon Rondo \ Gabe Pruitt
Ray Allen \ Eddie House \ J.R. Giddens
Paul Pierce \ Tony Allen \ Darius Miles \ Bill Walker \ Brian Scalabrine
Kevin Garnett \ Leon Powe \ Glen Davis
Kendrick Perkins \ Patrick O'Bryant

So. . We have 15 players right now, the limit.

Miles, we're basically test driving right now. . .

Walker hasn't actually been signed. .

I know it's good to be looking towards the future but shouldn't we be more focused on the now at this point? It took us so long to finally build a championship caliber roster we should probably just keep running in that same direction, no?

I mean we're going to be without Pollard, Brown, Cassell, Posey . . . And they were all veterans, though not all were the most impacting players on the court, I think it really helped just having that experience and overall level of maturity present.

House isn't a spectacular 1 . . Even when we have him in at the 1 he ends up playing more of a 2 with someone like Paul handling the ball. As far as these guys like Pruitt, Giddens, and Walker go - I'm just not convinced yet. They either haven't played at this level or haven't played much. I'd rather see us sign gritty hard nosed guys, role players, veterans, and the like than these young *I hope they work out right* players.

PGs;
Darrell Armstrong; He probably at least has more in his tank now than Cassell did for us come post season last year. He's got the experience and will play defense. Even if he was 3rd option at the 1 spot I'd feel a little safer with a minimum vet signing of a guy like this.

Theodoros Papaloukas; Would be such a strong back up pg. Mayyyyyybe he would come cheap for a chance to play in the NBA and for the defending champs? Who knows.

SFs
Austin Croshere; Dude always hustles and plays with heart(Posey!) and can hit 3s

Ruben Patterson; The man always played explosively and with a lot of intensity as well as prided himself on defense. Give him a second chance if anyone.

Mickale Gelabale; He does't have as much experience but he hustles, he's athletic, and can hit that sweet corner 3.

Cs
Alonzo Mourning; He still wants to play but I don't know why he would go back with Miami or why they would take him back as it they seem to be going more in the direction of youth at this point. Yeah he's had plenty of injuries but when he HAS played over the past 2 seasons he has played like his life is on the line. Sign him up, let him play and train with the team, and break him out as healthy as possible come the post season. Let Perks, O'Bryant, and even Powe\Davis do the 5 spot thing through the regular season.



There are probably plenty of more guys like these. Pure role players and strong veterans. They may look like feeble signings but when the season plays out and these guys are needed more for specific roles their value always becomes evident( Barry\Finley\Horry - Cassell\Brown\Posey - Ratliff\Hunter\McDyess - Etc). I think the biggest issue with a lot of playoff teams is a lack of these kinds of players. What strong vets or pure role players did the Hawks have, really? Or the Cavs even. .

So that's how I feel. . . Our future is already very bright with guys like Rondo, Powe, and Perkins playing at the level they have been. They will only continue to get better over these next few seasons. Our big three will still be able to win and play this way for at least a few more seasons as well. We do not need to be worried about these other young nobodies! We should be padding our roster with vets and role players! Forget the rookies, waive who you need to, and make the smart signings!

Also. . .Glen Davis, can't we get rid of him? Don't get me wrong he seems like a great guy and he's fun to see play from time to time but he's really a non-factor. He hustles and plays with heart but I watched him make so many dumb mistakes out of playing with too much heart and not enough brains and compsure(Something vets bring to the table). I feel strong as ever with our 4 spot being tied up between KG and Powe for the most part. I wouldn't mind trading Glen away to a team where the 4 isn't as tied up and he can flourish(If it's in him) and then signing a guy like Robert Horry to a 3rd option 4 position and let him sit most of the season - And bust him out in the post season much like the Spurs have done(Who appear to have no interest in re-signing him this time around((Most likely due to the acquisitions of Thomas and Mahinmi).

End.

*I guess the point of this was to vent out how I feel. . . I'm so tired of hearing the same ideas over and over again. I don't mind criticism, infact I expect it, but how about your ideas as well? Anyone else have any fresh ideas that don't involve unproven rookies?

[ParticleMan]

... and now for something completely different....

[GreenGrizz]

After Miles and Walker signings

PG - Rondo, House, Pruitt
SG - Ray, the cat, Giddenss
SF - Pierce, Walker, Scal
PF - KG, Powe, Miles
C - Perk, POB, Big Baby

[Jammer]

You can sit courtside to watch a game, and see completely different things than someone else.

Like the time a WNBA ref and myself were swapping off the ball fouls from second row seats at a NETs-Clippers game (during the Darius Miles / Lamar Odom era in Paper Clip history).

Anyway, here is another view of DA DEPTH CHARGE CHART:

PG: RAJON / EDDIE / Pruitt (he still here?)

SG: RAY RAY / Tony / J. R. Giddens (will Giddy push Tony by season's end)

SF: PAUL THE MAN / RAY RAY / Tony / Billy Walker

PF: KEVIN THE GREAT / LEON / SCAL / Darius Miles (offensively this is his only position)

C: PERK / Patrick O'Bryant / Glen "Big Baby" Davis


Biggest Holes:

1. A center with length AND strength who can defend. Since the Celtics have minimum contract offers out to Mutombo & Mourning, and Mutombo is pissed at Houston for signing Steve Francis for 2 years at $2.5 Mil per season AFTER Mutombo took a vet minimum offer last summer, the Celtics should consider throwing some of their #3 million remaining MLE to entice the man who helped lead Houston to 22 wins in a row last year for one more chance at a Championship. All the Celtics need out of Mutombo is 6 minutes per half, especially the final 4 to 6 minutes of a game.

2. PG who can handle a ball under pressure. Pruitt has not demonstrated he's it. As a matter of fact, all that smilin' Gabe has demonstrated is that he jacks up shots at the first sign of daylight. They better start falling, or he's gonna be outta town soon.

So, my guess is that Danny & Doc's dream is:

- a true sized center with length and strength, as well as

another ball handler (an upgrade over Pruitt and House).

[rambo_ortega]

i like our team now more than last year. our team can get to the hoop more which was our weakness last season. pose can hit the 3 pt shot but it wasn't like he was a go to guy type shooter so his 3pt shooting will not be missed much because our main 3pt threats like allen,pierce and house are still aboard. miles can play the posey role but with a different dimension on offense then we have super athletic wings at the end of our bench. i'm excited with our deep roster. plus our young guys are promising.

[billfromBoston]

Jammer,

I feel your points about veterans and the confidence their dependability provides....however, the team also has to maximize its opportunity to grow younger talent around their veteran core in order to position themselves for the next phase of this team....

If last season taught us anything, its that the strength of GPA mitigates the need for substantial contributions from the role players....while Posey, Brown, and House were all extremely reliable in their roles, those roles were limited to very rudimentary aspects of the game: set shooting and positional defense...

I believe there will be plenty of solid, reliable vets available throughout the year and the team will be able to acquire any number of them via trade as well...this becomes even easier to do as the younger, higher upside players currently rounding out the roster develop under the spotlight.

This team is built to win 55+ games as-is IMO, and that opinion is clearly shared by Ainge as well...if he is unwilling to raise the price-point on guys like Mutombo then there is a reason for it...the team is looking to repeat and ownership has already displayed a willingness to spend the MLE--they just won't overspend for anything, they are about value...

Based on the team's consistent approach this off-season, i'm imagining that they are perfectly confident that this team has enough to put themselves in a position to contend. They clearly have concerns about certain key positions on this roster, but they know they have less-proven talent, and they are simply providing them an oportunity to show that talent and win a role.

This is smart management...instead of smothering these players on the depth chart, the team is providing a high-level developmental environment for these young players to prove themselves. The roles they are being asked to play are not substantial, they have simple roles that fit their natural playing strengths.

If any or all of these players are not adequate for the given roles they have, the team has the ability to grab a low-level vet who can provide the consistency needed to man those limited roles...but using the young players early will help them develop faster. The strength of the core of this team is still very experienced-only one player in the projected top 8 has less than 5 years experience and all but one played a major role on last years team, (Powe and TA respectively)...so the team has a wealth of experience and proven performance on a title-contending level.

Signing key veterans is always a good decision in terms of reliability, but the urgency to flood the team with them immediately doesn't exist IMO...the team has time to let things play out..

[Celtics_85]

I don't forsee a big problem with the roster as is right now. I believe POB will give us what we lost in PJ, and it is time for Powe or Davis to solidify a rotation spot. The worse case scenerio I see is KG will slide to Center some, which a small ball lineup is part of what this team has done for a while now.
Lets take a look at what each player can bring to this team backing Perk and KG up at the front court possition.

POB: If this guy can learn the defensive rotations he will solidify his spot in the rotation. We don't need his offense that bad, but he is more than capable of scoring a few points. His length and shot blocking ability will be much needed for our frontcourt.

Powe: We know what he brings to the table and he will be battleing Davis for a rotation spot, and just maybe a future contract with this club.

Davis: Same as Powe knowing what he can bring and fighting Powe in the same way.

Scal and Miles: These two mirror eachother with either being able to play the 3 or 4 with one being active and the other being inactive on any given night.

Now if this doesn't work out Ainge will look to trade either Davis or Powe at the deadline, maybe with Scal if he likes a player that may be around 4 to 5 million dollars. It could be just one of them for a draft pick and if PJ or Mourning want to come in for the rest of the year they can sign one. I know some will say we need to keep them both but if we need to make a move, it means they aren't producing the way they need to, and with them kind of mirroring eachother with what they bring here one would have to go.

[Big Baby]

I don't forsee a big problem with the roster as is right now. I believe POB will give us what we lost in PJ, and it is time for Powe or Davis to solidify a rotation spot. The worse case scenerio I see is KG will slide to Center some, which a small ball lineup is part of what this team has done for a while now.
Lets take a look at what each player can bring to this team backing Perk and KG up at the front court possition.

POB: If this guy can learn the defensive rotations he will solidify his spot in the rotation. We don't need his offense that bad, but he is more than capable of scoring a few points. His length and shot blocking ability will be much needed for our frontcourt.

Powe: We know what he brings to the table and he will be battleing Davis for a rotation spot, and just maybe a future contract with this club.

Davis: Same as Powe knowing what he can bring and fighting Powe in the same way.

Scal and Miles: These two mirror eachother with either being able to play the 3 or 4 with one being active and the other being inactive on any given night.

Now if this doesn't work out Ainge will look to trade either Davis or Powe at the deadline, maybe with Scal if he likes a player that may be around 4 to 5 million dollars. It could be just one of them for a draft pick and if PJ or Mourning want to come in for the rest of the year they can sign one. I know some will say we need to keep them both but if we need to make a move, it means they aren't producing the way they need to, and with them kind of mirroring eachother with what they bring here one would have to go.

Man, PJ was arguably the smartest veteran we had in the playoffs. He knew when to give a hard foul and he constantly messed with the opposing player's head. And PJ was clutch. POB may put up better numbers, but he has big shoes to fill.

[P2]

It's easy.

C: Perk / POB / Baby
PF: KG / Powe or Baby / Scal
SF: Pierce / Miles / Walker
SG: Ray / Tony / Giddens (hasn't officially signed yet)
PG: Rondo / House / Pruitt

[ParticleMan]

Man, PJ was arguably the smartest veteran we had in the playoffs. He knew when to give a hard foul and he constantly messed with the opposing player's head. And PJ was clutch. POB may put up better numbers, but he has big shoes to fill.

sure, he was smart. but at some point actual talent and athletic ability overcomes "smart". i'm not sure POB can do it, but overall PJ's play was horrible by any statistical measure. I know, I know, his value was beyond stats. But stats aren't meaningless either, and PJ's were abysmal.

POB brings a serious shotblocking threat off the bench, something we didn't have at all last year. Plus he's got actual talent. It may be that he won't give us the clutch shot, but his play may make us not need that clutch shot too.

[GreenMachine]

How about a hand for DA!

He added a LOT of athletes and UPSIDE to this team.

New players: (one at each position)
Gabe, Giddens, Walker, Miles, POB - ANY ONE of them could brake out in the next year or two. At least 2 of those guys should become rotation players and very valuable (along with Powe and Baby) in making trades or becoming future members of our core.

One or two of those guys and Scal is gonna get us a Good player in trade at some point.

*I know Gabe isn't really new... but he is...

[Rocky5000]

Let's be honest, Perk is a pretty anemic offensive player. He's slow to gather, and as a result consistently blows wide open dunks. If O'Bryant actually has range out to 20 feet, like he said in the intro presser, he's already a better offensive player than Perkins. Where Perkins makes his living is on the defensive end, by shoving guys around, boxing out, and keeping other centers out of their comfort zone. O'Bryant isn't anywhere near as strong as Perk, but he is taller, and supposedly a better shotblocker. To be honest, if the effort is there from O'Bryant I don't expect much of a drop off when he comes off the bench if any at all. The fact that there are differences, between the two players, is actually good, because it gives us a little versatility.
Perk was left open A LOT, but because of his weak offensive skills we didn't capitalized on it as much as we should have.

With PJ, he had a knack for performing at his best in the biggest moments in games, I think that's something that's either innate, or has to come with experience and age, so we can't shoudln't expect it from O'Bryant. Hell, even KG seens to get jittery when the **** hits the fan.

I really want TA to get a big opportunity this year, but it's good to know, if he doesn't work out, we've got guys like Miles, Walker, and Giddens ready to help out.

[Jammer]

Let's see, several posters list Miles as a SF.

Interesting thought, since defenders routinely lay 8 to 10 feet off him on his good days.

Don't see what use he serves out on the perimeter, except to watch him jump with joy any time one of his shots HITS the RIM.

Now, as far as within 10 feet of the bucket, the old Darius Miles was a thing of beauty to behold.

Could really spin either way, with lots of quicks, to blow by his defender. Could elevate, and finish.
And put the ball on the floor.

Now, since his explosiveness was dependent on his athleticism, what type of PF will he be now??

I'd be real surprised if Doc Rivers plays Miles at the "3" over Ray, Tony or Billy W. Then again, I'd be real surprised if Doc plays anyone at the "3" that defenders can lay 10 feet off of.

The initial classification of Miles coming out of high school was obviously based on his build, and not his game. But, with 8 seasons to see what he's got, I'm a bit surprised to see the classification still used. I'd be real surprised if Doc saw it that way, though.

It would be nice if Miles could just make the team as a PF. That would be a huge step forward in his recovery.

[Big Baby]

Let's see, several posters list Miles as a SF.

Interesting thought, since defenders routinely lay 8 to 10 feet off him on his good days.

Don't see what use he serves out on the perimeter, except to watch him jump with joy any time one of his shots HITS the RIM.

Now, as far as within 10 feet of the bucket, the old Darius Miles was a thing of beauty to behold.

Could really spin either way, with lots of quicks, to blow by his defender. Could elevate, and finish.
And put the ball on the floor.

Now, since his explosiveness was dependent on his athleticism, what type of PF will he be now??

I'd be real surprised if Doc Rivers plays Miles at the "3" over Ray, Tony or Billy W. Then again, I'd be real surprised if Doc plays anyone at the "3" that defenders can lay 10 feet off of.

The initial classification of Miles coming out of high school was obviously based on his build, and not his game. But, with 8 seasons to see what he's got, I'm a bit surprised to see the classification still used. I'd be real surprised if Doc saw it that way, though.

It would be nice if Miles could just make the team as a PF. That would be a huge step forward in his recovery.

Does it matter whether he backs up the 3 or 4 spot? Pierce sometimes plays the "4" when we go small. It's not like Miles will be playing 30 mpg. We just need him to play hard when he's given minutes. And he will.

As for PJ vs. POB argument, PJ is 40 years old. I'd rather have POB in the long run, too. But PJ brought a lot more to the table than just his numbers. He was a real force on the defensive end and he and Posey were the only ones willing to commit hard fouls in the playoffs. You need guys like that on a championship team.

[Jammer]

Well Big Baby, perhaps I spoke too harshly.

Because there may be a way Darius will get the job done.

Sort of like the way Ben Gordon defends PG's on defense, and playing SG on offense;
while Kirk Hinrich defends SG's on defense, and playing PG on offense.

Miles is best catching his entry pass within 10 feet of the basket.

Paired with Kevin Garnett, who can knock down 20 footers with ease;
or paired with Brian Scalabrine, who can defend PF's while taking them out behind the 3 point line when Scal is on offense;

would open up the area around the basket for Miles to operate in his natural comfort zone.

So, I can see a way for Miles to defend SF's, while still playing within 10 feet of the basket on offense (where he is most effective). So, Miles can work at SF on defense when paired with Garnett or Scalabrine, since Miles can still play inside (posting up) on offense.

But sending Miles out to the perimeter is foolish since no one needs to pay any attention to him.

[Red2]

I'm excited about the potential of miles, OB,walker,giddens and pruitt but no way do I think those guys replace posey and PJ- at least not yet. in time they may be better but right now all they have is potential whereas posey and pj you knew what you were getting every night

[TheSheriff]

Celtics currently have 15 men on the roster. When the year starts Miles will be inactive (serving his suspension), but who else will be inactive and/or in the d-league? I assume Giddens and Walker would end up in the D-league. When Miles suspension is over, though, what happens? Do they inactivate Scal?

[JMillott]

PG Rondo/House/Pruitt
SG R.Allen/T.Allen/Giddens
SF Pierce/Giddens/Walker
PF Garnett/Powe/Miles/Scalibrine
C Perkins/O'Bryant/Davis/Garnett

I think we are very well setup for this season and can handle shorterm injury to everybody but Rajon Rondo without it causing a major problem for us. I think in that respect we are a better team then we were last season even with the loss of Posey and the projected minor decline of Ray Allen as a 33 year old SG.

We can expect in my opinion Rondo, Perkins, Powe, Pruitt and T.Allen to perform better then they did last season and i'd expect we will get more from O'Bryant then we did from Glen Davis as the back up C a year ago.

I also believe that we will get something from both Giddens and Walker as well this season at times likely without much consistentcy though much as was the case with Big Baby last year. Thankfully with them both fighting for the right to back up Pierce for 8-15 minutes a night its not exactly a big deal.

I think the general key to the Celtics season is Rajon Rondo, if he makes the leap towards being an allstar calibur PG we will again easily be the class of the league. If he starts to level off as simply a quality starter then we will just be amoung the elite teams instead of the defacto team.

I don't think the lack of a true back up PG matters unless Rondo gets hurt as I suspect he'll be playing close to 40 minutes a night from now on.

The other key to the season besides health which is key for everyteam and should go without saying is that either Perkins can either play well enough to force Doc Rivers to play him 30 minutes a night or if O'Bryant can give us 15-20 minutes a night of compareable play.

We need to play less smallball this year because without Posey its just not going to work the same at either end of the floor with Miles or Scalibrine at the PF spot. I think Miles can help by playing at the 4 in smallball but its got to be in far shorter spurts then we did it with Posey.

[elrod enchilada]

I think Miles is primarily a 3 who also can play the 4.

[JMillott]

I think Miles is primarily a 3 who also can play the 4.

I would say the same exact thing about James Posey and that with Doc Rivers as the coach that like Posey i'm expecting Darius Miles to see the bulk of his minutes playing the 4 when we play smallball with KG at the 5.

I think that we will be playing a lot less smallball this year simply because Darius Miles isn't nearly as good as James Posey at either end of the floor and because I think we'll be a much better team when we play big with Perk/O'Bryant at center and KG/Powe at PF then we will be when we go small.

I think Miles will do ok here when he plays but i'd expect that we will see a reverseal from last year when it was Powe who only was really in the rotation for 40-45 games and Posey was always in the rotation when availible to play this smallball.

I think this year Miles will only be in the rotation for 40-45 games although if he stays healthy he'll likely play in close to 50-55 games he will only get 10+ minutes in maybe 40 games while Powe will get his 20-25 games every night that he is healthy and availible like Posey was last year.

The other major change is that I expect we'll play a true center for close to 40 minutes a night this year between Perkins getting more playing time and O'Bryant playing far more then Pollard did last season.

Other then that its just a matter of Rondo likely getting closer to 40 minutes a night then 30 minutes a night and a healthy Tony Allen getting a steady 16-20 minutes a night backing up Ray Allen now that he should be 100% healthy.

I think this move away from being such a jump shooting team will be a huge factor in limiting our scoring droughts from last year and make us a harder team for teams to comeback against when we open our big leads.

I think the biggest miss-conception is that our team will suffer defensively because of losing Posey when in fact I believe it will make us a better defensive team overall since we will play less smallball.