Topic Du Jour: Big Baby

He sounds like AlJeff did after his first season: claiming to better understand the work ethic required and to be putting in the offseason time—but still not really getting it. Of course, Al was a high school kid, not a college grad—and he really got it after his second year.

Big Baby has good hands and a nose for the hoop. If he’s humble and works hard, he can be a player.

I think there’s a ceiling for Big Baby. He can only get so much leaner without losing the bulk that makes him so formidable. But I think he could strengthen into a great 7th or 8th man in the rotation filling in for as many as three positions — more like 3 and 4 once he gets slimmer. Nice garage-sale find by Ainge.

I’d like to see him moved while he still has value. I think he stands a good chance of eating his way out of the league.

Nah. I’d like to keep Baby. I think he could really be a good player, especially if he works hard. He is too skilled, imo, not to be good if he works hard and manages his weight.

I like the kid a lot but long term he will suffer from being a tweener. without any hops around the basket he has to rely on his ball skills , bulk and angles to get his shot off. granted wes unsed made a HOF living as an undersized center but I’m not convinced BABY will have that type of career. If the right deal came along Danny would have to consider trading the babester.

Barring injuries, I just don’t believe Big Baby will see much playing time behind KG and Powe. I think he has good skills though.

Davis has limited upside as a heavy set player and I think 8th man is about as high ceiling as he has there and I’m dubious that he achieves that here in Boston.

If he slims down, I mean really slims down to the 240 range, he has serious upside. He should be looking at David West and the road West took, Davis could find a similar path to becoming a good starter. Udonis Haslem is another guy he should be watching but I think Davis has a better feel for the game and is more skillful than Haslem, West is the better example for him to follow. Get in shape and work on that jump shot.

Absolutely no comparison in BBD’s work ethic and Powe’s. That is completely disrespecting Leon’s efforts and what he went through in his life to get to this point. If BBD had HALF of the work ethic that Powe does then he’d be really solid and have a very nice long NBA career. Keep in mind the best indicator of future performance is past performance. If we could get something good for him then it is better to let someone else take the chances! We have a championship to win again and Powe is much more trustworthy backing up KG than BBD.

Yes, Leon really has earned our respect.

I am not ready to put a limit on BBDs upside. In his rookie year he played some very impressive games (remember Detroit). Let’s wait and see how high he can climb.

Between Powe and Big Baby, Leon won out fair and square. Both showed very good tenacity and very good hands. Both are good TEAM guys. BBD has great athleticism and with better conditioning his upside can be an NBA starter. I’m not sure that the blog world’s favorite word “wingspan” is better than “big arse” when it comes to rebounding and blocking out. And quick, sure hands and lateral movement – usually found in aggressive athletes – beats wingspan too.
No true Celtics fan wants to pick one of these guys over the other. They are both Celtics, hopefully for a long time

michael32951- BBD had 4 games in double digits last year and 2 of them were against the atrocious Knicks. One was against Sacramento who really weren’t that good either. Powe had 19 of them and really didn’t get any PT until Jan. As BBD’s weight surged, his PT was given to Powe. If you look at Powe’s numbers compared to BBD you really have to think that he is the backup PF of the future for us and not BBD. We really don’t need 2 of them as they play the same role. My only concern is that Powe has shown he can be a starting PF though on a team without a KG in front of them, and may not be content with backup minutes/salary. I guarantee there are a lot of teams out there asking Danny about getting him. Certainly many more than are asking about BBD.

wildblue – I agree with all your comments about Powe and BBD, but strongly disagree with the quote “No true Celtics fan wants to pick one guy over the other.” That is nonsense. I think BBD is a nice guy, but I want to win a championship. The tow play the exact same position, and unfortunately we have some holes still to fill. If we can unload BBD to a team and fill those holes then we should 100 percent for sure do it. I wish we were so deep at each position that we could go 3 deep, but you can’t have a guy you claim is close to being an NBA starter sitting as 3rd PF on the depth chart. That does him no favors, or us either. Wanting to better the team has absolutely everything to do with being a true Celtic fan, not the other way around.