BSG On Rondo & Cassell

last night, rondo played a quietly effective game. my only concern about him is his free throw shooting. underneath the old fogeys we have accumulated is this rising star. my hope is that danny over the next 2 years will be able to acquire some other young studs to go with him.perk,alas, is a noble steed, but somehow seems not to be able to rise to the heights we will need to build a long term nba powerhouse, though he is a serviceable weapon.

The real question is whether or not House and/or Tony Allen would be a better option than Cassell on those nights when Rondo is struggling. Those are the two guys whose minutes Cassell will take.

Defensively it’s no contest. TA is an excellent defender and House is above average. Cassell, meanwhile, is way below average at this stage of his career.

Offensively it’s a tossup IMHO. I like Cassell’s veteran saavy and clutch free throw shooting. But I also like House’s ability to stick the trey and Tony’s ability to slash to the basket. And both House and TA are pretty good free throw shooters too.

Cassell will be ok only if he keeps his mouth shut and accepts a subordinate role. I would view him as backcourt insurance in case Rondo, TA or House gets hurt, since I would not be comfortable with Gabe Pruitt playing significant minutes in a playoff series (although Pruitt might pleasantly surprise a few people if he did).

Cassell’s greatest contribution as a Celtic would be against the Pistons in the playoff, and any other team that would full court press us when Rondo’s out. PJ Brown gives us the ability to match up size wise with some of the teams we may face. Also, hopefully, these two allow less minutes for the Big Three in our remaining regular season games. Danny is gearing up for the playoff run.

Right to the point

Cassell will be a Celtic, and he will add another dimension to this team as will P.J. Brown. Lets not forget that getting to the playoffs is one thing… peforming is another…

This is where both P.J. and Sam will bring proven veteran leadership.

It’s easy for players to coast during the season. Many do to save their bodies come playoff time. That’s when you see the Tony Parkers, Jason Kidds of the world raise their game to another level. This has nothing to do with how good Rondo is playing now

But the playoffs are another “Beast” and you can’t afford to make mistakes as you can during the regular season…..

You go with your best 8-9 players and that’s it.

Sam will bring a presence to this team, I’m sure about it. Forget about if he fits in.

This isn’t the good ship lolly pop.. everything being nicey nice…. You need arrogance adn a player who wants to go out everynight and contribute…… I don’t want to see someone like Jason Kidd picking Rondo apart come playoffs… or Rondo worried about who do I pass it to….
Rondo will do fine…. but bringing in Sam will also be an added benefit to Garnett and also for Garnetts “"PYCH”

Again this game is a game of cocky and confidence come playoffs along with talent. You always want to put yourself in a better position no matter what……

House and TA are not PG, plain and simple. That is a huge weakness and something good teams would exploit over a seven game series. And trying to compare Cassell to TA and House as players is one thing, but comparing them as PG’s is a complete joke. We need another PG and House and TA aren’t it. If we bring in Cassell, House should sit. That’s wouldn’t even be an issue. As Simmons said, the ONLY question of whether to bring in Cassell is the potential effect it would have on Rondo. But I look at it this way. If Rondo can’t handle a little competition for minutes from within, then he wouldn’t have been able to handle the playoff pressure anyway. THIS IS A NO BRAINER.

In a universe where the officials weren’t biased in favor of veterans and against rookies, I’d rather have Gabe Pruitt guarding Chauncey Billups in the 4th quarter of a close playoff game than Sam Cassell.

Can someone please work with Rondo on foul shooting?? PLEASE!!! If we’re in a close game, it’s gonna turn into a Hack-A-Rondo. Tommy even pointed that out last night when Damon Jones was in and avoided fouling Rondo for no good reason. His point being that Jones was in for spot minutes, he didn’t need to worry about fouls and Rondo can’t shoot ‘em. He’d better improve at least some before playoffs.

Sam Cassell is not walking through that door folks. You have to thank Donald K. Sterling for that.

Wow Brick – I think I agree with everything you said above.

One point though. In reading your bigger post comparing Sam to House/TA combo, you are stating that hands down House and TA are better at D, which is a no-brainer. Then it appears you are stating that the combo of the two is just as good offensively as Sam. Shouldn’t this be an emphatic NO WAY SIGN SAM?!

All we would get is an old version of the two of them that can’t play defense. If he scores a basket but poor D gives 2 back then we don’t win.

I don’t mind if the Celtics sign Cassell as insurance. I just hope he doesn’t have to play very much.

I’ll live with Tony Allen’s occasional turnover and/or wild foray into the paint, so long as I get the benefits of his suffocating defense on anyone 6-6 or under.

I also think that signing him wouldn’t kill us, but he isn’t an upgrade, so why? Why take minutes from 2 players who are just as good and still have upside for years to come for a guy who has only downside remaining?

As far as TA, if his turnovers and wild drives were ’’occasional’’ then you would be correct. They are more common than not, therefore he usually hurts us more than he helps us. If someone could get into his head he needs to focus on D and then only take a jumper when open, or drive to the basket with his head up then I could agree. The problem is that he isn’t bright and his lack of basketball IQ (and I wonder about IQ in general from his off court issue) prevent him from ever doing that. He still thinks he is an all-star in the making and it just won’t happen.

greenlove- Why go after a player who has to be ‘’kept in line’’ and doesn’t give you a dramatic, if any, upgrade to the team?!

Conversation between Wiley Vet Sam and Rondo…

‘’You see Rondo, when you get beat down the lane time and time again by a young player, the key is to bash him hard upside the head and stare at the ref if you don’t get the veteran call you wanted. It doesn’t matter that it was a phantom foul and are just embarrased you have lost it. It doesn’t matter if you get T’d up and a flagrant ejection. What matters is that YOU showed that Ref who is boss.’’

Anyone who feels Cassell isn’t a major upgrade over House in the playoffs has officially lost their mind. House struggles getting the ball over halfcourt against regular season pressure (i’m not even talking about actually getting the ball to our scorers in their comfort zone) much less playoff defensive intensity. Tony Allen’s minutes would not be affected at all as House cannot play the 2 as he cannot defend his position…..eight teams over the past eight seasons agree.

Yeah, that’s what I want to see. Sam replacing Ray Allen in the lineup. Come on mcpu40! That’s absolutely insane! Let’s say we are playing the Pistons. How are you going to match up with Billups and Hamilton with Rondo and Sam out there?! We’d get torched!

HRB- I guess I have officially lost my mind, because sticking a guy in there who can’t defend ME on the dribble is absolutely stupid. House is a pesky defender at least. We don’t have scoring problems on the second unit. TA or Ray/PP (whoever is in at the time) can help House out just fine. He is at best a wash on the offensive side and a huge downgrade on defense. How can that be an upgrade?!

If you can’t see the difference in our team when House gets minutes and is able to give us a scoring jump then I think it might be YOU that has gone insane. He is a big part of the reason we have 44 wins under our belt. If Sam could take TA’s minutes I would be fine with it. He is the one who shouldn’t see the court 4 out of 5 nights he is in there.

On a different note, BBD made some nice offensive plays while he was in there, but he really needs to stop committing ’’Perk’’ fouls at the top on the picks! Also get that stupid look off of his face when he knocjs the guy half to the floor like he doesn’t understand why he got the call.