OT: ESPN votes on the best/worst newcomer this season

[campybatman]

Are you serious?

Seriously, I think Rasheed will be alright in his role. It would be different if Boston were depending on him to start and play beyond the expectations of a sixth man. For that reason, Wallace won't have as much pressure to overachieve with his new team. Sure, you'll like for him to be a noticeable contributer for the next two seasons at least. But why don't they [ESPN] point out that Ainge got the best off-season bargain than any team that's a contender. Understandably, Wallace's age and propensity to take himself out of games with his temper is a real concern. But everyone understands that... My point is: Wallace stands to benefit from the lessen responsibilities on him with the Celtics. I mean Wallace prefers the team concept, and could thrive in a setting where he won't be asked to log a lot of minutes. That is, if Perkins can remain healthy and out of foul trouble. See Perkins is the player that'll affect Wallace and not so much Wallace himself. Therein lies the biggest concern. All it takes is for Perkins to be sidelined by an injury and there goes Boston's nicely setup big men rotation. But that's why you've Davis and S. Williams. Preferably, you won't have to rely on them too heavily next season. Because that's part of what affected Boston this season: Injuries forced role players to play beyond their normal minutes.

No doubt Wallace needed a change of scenery after five years in Detroit. Boston is probably the perfect place for him now. He'll get to start fresh with a title contender loaded with veterans. Sheed will play a smaller role than he did with the Pistons, but he still needs to get in shape and keep his emotions in check. Either way, he is a considerable upgrade over Mikki Moore.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/stor ... stNewcomer



WTF?! Come on, Mikki Moore? Rasheed wasn't even signed to replace him.

The C's need big things from Sheed to contend for a title; many of our voters don't expect him to deliver. His production has plateaued during the past three seasons, and he continues to make a negative impact with his technicals. Playing alongside KG might help Sheed stay interested, but will Wallace embrace his role off the bench for 82 games?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/stor ... stNewcomer

[King Of The 4th]

Can't say I'm surprised. After all, just about all of their "experts" chose Lakers over us during our championship run.

[SeizeCoup]

I prefer all the doubters, reminds me of the season we won the championship. Bulletin board material.

[bc legends]

I prefer all the doubters, reminds me of the season we won the championship. Bulletin board material.

[TonyMontana]

Can't say I'm surprised. After all, just about all of their "experts" chose Lakers over us during our championship run.

You mean at the end of the season when the Lakers had already aquired Pau and they were on a roll. This is before preseason has even begun. Its one thing to pick a team thats on a hot streak and is basically going throught the playoffs without anyone slowing them down than somebody who is clearly making his selections by what the moves the teams have made in the offseason ON PAPER.
Also the reason and I said this before, the reason I dont take articles like this too seriously is because he is basing his opinion on teams acquisitions (Spurs Cav) by the players they have aquired for their skills and what they had to give up, but when it came to the Lakers and Cs, he went from skills to chemistry and on and off court behaviors which has nothing to do with a teams success, specially when both of our teams didnt have to give up anything to obtain both R-test and Rasheed.

So I wouldnt really consider this as the samething that happened when we were picked to win the finals last year. By the way we can always use the good old "Well if so and so wasnt injured then it would've been a different stroy" ......... WHERE YOU AT KEFA ......... Miss you Mang>>> NO HOMO.

[JHTruth]

One thing I do agree with is I think Sheed was a little out of shape last year, which contributed to his poor playoffs. I'm hoping KG and Perk's habits will motivate him to get back near 2006 shape at least..

[Cyclical]

I'm honestly not mad at that article. In terms of talent, ranking Sheed as 5th best seems just about right to me at this point of his career. Also, it's not that he's a straight up replacement for Mikki, it's that Mikki was our only 7 footer off the bench. All he's saying is that it's a big improvement.

If they'd had the Celts as a 5th ranked contender I'd have beef but this? Nah.

[return2glory]

I agree with the article as well. As far as talent goes, RJ, Shaq, Artest, and Vince are better than Sheed at this point in their career. People fail to realize that Sheed played very poorly in the playoffs last year.

As far as team needs go, if we could add only one player off that list, the player I would want would be Sheed, followed costly by Artest.

[campybatman]

The most prevalent point that has been written about Wallace is he indeed wore out his welcome with Detroit. It was time for him to move on. Seemingly, Rasheed has a personality where he needs challenges to motivate him and keep him focused. I feel he knew he was on the way out of Detroit. In other words, his body didn't shut down, he shut his game down. Hence, the biggest knocks on him: His attitude and his personality. He and Garnett are quite different then in that sense. Garnett always has it turned on while Wallace has to turn it on when it goes off. It's the getting him to turn it on that can create problems.

Things were changing in Detroit, new players and a new head coach taking shape. Boston offers Rasheed a new start but with a similar surrounding of teammates that share one mindset as he'd with Detroit during their pseudo Bad Boys contending years of 2002-2008.