Vanishing Bench

In addition to resigning House for his three point shooting, the Celts should target the following players for good defense, rebounding and low turnovers: Devean George, Quintin Ross, Kelenna Azubuike and Kurt Thomas. George and Thomas of course have playoff experience.

2 Undersized Forwards, a 2nd year pg who has no experience, Scalabrine, and O’Blount i mean Bryant. Of course we have our rookies in Giddens and Walker with one of them just coming off surgery.

Darius Miles, and Marbury are the most “rumored” possibilities as add-ons….And then there’s Birdman, who like Darius hasn’t played a full season in 2 years.

There is no one named above who could carry the scoring load if one of the Big 3 gets injured during the season. Not only that, but i don’t see one player known for defense on this list as well.

Why do i feel like Ricky Davis could be given his last chance to do something with his career at the expense of being our 6th man??? Panic

Why dont we give Toine his last chance to retire as a Celtic. (Had to say it, I rather read it from myself than from anybody else).

There was nobody to carry the scoring load last season either if one of the big 3 was injured. Posey wasn’t that guy (although he was terrific in a different role). It was amazing how well the bench stepped up its scoring and defense when Garnett missed all those games with his injury around mid-season. I predict more of the same. Younger and less expensive role players might actually be revelations just as Posey, BBD and even Tony Allen were on different nights (though not too consistently). The rookies, O’Bryant and Pruitt at least have the potential to improve significantly as next season progresses. Posey, BBD, Rondo and Perkins should all also improve. Veteran role players might be less necessary now that the Big 3 have their first championship. Also, unlike before the summer of 2007, rookies and young suspects won’t be required to carry the team as much as they needed to before the arrival of Garnett and Ray Allen. With the Big 3 each more prone to injury as the remaining years of their short window of opportunity finish, younger and healthier fill ins will be more important than veteran role players (with so many youngsters on the team already having won a championship). The rookies may yet get their chance to beter develop at the end of the bench and in the D-League if their paths aren’t blocked by overpriced (even if talented) role players.

This is completely misleading. You can have Cassell, Pollard, Tony Allen and even House at will right now. Is that really the problem here? What if we signed all of them tomorrow and gave up looking for better options? Will this solve the alleged problem with our bench?

The only thing that has happened to the championship bench is that Posey signed elsewhere. It’s not the end of the world, I am telling you.

I dont know, call me crazy, but I think the bench gelled really, really well this past season, and I dont see it as simply a series of interchangeable parts. I think Danny’s hubris here is going to catch up with him. I think he nailed it last summer, and now he thinks he can just do it again and again with different players each time. I dont think it will work that way. And for the record, Bob Ryan wrote an article right after Posey was signed, and in that article he stated that said signing made him a believer that the Celtics could perhaps compete for a championship.

Well said Old Hondo. A big part of what Posey brought was championship experience that none of the Big 3 had ever tasted. In a recent article, one lament about Posey’s departure was that he had the ear of KG, that KG would listen to him, and that not too many other players could you say that about. A big reason for that was because KG knew Posey had been to the mountaintop and he hadn’t, so he offered something nobody else could.

Remember after Game 4 in LA going up 3-1, Pierce mentioned Posey cautioning against any celebration, that the clinching game was going to be even harder? Well now the Big 3 don’t have to imagine any more what sort of effort it will take to seal the deal, they have already done that, reducing the need for our bench to be championship experienced players. We now have a whole starting five that can make that claim, as well as some young bench players. We will definitely miss Posey’s toughness, defense, and ability to knock down the big shot, but not as much the intangibles he brought now that #17 has been secured.

Rollplayers will be lining up to join the Celtics for a year so they too can get a big contract next year. The Posey signing is good for us. Come play your butt off for the Celtics for one year and get 25 million dollars.

Lets just go young.

liam: exactly right.

With Posey gone, there is a clear and present danger: that we’re going to see Scal on the floor instead of on the bench in a tie and a suit.

This debate has compelled me to add my first post on this board:

I can’t stop thinking Matt Barnes, based mostly on what he provided the Warriors during their Dallas upset, is exactly what this team needs now that Posey’s moved on: toughness and heart, outside shooting, great hustle and D, plus some big playoff experience. And as liam mentioned, he’s a prime example of a guy who is still hoping to land that big contract and would certainly put his all into a one year deal with the Celtics to earn more next offseason.

liam: I’d be tempted to buy that argument if it wasnt for the fact that Posey also won one with Miami. On the other hand, he didnt really seem to have a banner year after that championship.

Combine Tony Allen and Ryan Gomes and you have the best possible answer, because of the range of players Posey could defend. It would turn the Posey minus into a net plus I believe. The fans would love Gomes returning to the Celtics. A healthy Tony Allen and Gomes would address current needs because they have enough experience, as well as longer term plans because they are both just entering their physical primes.

Allen was a team player operating at less the full health in 2007-2008, but there were signs that he was getting his hop back at the end of the season, as you would have expected. Gomes is a good character guy, who would benefit from the Celtic veteran leadership and defensive coaching. On this Celtic team Gomes offers a lot now and has very high potential. The only question is whether the Celtics can get him away from Minnesota (another break we may not get from McHale).

Murphman: The point is that Posey got the big contract after playing for the Celtics. Miami could have signed loads of free agents after they won the championship, but they got cheap let’s hope the Celtics don’t do the same.

Teams win championships, and there are always non-superstar defecters who go and cash in. Orlando Cabrera, Daniel Graham, Damien Woody, etc.. Now you fill the hole with the guys who want the ring.

Anybody who thinks TA is garbage has been drinking too much of the SG Kool-Aid. Sure, he plays out of control sometimes but, at one point, he was our best perimeter defender and can consistently get to the hole. When he learns to pass out of jams, he’ll be a major contributor on the 2nd team.

Listen, not signing Posey was a look to the future. Sure, this hurts us short-term, and his stats aren’t going to be what is missed. But every so-called expert close to a computer or TV camera said that we had the worst 6-12 in the league preseason last year and we ended up being A-OK. Relax – we didn’t get PJ (HUGE playoff contributor) till late in the season next year. Danny panicking and hastily signing someone to fill the void only hurts us. Patience brought #17 and there is no reason it can’t bring #18 in much the same way.

edit: “till late in the season LAST year”

Believe me, I loved watching Posey and I think he hit some truely clutch shots, but one of the biggest things that he brought to our team was the championship experience and now that we won it, we have a whole team that has been to the top and knows what it takes to win.

We will find people to go with our big 3 of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The core is still there… even Rondo and Perkins will keep improving. No need to jump off a cliff b/c we didn’t sign posey to a contract that will last until he’s ready to retire as a stiff. The big 3 can only be declining from here on out, so the exception should be used on a young guy that will be improving as time goes on and maybe even extend the careers of the big 3….much like Len Bias was supposed to do for the former big 3.

The main reason Miami got worse after they won the chip is because Shaq was already significantly declining in productivity. We don’t have that problem yet with the big 3.

You want panic? How about some of these suggestions?

Starbury
Toine
Ricky Davis
Darius Miles

Last year we didn’t have a bench after July 31 (I believe that’s the day the KG deal was official). We now don’t have a bench and it’s only July 17. Our core unit is better today than it was one year ago and these people can influence anyone who comes to play here to play the right way and understand the meaning of Ubunto. I think we’ll be just fine when training camp starts.

easy DJ. If we got any of those guys it would be to short-term contracts just like posey and house were.

well put truegreen

I’m with DJ to Bird, and the impending Bob Ryan panic column: Until we find someone who’s on the same level as Posey — and I am dubious about that happening beyond a Josh Childress — I think we simply, logically field a lesser team next year. And the Lakers improve.
And please, seriously, let’s not pretend Tony Allen might be the answer next season. Even I’ve given up on that one. That is, to paraphrase, a pre-KG mentality. Let’s get proven winners, folks.

Corey Maggette?

Losing Posey was bad, but considering the amount he signed w/ NO ($25 mil/4 yrs) I guess Ainge did the right thing of letting him move on. He asked for too much money and Ainge was right to refuse him that type of contract, IMO.

As for our thinning bench, it’s too early in the day to panic about this. If I recall correctly, it was around August when we signed Posey and House to the team last year. Relax guys. Ainge isn’t done with his moves so let’s not jump on him yet. There’s still a lot of good FA’s out there, both restricted and unrestricted. It would be nice if we could steal at least one restricted FA in the field like Childress though the chances of that happening are pretty slim. I’m hoping though that Ainge would come up with something soon enough to keep our thoughts away from our most recent loss. Hint: sign Eddie House to a new deal ;)