Hollinger-ESPN Rips C's and Giddens a new one.

[buckner1976]

Hollinger's fine, he's a stathead so you have to take that into account. But saying Giddens sucks -- um, how does he know this? he (or anyone else) hasn't seen him play any meaningful minutes. i think i'd take ainge's evaluation over some guy who crunches numbers in the studio.

also i can't believe all the people on this board ready to write off JR after his rookie year where he didn't play. i guess you also thought Perk was a dud too, right? how about Rondo? when you get late picks, they need time to develop. if Giddens was NBA ready with his athleticism he would be a lottery pick. but he isn't ready, so he needs time. a rookie year spent in the D-league (where he played very well, btw) isn't enough to say whether he will make it or not in the bigs.

Co-sign. I think it ludicrous what Hollinger said and then what I'm reading here. First off J.R. is not undersized. he's a legit 6'5 215 SG with freakish long arms like Rondo that allowed him to lead him team in rebounding pulling down almost 9 a game. He was a little timid his first year but this Summer League was a drastically different story. He was aggressive, he acted like he belonged. I want to keep both kids but there is absolutely nothing that Walker has done to show me that he is any better at all. Lets bear in mind Walker was so good that multiple teams passed on him twice before he was drafted. Then after being drafted he was traded for what amounted to a bag of basketballs. We know he can dunk and we know he can foul. That's pretty much it. He got more run than J.R. last year because size wise he's just a bigger guy overall and they wanted his size. But J.R. has much better defensive potential and his game is gonna be more versatile. Their games don't duplicate each other so I don't see why we won't keep both. Interesting though Giddens was the guy Danny didn't want to part with in the perspective Indy trade but he did offer Walker.

[GuyClinch]

^^^He was behind Walker. It sounds to me like your falling into the trap of liking whatever you don't really know.. All we know is that he couldn't crack the C's rotation in a time of need. Heck was he even on the active roster?

That being said I still consider the Giddens attack a cheap shot from a bitter writer.. A late first round pick who failed? It's commonplace. The draft IS something of a crap shoot. Heck the BEST picks on this team were KG and Pierce and neither of those GMs are employed..

[buckner1976]

^^^He was behind Walker. It sounds to me like your falling into the trap of liking whatever you don't really know.. All we know is that he couldn't crack the C's rotation in a time of need. Heck was he even on the active roster?

That being said I still consider the Giddens attack a cheap shot from a bitter writer.. A late first round pick who failed? It's commonplace. The draft IS something of a crap shoot. Heck the BEST picks on this team were KG and Pierce and neither of those GMs are employed..

Don't get that. You're saying I like J.R. because he's unknown? Don't follow the logic. Giddens was certainly more timid coming in and if anything put him behind it was that along with the late start he got from signing so late. Still, other than some extremely vicious dunks and some extremely vicious fouls he looked like a 20 year old out there. In another word: lost. And that's okay. Truth is we still don't know much about either. People that get drafted that far down in the first do so for a reason. Giddens may yet fail. And so could Walker. The early lotto projections on him to me are akin to Gerald Green-esque hype. You don't fall to forty-whatever he was taken at and then get traded solely off the basis of an injury. The kid is raw. Really raw and the question will be: How long can we afford to wait for him?

[GuyClinch]

Don't get that. You're saying I like J.R. because he's unknown? Don't follow the logic. Giddens was certainly more timid coming in and if anything put him behind it was that along with the late start he got from signing so late.

I am not really just saying it's you. Its an internet fandom epidemic - every team has some unproven guy that is secretly great.. J.R. Giddens is just our guy because he hasn't played yet in the real games. Once he does his warts will show up and people will jump ship..

The problem with Giddens from a prospect angle is that he is 23. He should have seen significant burn last year. His development might not be complete but at his age it should be more then close enough.

We don't know if Giddens was just buried behind guys or not good enough. But seeing how the c's were in need its not looking good.

[LongTimeFan]

JT142:

Well the Celtics are all about defense and Chalmer's defense, like most rookies, was suspect. If Chalmer struggled in the regular season, he certainly would have struggled more in the post season.

http://www.82games.com/0809/08BOS3.HTM#bypos

House's net PER at the point (to use Hollinger's stats) was a +2.3

http://www.82games.com/0809/08MIA1.HTM#bypos

Chalmer's net PER was -1.8