Gabe Pruitt to D-League

[Celts17Pride]

http://netscape.nba.com/celtics/news/pr ... eague.html

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have reassigned rookie guard Gabe Pruitt to their NBA Development League affiliate Utah Flash. Pruitt is the team's fourth assignment to the NBA Development League this season and the third time for Pruitt.

Pruitt was averaging 2.0 points in 5.7 minutes per game at the time of the assignment. The 6'4 guard had appeared in nine games since his recall from the Flash on December 13, 2007. Pruitt scored a career-high seven points in his first game returning to the Celtics from the Flash on December 14, 2007 against the Milwaukee Bucks in five minutes of play.


Good Decision.

[canman1971]

He'll be down their now barring injury, until the NBDL season is over. Hopefully he can improve and gain some confidence.

[daveisceltics]

Good decision.
By next season Pruitt should be a little better.

[Datruth345]

this is good, it will get him some burn, but pretty much a no brainer

with Cassell there was really no need for 4 pg's on the active roster

[DynastyInTheMaking]

Yeah certainly a no brainer...although I feel like he could have helped us some here. I'm guessing he may have no future with us.

[RondoGreen9]

I agree with DynastyInTheMaking. I don't think he'll be with us for his career. Doc doesn't seem to like him very much, and we keep sending him down. Not that I wouldn't love to see him develop on our team, but I just don't think he will with all our talent emerging so quickly, and him taking a while to shine.

[MVP16]

Yeah certainly a no brainer...although I feel like he could have helped us some here. I'm guessing he may have no future with us.

Pruitt not really playing much doesn't mean that he doesn't have a future with us. It's tough for a 2nd round rookie who is a pg/sg hybrid getting playing time for a contending team. It's much easier for a big like Big Baby to contribute right away because all he needs to do is get rebounds and convert around the basket.

Pruitt has shown some improvement this year. He looks raw but he has shown good defense and a nice midrange jumper. Pruitt can be a good complement to Rondo in that he has more size and more shooting ability. I expect Pruitt to make big strides this summer/playing in DLeague and get much more action next year.

[GuyClinch]

I thought he looked good in his garbage time minutes. Of course sometimes you need to see a guy play when it counts to get a handle on his ability.

[Jammer]

Pruitt's an interesting case.

He's a college shooting guard that they are trying to convert to NBA point guard.

He was turnover prone in his previous stints in D-League.

The amazing thing about his NBA performance is not his abysmal 37% shooting percentage, team leading 17.1 FGA per 40 minutes, or modest PER of 9.

The Amazing thing is his NET PER, which is among the highest of any rookie (the number of rookies with positive net PER's you can probably count on one hand, Pruitt's is +4.1), and 4th highest on the Celtics (less than GPA, more than Tony Allen). What that means is that Pruitt plays Defense on his man

(Celtics Nation should have known that since when Jack Nicholson lamented the Lakers not getting him, Jack singled out Gabe's ability to shut guys down at USC as being what impressed Jack the most).

[Jammer]

The crucial thing about Pruitt is that the Celtics have some decisions to make, and he is central to them.

Obviously Rajon Rondo starts.

Tony Allen is best suited as a back up shooting guard, who can occasionally be used for defensive purposes on the opposing point guard, since Tony is the team's best lockdown perimeter defender.

Sam Cassell will take over backup point guard duties this season.

Eddie House will continue to be used at either point guard or shooting guard to take advantage of potential explosions like he did in the San Antonio game, coming in and making 4 shots (Two 3 pointers) totaling 10 points in about 4 minutes. The Celtics could not have won that game without Eddie. He shoots 40% from 3. The Celtics will continue to try to take advantage of his hot shooting nights.

But, and here is the big but, NEXT SEASON, is Gabe Pruitt the third string point guard, the (gulp) backup point guard, or trade fodder ???

That will be determined between now and the end of the season.

If the Celtics are lucky, they don't have to bring in another point guard if they re-sign Tony and Eddie, and Gabe is expected to produce at the position. They can give Sam an Assistant Coaching position, and in a pinch, activate him if necessary.

But, if Pruitt is not capable of moving into being a rotation player, then the Celtics will need to sign a free agent this summer. And they want someone capable of performing as a championship caliber backup. Not an easy task.

To put it another way, if the Cetlics don't need to sign a point guard this summer, then they will have the full mid-level to offer Kurt Thomas for say, two years. Perhaps steal him away from San Antonio, unless San Anotonio decides to bid that high, or even higher (they're paying him the balance of his $8 million contract this year).

[Red2]

Pruitt has a future with this team. we're renting sam for a few months and we have an aging team. cme next year pruitt will get more time.

[Datruth345]

i really wish for Pruitt to succeed with the celtics

i think he has the ability to be a player in the league

but the success rate of converting college shooting guards to NBA point guards in addition to the success rate of second round picks...likley doesn't have a future for Gabe on the Celtics or in the league

with that said, you can accomplish alot with sheer hardwork and dedication, if Gabe is committed to his basketball future, things will work themselves out and he will have a future both with the celtics and in the NBA

i'm rooting for Gabe, i'm on this bandwagon from the beginning

[armageddon]

Best guesses.....

Sam and Eddie signs up for next season.

Pruitt continues to grow playing both guard positions with maybe but with little playing time. He has talent.

What happens to Tony Allen?

We have 2 draft picks next year, who's gone? Pollard and Brown?

[Celts17Pride]

We have 2 draft picks next year

??

I count 1 draft pick

[Pogue Mahone]

We have 2 draft picks next year

??

I count 1 draft pick

We have our own 1st and 2nd RD Picks. The 2nd RD'er that was traded to Seattle is the better of the two 2nd RD'ers we possess; our own and Portland's.
-----------

I think Pruitt is going to be a very good and important part of the rotation-- as early as next year. I think that he could have contributed more this year and leaving him completely inactive was silly on Doc's part. Traditionally, even the best teams work their prospects into non-blowout minutes.

Pruitt was in the D-League for the 2nd time when Ray Ray hurt his calf. They recalled Pruitt but didn't play him. They could have just as easily signed a scrapheap combo or shooting guard or, god forbid, allowed James Posey to play more SF and Pierce to cover some SG. It would have allowed Pruitt to continue gaining game experience running in the D-League. Hell, Doc could have played him 2-3 minutes each half and it would have gone a long way towards him getting a better understanding of what he could and couldn't do at the NBA level.

Anyways, by my observation (read: No stats), Pruitt has been a pretty good on the ball defender. Secondly, he has appeared a bit slow in rotation (at times lost) but game reps tend to cure that. If the issue is that Doc didn't feel he would get consistent production from Pruitt, I say that's hogwash.

It's been repeated on this board and others the 'Win Now' mantra. Which is great and all but if you don't continue developing players, while simultaneously winning games, you won't be winning games for very long. The salary cap, age and injuries will catch up with you.

[Celts17Pride]

Effectively the Celtics have 1 pick. Even the great draft guru Danny Ainge is not going to find a player to make the team with the 60th pick in the draft. Remember the goal is to win now (see Brandon Wallace).

[Pogue Mahone]

Effectively the Celtics have 1 pick. Even the great draft guru Danny Ainge is not going to find a player to make the team with the 60th pick in the draft. Remember the goal is to win now (see Brandon Wallace).

Not to go too off topic but I disagree with this. This is a pretty deep draft, imo. No, it doesn't have the star power that some might like (I am thoroughly unimpressed with Gordon, Mayo and Jordan) but it does have a lot of close to contributing role players and future starters, imo. The draft will be fantastic if Bill Walker, James Harden, Marreese Speights, Alexis Ajinca, Serge Ibaka and Rodrigue Beaubois all stay in. Beaubois is especially intriguing because of his physical similarities to Rondo (quick, wiry strong, huge hands and pterodactyl wingspan) and his upside (pretty new to the game still.)

Even some of the college seniors have upside, imo. Off the top of my head, Aleks Maric has a proven track record of success in the Big-12, can score from the low post and has great size. Some of the drawbacks are that he is a bit slow and lacks quickness. He is also playing at ~275 lbs. He should surely be able to drop some of that weight, I should think.

There is also my sleeper pick of the draft, Pat Calathes. A 6'11 SF from St Joes who can stroke it from deep, has the ability to distribute the rock and can control off the bounce (former 5'9-ish PG.) The kid went through some pretty serious growth spurts and is just now growing into his body. Statistically, I would say Calathes profiles to a better overall player than Vlad Rad and possibly as good as Dunleavy, Jr. He will likely be around in the 2nd RD! If he was a foriegner, they would call him Bargnani and draft him 1st overall. Heck, Vlad Rad and Dunleavy were both lottery picks.

Anyways, back on topic.