There is no better time to give Gabe Pruitt minutes.

Egregious Blunder · Post #41 » by **Egregious Blunder** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:58 pm

he looked anxious. missed a few shots. forced some situations. he has pretty nice handle, plays nice on the ball defence and always keeps his head up for open teamates. i think he will make a nice backup pg probably next year and going forward.
i think hes going to be a nice player, but he needs to start getting some burn now.

Datruth345 · Post #42 » by **Datruth345** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:02 pm

i thought he played well for his first significant minutes

he got the defensive rebound right after he came in, went right down court an popped an 18 footer without hesitation cause the defense was sagging, he looked real confident in doing so too

he took all the shots he was supposed to, just only 1 went down

he had a steal and could have had 2 more but he poked the ball out and the blazers got it right back

overall i thought it was a very positive experience for him and i was glad to see him finally on the court

I'm on the 8-10 minutes a game bandwagon

cisco · Post #43 » by **cisco** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:21 pm

I agree with the above two responses. He did a decent job for his first real minutes. I think he should stay in the rotation for some spot minutes.

humblebum · Post #44 » by **humblebum** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:55 pm

Celts17Pride wrote:I thought Gabe played very well. He is definitely a better PG than House or TA. He still has a long way to go and I'm not sure he could be ready for the playoffs. I would also like to see him get 8-10 minutes a game.

Not to pick on you specifically (because you did say that your not sure he's ready for playoff basketball) but do you think Pruitt could handle pressure from say Lindsey Hunter? The reality is that Pruitt is a nice prospect at PG, I like his shooting stroke and his size as a PG. He's also pretty quick. But Pruitt did NOT prove that he's a better PG than House or TA in this game. The Trailblazers aren't the type of team that will give shaky or inexperienced PG's problems. When Gabe proves himself against teams like the Pistons who put REAL pressure on PG's then we can start talking about comparing him to TA and House. Until then he's just a nice prospect.

Again though, I like his potential and could possibly see him being a solid contributor by years end but he has A LOT to prove.

JJHondo17 · Post #45 » by **JJHondo17** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:02 pm

He made his 1st shot because he brought the ball up agressively and confidently. After that, he appeared to be timid and was unagressive. He brought the offense to a screeching halt bringing the ball up the floor in the 2nd half. Always seemed to be on the weak side of the floor in a set offense as if he didn't want to be in the way. Don't think Paul would have given him the ball if he was the only guy on the floor. Defensively he was fine, keeping his man in front of him and stripping ball handlers a couple of times.

DynastyInTheMaking · Post #46 » by **DynastyInTheMaking** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:32 pm

If by forcing shots you mean the ball was in his hands as the shot clock was winding down several times, then yes he forced shots.

DynastyInTheMaking · Post #47 » by **DynastyInTheMaking** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:40 pm

A few things I have said in other threads:

-He played solid and with confidence, things that wont show up in the box score.

-His steal at the beginning of the 4th quarter was huge.

-Whether it showed on TV or not, several times the ball was in his hands while the shot clock was winding down, some of his misses were not shots hed normally take.

aboubata · Post #48 » by **aboubata** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:46 pm

DynastyInTheMaking wrote:If by forcing shots you mean the ball was in his hands as the shot clock was winding down several times, then yes he forced shots.

Celts17Pride · Post #49 » by **Celts17Pride** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:58 pm

humblebum wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Not to pick on you specifically (because you did say that your not sure he's ready for playoff basketball) but do you think Pruitt could handle pressure from say Lindsey Hunter?

That's kind of my point I was trying to make. I believe Pruitt is a better PG than House or TA for the future. I believe that he will be able to handle the pressure from the Linsey Hunter's of the world just not this year or in time for the playoffs.

That being said I still would give him 6-8 minutes a game if at all possible.

I would be very happy with Rondo & Pruitt for the future from what I have seen but the Celtics are going to have to get a vet PG for the playoffs. Pruitt is too inexperienced and TA & House are not point guards. All three will get eaten alive in the playoffs.

jfs1000d · Post #50 » by **jfs1000d** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:07 pm

He is a chucker.

He has some nice talent and size and ability and a good looking shot, but I got the feeling he is more a SG than a PG. If he makes the shots great. But, not sure the team needs another high volume shooter.

Whatever though, better handle than House and TA. Should get more minutes by default. Probably 2nd best handle on the team-- BY FAR.

hickfromfrenchlick · Post #51 » by **hickfromfrenchlick** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:20 pm

He took the 18-footer in transition, which he made, then he took a WIDE-OPEN three-pointer, which he missed, then he had to take 1 or 2 off-balance shots with the clock expiring. He didn't force the issue in a bad way.

He also had one nice strip under the basket.

He certainly didn't look lost out there, nor did he do anything to prevent him from getting similar opportunities in the near future.

CeltsfanSinceBirth · Post #52 » by **CeltsfanSinceBirth** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:42 pm

I liked the fact that he wasn't afraid to shoot the ball.

I didn't like the fact that in the 2nd half, he wasted valuable seconds on the shot clock by walking it up the court.

Still waiting to see him take it to the hole off the dribble. Other than that, I was content with his performance. Not too shabby for a 2nd round pick.

celticfan42487 · Post #53 » by **celticfan42487** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:53 pm

He looked great defensively.

Nata offensively. Looked a little lost offensively, had one moment when he dribled the ball side to side needlessly beyond the 3 point mark. Other times where he just wasn't in the flow and not moving alot he had to eventually shoot because the other players wanted him to take some shots... but also because the other team was leaving him wide open. He might of been taken 3 second shots, but he was wide open. the other team wanted him to prove he needed to be covered and he didn't last night from 3 or mid range.

He'll probuly end up as a streak shooter, and a fine defender agaisnt the lighter quicker PGs.

Hopefully he can fully capatilize on some more minutes and then become a sub agaisnt the speed PGs when Rondo is on the bench. That's a niche that TA or House can't fill, and in the regular season they can have TA slide to the 3 and House to the 2 to get Ray/Pierce some rest.

He's a rookie PG, that's a more natural 2guard offensively. So it's going to take him some time. But he looks like a great prospect, and on this team defensively he has a role to fill and can fill it while looking good offensively when his shot is on. Doc hates rookie points though, so idk if he can breakthrough this year but he has the tools too.

Banks2Pierce · Post #54 » by **Banks2Pierce** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:48 pm

His misses weren't bad either. You can tell the kid is a good shooter, pure and simple. Just tough for them to go down in your first significant minutes in the pros. He didn't look overmatched, though. His d looked pretty good and fluid.

Post #55 » by **Spin Move** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:57 pm

Hey guys I am merging the 2 pruitt threads per a pmed request from a poster, so this one is not disapearing its just going in the other thread.

GreenGrizz · Post #56 » by **GreenGrizz** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:16 pm

Give him more time. I knew he could play after he hit his first points in the game.

rsceltic34 · Post #57 » by **rsceltic34** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:54 pm

CeltsfanSinceBirth wrote:I liked the fact that he wasn't afraid to shoot the ball.

I didn't like the fact that in the 2nd half, he wasted valuable seconds on the shot clock by walking it up the court.

Still waiting to see him take it to the hole off the dribble. Other than that, I was content with his performance. Not too shabby for a 2nd round pick.

he actually looked pretty good.........but you are right he did kinda walk the ball up the court a couple times which is the reason why we lost the two games to washington

everyone is saying he has a good shot so everyone cant be wrong but we should give him some more time maybe 10-15 mpg play him at the point with tony at the 2 and eddie at the 2 see how he does

Rocky5000 · Post #58 » by **Rocky5000** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:34 am

Could he be D. West with a handle maybe?

Post #59 » by **sully00** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:51 pm

He certainly could be. I like Pruitt, and the thing about whether he is a better pg right now than Eddie or TA isn't that important what I saw is that both Eddie and TA looked better on the floor with him than they do with each other. Eddie is better moving without the ball and TA is better slashing to the basket but they both need somebody else to dribble the ball and set them up, this Pruitt can do, he also is already a better game manager, even if he does have to learn to push the ball up.

The real concern that wasn't answered is whether he can handle the ball any better against pressure than Allen and House. Portland doesn't really put any pressure on the ball or force many TOs. He looks like he should physically but mentally, but making the right decision is still a question to be answered.