Thrilled By the Prospect Of More Brown

I’m not that high on the prospects of Brown returning. He really didn’t do much to help us win. What he did do that enabled us to win was that he didn’t hurt us. He’s a good insurance to have when you have nothing else going for you, but he shouldn’t be a priority. While his defensive rotations were fairly good, his feet were quite slow many times. He couldn’t guard guys like Rasheed or other big men that had a bit of a jumper. His offense leaves a lot to be desired from.

I’ll say this, he should be good to have but very low in the rotation; like a 12th man for example. He should only play the role he played last season in our championship run if our big guys are severely lacking and not playing up to their skills, then he should see significant time on the court. Which is pretty much what he did last season. Powe and Baby underperformed by a great margin when needed, and in came the great insurance PJ Brown with his experience overcoming any shortcomings he had physically because of old age.

Steve, well done as usual and a very compelling – and accurate – recitation of the value of a player who was integral to the championship run.

We’re going to need a veteran who plays hard and smart coming off the bench at the 5 to win another title, and right now we have none of those three qualities behind Perk. We’ll need 15 minutes a night from PJ to repeat, and he’ll be in shape to do it with a half-season pounding that high school track.

As always, you’re right on the mark. Keeping PJ on speed dial ranks right now as Ainge’s best move of the summer.

well said, steve. pj is perfect for the c’s— the right kind of ego, the right kind of skills, the right position. if he returns, it has to be the c’s at the end of the year. steve, what is this i vaguely heard about monte ellis being hurt?

This is my first post; my computer finally allowed me to register today! I disagree that PJ didn’t do anything to help us win, in fact I think he was huge for us. The stats don’t show his true impact, he did so many little things and didn’t make mistakes. I would love him to join at midseason like last season. I know it won’t happen but I would love for him to be around for the whole season this year, just for his influence on the young guys. This year we have added potential slackers/knuckleheads Miles, O’Bryant, and who knows about Giddens. I just think PJ’s influence could aid team chemistry as a whole, especially without Posey to help the big 3 along these lines.

I think Budweiser, Bo, and moiso all have said important parts of this whole situation….no, PJ Brown wasn’t spectacular-as Budweiser said. However, he was reliable-as Bo said. That reliability also travels beyond the court and into the locker room, as PJ is a noted locker room presence throughout his NBA career.

I completely disagree that we will NEED PJ come seasons end, I think we MAY need him, but we all know where everyone stands there. I just think that its extremely telling that PJ is “on reserve” for this team right now, showing why Ainge elected to go with “project POB” to start the year.

While PJ’s influence in the locker room would be nice, the team already has a good group of locker room guys, so they can afford to wait on Brown. Ideally, Brown WON’T be needed by season’s end. Regardless of his consistency, he is not a highly productive player anymore, just a reliable one. He was asked to man and team defend, which is a fairly rudimentary job. He knows how to use his fouls and he knows when to take his shots—there is something to be said for that….but let’s hope the “unproven” talent of O’Bryant can come through and give us more than a place-holder performance.

I’ve always respected PJ Brown, but i’d like our backup to excel, not just maintain….

It was encouraging news to hear PJ hadn’t ruled out returning to the C’s. The team still needs another long physical big man to round out the big men rotation.

Without PJ the Celts wouldn’t have won game 7 against the Cavs. He was huge while KG appeared to be in hiding in the 4th.

As is typical of these things, the myth/legend, is outpacing the reality of what PJ brought. I’ll be the first to admit he played an important role last year, but much of his playing time was born out of desperation with no better options. In fact, besides the important plays we all remember, I would say that this is a bit of an understatement, “On the occasions that he saw that the defense was going to get beat, Brown wasn’t shy about giving a hard foul either and forcing scorers to make their foul shots rather than take free lay-ups off the Celtics’ defense.”

This is true, but it wasn’t the occasional time “the defense” got beat this happened, this was a regular occurrence when the C’s left PJ in single coverage against his man. He simply could not cover any big one on one and thus, took a foul on whomever the guy was when he made his first move. I highly doubt another year older, with all the time off which may help legs, but contributes to rust, PJ is going to be very effective. We needed him to get over the hump last year, I am not sure at all with PJ’s continuing decline plus the return of 11 Championship-experienced players, that the need is as great this year. PJ will always be revered as part of the group that brought us 17, but I think that is where it ends for him as a Celtic.

PJ Brown did very little during the regular season last year, as he worked himself into playing shape. By the playoffs, he was ready to contribute and he came through as a stabilizer for the team, especially when the team had foul or injury problems — a big plus. And he was a smart/efficient offensive contributor in some crunch-time situations, who knew how to play within himself.

With Posey gone he may be even more valuable, again as a stabilizing veteran and able to fit in more quickly with last season’s experience. Please note, that while there’s some intriguing potential among the supporting players, there are no sure things and unknowns like injuries. This team is still a little thin on veterans off the bench.

If he comes back in February as he did last year, there’ll be plenty of time, evaluate and assimilate free agents and bring along young returning players like Powe and Davis. As noted, Brown reduces his wear and tear and lessens his chances to get injured. And another big at that time of year is almost always valuable (possibly again at Scal’s expense). A win, win setup if they can work it out with Brown.