Two new players, health and we will get nb.18!

klemen4 · Post #1 » by **klemen4** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 9:46 pm

As a lot of people around NBA said, if healthy, Celtics would repeat this year. I totally agree and think we will get it next year. We have a great starting five and Rondo/Perkins improved amazingly since Championship playoffs. Two new players and health is all we need.

Lets look at the bench:

PG1: Marbury - I hope he stays and with whole training camp he can only get better.
SG1: House - I doubt he opts out. We need his streaky 3pt shooting.
SF1: ? - Hill/Barnes/J.Graham/Moon/Warrick
PF1: Davis - I would love to have him back and for around 4 mio he could resign.
C1: ? - Wallace/C.Anderson/McDyes/R.Swift/Pachulia

Deep bench:

PG2: Pruitt - Im not ready to give up on him, he showed flashes he can contribute and being with the team 2 years, knows the plays, system...resign him for minimum.
SG2: Giddens - Probably another year in the NBDL waiting for him.
SF2: Walker - I like his upside, needs to get more minutes than last year.
PF2: Powe - I know he will be ready only by February next year but one spot must be saved for him.
C2: ? - Draft the best available rookie center or sign young free agent C

I left out Scal and Allen because I think they have no future with the team and Dany must find a trade to turn them in serviceable sf or C.

SF, C with resigned Marbury, Davis and House I think would be enough to win it all.

We are a great team, do not forget this, no time for big trades yet, just take care of the bench and we are set.

BakersDozen · Post #2 » by **BakersDozen** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:11 pm

is Joey Graham a free agent?

Dogen · Post #3 » by **Dogen** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:29 pm

This is the 'stand pat and make a few small adjustments approach', which may be the way to go even though we're getting all these blockbuster rumors before the draft.

Basically, I think the litmus test is to ask: "What if KG and Powe had stayed healthy, we had signed Posey in the summer, and had got Joe Smith instead of Moore at the deadline?"

Would that have been enough to beat Orlando? I think so.
Would that have been enough to get by Cleveland? I still think so.
Would that have been enough to beat LA? Hmmmm... I think a very close, seven game series going to whoever takes the last shot in LA.

So I like this idea, the only thing is that Danny needs to have a grasp on what other teams might be doing before we can settle on the roster. With players like Shaq, Vince, and A'mare being dangled around we have to be wary of a main competitor like Cleveland pulling off some kind of coup. But I'm not against adding, say, Hill and Wallace for one year to put a talented vet squad on the floor in pursuit of #18 in 2010, then replace Ray with best possible free agent after next season.

Thing is, it's still so early to tell. By many of our judgements, Danny waited a little too long last summer and lost Posey. This year I expect we'll be hearing a lot about players like Wallace and Hill, but nothing being done for the next month or so unless some big trade shows up around draft time.

SonicYouth34 · Post #4 » by **SonicYouth34** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:43 pm

BakersDozen wrote:is Joey Graham a free agent?

Yeah, we better get on this before he's signed. HE and Tony Allen re-united wold bring 6 more banners

LuckyLeprichan · Post #5 » by **LuckyLeprichan** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:29 am

Dogen wrote:Would that have been enough to beat Orlando? I think so.
Would that have been enough to get by Cleveland? I still think so.
Would that have been enough to beat LA? Hmmmm... I think a very close, seven game series going to whoever takes the last shot in LA.

If all that had happened we very easily could have had home court and the last shot been in Boston. Most of our losses came when we weren't healthy completely.

Dogen · Post #6 » by **Dogen** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:29 am

LuckyLeprichan wrote:
Dogen wrote:Would that have been enough to beat Orlando? I think so.
Would that have been enough to get by Cleveland? I still think so.
Would that have been enough to beat LA? Hmmmm... I think a very close, seven game series going to whoever takes the last shot in LA.

If all that had happened we very easily could have had home court and the last shot been in Boston. Most of our losses came when we weren't healthy completely.

Good point, LuckyLeprichan, and welcome to the board!

I do maintain that LA clearly improved this year and there would have been no 39 point blow outs. But KG was showing signs of injury back in December; had he stayed healthy (and we had Posey), the Celtics may well have nipped LA, LeBrons, for best record overall.

Frank Lucas · Post #7 » by **Frank Lucas** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:52 pm

I have a question for all you people who are on the side of the "let's stay pat and just improve our bench" group. What if KG or Paul goes down with a injury? The Cs will still be in the same boat. I agree if KG and Powe did not go down with injury this team wins 18. However we don't know how the 2009/2010 Celtics team is going to look. If we "stay pat" what does that mean? KG should be back ready to go but Leon may not be ready until the start of the 2010 season. who are we going to get to replace Leon? Should they re-sign Davis and Marbury? Will Eddie come back or go for the money???? If I'm Danny NO BODY is safe BUT Pierce and KG. If there is a trade out there where the Cs can improve I say make the deal. Rondo and Ray are the two biggest chips the Cs have right now. If you can deal them and ship Scal and TA with them that would be great. As long as it improves the team.

humblebum · Post #8 » by **humblebum** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:16 pm

Keeping this roster together through the next season will essentially mean that Danny is putting all of his chips in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. The Celtics will have solid chances of winning the Championships for the next two seasons, not locks for the title but solid clubs, and after that the team would be in a complete rebuild mode, only they would have little to no cap flexibility (unless KG and/or Pierce is let go or retires), no high draft choices, and relatively sparse trade pieces.

With that said, Ainge has to assess whether he can add the pieces THIS offseason that will really increase the likelihood of success (i.e. winning the Ship) greatly. An incomplete offseason, where Ainge is incapable of addressing the team needs at backup PG, SG-SF, and PF-C could cost the Celtics a Ship to the primed up Lakers (if they're able to resign Ariza and Odom) or even the Cavs or Magic.

If Ainge believes he'll be unable to fill out the bench adequately NOW, with FA additions and minor trades then it starts to make sense to look at ways to improve the team in the longer-term or simply to improve roster depth.

So all in all, I think that there are a lot of options available to Ainge and adding a couple of veteran pieces to this current unit would be a fine route. Obviously, this assumes that Ainge can find the types of bargain priced FA's or small trades that people propose here on this board. Can't wait till draft night to see where Ainge is heading with this offseason.

Avalanche · Post #9 » by **Avalanche** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:24 pm

keep marbury, house, davis

sign Sheed (MLE), Hill (LLE), buy the hornets 21st pick and take Pat Mills

let Pruitt go

Rondo/Marbury/Mills
Allen/House/Giddens
Pierce/Hill/Walker
Garnett/Davis/Powe
Perk/Sheed/Scal

I'm happy with a quiet off-season trade wise if we can make some reliable bench additions

that team wins the title IMO

Dogen · Post #10 » by **Dogen** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:51 pm

Avalanche wrote:keep marbury, house, davis

sign Sheed (MLE), Hill (LLE), buy the hornets 21st pick and take Pat Mills

let Pruitt go

Rondo/Marbury/Mills
Allen/House/Giddens
Pierce/Hill/Walker
Garnett/Davis/Powe
Perk/Sheed/Scal

I'm happy with a quiet off-season trade wise if we can make some reliable bench additions

that team wins the title IMO

That's a pretty good lineup--- could win the title. I'm all for Hill/Wallace if there is no great trade.

I don't know much about Mills, though. Could he be a poor man's Tony Parker? I don't know if Pruitt is in the team's plans but we could use another guard that can handle the ball and has a decent shot. I'll be very curious to see how Marbury shapes up this year.

Avalanche · Post #11 » by **Avalanche** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:15 pm

I think with a full off-season, Marbury will almost be like getting a new player... the attitude he showed towards playing defense and moving the ball was very encouraging, even if his play at times was not.

A full training camp with Doc and Thibs teaching him, his relationship with members of the team getting stronger and im sure, a renewed shooting ability will do wonders for us, and him next season

Patty would be ideal here as the third string to learn from some of our vets, hes likely a starter in the long term but has speed and abilities to be ready of the bench at any time when called upon

it would open up the rondo discussions a whole lot down the line aswell

GreenMachine · Post #12 » by **GreenMachine** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:26 am

Frank Lucas wrote:I have a question for all you people who are on the side of the "let's stay pat and just improve our bench" group. What if KG or Paul goes down with a injury? The Cs will still be in the same boat.

What if we trade for Bosh/Amare/Wade/Whoever and then he goes down to injury?

The Cs will still be in the same boat.