It wouldn’t be surprising to see him get a little bit of run here. Assuming they want to add a body, it would be nice to know whether they need to keep Sam around in player mode or whether they need to do something else (waive POB, trade Giddens for a pick, etc.). I do kinda like that Doc’s sticking to a much tighter rotation than in years past, but Gabe’s shown enough in the limited time that he’s been out there to at least intrigue me.

Wasn’t it around this time in his second year that Powe started to get some regular PT? Every situation is different, of course, but it seems like starting to get some regular PT at around the middle of the second year makes some sense. Don’t force him into action before he’s ready, but get him some experience now in case either House or- GASP! – Rondo were to get hurt. With the amount of hits that Rondo seems to absorb, having our backup PGs prepped to step in when called upon would seem to be a priority.

Gabe won’t play in the playoffs unless its a blowout, even then, probably not.
Gabe is a below average talent and alot of celtics fans are coming off as homers screaming for him to play…Maybe get him some minutes to boost his trade value, because im positive doc isnt about to give him significant minutes late in the season even if he played perfect in the action he sees

I don’t think he’s a below average talent at all. The only thing holding him back is that he’s a tweaner. He’s a great athlete with quick hands on defense, and he’s got a beautiful stroke. At worst, he should have an Eddie House type career.

Danny got Ricky,begged for Iverson, so Starbury fits his style…TA& Ray have begun to handle more as Eddie slides over to the 2 spot ..and even Starbury plays better defense than Eddie,I think?…our defense in fine,even in losses,it’s getting bogged down/TO’s that kill us…more hoops by 2nd unit will get better floor balance and less runouts=better defense….Starbury will take care of 90% of what we need and a tall person with long arms handles the last 10% aka Smith,Deke,PJ…add those 2 pieces and 18 is a given

I guess I can understand why doc wouldnt want a 22 yr old backing up another 22 yr old…kinda young at the PG position

much worse than House. I like Eddie but Gabe is probably a better defender and it might be a wash on offense (can’t really tell yet). Eddie is a specialist (though not Kapono-like) whereas Pruitt can be better in more areas.

That said, the time to tinker is when LeBron twists his ankle and the Cavs go on a nice skid.

Is that a sure thing? What about Oden?

I know Eddie always thinks his next shot is going in… he’s a shooter. But on those nights when his shot is not falling, I’d give Gabe a try, at least a few minutes, because if Eddie’s shot isn’t falling, he’s not providing much out there.

What I like most about Gabe from what I’ve seen is that he can really move his feet and stay in front of guys. He’s really good at it. That, and he can knock down the open jumper. Always a plus. I’m for giving him a few extra minutes here and there in other than garbage time just to see what we’ve got. Right now, we just can’t say. Initial impressions are that he’s House-like in not being a true PG, so I don’t know how well he will be able to initiate offense. I do love the kid’s defense though.

Play defense… hit an open 3. It’s a start at least.

For a backup for Rondo, Pruitt is a better ball-handler and defender (with the possible exception of Tony Allen) than any other guard on the team. That, and the fact that he has a good outside shot are the reasons he should be the backup point guard. And heck yes, he should be the backup during the playoffs.

I think Gabe is a long-term keeper for the C’s. I think, right now, Doc is putting him into situations where he can succeed in order to build up his confidence. Gabe is a quiet guy and Doc wants him to be more vocal and become a floor leader. To do this, Gabe needs to feel confident in his own game first. I think we’ll gradually see Gabe get more and more playing time in the second half of the season, especially as we approach the playoffs. Right now PP and Ray are playing with the second unit. Those minutes will gradually be turned over to Gabe. Gabe looks good to us fans, but we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes and none of us know him as well as Doc does. I said at the beginning that Gabe is a long-termer. His real importance will be in future years and I don’t know if he can develop to the point of where he can be a factor in the playoffs. I think Gabe has the skills and the “fire” to be a player.

I think Doc is very sensitive to disrupting the rotation. That has been him MO for a long time. As Jeff indicated, Pruitt has done very well in almost every chance he has been given. He is a great 3 point shooter, he plays very good defense, can bring the ball up confortably. His one weakness, is his personality. He seems content just to blend in, and not take the ball over. That is due to his inexerience, and deference to the vets. That will change with time. There are moments when he wants to take it to the hole, he does with ease. He reminds me a great deal of Devin Harris. I think Pruitt was a fantastic pick by Danny. What a shock.

When House was playing (or not playing) for Pat Riley, Riley’s daughter had a T-shirt that said “Free Eddie House”. Just thought I’d throw this in for no reason at all except that I remembered it.

we can’t say gabe is below or above average in talent because he hasn’t had the chance to play. doc has to give him time. depth depth depth makes you a winner.gabe is an athlete and i apologize for repetition, reminds me of gerald henderson.

Jeff, this seems like the first off -sync article you have written. I don’t disagree with it. However, we have to consider a couple of things, you mentioned a good training camp. That gave Doc a long good look at what he might get from Gabe, I can only think that Doc would not give Eddie House the backup ball handling chores if he did not HAVE to.

Secondly, The article suggests (at least to me) that the team should lighten up a bit and give the guy a chance. I don’t think this team has it in them to “lighten up a bit”. I blame his lack of playing time (partly) to the fact that this team is VERY FOCUSED. Too focused? Maybe. It seems like allocated time for developing a youngster is very low right now. They are just focused on winning games. Silver lining? If Gabe is able to crack the rotation at some point this year (for reasons other than injury), you know we have a heck of a player.

They’ve already seen what they have in this kid: an NBA-quality combo guard. He’s already better than House in every category except 3-point shooting and experience.

I’d really like to see Gabe get 15-20 minutes for 2-3 games in a row.

I’m with you, Jeff. I would love to see Pruitt play more meaningful minutes, just to see if he can contribute as part of a Championship team. Now that we are a Championship Team, it is understandably harder than ever to get minutes. That’s the old “if it ain’t broke” syndrome (which I ascribe to) with exceptions…and this is an exception. If Pruitt can’t handle it this year, he may still be high enough on the “prospective” list to add weight to a trade scenario. At the very least he gets more experience playing with All Stars and remains one of our players of the future. Hopefully Pruitt has developed chemistry with other Celtics players and has learned the system, so that is two big Checks in his favor over bringing in someone from outside the organization.

I’m not happy with Doc’s playing of 5 guys off the bench for 5+minutes in 2nd quarters. Winning a championship is great, but it doesn’t change history. Doc has a long history of not seeing what he has in young guys and strange rotation behavior. His love fest with BBD at the expense of Powe has been a real problem for both the team and Powe.

Pruitt at PG makes us a bit bigger on D something we can clearly use, if trader Danny is to make a move, House might be the most useful guy to teams needing a 3 point shooter.

I’m not happy with Doc’s playing of 5 guys off the bench for 5+minutes in 2nd quarters.

You are happy, though, when the starters return fresh and close out the other team, no? That has happened multiple times this season.

Great hands, great penetration ability, quick feet, great vision in the half court and open court, unselfish, feels comfortable with the offense flowing through him, finds the open man, good perimeter defender, quick hands forces a lot of turnovers, developing jump shot but we have seen him consistently hit open shots, big dunk Sunday night against Sacramento had KG going nuts, great attitude ALL the time, great fit for this team.

The bench looks great when it flows through Gabe

Take note of TA on fast breaks, Eddie House has been missing him consistently streaming down the sideline and TA is getting frustrated, it will be a recurring issue is my guess. Gabe solves that problem, multiple times this season he has sensed this and gotten TA immediately involved on the next possession (usually off of a missed House three point attempt).

I’ve been huge on Gabe for a long time now. Great job Jeff Clark, keep it up guys.

I wouldn’t say Pruitt is better than Eddie House on all but 3 pt shooting. Nor would I say the offense flows well through Pruitt. That is what he hasn’t shown yet.
Eddie is a hustle defender. Pruitt is a natural defender. Not sure what is better across all situations. Eddie doesn’t get traded because this is still a game of putting ball in hole and he is a rare shooter. He is also a glue guy, as was Posey, and Danny isn’t going to get rid of both. This team has the intangible of TEAM which can’t be sacrificed for a little “length” be it at PG or Center. I mean, mentions of Marbury are ludicrous. We are blogging about a real team not a fantasy team.
I do like Pruitt though and agree that he needs to see more time but the system seems geared to giving him that in the next few weeks.
I feel O’Bryant is on the same track. Very long, not a clumsy big, not Celtic-ready yet, not 22 yrs old yet. If we had to lose O’Bryant to get Mutombo I wouldn’t do it. If you can slide Mutombo (or others) in somehow where you hold onto the youth assets so much the better.

…is that Pruitt played very well in the game against Philly right before Christmas, had been playing ~10 minutes a game for a couple of weeks, and then was promptly benched for the games against the Lakers and Golden State. So the “Doc doesn’t want to rock the boat” argument makes little sense: he did alter the rotations, by not playing Pruitt. Especially against Golden State, the 2nd night of a back-to-back, you’d figure the team could have used Pruitt’s energy and defense (and offense: House plays so much better when he doesn’t start each possession with the ball in his hands. Against GS, House shot 3-10 with no assists; he shot 1-5 against the Lakers). Of course the Golden State game was also the night Doc took Powe out of the game early in the 3rd quarter when he got his 4th foul, after he had played very well offensively and defensively in the first half, and then never put him back in again even as the lead slipped away and victory turned into defeat. Sigh.

Well, the reason he had been playing in those prior games is that the Celtics had big leads.

This bench’s biggest problem is a lack of playmakers. Sometimes Tony Allen is on, but that’s about it and definitely not reliable enough. House is a shooter and nothing else. Big Baby tries to create and it’s usually a disaster. Powe needs someone getting him the ball and he’s been a roller coaster this season. Gabe Pruitt is one of the few guys on the bench that can take a basketball and give me some shred of confidence that he will either score or give one of these other guys (House, Powe, Baby) a solid look to score. The bench goes in lulls because their only consistent option is a contested jumper. Give Gabe the ball and let him show what he can do.

Doc has a history of waiting until Jan./Feb. before he starts playing his 2nd round rookies and 2nd year players (think J. Reed, Gomes, Powe, etc…). To me, I think Doc is trying to establish rotational consistency and so purposely limits the amount of young players in the rotation so as to better ensure such consistency. But, by Jan/Feb, it’s usually time for some kind of tweak to the rotation (or, as Doc tells the media, young player X has begun to earn his minutes in practice) and that’s when we’ll see the likes of Gabe, O’Bryant, or maybe even Walker/Giddens for a couple games in a row to see how they respond….

As for Gabe’s ability, I think he’s a solid NBA player right now, pretty much a better dribbling, better defending, taller version of Eddie House, who can create for himself and for others, shooting well off-the-dribble, and in spot-up situations. Other than pure marksmanship, he’s better than Eddie in everything else.

That said, in no way would I want to replace Eddie with Gabe—a huge part of the 2nd unit’s lack of cohesiveness can be traced to a lack of veterans and moving Eddie out of the rotation would throw all kinds of uncertainty into that unit. So, what I’d do would be to play Pruitt at 1, Eddie at 2, TA at 3, and try (especially against the lesser teams) to go minutes at a time without one of the Big 3 bridging things between the 1st and 2nd units.

What really irks me, though, is when we’ve seen the Pruitt/Ed/TA lineup during garbage time, Eddie is often still running the point and Gabe is just sitting the corner waiting for the ball to be swung his way (as noted by kozlodoev above)…that’s such a huge waste of the kid’s talent, not to mention the loss of developmental time at a position (backup point guard) this team dearly needs to upgrade.

Gabe Pruitt is:
- A MUCH better shooter than Tony Allen. (Actually, TA is not a shooter at all, so that’s not saying much.)
- As aggressive and energetic an individual defender as TA.
- A much better overall defender than TA, because he doesn’t RUN INTO PEOPLE and get called for those fouls in EVERY game like TA, and because Gabe is smart and TA is not.
- A much better ball handler than TA (TA loses the ball for a turnover at least once per game, on average).
- As tall as TA.
- Also pretty athletic. (You saw that dunk.)
- Calm and in control.

When either Rondo or Ray needs to sit down, Pruitt should be going in. He’s a natural point guard with a great outside shot. Hell, TA couldn’t hit a 3 if his life depended on it… and GP is shooting like Ray out there.

So, uhh… why is GP sitting on the bench and TA playing so many minutes?

On the assumption that Doc knows what he’s doing, I have a theory. The Celts may be trying to burnish TA’s numbers in preparation for a trade. Hope that’s the case anyway, because TA is currently on the wrong team. He seems like a nice enough guy, and he tries hard and all, but he is not going to grow any more brain cells and the few he has aren’t working right.

Btw, Patrick O. has shown us some good things lately, especially on defense but also on offense. Ferrchissakes tho, somebody PLEASE TEACH HIM HOW TO SET A PICK. I mean, give me 15 minutes and I’ll explain it to him. YOU CAN’T MOVE INTO GUYS WHEN SETTING A PICK. Got that?! He gets called on at least one of those every single time he plays. (Oh yeah, and quit trying to make hero passes. As Doc says, just play solid basketball ya big fruitcake.)

As shown is this discussion we have so much to comment about Gabe Pruitt on a team that is 28? and 4. Is Gabe good or not? Is he a pg or not? Is Doc playing him enough or not? I bet alot of other teams would love to be having this conversation. Regardless of all this talk I think Gabe is a long-term keeper. He’s shown alot to me in the spare minutes he’s played as a second year player. He seems to have the perfect temperament to be a backup pg (puts his ego in his pocket). He obviously needs more experience, but he is going to be a very good player in this league and hopefully for this team. He also, in this stage of his career, has the good fortune to be on THIS team with these players and with Doc as his mentor.