Pierce's Leaking Elbow

I agree Jeff. PP shopuld call it a season after the road trip. The last thing we need are wins against ATL/CLT/Milw. I don’t mind victories against SA or Dallas…

SA&Dallas???? ..those W’s don’t exist…lol…we’re still in good shape for spot #2

Let him finish the season so he will continue to gel with his team, but limit his minutes and maybe we’ll get some more productivity out of Gerald.

Bye Paul, See you in October. It’s not the model year, it’s the mileage.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasy toughguy. “I have a high pain tolerance.”

I don’t know, I think he’s earned the right to say that, what with the stab wounds and all.

If Danny doesn’t step in and shut PP down then he’s an absolute moron. It’s really quite simple.

Sorry to hear another problem for PP. Agree he should sit down or play limited minutes. He looks like he has gained at least 20 lbs and is affecting his game.

PP – don’t bite off our nose to spite our face…just…take…it…easy…and…heal, and maybe do some more scouting on Oden and Durant. Thx bud.

Off the subject.
FYI – Okafor (strained left calf) told the team after Monday’s victory that he’s at least a week away from returning, the Charlotte Observer reports. 3/13.

Paul’s comments suggest exactly the opposite. If it doesn’t affect his play, let him play. I think the best point already made is BOTH parties (Paul and the Pups) need to play alongside one another to gel more quickly. Everyone needs court time and court time with each other.
I’m really getting tired of the passion in here to tank this season.
How many times must it be said: Celtics aren’t quitters.
Sheesh.

As to PP shutting it down. He has every right to. But there seems to be two issues at stake. One is stated by PP in today’s Herald (I think). That is he needs to be healthy right after the season to get directly into his off season routine. He had to cut that back last year because of the elbow. On the other hand, he needs to play with the guys who’ll be playing next year. He needs to change his game to keep up with the progress of the other guys and the other guys need to make it a HABIT not to depend on PP to bail them out. This seems to be what is happening in these last few games. I don’t know the right answer, but I also don’t think the decision should be based on ping pong balls.

Other than playing the role of a spoiler against a team fighting for the eight seed, what is the logic in playing your franchise player with an injury at this point ?

I hope Danny Ainge steps in and shuts him down…..quite frankly, I’m not interested in Doc scratching out a few more wins at Pierce’s expense . Sorry Doc , too little…too late .

The points are already stated: Because he can play with no further damage, and the entire lineup needs to get used to each other: Paul to the youngs, the youngs to Paul.
I think it’s great the youngs were forced to rely on themselves and not Paul. The result was a franchise-record losing streak, though, and that’s way too bitter a pill for me to swallow.
I’m ALL FOR “scratching out a few more wins” because Celtics basketball is all about winning.
We’ll deal with Doc on another day. this isn’t about him. It’s about Celtics Pride.

There is also a good chance that some of the young players now playing with Pierce might not even be around next year !

Danny Ainge should use the same rationale in shelving Pierce that Pat Riley went to for sitting Antoine Walker earlier in the season. Pierce has to reduce his body fat percentage to 8 or under in order to get on the court.

This sounds like they are just setting the stage to sit him the final few weeks.

Likely scenario, Pierce plays while hurting, just like West and Perk often did when they shouldn’t have been on the court. His play will not significantly make a difference in moving us out of the 2nd worst record in the league.

We are destined for the 2nd most ping pong balls barring a colapse by Charlotte. The remainder of this season won’t mean a whole lot whether Pierce plays like a trooper or rides it on the bench.

Soon too you will be seeing playoff teams cutting starters minutes way back, mystery injuries, teams jockeying for playoff “position” and not necessarily wins which happened in the west last year. Then there is always the race to the bottom for the non-playoff teams, especially this year with the Oden/Durant buzz.

I see less and less chance of us getting the vet help through trade or having the total youth develop to get a crown with Pierce. I’ve always admired Pierce’s grittiness and style of play. I have been amazed he has been this healthy this long.

Father time is creeping up on Pierce and IMO it will creep up on him much quicker than most people his age. Much of Pierce’s greatness is getting the ball in the lane and picking up fouls. As he starts to get a half step slower from age, and nagging injuries slow him down more in the future, you are going to see a great player go to an older veteran much quicker than you think.

If brass used their “smarts” they would try to build around Big AL and get at least a quality fringe young All Star and high pick(s) plus filler for Pierce this off season.

I don’t see 26 points/80 games played in Pierce’s future.

i cant beleive people dont appreciate the positives that came out of pierce sitting on the pine during his injuries this season… crying about the franchise record loosing streak. screw that.

The 2006/2007 Celtics were NEVER going to win ANYTHING anyway!!!!!!!

BUT the young guys got a chance to play more minutes and most importantly Jefferson was put in a position where he felt responsible for the team. He really came out during this period and showed us what he is capable of. He has played great since that time.

His development might not have happened to quickly if pierce had continued to carry this team through mediocrity.

I am happy that those of you who are too stupid and short sighted to look beyond the win/loss record are not working for the celtics.

Your not good fans, your just spoilt children that want everything NOW

I think Pierce needs to be moved. We made the same mistake with Robert Parish. I loved the Chief, but we held onto him a year or two longer than we should have and we could have gotten “value” with him if we had made the move when we should have.

I felt last year there were “goods” suitable for us to make a Pierce trade. Each year that bag of goodies gets less and less and unfortunately when brass and many on this site finally come to the reality it is time to move Pierce, it is going to be too late, just like it was for the Chief.

On the “blame” question. Why is it Toronto can turn over their roster, bring in a new point, get rid of one of their best down low players, bring in two rookies and end up going from a record worse than us by 6 games in 06’, to 17 games better than us this year- a 23 point swing!

Nobody in Toronto looking to play the injury card or the youth card, or give the GM another chance, or give the coach another chance card.

Bosh is only 22 going on 23, Ford, 23 going on 24, Bargaini 21.

So this is mostly “dumb luck” that we are 23 games worse than the Raptors comapred to last year? And we’re supposed to be patinet with Doc and Danny, etc?

The more we look for excuses with this team the more we deserve what we have.

BCelty, good points as usual! Wonder if we could trade Bryan Colangelo for Mr. Strainge? This off season is so make or break for him.

the old gray mare (pp) just ain’t what he used to be, but is still one game and useful sob. this organization made the decision to keep him, feed him, and build around him and we won’t change that. this off season is the most monumental in this team’s history excepting the year walter hired red. among the myriad of decisions, getting pp into game shape and ready for a different, but not too different role on this team. the remainder of this season for pp is not that important other than not getting hurt and they better cut the warrior crap out and make sure he is ok.

Celty86, thanks, I agree with you, this off season is so make or break. I am starting to see “ping pong balls” in my dreams and it is only mid March.

bceltfan, Colangelo is considered one of the best, if not the best GM in the league right now, so that’s hardly a fair comparison. Most of the teams in the league have inferior GMs compared to him, although the Suns have not even won a championship yet.

Also, as much as Colangelo has reshaped that team, he also already had Chris Bosh there, who was drafted by Babcock. Villanueva was another Babcock pick, one that everyone criticized at the time but then he proved to be worth it, or at least enough to pry TJ Ford from the Bucks. Charlie V was a 7th overall pick. Jose Calderon was already there. And Bargnani was the first overall pick after the Raptors stunk last year.

So give Colangelo credit, but he did come into a situation where they already had a young star big man in Chris Bosh, a tradeable asset in Villanueva, and the first overall pick already gift-wrapped and ready to go. So if we luckily get to draft Oden or Durant this year, and a new GM comes in to replace Ainge and drafts Oden or Durant, are you going to give all the credit to the new GM because of our awesome frontcourt of Al, 21, and Oden, 19? Of course not.