Who is Out There? Part 1

by Jim Weeks on Jan 13, 2008 10:46 PM EST in Green Bandwagon Comment 3 comments

Big Men

I'm starting a two part series in which I look at available big men and points guards. After sitting down and going through the names I decided that DeSagana Diop would be a great fit. He rebounds, plays defense and knows his role. Unfortunately he is unavailable. Ultimately I came away unimpressed and even more bewildered as to what the Celtics might do. Still you might enjoy looking at who is out there.

1. Probably Retired and That's Not a Bad Thing

Corliss Williamson - He played 12 seasons in the NBA, could score in bunches and even won a Sixth Man of the Year Award back in 2002. However, his strengths are already being provided by another former SEC player - Glen Davis.

Kevin Willis - I just don't feel comfortable with a guy who was eligible to be in the original NBA Jam. Maybe that's just me though.

2. If Not Retired, Should Be

Michael Olowokandi - Hey you never know. I was shocked when he made the team last year. Shocked. But I think his time has come and gone.

Michael Sweetney - Do you realize he only played four seasons before effectively eating his way right out of the league? Just look at his NBA.com photo/profile if you don't believe me. For what it's worth I liked him at Georgetown.

Marc Jackson - At first glance it is encouraging that he only played seven seasons in the NBA, two of which were with Kevin Garnett. But he had three years in Europe before that. Although he does have his own website, which appears to include an ill-fated blogging career. Even thoughI overvalue Temple guys I can't get behind this one. I only really remember him tossing elbows at people. I'm not sure if his attempts to be a cowboy, which Jackson references on his website, are a good thing,

"So come step onto my court and find out what I'm like in and out of the arena, whether I'm wearing my riding chaps or basketball shorts, I always think I'm a cowboy."

3. Only if Ainge Wants a Fan to Have a Heart Attack

Kelvin Cato - He's tall and not good.

Luke Schenscher - He is 7-1. He also carries some bad mojo with him. The Celtics can't afford to take that chance. Although, I'm not sure if I have ever seen two red heads on an NBA team before. Just throwing that out there.

Vitaly Potapenko - He's played 36 games in the last two seasons...combined. In fact I can only think of one worse, recently retired ex-Celtic returning to the team. See next player.

4. Only if Ainge Wants to Destroy the Team

Danny Fortson - He would rebound if healthy and Red Auerbach liked him to the point that he was disappointed when the Ricktator let him go. I'm halfway into talking myself into Fortson. Let's just move on, quickly.

5. The Casual Fan Would Get Excited

Chris Webber - Pros: Can score, knows the Pistons well after playing in Detroit last season, great passer, desperate for a ring, already made a ton of money - including that sweet buyout the 76ers gave him.

Cons: Needs the ball a lot to be effective, can no longer defend, has bad knees, would probably not be well received by many in Boston and it would be interesting to see how he handled that. Also signing Webber would feel a lot like the, LA Lakers circa 2004.

6. The Guy I Wasn't Entirely Sure Which Category to Place In

Dale Davis

7. The Guy Most People Like

P.J. Brown - He is a veteran (14 seasons) with playoff experience. At the same time he is 38. Still you could make the argument that he has more left in the tank than Scot Pollard. The Celtics would just have to A) convince him to sign and B) monitor his minutes.

Next Up: Point Guards

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Webber's coming back within 2 weeks

See
http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=37308

In the interview that the article links to, Webber says KG is one of his favorite players and that he admires him. He also says that he thinks the Celtics are playing very well.

When asked about teams, though, he says that he "doesn't necessarily have to be playing for the best team.", which might mean that the Cs are out of the conversation.

He won't say who he is considering, but says that he is considering offers from 3 teams and is in very good shape.

IMO, the celtics could really benefit from webber being on the team. I think he could start at C without our defensive suffering much. There are very few mobile C that he won't be able to bang with. His hands are much better than Perkins and nobody will be leaving KG with C Webb underneath the rim. I also think that Webber could be a decent role model for Big Baby Davis. They seem to have similar games and Webber has developed ways of playing below the rim.

by lbird33 on Jan 13, 2008 11:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

my big man choice...

...although he's not listed here, after thinking this over for a while, I realized last week (wrote a column about him over at CelticsBlog) that the perfect fit for this squad among potentially attainable players is Kurt Thomas.

At 6-9, he's undersized, but he has been playing in the pivot for a few years now and does everything this team needs. He is a phenomenal rebounder (currently averaging 9.8 per game in less than 25 mins per at age 35) who plays excellent defense and brings one more experienced playoff vet to the table, as well as one who has that same hunger for winning as do the others. Over the last few years, he has worked hard on his offensive game and has become an excellent pick-and-pop big man, as he can hit from 12-to-17 feet with ease. That's all we would need from him offensively to begin with.

The man is buried in Seattle, makes $8 million this season and then comes off the books. He needs to be moved to a relevant team.

Now, the only issue is in putting together a package that would bring him to Boston...

...I'm not saying it would be easy to do so, but I do think he should be at least somewhat attainable (can't see him exactly fitting into long-term plans in Seattle at his age and given his lack of a contract for next season), and he would be an excellent fit for this team.

Thoughts?

Enjoyed your work as always, Jim.

-sw

by Steve Weinman on Jan 14, 2008 2:13 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the comments

The Webber interview was excellent to see. I enjoyed that. Meanwhile, I really like Kurt Thomas. He is one of the few guys that at the very least makes Tim Duncan work, which would mean that KG would not have to get dragged into it. He hits that midrange baseline jumper and is a seems a little crazy in a good way. But financially I have no clue how they could make that happen.

Green Bandwagon: Celtics '08 or bust. Are you on the bandwagon?

by Jim Weeks on Jan 14, 2008 7:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs