Celtics On Point For Future

by Jeff Clark on Feb 13, 2008 6:09 AM EST in News/Links Comment 21 comments

See my love letter to Rondo at the Boston Metro. Here's the opening:

Quick quiz: What do the following names all have in common? Joe Forte, J.R. Bremer, Shammond Williams, Mike James, Delonte West. If you guessed "shooting guards the Celtics tried to turn into point guards," you were correct. Thinking back over the last decade or so, the best pure point guards I can recall on the Celtics include an aging Kenny Anderson and an already over-the-hill Gary Payton. As Tony Kornheiser would say, that’s it, that’s the list.

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Somewhere, Chris Corchiani and Dan Dickau are crying into their cornflakes. And Tony Delk, for different reasons.

There’s only one M in Bremer…

by Bent on Feb 13, 2008 7:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

DOH! thanks Proof reader

by Jeff Clark on Feb 13, 2008 8:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

thank you danny for finding this pearl of a player. rondo is the future for this franchise and the challenge in the next few years is to get him the running mates that he deserves. also let’s get him a backup for now.

by nazzbo on Feb 13, 2008 9:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

And what about Marcus Banks & Erik Whatshisname (Obie era guard)?!

by LuckyNumber07 on Feb 13, 2008 9:20 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Erik Strickland was another shoot-first OBie-guy. I mentioned Banks later in the article. One omission that I didn’t know what to do with was Chucky Atkins. I actually sort-of liked him because he could run the pick and role, but he didn’t last long and was obviously a plug rather than a solution.

All distant memories now.

by Jeff Clark on Feb 13, 2008 9:41 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think including Delonte West on that list is a bit harsh. The dude could play the point decently. In fact I only have fond memories of him playing for us. He worked hard, never complained, and always competed hard. I will go as far as saying, if we had been able to keep him, we would be hearing a lot less talk about needing a veteran point guard.

by afflatus on Feb 13, 2008 9:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

PG SG or whatever label you give is overrated in terms of actual position ….. the “point” of the matter is that the likes of Cousy, Tiny, or DJ ain’t walking thru that door anytime soon. I only hope we lock the door before old Sam Cassell walks through it next week.

Too many people worrried too much about “who’s going to guard Chauncy in the playoffs”. Blah…. I think that is a overblown worry. Chauncy is going to be Chauncy and get his points – period. If we are healthy as a team, Chauncy ain’t going to beat us. We will only beat ourselves. 40 wins before the all-star break and a potential MVP of the league on our team has missed the last 8 games and we have hardly missed a beat. argggggghhhhh….steady as she goes………..steady as she goes Captain

by Master Po on Feb 13, 2008 9:51 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

You won’t find many championship caliber teams without a top notch point guard. Rondo is improving by the game. He is going to make other teams miserable for quite a while. With his quicknees his range only needs to be about 15 feet. Probably the best rebounding point guard since DJ.

by Greg37 on Feb 13, 2008 9:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Why wasn’t Chauncey on the list? He was a shooting guard (in college) who converted to the point— but it happened long after the Celtics traded him away.

As for championship teams without a top notch point guard, you can start with MJ’s Bulls and the Kobe-Shag Lakers, both of which teams had guys who were essentially shooting guards starting at the point: B.J. Armstrong for the Bulls and Derek Fisher for the Lakers.

by Brickowski on Feb 13, 2008 10:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Chris Herren, Orien Greene …

by Eeyore III on Feb 13, 2008 10:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

That’s a nice article Jeff. Good Job!

One more thing to add about Rondo, and I didn’t noticed until last night’s game against the Pacers, is that Rondo has learned when to foul. When posted up by a much bigger MDaniels, and was about to get beaten for an easy layup, Rondo purposely foulded him at the right time….Rondo knew when to give the foul, without getting in foul trouble…wow. That kind of growing up will be priceless come playoff time, when he plays agains bigger guards or others try to exploit a Rondo matchup.

by cocofan on Feb 13, 2008 11:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Danny Ainge was unfairly criticized as having traded the Celtics future to acquire KG and RA, but what those people did not understand was that he was building the future around Rondo while at the same time going for a championship now. As Rondo improves, this Danny move will become increasingly self evident.

by The Village Idiot on Feb 13, 2008 11:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’ve never seen a point guard steal a rebound and put it back the way Rondo did to Dirk last week. I don’t know if he’ll be an all-star or not but he’s going to be more than adequate for the job.

On a side note, I thought Chris Herren had most of the tools but didn’t have the head to keep his life in order so that he could make good on his basketball abilities.

by BleedinGreen417 on Feb 13, 2008 11:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good article, Jeff. Rajon is actually starting to develop a good technique on his floater. His FT shooting is vastly improved, as of late. The bottom line is that he is playing great basketball right now.

by MikeDfromNP on Feb 13, 2008 12:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs