is one game let’s wait POB

you got it right, jeff. i would like to see less minutes for ray and some for pruitt, who i think can work with eddie.

It’s possible neither Pruitt nor O’Bryant will ever see meaningful minutes this year or ever with the Celtics. But let’s remember that Doc is slow to give new guys real minutes on a consistent basis. As an example, Powe spent much of the early part of last year getting next to no minutes. And he wasn’t a rookie.

One of the continuing stories will be the Big 3’s minutes. Less minutes = less chance of injuries

Exactly, Jeff. POB has talent but according to Doc’s comments, he’s having the same issues with effort and motivation that he’s had since being drafted.
On another topic, I think Ray Allen’s minutes should go way down this year. I don’t see any reason to play him over 40 min like last night. Especially when Tony Allen is having more of an impact.

I know it is WAY too early to say this, but there is a chance that after a year or so we could all feel the same way about POB that we all felt about Mark Blount. I really hope not though!

I thought BBD looked a little out of place last night. I would have liked to have seen POB’s lenght out there. Lots of turnovers from both sides.
House’ shot was falling. I thought we would see Pruitt.

It`s a bit too early to jump to conclusions regarding Ray Allen, imo. It`s the first game, and I`m certain he will play his usual amount of minutes over the course of the season.
Tony Allen played pretty erratic in the beginning, and he can`t hit a 3-pointer to save his life.
Ray Allen is still one of the three amigos.

Tough game for Doc to try out untested players. Cavs look like the C’s toughest competitors in the East … better to give Pruitt a tryout against a lesser side, give him a better opportunity to succeed and less of a chance for him to hurt the team.

How can ANY conclusions be drawn about anything in this one game? Do people realize who the opponent was? There are 82 games and 29 other opponents to play, who got in against Cleveland and how they played has alot to do with the fact that it was the Cavs. POB not playing doesn’t suggest anything, other than that Doc didn’t think he was the right guy to play to try to win this ONE game. Ray’s “struggles” are very similar to the playoffs, again, against Cleveland because of how they play him.

How anyone can draw any conclusions based on one game against one specific opponent is beyond me. We struggled to score against the Cavs last year, why would this year be any different? They trap all pin downs, forcing the wings to reverse the ball out of double-teams, sigh, this is all so old. When the opponent is different, POB may play, Pruitt may play, R. Allen may not be trapped on pin downs, but no trends should be identified then either. Doc played who he thought gave them the best chance to win last night, period. And Ray chose to play team ball just like last year’s playoffs, the W’ s mattering more to him than the # of shots or conversions. We’ll take the W, and then see what works against the next opponent.

The bottom of the rotation guys will get their minutes against weaker opponents than the messiah’s team. But Ray shouldn’t be playing 40M in any game.

I thought it was interesting that when T.Allen and House were on the floor at the same time, Allen brought the ball up to halfcourt. They’re still not fully confident in House’s ability to break the full court pressure.

… won’t see meaningful floor time until he learns some basic fundamentals of post defense and post offense – like running to gain position and hold it, not moving around agitating the hands on the air or immobilizing himself in the paint on the defensive end . Big Baby is head and shoulders above him.

I think Pruitt will play, but not in this kind of games.

I also believe Scal will see more minutes than expected.

If Doc really wants to see more bench because of the short summer the championship imposed than bench will get more play. However, I don’t think Doc will allow this team to fall of pace of the best record in the east, let alone the NBA.

If push comes to shove I can see Doc sticking more with the starters than he claims, especially if the bench isn’t getting it done.

One silver lining, with the Olympics many NBA stars also had short summers so the impact will not be felt like it may otherwise have with the minutes.

There’ll be plenty of time to find out who, among the new faces, have anything substantial to contribute. And unfortunately, there’s also the possibility of injuries forcing a change in some players minutes.

BBD and Powe played good defense and neither one was in foul trouble. Also, Ilgauskas, even though 7-2, has a very limited post game. O’Bryant wasn’t needed.

I would like to see a backcourt of Pruitt and Tony Allen at some point. If there are two better backcourt defenders coming off the bench for some other team, I’d like to know who they are.

IMHO Mo Williams was exposed last night. He doesn’t defend that well, and while he hit a couple of nice treys he does not share the ball. He plays like a Milwaukee Buck (me first). The Cavs would be just as well off giving the minutes to Daniel Gibson. Aside from LeBron, the only decent passer Cleveland has is Delonte.

At times Ray looked out of sync, couldn’t get a handle on the ball, a step slow, etc. I’m the first to say it is only one game, however, this is an opportune time for guys like Pruitt and Tony to get more minutes.

Chalk this one up to rustiness, first game jitters, etc. I do not want to see Ray getting a lion’s share of the minutes though if he isn’t producing. I fault Doc a little bit at times last year for sticking with him when a change of pace may have been needed. He should still start and get his run; but he is the one guy I would cut back on if he doesn’t have the shooting touch. At times Ray looked like Tony Allen out there when Tony was out of control.

Opening night, against a major playoff competitor, does not translate to experimenting with POB or Pruitt. Doc wanted the win. And, as expected, the game was close just playing the established players. You do not want to give the Cavs any notion that they can beat the Celts on our home court.

Knowing Doc, the way we all know him, did anyone actually think we would see any player who did not play in the Finals for us last year…This is Docs way and way of showing respect to the players who got us number 17. Let them earn there playing time..the time will come when we get to see more of Pruitt and POB- There is nothing wrong with lighting a fire under them so when they do get a chance, they hopefully will rise to the occassion.