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That is, will the fifteenth roster spot on Boston be left unfilled for an undetermined time?

1. Pierce
2. Garnett
3. R. Allen
4. Rondo
5. Perkins
6. R. Wallace
7. House
8. Daniels*
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?
13. ?
14. ?
15. Hudson or Powe

* Not yet known who are the players that could be involved in a sign-and-trade for Daniels.

I think they will fill the roster to 15. If they want to sign Powe later, they can just trade someone for a protected pick, i.e. what they did to Cassell. Then they will free the spot needed.

They better leave one open for Powe. I still can't believe they did that to him.

SonicYouth34 wrote:They better leave one open for Powe. I still can't believe they did that to him.

Did what? Let him become a free agent?

I understand Ainge's logic with Powe. And since I've a tough time believing a team will sign Powe now. I think Ainge's plan could be to sign Powe when he's healthy. He might not have anticipated Powe's reaction, but why not tell him about the bigger picture? Maybe he did and Powe and agent couldn't see the logic in it. If not, Ainge must have had the foresight to know that the national media backlash over this was inevitable.

For me, I was shocked more by Powe's reaction to Ainge's decision than the other way around.

Hudson I still feel a level of uncertainty because he's just a second round pick and he isn't a point guard. I'm not sure if that caters to his strengths, playing point guard. Then there's the Pruitt decision.

Personally, I strongly want for Ainge to sign a veteran point guard, a true point guard. I won't be content with House, Pruitt and Hudson. And I read that Daniels can play some point guard. Man, Boston's screwed right now if this is it going forward. Please don't mix and match here. You've to sign a player who's role is to be that backup point guard. Lue, Ivey, A. Carter, Vaughn... Someone who's worth it who can fit with this Celtics team.

I must have missed it... what was Powe's "reaction" and why was it surprising?

He basically said that he was going to go and try to hook on with another team. That's usually what free agents do. I didn't see anything surprising there.

You can understand Ainge's perspective that he doesn't want to occupy a roster spot for someone who isn't going to contribute. But you also can't expect a guy to sit around and twiddle their thumbs waiting for when they are healthy to start getting paid. Ainge made a reasonable call, and so did Powe. Powe is established enough, and claims that he will be back by January, that he should latch on with someone before he is recovered.

I'd prefer it to be us but given our roster it's not likely.

Ainge is in direct talks with Powe's doctor, so I'd trust his opinion. If you gave out free contracts for guys who couldn't contribute all the time, you'd be left with fluff on your roster. Love Leon, but it truly is a business.

Would be interesting to see Pruitt traded in a 3 for 1 type of deal, as that would increase Lester's chances of making the team.

1 Rondo
2 Ray
3 Pierce
4 Kg
5 KP
6 Eddie
7 Sheed
8 Quise
9 Baby?
10 Walker or Giddens
11 Scal
12 Lue type
13 Swifty?
14 Hudson?

Gosh, I hope not. Powe is probably not going to be an effective player right after he recovers. Probably not until the following year.

Of course Hudson makes the team. Has Danny ever drafted someone and not kept them around?

Powe is another story entirely. We don't keep crips on the team no matter how nice they are. Micheal J. Fox seems like a nice guy, but I don't want him on my team.

Danny did the right thing with Leon. It would have been extremely risky to offer a contract to a big man that's coming off his third major knee surgery, before he can prove the knee is sound. Critics would have a field day with that move, especially if Leon's knee was slow to respond, or if he lost his explosiveness. When and if he's healthy, that's the time to discuss signing Leon. Don't let your sentiments get in the way of good decision making.

As far as Hudson is concerned, I think we need to see some more of him before we can make an assessment. He'll get an invite to training camp, and he'll have a chance to make his case. Depending on who ends up going to Indy, a spot may well be there for Lester if he can have a decent camp. Ainge seems to think he's got NBA skills, and the reports coming out of Orlando prior to his injury all seemed pretty positive.

I think its possible we might have only 14 guys on the roster. It depends who we lose in trades in the off-season. I fully expect us to get rid of several players.

One possibility is we give a guy like Swift a partially-guaranteed deal, with a deadline for deciding on keeping him for the entire season of say Jan 15. By then we should know if Swift is worth anything, and if Powe is healthy. If Swift sucks, we ditch him and get Powe. If Powe doesn't recover or looks like he'll be ineffective, we keep Swift.

I do think Hudson will be signed eventually. Ainge seems to have a good speaking relationship with his agent.

You don't pay a man who's not going to be playing half the season and is coming off major surgery. What the team did is the right thing. If we somehow get a roster spot open in Feb when he comes back and he's ready to go then we should give him a shot. On the flip side I doubt nay other team will sign him till then.