Unless Ainge gets some bench help this team is done.

[Joebiscuit]

Our bench is awful. Just about every time the bench comes in we lose ground. This cannot keep this up if the Celtics expect to repeat. We are 1-3 the past 4 game. We lost to the worse team in the NBA and then lose tonight to a blazers team without their best player. The blazers came back in the game when the bench came in in the 1st half and the Blazers took control of the game in the 4th when most of the bench was in.

Big Baby- The dude is just awful. He cannot play defense, he cannot play offense. He is just a big blob that brings nothing to the table but comical crying, poor interior defense and a god awful looking jump shot.

House-Cannot handle the ball. We have no idea if he is going to shoot 1-7 or 5-6. Sadly enough the Celtics best bench player.

Powe- A Black hole who is undersized and puts up bad shots many times. He gets to the line but the problem is he is not a very good FT shooter. He is aggressive but again we have no idea what to expect from him.

Tony Allen-Looks lost out there. Will have 2 solid play in a row then either throw the ball in the 3rd row or put up a bad shot or dribble the ball off his foot. He cannot shoot out side and cannot seem to finish when he gets to the hoop.

Veal- No comments needed.

Pruitt-Looks pretty good at times but he does not play much, He could be used more when House is having problems bringing the ball up or when House is shooting 1-7

Cassell- 40 year old Insurance policy in case Rondo, House and Pruitt simultaneously bang heads together and suffer concussion while reaching for a snickers bar that fall out of Big Baby's locker.

POB-What can I say about him? He barely plays and when he does he looks soft. He is way to skinny to pound the ball in side and he more or less looks like a player that plays a mid range game.

Last year we had Posey So let me ask you this. Who the hell is the Celtics best bench player? Who can come into the game and help keep this team on track? Who can we more or less rely on every night to bring it? The answer is no one.

Unless Ainge fixes the bench this team is going to continue to struggle more and more as the year progresses on and the starters become more fatigued. This is not a reaction post because this team lost but merely a observation with this team 1/3 into the season.

[mr_sunshine]

All you haters keep posting threads about improving the bench, but it's not that easy. If it was Ainge would have done it by now. He's not stupid, so stop portraying it as if he is. Who is available that would come in and magically fix all of our problems? No one! You don't want Marbury or Walker, Deke is gone, Zo is an uncertainty, and then who else is there? You guys suggest trading our trash, Scal, BBD etc, for players, but who in their right mind would do that? NO ONE!

The only ways I can see our bench getting help are a buyout, or working POB, Pruitt, Giddens, or Walker into the rotation. Or perhaps the bench will develop better chemistry on its own as the season progresses? You've got to realize that the 2nd unit really didn't play together at once all of last season, since Posey was such a part of it. And to start fixing this I'd suggest that Doc gives Rondo or Pruitt (a real PG) some run with the 2nd unit, since house is absolutely atrocious at running the offense (or lack thereof when the 2nd unit is in).

[Zin5]

We just need one or two really solid bench players to help solidify the rest of the bench or we need to work our bench more with the starting unit. Most of our bench plays fine when they're with the starters to mask their weaknesses, but they can't hold it together when they make of the majority of our unit on the floor. My confidence in the bench has continuously dwindled since the start of the season.

I seriously want to know what happened to Baby though. What happened to the guy who looked like a steal last year, who had great footwork around the basket and was a capable defender that at least looked like he knew what he was doing. He was looking like a steal and now is starting to look like he passed Scal for worst player on the team.

[SuigintouEV]

I don't think anyone except perkins (fouls) is incapable of playing 45+ mpg in the playoffs.

[ParticleMan]

says the poster who was sure we'd lose to cleveland.

and then to detroit.

oh and finally of course to the lakers.


your doomsday predictions are like some kind of reverse good luck charm for the C's. keep em coming!

[Joebiscuit]

says the poster who was sure we'd lose to cleveland.

and then to detroit.

oh and finally of course to the lakers.


your doomsday predictions are like some kind of reverse good luck charm for the C's. keep em coming!

Well I never predicted the Celtics would lose to the Lakers because I stopped posting here the end of may.

Regardless I must have make a good point or two about the Celtics bench situation?

[MaxwellSmart]

says the poster who was sure we'd lose to cleveland.

and then to detroit.

oh and finally of course to the lakers.


your doomsday predictions are like some kind of reverse good luck charm for the C's. keep em coming!

Well I never predicted the Celtics would lose to the Lakers because I stopped posting here the end of may.

Regardless I must have make a good point or two about the Celtics bench situation?

You are correct on all points...The thing is, you can tell the Starters are VERY frustrated with the bench....Our starters are gonna be worn down by the time the playoffs come around for sure.

[celticfan42487]

The only thing that has come to mind, outside of obvious things which I"m sure Ainge is trying to get done [trade our trash and/or projects for a legit player? Sign Deke or Alonzo?]..

is to have Rondo lead the bench.

Rondo has been improving. If he's really improved he can carry the load on the bench and at least make it moveable on offense.

House can play with the starting 5, he has in the past and it makes us a jumpshooting team but it's not so bad. We know Powe can play with the starting lineup too, but I don't think Perk is ready to play with the bench.

Rondo is really showing something and the next stage is for the bench to be Rondo,House,TA,Powe, poop.

TA is nice but isn't consistent, House doesn't have the handles. We just don't have any way to mask that Center/length problem.

But at this point that's the only solution I can think of. And I know Doc wants Rondo to be the best he can be with the starting 5 but it may be time to start having him practice in game with the bench.

[Joebiscuit]

Maxwell this is my thinking as well. I cannot tell you how many times I watch the game and say "The Celtics need to get their starters back in there only to realize that that the bench has only been in there for 3 minutes.

[FakeScreenName123]

The problem is we don't have any go to guy on our bench. No one that can create his own shot, except for TA and he is so erratic that you never know what is going to happen, and he is always good for 2 offensive fouls a game. Thats why there is always 1 starter playing with the bench. Otherwise you just have to cringe and hope that they can somehow keep the same margin they were ahead or below by to make it adequate for the starters.


Id give the ball to Leon more in the post to start with to get him goin, and try to run a couple plays right away for TA to get him into a rhythm as well. Along with attempting to have a backcourt of Pruitt/House if the situation allows for it. Big Baby should just be hustling out there trying to scrap for every loose ball/rebound.



As for Rondo, he seems like the type of player that needs to be starting. He is comfortable with the starters out there now and if we take him out of that starting lineup I could see his confidence going down which is not what we need at all. Rondo runs that starting unit so well that I'd rather not move him to the bench, imho.

[mr_sunshine]

The only thing that has come to mind, outside of obvious things which I"m sure Ainge is trying to get done [trade our trash and/or projects for a legit player? Sign Deke or Alonzo?]..

is to have Rondo lead the bench.

Rondo has been improving. If he's really improved he can carry the load on the bench and at least make it moveable on offense.

House can play with the starting 5, he has in the past and it makes us a jumpshooting team but it's not so bad. We know Powe can play with the starting lineup too, but I don't think Perk is ready to play with the bench.

Rondo is really showing something and the next stage is for the bench to be Rondo,House,TA,Powe, poop.

TA is nice but isn't consistent, House doesn't have the handles. We just don't have any way to mask that Center/length problem.

But at this point that's the only solution I can think of. And I know Doc wants Rondo to be the best he can be with the starting 5 but it may be time to start having him practice in game with the bench.

Thank you!!!! Finally someone I can agree with in this thread.

[Joekickass2008]

Last year we had alot calls for Ray Allen to come of the bench....now the time? TA in the starting line.

[Allanon]

Last year we had alot calls for Ray Allen to come of the bench....now the time? TA in the starting line.

Sure, why not try it? The Lakers took the defensive mentality from the Celtics, why can't the Celtics take a few things from the Lakers? Lamar Odom is by far a better small forward than Luke Walton but Lamar comes off the bench and really improved the bench.

The same can be done in Boston.

[BillessuR6]

We probably have the worst bench in the league! It is pathetic to watch how they take us out of the game every time.

Especially Glen Davis. He has been horrific! Offensively and especially defensively. We need to add a center and a SF as soon as possible because if this keeps up we are going to continue to lose!

I don`t care that POB sucks he can`t be worse than Big baby. Can`t be. At least he is long and has a sweet jumper. Heck, I would even prefer Scal at center he can at least defend...

And we need to bring Waker or Giddens back they would bring some athleticism and energy. With the way Tony is playing I am confident they would help us more...

[keltickings]

Patience...

[return2glory]

I was about to post the same thing. I agree with the OP. When is the help coming Danny?

One thing we realized in this West Coast trip is that we aren't good enough to repeat, mainly because of our weak bench.

Davis is not a center but Doc keeps on playnig him there.

Powe- What's so good about him. He struggles against bigger player.

Tony Allen- Very inconsistant. Hardly any offense from him.

House- If he shot is off, he is useless.

That's our top 4 bench players right now. That is pathetic. I would try to get Marbury and cut Cassell. We would also need to somehow get Joe Smith. I would even try to give Cortney Sims on the D-League a look becasue he can do better that Powe and Davis.

We are still a good team but not good enough to win it all. Some people here didn't give P.J. Brown and James Posey enough credit. Without the key contributions of Posey, we wouldn't beat the Lakers last year. Don't forget his huge 18 points in game 4 of the greatest comeback in Finals history. Without Brown, we may have lost game 7 of the Cavs series.

[Mahoney_jr]

I don't think we have a bad bench individually, but it's not constructed very well. No one on this bench can pass the damn ball.

[return2glory]

I would like to add that while I agree with most of what the OP is saying, I don't agree that Danny Ainge is useless. I love Dann Ainge and we should all be thankful that we have Ainge. Without Ainge, we would have never won a championship.

I still have faith in Ainge to improve this bench. It wasn't Ainge's fault that the owners didn't want to spend a little more money and re sign Posey. Posey was like having 3 bench players. He helped us win a title and we let him walk. KG, Pierce, and Ray should have restructed thier contract so we could keep Posey.

[return2glory]

I don't think we have a bad bench individually, but it's not constructed very well. No one on this bench can pass the damn ball.

Totally disagree. We don't have one bench player on this team that has an overall game.

Powe- Can only score inside against players 6'10 or shorter. Has no outside game, can't pass.

Davis- Can't score much, can't rebound much, can't defend much.

TA- Can play D, but can't shoot.

House- Can shoot, but can't dribble and can't drive to the basket and creat for other.

[klemen4]

Every 10 days i write about how bad bench we have, month go by and sudenlly everybody starting to realize(finally) that we lose games because of NO bench...

I have nothin to add, because everything was writen, maybe only this.

Shorten the rotation against good teams:
- Play max Powe, House and Allen.
- Change second team to 2 starting five + 3 bench OR 3 starting five+2 bench
- Chance Rondo early in first and let him play whole second quarter with second unit

We must have home court to win it all...and with the way we play now it will be to close...Im not so afraid of the Cleveland, more of the Lakers final record.

- try everything to find 3 bench players C, SF, PG
1) Scal, Tony+money for J. Smith
2) Marbury ?
3) Wells?