Don’t Call It A Comeback
by Jeff Clark on Jun 25, 2008 5:00 AM EDT
in Boston Celtics Articles
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It seems like Banner 17 happened in a blur. One minute we were picking our hearts up off the floor after the draft lottery and the next we were jumping on tables with Paul Pierce. Part of what has our heads spinning is the total roster turnover from a year ago. For the most part we've been rooting for Paul Pierce and laundry (the green and white jerseys).
There are players that we rooted for and enjoyed watching a year ago that had to leave to make all this happen. Those players are gone but not forgotten. Many of us still pull for guys like Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, and Delonte West. In fact, there's been an understandable sentiment to bring some of those guys back. Wouldn't Gomes look great coming off the bench? Wouldn't Delonte be a viable backup to Rondo? Someone is going to take one last flyer on Gerald Green, why not us?
Forget it folks. I know that Antoine Walker's second stint in green taught us that anything is possible, but I don't see these guys coming back. Not for any one reason, but each player seems to have moved on and will likely stay gone. Let us look at them one by one.
Ryan Gomes
He's the most realistic option simply because he's a free agent. However, he's still a restricted free agent, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't give the Celtics a hometown discount. The TWolves can and will match any reasonable offer he gets. They need more guys like him, not fewer. McHale seems to agree. He's got a list of restricted free agents and at the top of the list of players he wants back is Ryan Gomes. The only other option might be a sign and trade, but honestly, what other available players do we have on our roster that the TWolves would really want? It was sad to see him go in the package to get Garnett, but a return seems unlikely at best.
Delonte West
Similar to Gomes, West is a restricted free agent. The Cavs gave him a qualifying offer and can match any offer he gets. He established a solid role in Cleveland and even has a chance to start. The Cavs seem interested in re-signing him and he seems interested in getting that long term security locked up. Again, I don't know of many sign-and-trade deals we could work out to pry him away. He's hilarious, he always gave his full effort, he sometimes couldn't stay on the floor, but I always enjoyed watching him play. I'll just have to live with watching him play for someone else.
Gerald Green
Let's review. McHale reportedly didn't want Green in the deal but settled for him (and Gomes?) when it became apparent that Danny wasn't about to give up Rajon Rondo. In less than a year, Green was ecstatic to be traded to his hometown of Houston because he couldn't break the rotation on a 60 loss TWolves team. A few months later the Rockets released Green so they could sign someone named Mike Harris to a 10 day contract. Does that sound like someone that could make an impact on an NBA Championship club? It was fun watching him win the dunk contest. It was great debating his merits and trying to convince myself that he wasn't Kedrick Brown 2.0. He'll be someone's pet project this summer, but it won't be in Boston. We all just need to move on.
Antoine Walker
Third time's a charm? Sorry, no. I'm as big a fan of Walker as there is. I still have the number 8 jersey in my closet. It was a fun couple of go-arounds with him. But I just don't see how he could contribute on this team any more than Scalabrine does. He looked old when he was still young, now he's just ancient. He got his ring in Miami but now he can't taunt Paul about it anymore. He's in the last year of his deal (there's two options that no team in their right mind would pick up) so he's either going to be a nice trade chip or he'll be bought out. I'm not sure where he'll end up, but I really doubt it will be in Boston.
Al Jefferson
This one should be painfully obvious. He's a cornerstone piece in Minnesota.
Theo Ratliff, Wally Szczerbiak, Sebastian Telfair
No, no, and no.
I think you get the picture. Boston is in a prime position to pick and chose from the best free agents on the market. However, they don't have much leverage to get into bidding wars on good, young talent.
Ryan Gomes, Delonte West, and Gerald Green are not walking through that door. And that's ok with me because Eric Montross, Todd Day, and JR Bremmer are not walking through it either.
P.S. I have to give another Thank You out to all these guys for being good enough (at some point) to be included in on the trades that landed us two future Hall of Famers. For that, we'll always be grateful.
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Before thinking of bringing former players back, our first order of business is to ensure James Posey’s future with this team. As much as I like Al Jeff, his return is unrealistic, and Ryan Gomes can’t replace Posey. I’d also like to see Eddie House re-signed. As much as we comment on what he can’t do, not enough is said of what he can do. He has also improved his dribbling and defensive skills and can improve more. If he has trouble bring the ball up there are other ways to do it. It will be pretty hard to find someone better to fill his shoes for this team.
whatever happens, this team needs a little tinkering around the edges. i think we lose posey and that’s the big gap. i hope we keep house. sam,pj, pollard will probably go but if for a weird reason,pj stays, that would be very good.our ex-guys won’t be walking through that door, but i rely on danny and the league now knows boston is the place to play.
Losing Posey would be an absolute disaster, and I side with TrueGreen: Gomes is no replacement for him.
In reality, only West’s game has developed far enough to even warrant this discussion. Al isn’t going to happen, and even if it would, he can’t defend well enough to help this club.
The rest are just pieces from a failed team.
Jeff, remember how no one really wanted Chauncy Billups early on. All of them were wrong. I think Gerald Green would be a Dollar General store pick up this summer and if he flat out doesn’t break with the team coming out of training camp after a month with the likes of Ray, KG, Posey (I’m assuming)then you’ve gambled short money. C’mon there were some unbelievable flashes from the kid. In Danny we trust so he knows the gamble better than I do but I wouldn’t be surprised since he is such a value finder if that doesn’t happen.
I don’t want any of those guys back. This team is built on defense and the only one of the bunch that plays any at all is Delonte and I don’t want him back because we’ll have the same problems handling ball pressure that we have with Eddie and because of Eddie’s quick release and ability to come in the game cold and knock them down at a second’s notice is why I’d rather have him than Delonte. Also doesn’t hurt that Eddie already has great chemistry with the team.
I really don’t mind Walker. They guy proved to be a good Citizen in Minnesota. He likes Boston. As long as he does not bitch riding the bench, I think he can be a serviceable vet. Then again, there is a big part of me that appreciates what he tried to do with the Celtics and if we can make another run at a title, I would not mind seeing him in a Celtic uniform. I am sure it will mean more to him that the ring with Miami, even if he won’t contribute as much.
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