I Guess We’re All Set At PG

According to reports in Europe, Saras has signed with Panathinaikos. Of course, we’ve seen these come and go.

As much as I like both players, I think neither powe nor big baby are enough to land a good point guard on their own. Scalabrine is a nice player but not a top 8 guy in a leading team. So I can’t say I see any of them being a cornerstone of the trade that lands us the point guard we need.

Something gives me the feeling this is it, and that any good point guard will be attained through free agency, next year.

Darrell Armstrong is the only point worth getting excited about that is available right now.

The Bulls won 6 championships with (name one) as PG. Pippen and MJ brought the ball up,and set up and became the offense. Miami won a championship with DWade being very much of the PG, and Dallas has done quite well with Jason Terry, and he’s not your classic PG. I think Celts are more concerned with defense at PG, and Sarunas will do what he’s done evrywhere, and thats nothing. For Defense, Rondo and TAllen will be fine.

rondo is fine but he can’t do it all. i think they would have picked up hudson if kg had put in the good word.next year they can draft or pick up a useful body but this year, maybe they won’t get the value but they need the depth.

Damon Stoudamire is a guy that might become available..Danny might be waiting to see if he needs a vet for 10-15 mins a nite or somebody for 25 …it’s still early

Don’t fret…..Danny knows what he’s doing. We will be just fine. :)

I agree with VT Bill.

While I understand the concern at PG I also realize that we have an equal concern at the “5” position. While an injury to Rondo would require the use of SG’s playing the PG position, a necessary but undesireable solution, a more devastating scenario would involve a similar injury to Perkins. Both “1” and “5” positions remain a CONCERN.

What changes our focus, however, is the availability of solutions at both positions. The “hottest” developmental project presently resides with Esteban Batista, a possible BIG man acquisition whose game has (perhaps) “turned the corner”. Were it not for his recent domination in the America’s games, we’d still have an open mind about the “1” and “5” positions.

Both Perkins and Pollard have been victimized in their NBA careers by the “injury bug” so their future health issues remain a subject of concern. Forcing Allen to play the PG position would have “less” negative impact than forcing KG to play the “5” position for an extended period of time. It might certainly curtail the length of his productive NBA career.

If the Esteban work-out experience fails to land the C/PF, the door once again swings open for other roster ajustments.

VT Hillbilly agreeing with VT Bill? What a surprise.;)

BTW, I agree too. :D

We already know Kelvin Cato’s upside (and downside) but we’re still undecided about Esteban Batisita. While Cato could be our “insurance” at the “5” position, he could also serve as an NBA sparring partner for Esteban. The bigger future prize could be Esteban but he’d have to “prove” himself before a guaranteed contract were offerred.

Regardless of the results of this work-out experience, we have to be satisfied that within the constraints of the salary cap system, Ainge is not sleeping on the success of his blockbuster roster changes. While no further changes in the roster may occur, it doesn’t mean that Ainge is asleep at the wheel!

I think Rondo/House will be fine as PG. I don’t know why this topic gets so much hype around the net. Why do you need a great PG when you have Ray Allen, Pierce and KG? You don’t. I’d rather have House’s sweet shooting..

The Bulls won 6 championships with (name one) as PG. Pippen and MJ brought the ball up,and set up and became the offense.
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Ron Harper, BJ Armstrong and John Paxson were all more capable PG’s at this point than anyone we have on our roster, Rondo included. I like the kid, but he’s in his second year…he’ll need help. I think it goes without mentioning that while Paul and Ray are good, they’re nowhere near MJ or Pippen’s levels. Those two brought it on both ends, nearly every night.

KG is the one thing that the Bulls didn’t have. The C position between the two teams is pretty comparible too.

As for Miami, Wade may have been ‘very much the PG’, but having Williams and Payton around didn’t hurt them at all.

Dallas, they’re infinately better when Terry plays the two and Devin Harris plays the PG, to the tune of nearly 14 points per 100 possessions.

Orien Green? IMHO, a huge disappointment at the NBA “1” position. His success in college was due mainly to his superior size and athleticism and to his skill differential at the collegiate level.

Orien came to us as a player with exceptional athleticism, handles, excellent court vision and the ability to finish strong. He was rated an excellent college defender and rebounder. At the NBA level we all saw that most of his college success was due to his size and athleticism, neither of which were superior when comparable and better talented players were commonplace.

Orien Green didn’t have NBA court vision, NBA handles, nor sufficient NBA defensive prowless to sustain his career. Like Rondo, he also didn’t have a reliable shot. He remains a well traveled “end of the bench” vagabond with a marginal skill level.

I’d rather have House’s sweet shooting..
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You’d rather have a career 41% shooting gunnar than someone whose willing to get the ball to your top three scoring options? I’d understand if you were talking about Steve Kerr.

House is a gunnar, always has been always will be. Personally I’d rather have the more effective offensive players taking the shots with role players built around them to take pressure off.

My dream pickup for this team would be Antonio Daniels. He’s the type that fills the role we need. Not that Washington would give him up for what we could offer.

“You’d rather have a career 41% shooting gunnar than someone whose willing to get the ball to your top three scoring options? I’d understand if you were talking about Steve Kerr.”

Psshaw. Shooting percentage is an empty statistic when your talking about a three point gunner. House is a career 38% 3 point shooter with a whopping 41% number last year and he had an eFG% of 51.

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen DO NOT NEED help “getting” the ball. We are talking about Al Jefferson here. We are talking about excellent one on one players – what these guys need is a guy who can PUNISH double teams. House can do that. Just camp House out by the three point line – these guys get swarmed – kick it out to House and BAM 3 points.

Guys that people lust after – these mediocre points can’t do that. We have a PURE pg – a shooter is a better complement to the rest of our team though.

The only explanation I can see is that: (1) Ainge is convinced Rondo is the real deal and sees him getting 35 minutes a night, and (2) Ainge isn’t impressed with the currently available crop of backups and wants to wait and see what’s available during the season.

I can’t argue with this too much. If Ainge thinks a better backup will be available during the season, why sign anyone now? Why not just see if the other guards on the roster, particularly House and R. Allen, can fill out the remaining PG minutes?

Screw that… Eric Williams!!!

Trade Powe for Lindsey Hunter

I’ll say it again, I regret that Ainge drafted Gabe Pruitt. Instead he should have taken the better of the three ‘pure’ point guards that were drafted later in the second round: Sun Yue, Jared Jordan, or Taurean Green.

I think the C’s are doing the right thing here. Training camp/preseason will show whether there is a true need for another backup or whether someone from the House/Pruitt/Allen group will get the job done. By that time there will still be training camp castoffs and journeyman PGs who can come in and play 10 minutes a game if needed (I expect Rondo to get 35 minutes a game), someone of the Randy Livingston/Mike Wilks ilk could even do that job. Big men are harder to find and is a greater need with Powe/Davis/Scal being undersized PFs and Perk and Pollard having injury histories

Sun Yue is terrible. No right hand. Can’t pass. Can’t defend. Can’t control the tempo. Can’t score. Can’t run the half court. Can’t run. He literally offers nothing at this point in his life. Good luck to LA on that one. That lad is about as raw as they come.

Jared Jordan, for every one thing he does that makes you go nice play he does 3 horrific mistakes because he can’t defend and he’s slower than every other player out there. He needs a lot of time getting his condition right, and learning how to play at a faster pace. I’m surprised the Clips have kept him around this long because he was awful in SL. So was Diaz though, they gave him a 3 yr contract if memory serves.

Taureen Green yep I’d go for that. He looks a player.

A little confused with the Pruitt selection myself but he looks the type that will need time to learn how to function as an NBA point so let’s give it to him. I wouldn’t expect too much early in the year. His defense, athleticism and shooting are appealing.

Probably means not much confidence in Pollard. Give up on the PG issue. Please! House and Pruitt should not be dismissed when the alternatives are Armstrong, Jasiks, Daniels. Jeez those are marginal talents.
EEYore gets the booby prize for first mention of new year of Tiago Splitter, a guy who even knows himself that he’s a better Euro than an NBA’er

I know David Thorpe takes heat on this blog but I felt his assessment of Saras was really on point.

I haven’t read all the commenst but Jeff yes you have been missing something the whole time and folks have talked to you about it and you have just not listened. I am a season ticket holder for the sonics. Ray can easily play point for 6-12 minutes a game with no problem whatsoever. I mean I just have no idea at all why this has escaped anyone that he can play there if need be. He has always been a good ball handler. Its not as if this is " not ideal" or something. Its no problem at all. House I was not very familiar with but its obvious looking at his stats that he can play point for as long as we need really up to 20 minutes. so to say its covered is a pretty easy thing. I don’t buy into the TA comments at all that he will help there too. we just won’t need that and tony is a big physical guy. But if RR can play on averege 28 at point and here is hoping its 34, then we only need about 12-14 from House and 6-8 from Ray. Its just no problem at all

Rondo will take most of the “regular” minutes. But at the end of games and especially at crucial moments in the playoffs when the game has slowed down, I think Ray will play the 1, Pierce will play the 2 where he is bigger and tougher than everyone else, Posey will play the 3 to destroy other team’s offense and hit the timely three, KG will be at the 4, the only question is who will play the 5? I’m not saying that Ray Allen is the back up point, just that he should play the point in the most critical situations, letting Paul slide down to the 2 and let Posey bring his presence.

To deal with the likes of PHX or San Antonio or even Dallas and possibly Chicago, we need our best vets out there. Scals, Pollard, House don’t qualify and Tony isn’t quite ready yet, even when healthy. Forget our rookies. ALL of them. Remember, I’m only talking about crucial moments in the game here. Hopefully there won’t be a ton of those moments during the regular season, but the playoffs will be full of them.

I think Ainge is just being patiant when it comes to our point gaurd situation. there are more quality bigs availble right now then point gaurds. he doesn’t want just any player. he is looking for someone who can come in and help this team win ball games, not just to fill a roster spot.
I think that a few points might be availble soon…
Damon’s name was brought up, we know he asked to be moved. don’t sleep on Cassel, the guy has one more year remaining and he will not want to spend it on a losing team with no chance of winning. the Hawks have 4 points. 3 Vets, you know they will move at least one of them, most likely A.Jhonson or Lue, I’ll be happy with eaither one… there might be more around, that was from the top of my mind… be patiant !

Who, I quite agree, Taurean Green was probably the best of the point guards taken in the second round. As for your thought on Pruitt developing into NBA point guard, I don’t think it’ll happen. It’s very rare when a college shooting guard can morph into an adequate NBA point guard. It’s too late in life to acquire the ‘handle’.

I worry more about Perk’s health and the prepensity of the Celtics to play guys when they are hurt than I the pg right now.

I’m not saying pg options should be overlooked right now, just saying Perk is more of a question mark.

If we need a PG, we’ll find one during preseason cuts. Also, don’t be surprised if Sam Cassell gets bought out in Clipperland once they’re 4-14 to start the year. He’ll be asking for a trade or to be bought out for sure. It might not happen till the deadline though since he is an expiring deal.

Can anyone name some SGs who have converted into decent point guards? I’ve seen it go the other way with guys like AI, but can’t think of any times when it happened the other way around.

Breaking down the season!

After the roller coaster ride this team has gone through since the end of last season, there are several angles to look at for the new season.

Of course the KG/Big Al- youth trade overshadows the off season. It will take at least 3 or 4 years before we see if this turns out to be a Win-Win for both the T-Wolves and the Celts. That being said, I am 99% concerned with our end of the transaction. If it works for Minny, so be it, if it doesn’t I won’t lose any sleep over T-wolves.

It’s easy to arm chair quaterback 4 years down the road, but either way, I think the Big 3 was a great move and I’ll live and die with it.

In reading various sources about the season, I think a majority put us in the hunt with the Pistons, Cavs, Heat, Magic, Raptors. Some have us as the Beast in the East and some even have us as struggling as a lower tier playoff club.

Although a good month away from the season, I think we finish the year with at least one of the top 2 winning % in the East. I think you have to break your season down to 2 areas, regular and post season. Even though the Mavs had the best record in the NBA, they couldn’t get by the #8 seed G.S. and I’m sure every fan in Dallas was lamenting on how it was a terrible season.

The same holds true for the Celtics. We can’t finish with the top or 2nd best team in the East and crash like the Mavs. Those saying the team needs one year to gel, I don’t think so. We can’t throw away a whole season on gelling like Magellean. We have the whole preseason and an 82 game regular season schedule. There is no room for falling back on excuses like we have so many years in the past (too young, too many injuries, etc). It needs to happen this year.

If the Celtics don’t at least make the Eastern finals then I don’t think they lived up to expectations. I do predict that whoever comes out of the East will be an underdog to the West. The only benefit I think we potentially have is getting by the Eastern teams is going to be much easier than the battles fought in the West.

The potential is there for the Celtics to be better rested, less banged up, and more prepared than the Western team will be for us. The puzzle pieces have to all fit together and they will for one NBA club this season.

Because the Celtics play in the East, I think the Celtics have a better chance of being in the NBA finals than any other club in the NBA. It’s nice to think that and I’ll believe it until the season proves otherwise.

All we need in a point guard when Rondo is not in the game is someone who can bring the ball up court and not try to be a perfect point guard. Pruitt seems to have a good enough handle to do that and play the defense necessary. Also House (not a point at all) should be able to bring the ball up the court.

I am only concerned with the point position if Rondo gets hurt.

FrieCod, there’s a number of guys who played shooting guard in college and then impersonated point guards in the NBA. Doc Rivers was one of them. But I don’t think of them as true point guards. They weren’t there for their ability to penetrate, break down an offense, or to beat a press.

It’s just like in high school or the playground. Everybody’s a point guard, until the defensive pressure comes.

Everyone worries too much about the backup PG spot. Its just not that important. Did the 86 Celts even have a “true PG”?

The most important things are how good your top players are (KG, PP, RA). How good the rest of your starters are as part of a team. How good your first and second guys off the bench are. I wouldn’t be surprised to lead the team in MPG. By the end of the season we’ll likely see Posey and T. Allen playing most of the reserve minutes. With one of the bigs (Scal, Powe, Pollard, etc) and House getting the rest. So no – I’m not concerned.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rondo lead the team in minutes.

Friecod, I should’ve mentioned a second, more obvious example of a college shooting guard trying to impersonate an NBA point guard: Delonte West. And interestingly, West supposedly came to college as a point guard. But then a real point guard showed up, Jameer Nelson, and West slid over to the 2.

The way West played point guard for the Celtics is approximately what we can eventually hope to expect from Gabe Pruitt.

Jeff, chill on the back-up PG stuff, dude. Why don’t you wait and see how well House and co. play it before you have a conniption fit.

Update- according to www.hoopshype.com, Sarunas J. has just signed with a team in Greece.

What would the Patriots do in this situation there might be a need for a true veteran PG. The PG has to be able to break presses and play at least fair defense, if Eddie House can do that they will be OK. The Vet PG has to be a communicator and encourage Rondo. There is going to be a lot of pressure on Rondo at 21 years old they will probably play over 100 games counting pre-season and playoffs. I think the new big 3 will help him and understand the situation. The Center is a concern because of past history of injury and foul trouble. I like Perk and Rondo they are great but we are so close to having a great experienced roster but we have time. I think in the next few weeks both positions will have more depth. I believe the Celtics will do the right thing they are aware of their weaknesses and strengths.

I think all the focus on exact positions like backup PG and/or C, has many parallels with getting too caught up in positional needs when drafting. Like Brendan said, what is more important is how good your top players are and how well the team meshes. Similarly, when approaching the draft, it is far more important you draft someone that for sure can play in the league, whatever their position, then taking let’s say, the best Center available, if that happens to be an area of need on your team.

As Danny as shown with his recent picks and what he was ultimately able to get with them, getting players who can play in the NBA is by far the top priority when drafting. All the attention to specific postional backups on this years C’s team misses this entire point. Most of the available player minutes are going to be used up by our starting 5, House and Posey, the few remaining minutes for spots 8-10 will be shared by Powe, BBD, Scal, and Pollard(Add TA in there when healthy). The most important thing is not how many we have at each position, but how much talent we have 1-9 and on the floor at any one time. Having superior talent 1-9 has far more of an effect on winning than what exact positions each of those players play. We have enough talent and versatility on the roster as constituted, and most of the available minutes spoken for, so as to render another mediocre “backup” PG a moot point. There are many example of this as cited by many above, the 86 Celts, MJ’s Bulls, Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers, having the supreme talent is what brought those teams the title, not depth at every exact position like PG, SG, SF, PF and C.

Why worry about something that doesn’t exisit!!!!

I don’t get it. My main concern with this team is not the guys (last 5 roster spots) at the end who will never see playing time.

My concern is how fast will this team jell as a cohesive unit. Rondo and Perk will be fine as the year goes on. I have no problem with having Ray Allen or Tony Allen or even Pierce for that matter bringing the ball up.

As soon as the balls over half court, 85% of the time it will be in either Pierces, Garnetts, or Allens hand, no one elses.

Were making a mole out of nothing here. For those able to remember Bird playing days. The ball was in his hands 65% of the time during a game.

Waive bye to Delonte and Telfair, they were not true point guards. It’s not like every team doesn’t have faults.

Pruitt will have enough composure to fill the role if nobody else steps up in front of him. He can bring up the ball and hit an open shot.. that’s enough. Defenses cannot gamble off him like they can with Rondo.

A bigger concern is Rondo getting comfortable with that outside shot before the playoffs roll around – and keeping The Three healthy.

From the American Orthopedic Society re: Perk: If your plantar fasciitis continues after a few months of conservative treatment, your doctor may inject your heel with steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (corticosteroid). If you still have symptoms, you may need to wear a walking cast for 2-3 weeks or positional splint when you sleep. In a few cases, you might need surgery to release your ligament.

I think we’re fine….. This was the same complaints poeple had about the Heat for their first year with Shaq (nothing outside of shaq and possibly wade (wade coming off rookie year), lack of depth, no pg, no forwards) and the main thing was them pointing out that they had no pg……. They then won 59 games and were 1 win from the finals (which i think they woulda won if Wade didnt get hurt when they were up 3-2 in ECF on detroit) and did all that with Damon Jones as their Fulltime PG…. Eddie House to me is very similar to Damon Jones and all we need him for is to backup Rajon if things go right. He has proven he can be the backup point for a contender as he did in 06 for Phoenix in their conferrnece finals run… so I think we are good, he can play the role that Damon did for the heat, he is capable… plus Pruitt can play the role that Delonte West did in less time at backup as a combo guard, he is very capable of that and similar to delonte (my exact words to my nephew when Pruitt was selected “Well I guess we just got our new Delonte”) I watched him alot at USC, he is very similar to Delonte in his strengths at both the PG and SG positions.

With those 3 we are more than capable. (Plus Ray Allen ran point at UConn if I remember correctly and I know he took over the point for Cassell in milwaukee as the main backup/2nd option running their offense, plus he split pg duties with Barry for his first year and a half in Seattle when traded there. He will help alot in the backcourt too.)

While Pruit may “eventually” earn our trust, he certainly doesn’t yet command it! Against lesser (SL) competition, his performance was…at best…lacklustre. He’s guilty of playing adequate PG at the collegiate level because of his superior size and better athleticism but those won’t be enough against NBA competition. He has mediocre handles and passing ability and lacks good court vision.

While Pruit may eventually earn our trust, it’s doubtful that it will occur this year. He’s purely a PG in training and hardly a realistic answer at PG. There are better team options so let’s pass on mentioning Pruit as a viable PG option.

I like what Danny did because in limited time he set us up to make a title run this year if things go right and have a very strong first year with our big 3 and made all the right moves…. but more importantly didnt make any longterm or bad deals, which sets us up to LOAD UP next summer for a serious title run for year 2 (think Miami sans shaq addition again). Very good job filling out the roster in limited time for this years rotation, no panic/stupid signings which sets us up bigtime for a midseason addition on a buyout or possibly when rosters get trimmed down… and perhaps more importantly setting us up for success next summer in loading up the roster and filling it out around our core 3 superstars perfectly for a serious title run.

i agree with KEFA completely (about the 10th post down overall)

I am very tired and have not read the other comments, so please excuse me. Jeff touched on a subject that hasn’t left my mind all summer. I am not concerned about injury ( well, I am). I am concerned about the opposition attacking Rondo early in the game to get him in foul trouble. Mark these words, because that will be what they will do. In today’s NBA a defender can’t even breathe on an opponent on the perimeter. Rondo was getting a lot of calls last year for playing too close. My God! They have the chance to go for a championship! Get me an aspirin, this is sick. Ainge ain’t fooling no one. He can’t be serious when he tries to sell us his Tony or Ray Allen, Pruitt formula. Eddie House?! This is nuts. My fingers are crossed that they enter the season with only 14 players , That way they can always add a 15th; preferrably another point. Also, if Pollard is indeed subpar physically and/or we find ourselves desparate for a backup pg soon, we can all look at Ainge for this gross mismanagment. We are going for all the marbles. He is paid not to make such stupid mistakes, especially at this time in the race.

Sweet17 i COMPLETELY 100% AGREE with your first two (3?)posts.

Eddie House can do for us at pg what Damon Jones did for the 59 win Heat team in Shaq’s first year there that were 1 win and a healthy wade away from the finals and possibly the championship (IMHO they woulda won it all).

I cant say it any better than you did though, so I’ll just leave it at that. I agree with your first 2 posts 100%.

(couldnt use quotation marks)

—-Danny and Doc have so much confidence in Rondo. House/Pruitt/Allen can definitely pick up the backup minutes there. Danny has now had the benefit of watching practices for a few days. If we are talking about injuries, I think that moskqq is right to say that we need to consider the center position first. Rondo has been more healthy than Perk lately and where Pruitt and House might do a creditable job filling in in the event of a PG injury, Pollard is more of a risk IMO. And agreed that we don’t want KG playing C or Ray Allen playing PG except for a few minutes here and there. —-

I agree GREENLOVE, ABSOLUTELY right.

LAST POST, I promise, sorry about that.

Our coach was a decent Point Guard; Our GM played point at times also…They also have a hell of a lot more invested in deciphering the proper rotations for what seems to be a run at the championship…I choose to trust them…if only gingerly!
That being said, it appears they want a back-up five right now…My bet is it’s Batista, if FIBA translates anywhere near NBA future prowess…That means Jackie Manual is gone…
My guess on the PG is Darrell Armstrong, if and when he becomes available. He’d be a wonderful tutor for Rondo and Danny isn’t going to be courting anyone else if this is what he’s waiting for…
That means that Wallace would then be gone…The team would be set and #17 would perhaps be feasible…Not that bad a place to be…

The positon I worry about is Perk, not pg. If Perk goes down I fear having to have KG in the middle and Pollard is not talented enough to carry major minute center load. Baby and Powe are undersized and young to boot.

I know Danny is working out bigs and IMO its like getting tickets at a rock concert- give me best available.

Remember Danny’s comments the last season or so when he kept saying he couldn’t get his hands around a good trade. The exact thing will happen again if Perk gets hurt and we are dealing with other teams making a desperation trade for big man help.

Bounding has the right perspective. Why are many of you getting yourself all worked up? Everybody wants this team to do anything they think of yesterday. Ainge knows what’s available for what more than any of us, and he apparently hasn’t seen a point guard that he could get for cash or players/picks with the qualities that he feels brings value to the team at acceptable cost. But with time through preseason and/or early season developments he’ll see better what he has and what comes available. If he sees a need, then he can act with more knowledge of the need and hopefully more attractive options to fill the need. Why do something that’s not advantageous for the sake of doing something?? Please chill.

Scotty,
Thanks for setting the record straigtht. I can’t even imnagine where people get this notion that Ron Harper was anything less than very good. Honestly, makes me think they only watched what Jordan and Pippen were doing and didn’t pay much attention to the big picture.