Da Celtic Bench (vs. Dallas) et al

[Jammer]

56 Minutes
13 Points on 6-14 FGs, 1-2 FTs (10 points shy of 100 pt. pace, which would have won 100-99)
7 Rebounds (2 or 3 more would have helped)
7 Assists (Fabulous)
6 Fouls (Great)
1 Steal
1 Turnover (Fabulous)

Tonight's game against Dallas pretty much exposed what playoff teams expose.

Rasheed Wallace (oops, he started tonight) -
The Celtics don't have scorers off the bench.
They have one shooter in Eddie House.
They have an opportunist in Tony Allen that wasn't able to make the most of his
opportunities, tonight or the past two seasons during the playoffs.
They have Glen Davis, who you can blame the hand injury for affecting his offense,
but his defense still leaves a lot to be desired.

Marquis Daniels coming back DOES NOT SOLVE The complete lack of a wing scorer off the bench.
The starting lineup needs relief, especially when they will have to go thru
4 playoff quality teams consecutively. KG, Ray and Paul are two years older now.
Rajon Rondo needs someone who can handle the ball and shoot BEHIND Him.
Players have off days, that is why the TOP NINE is so important.
I'm looking to add two players to the Celtics TOP NINE.

If the Celtics are not able to get Mike Miller via a buyout,
Gomes or Nate in trade,
they are leaving a lot to chance come playoff time,
especially if they run into some "hot" teams where
firepower is required, no matter how good the defense.

[irie]

I don't want Mike Miller he can't guard any positions except for other awkward tweeners.
Gomes isn't exaclty the scoring punch I think you're looking for.
Nate Robinson would be good for his scoring but is notoriously lazy on defense and I don't think being in Boston will change his bad attitude.

[Jammer]

I don't want Mike Miller he can't guard any positions except for other awkward tweeners.
Gomes isn't exaclty the scoring punch I think you're looking for.
Nate Robinson would be good for his scoring but is notoriously lazy on defense and I don't think being in Boston will change his bad attitude.

You have eyes, but you don't see.

Miller is an exceptional three point shooter.
Gomes and Nate are good 3 point shooters.

It means the poor spacing that doesn't allow penetration is gone.

Nate and Miller have mid-range games, Gomes will fight inside.

All 3 provide better options than Davis, Williams, Scalabrine, Tony or Marquis.

Nate with Miller or Gomes just leaves Eddie and Rasheed in the rotation.

[Papa Irish31]

The perfect guy for our bench is Kirk Hinrich, he could backup rondo at the point, and ray at shooting guard

if we traded scal, tony, and eddie for him it would improve our bench considerably

he guards the 1 and 2 positions extremely well and can even guard some 3's, just as he did pierce for short periods for the playoffs last year

he can play the point so it gives us another ballhandler besides rondo, and he is a good three point shooter so he can stretch the floor, kind of the perfect compliment to marquis daniels

that way we could set a 9 man postseason rotation of

rondo/hinrich/marquis
ray/hinrich/marquis
pierce/marquis
kg/baby/sheed
perk/sheed/kg

if we make that trade, i would try to get scal back on a buyout, and go after someone who could guard big small forwards and athletic power forwards, maybe pull a pj and try bruce bowen

anyway i think that kirk is the missing piece we need right now

[Zin5]

All we have on our bench now is House (a role player), TA (a mentally challenged role player), Baby (a decent option off the bench when in rhythm and healthy), and Scal (the token white guy). We have two starter quality guys that are supposed to be on our bench in Sheed and Quis, who aren't due to injuries. Give Baby some time to get back in shape and he'll look solid too. I agree we could use one more guy, but as long as our bench is healthy for the playoffs, I'd say we'll be alright.

Also, I like Hinrich and would make that move when we're healthy, but we're thin enough. We can't lose both Eddie and TA right now to trade and rely on just Kirk and JR/Walker to give decent rest to our starters. Until Quis comes back, I wouldn't make that move. Miller getting bought out is a pipe dream imo. Washington should be able to get something for him, he's too good to just get bought out.

[Papa Irish31]

i would make the trade right now if we could, give doc more time to see how he fits into the rotation best; hopefully in that deal we would get scal back

then i would try to fill out our bench like this: trade a combination of JR, Bill, and Sheldon for one for these players (rated in order of who i want most to least, i would start out by offering the trade to the first gm on my list and go down the line untill i found a deal they would take and i liked)

1. julian wright from new orleans
2. andray blatche from washington
3. donte green from sac town
4. antoine wright from toronto
5. jonas jerebko from detroit
6. jarvis hayes from new jersey
7. dejaun summers from detroit
8. quinton ross from dallas
9. sasha pavlovic and nathan jawaii from minny
10. james singleton from dallas
11. rodney carney from philly
or give J.R. and bill an actuall chance

and look at signing these free agents: Bruce Bowen, Von Wafer, Rashad McCants, Morris Almond, Greg Buckner, Sean Williams, Jason Hart, Chris Mihm, Desmond Mason, Linton Johnson, Antonio Daniels, Salim Staudimire, Dionte Christmas, Mike Sweetney, Coby Karl, Ryan Swift, Paul Davis, or Melvin Ely, and im sure there are others i might have missed

but i like the idea of making that trade now, force doc to play giddens or walker off the bench a little, and then trade them if you would rather have one of the guys on my list for the playoffs

but its all about finding 9 guys that docs comfortable with and then have 2 or three guys after that to help with injuries or mathcups

[ryaningf]

The bench has been bad, but I look at it as more a function of usage and philosophy than bad players. Fact is, we have no point guard on that unit and it kills our offensive efficiency. Add to that the fact that we play a short non-defender one-dimensional chucker at 1/2 guard, and we've got problems defending EVERY NIGHT. So, yeah, we've got a problem and it's name is Eddie House. He's a walking mismatch FOR THE OTHER TEAM and his presence on offense makes guys like TA or Ray Allen handle/create much more than they ought to, turning our offense into a late-clock, jump-shooting, clusterhump of bad spacing and passing.

I'd love to trade House and bring in a long, defensive-minded D-Leaguer who can play point, dribble and hit a three. We could transfer that 2nd unit into a defensive unit, with D-Leaguer/TA/Daniels/Baby/Sheed. We'd actually have an IDENTITY and have players with the ability to fulfill that identity.

Doc likes to call this a defensive team. The ironic thing is that the easiest way to fix the 2nd team is to make it a defensive unit. And that involves removing Eddie House, the only 2nd teamer Doc seems to trust at the moment, and only 2nd teamer who can't consistently defend his position.

[Jammer]

House and Sheed are the only two second units guys that I trust.

I think Tony/Marquis are redundant, as both are defensive specialists.
One should be replaced by a wing scorer that can shoot,
which is more suited for playoff pressure defenses.

I keep House around as a shooter, because there aren't any on the bench.

I agree a point guard that can dribble and shoot would be a huge help,
but equally important is a wing scorer that can shoot.

That's why I'm so keen on Mike Miller. Tony or Marquis would be out of the rotation,
but I don't expect anything from Tony in the playoffs,
and Marquis, while a defensive stopper, is offensively challenged.

Baby's shortcomings are more exposed when there are not enough 3 point shooters to
space the floor and give him some room.

[sully00]

I really think we need a pg. At least someone who can defend the position and score off the dribble. Eddie is killing us on a bunch of different levels.

Giddens is terrible he has gotten a chance to play and has done nothing with it. The way this works is you got some mins and if you do something with them you get more, if you do nothing then why play you more?

Hinrich is starting for the Bulls and playing reasonably well and his contract is kind of budget breaker.

The one player I have my eye on as a good fit for Boston and a player that might be available for expirings is Leandro Barbosa. He has 7.1 mil and 7.6 mil coming to him after this season if we sent the minimal amount of salary back for 5.25 mil (Scal, Giddens, Shelden Williams - just based on the contracts) would cut 1.35 mil off of PHX taxable pay roll so saving them double 2.7 mil and getting them off the hook for the remaining 14 .7 mil. Barbosa's salary would fit into Boston's salary structure much better than Hinrich's 9mil.

Of course part of the reason that Barbosa would be available isn't simply his contract, his mins are down to 19 mpg, lowest in 5 years, and he isn't playing very well.

[Celts17Pride]

I really think we need a pg. At least someone who can defend the position and score off the dribble. Eddie is killing us on a bunch of different levels.

This is 100% correct. Great point sully00!

If the Celtics had a backup point that could take his man off the dribble and defend the PG position then most of the Celtics bench issues would go away IMO. Eddie can't guard the PG position which leads to breakdowns defensively and on offense teams dare House to penetrate which he doesn't do at all. House has a role as a designated shooter off the bench but a quality backup PG would make TA, Daniels, House, BBD, Shelden etc. all better.