The back-up PG situation as I see it.

[Hemingway]

Preface: I write today because I am a bit shocked by what I am seeing become the general consensus of this board: That we are ok as is to go into the season in regards to the back up 1 spot. I strongly disagree with the notion that House, MD and Hudson can fill the spot.

A few things off the bat:

We have the most talent in the league. We have sense we got KG and Ray and since Rondo has stepped it up to the level of just short of all star. With that in mind, adding more talent is not the issue. Finding key backups is what really matters. We need to be in a position where if any of our starters should be out for the playoffs we are still a top tier team. We are almost there. If Perk or KG go out, Sheed can step in. If PP or Ray Allen go down MD (or who knows maybe a re focused Tony Allen) can step in. But if Rondo should go down, I think our championship hopes go way down. We need a back up point who we would not be scared to start in a playoff game 7 if the need should ever arise. No one we have now fits that bill.

And then there is Marbury:

1. He seems to be far and away the best pg left
2. He has the biggest upside.
3. He didn't have a whole season last time and never really got to play with KG
4. There were no problems with him. If there were we would have heard about them by now.

I think we should be able to get him if we want him, and I think we should want him. We are waiting right now on bringing in MD in a trade. What is the motivation in doing this? I guess you can argue we save money if we ship out someone we don't plan on using, but those guys (Tony and Scal) are expirings and will be an asset close to the deadline. I guess you can say that we want to save out LLE for next year, but we probably won't use the whole MLE next year so I see this as having little merit. What does seem to make sense is that we want to save the LLE for Starbury.

Getting Starbury or This is where it gets confusing:

First lets look at Marbury's outlook on this. We have not heard of any teams showing interest in him except for the Wiz and that was a while back. I don't see anyone thinking he puts them over the top and I don't see lotto teams wanting him at all. So if he has no other options and we still need a PG, how do we get him? Its looking more and more with each day that passes that we will not be able to trade for MD. So what can we offer Marbs? The Vet Min would be perfect as the league pays for a portion of that. The other option is to re up what we gave him last time. If I am not mistaken we gave him the portion of the MLE that we did not spend on House. (Obviously is was prorated) So we could just resign him to around LLE money even if we use the LLE on MD right? What I don't know is if the league pays part of the LLE contracts. This would seemingly be the motivation in getting him on board that way.

Other options are bleak:

T Lou? Do we really feel comfortable with him running the show if Rondo goes down? Maybe someone will get bought out half way through the season (seems like someone always does.) Maybe Cassell can attempt a comeback for the last few months if we are really stuck.

I am interested to hear some other suggestions on who might be available midseason and who we could get right now.

[BEASTMODE]

Agreeed.

[joneb]

If we were headed into the playoffs with the current status quo for our point guard situation, then I'd share your concerns wholeheartedly. But if Danny isn't able to find what he wants during this offseason, what's the harm waiting until the trade deadline approaches to fill the slot? Danny should be able to wield more leverage then, because he has some valuable expiring contracts at his disposal. In the meantime, you can feed Lester Hudson a few minutes to evaluate his ability to contribute. And Doc can use the time to tinker with different backcourt pairings. Eddie House can provide enough rest for Rondo for the time being. And for the record, I hate seeing Eddie at the point for the most part, and the thought of Daniels playing the point doesn't excite me either. But that being said, I think Doc can tweak the lineup enough to get us through the first part of the regular season.

And if the team was willing to let Gabe Pruitt walk, that leads me to believe that the team's braintrust has faith that somebody on the team can step up into the backup spot. Perhaps they saw enough of Hudson during his truncated summer league to feel that he could be that guy. I agree with you on Marbury. I'd love to see him back again. Talent-wise there's nobody available that can compete with Steph. But if you're going with Marbury, it's essential to have him signed prior to training camp. He needs the experience of camp to become fully integrated into the team's system.

So to sum things up, there's no need to panic for now. Even if we don't bring back Steph (my preference), Danny will still have many options to fill the slot once the trade deadline approaches.

[ryaningf]

To echo what others are saying:

--I hate Eddie at point, but he's not completely terrible
--Marquis isn't much of a point, but he can play there
--TA or Hudson (if signed) can give us some minutes at point if necessary

In the end, Danny will do what he's done the last 2 seasons--add a veteran point guard at some point during the season. In year's past, he's added bought-out veterans. This season, he may use his expirings to make an addition.

PG is just not a priority at this point of the offseason...it'll be Marbury or Hudson, with reinforcements, if necessary, coming during the season.

[Banks2Pierce]

66 wins and 62 wins with Eddie House at immediate backup point guard to start the season...

[Rocky5000]

http://www.necn.com/Boston/Sports/2009/ ... 32334.html

Paraphrasing Ainge, "Eddie can play point, Marquis can play point, [b]even Tony Allen[b] can play point. I think people forget that when Rondo went down and Tony started in his place, we beat the Lakers by 20." He talks about the 5th or 6th guard spot being up for grabs.
Top 4
Rondo
Ray
Eddie
Daniels
Tony?

[cisco]

66 wins and 62 wins with Eddie House at immediate backup point guard to start the season...

That doesn't mean we can get away with it this year. Could have used someone who could step up in the playoffs last year. Other teams have gotten better and our main guys are a year older.

Sign Marbury.

[MVP16]

66 wins and 62 wins with Eddie House at immediate backup point guard to start the season...

That doesn't mean we can get away with it this year. Could have used someone who could step up in the playoffs last year. Other teams have gotten better and our main guys are a year older.

Sign Marbury.

House did average 7.7 points on 49% 3-point shooting for the playoffs last year. That's not bad. In the playoffs, House is the best option as our "backup pg," because either way, Pierce is the playmaker of the 2nd unit. That allows House to play off the ball.

For the regular season, we probably need to add another pg because you don't want to put that kind of pressure on Pierce for 82 games. But in Eddie's case, it's either he plays "pg" or he doesn't play when we play big games and the rotation is cut down. Even though Eddie isn't a pg, I think he brings more then having a player with pg skills, but doesn't give the great shooting and energy that Eddie gives us.

I would like us to try to do with Rondo what Cleveland does with Mo Williams. They take him out of the game with about 4-5 minutes left in the 1st and 3rd quarters, then bring him back in at the start of the 2nd and 4th quarter when Lebron comes off. With Sheed/Baby in the frontcourt, Rondo will be able to get to the hoop at will or find either of them for open jumpers. House can play many of his minutes with the starters and space the floor for the big 3 and also play some minutes in the backcourt with Rondo if the matchups allow.

[Dave_From_NB]

I think the Celtics are just letting the MD saga unfold, and then they'll adjust depending on what the S&T becomes. If they do work the S&T, some adjustment to the roster is going to have to happen, and who knows perhaps a PG coming back is part of what they're trying to work out. Backup PG is the last remaining spot to fill, Marbury can do it and I don't think there is any need to hurry to sign him up. Unless the New York authorities put him in a straight jacket feeling he's a danger to himself or others that is.

The other thing if the S&T doesn't happen, is the Celtics would have TA and Scal as expiring contracts (finally!), and it's not out of the question that they could land a backup near the deadline that isn't a releasee. There seemed to be a bunch of young PG's drafted this year, there may easily be teams out of the playoffs ready to give up on medium level veterans with longish contracts, after knowing their kid can fill the role.

All-in-all, it's been such a great off-season that it seems to be nit picking to worry about the last remaining spot to fill, when there seem to still be options available both now and likely later.

[canman1971]

Preface: I write today because I am a bit shocked by what I am seeing become the general consensus of this board: That we are ok as is to go into the season in regards to the back up 1 spot. I strongly disagree with the notion that House, MD and Hudson can fill the spot.

Kinda funny since the Celtics went into last season with House as their backup point and they seemed to start out fine. Plenty of time.

[Hemingway]

But both of the last 2 seasons we have been underwhelmed by the performance of the pg we bring in. I bet Danny is trying to make something happen now.

[Makaha Mike]

I can't get past the thought that Ernest Hemingway doesn't know the difference between "sense" and "since". I assume there was good stuff in this thread, but my mind rebelled.

[Jammer]

Hemingway, time for a new pair of eyeglasses.

Danny, rightfully so, says he's in no rush. Although he said another PG will be added.

Translation: (Plus his other comments already quoted). Get the best guy possible. Just because Lester Hudson would accept end of bench status doesn't necessarily mean he's the best guy possible. Whether the pickup is a trade deadline buyout, or 34 year old Allen Iverson at minimum or 33 year old Jason Williams or ?, Danny will be patient.

Eddie has the job to start, plus Marquis and Tony (looks like he'll still be here) can fill in, a bit.

Makes perfect sense to me.

His plan is to get THE BEST PG to come on board for minimum.

Whether his timetable is start of training camp, or by the trade deadline, he hasn't let out.

[GuyClinch]

We should get Daniels on board before we worry about a backup PG. The C's don't really need a pure point. Its something Danny wants to address IMHO but its way down the list.

[TheOGJabroni]

Pretty much what everyone else is saying... If this was our roster going into the playoffs, I'd be more concerned. But the fact is, although we know he is not great, we have been successful with Eddie going into seasons being our primary backup PG. This year should be no different. Actually I think it will be more successful. He will have that much more experience playing the position and it is also having Marquis, not to play PG, but to at least help bring up the ball with Eddie since we know is he definitely capable of doing that much. After that, it's a non-issue because they will dump off the ball to Paul or KG to initiate the offense.

And really, how many minutes are we actually talking about? 12 or so? Nothing that is going to prevent us from winning crucial games IMO. If Rondo goes down, I don't care if we had a "true, solid" BACKUP PG to replace him, we're still screwed, just like any other team would be if they lost a player of his caliber.

[sully00]

This is just a totally overrated concept. If we aren't adding a rotation player then what is the concern? We have added Cassell and Marbury and frankly they have been pretty awful, they were the least productive players we put on the court. This was not a better team because of the addition of these guys and the chances of getting someone better than the them for the minimum isn't good. I think we need another defender at the PG spot as that will be a weakness of Daniels but I don't think if we brought in Jaque Vaughn or Kevin Ollie they would play.

They have a plan and the plan is to use Daniels ability to handle the ball and attack the basket to compliment Eddie House's SG skill set. Clearly losing Rondo would hurt this team but sometimes we are better with Eddie in for him anyhow. We need a 3rd defender at the PG spot and frankly that can be Tony Allen if he is still here. If Rondo goes down for the season you can look to make a deal but there isn't some vet min FA including Marbury that is going to fill that void.

[Celts17Pride]

The back-up PG situation as I see it is going to be a 3 way combination of House, Daniels and Iverson playing the PG,SG,SF spots. All three can handle the ball to some extent and all three can either shoot or take it to the hole. It's a pretty safe bet that Ainge is talking to AI right now trying to convince him to come to Boston.

I think the longer it takes for AI to find a team the more likely he will end up in Boston.

[sully00]

I think if you replace AI with Ty Lue you might have it.

[Rocky5000]

An AI + House backcourt would get absolutely lit up night after night.

[Celts17Pride]

An AI + House backcourt would get absolutely lit up night after night.

yeah,

Lue + House
Hudson + House
Marbury + House
etc.

backcourts would be some of the all-time defensive tandems in NBA history.