The Sam Cassell Rumor

I haven't been lighting the blogging community on fire lately with my activity on Green Bandwagon. So it would be reasonable to expect that I'm just dropping the ball on the latest Sam Cassell rumor. But that's not the case. Rather, I've been stunned for several days now.

"This is my last year playing with the Celtics. Next week, I'll sign the contract. - Sam Cassell"

And it's not just Cassell who's talking:

"Sam made a comment that he would like to coach someday, and I already knew that," Ainge said. "But we are working on a deal to bring Sam back as a player. There is nothing done yet, but we could get it done soon." - Danny Ainge.

Really? Seriously I'm stunned. Let's not forget that I wrote the following about Cassell back in June:

"Sam Cassell will consider signing with Denver when he becomes a free agent. That begs the question. Are the Nuggets interested? If so, do they have cable?"

Ultimately it's not his age (40 in 2009), declining game, or massive ego that scare me. Although Cassell's performance in the 2008 playoffs was difficult to accept. More importantly I spent a fair amount of time worrying about Eddie House's weaknesses - ball handling and defense last season. Unfortunately Cassell doesn't solve any of those problems. And he doesn't have House's energy or 3-point shooting ability. Meanwhile, as expected Ainge was vague at best in his comments:

"We always bring four point guards to training camp. We love where Gabe [Pruitt] is and we also have Eddie House. Rajon [Rondo] is our starter and they are fighting for the backup spot." - Danny Ainge

Closing Thoughts:

1. I've never bought Ainge's "Tony Allen is a point guard" argument. And the fact that his name was not included with the point guards as camp approaches only strengthens my skepticism.

2. Can we all agree that Eddie House deserves minutes?

3. Where does this leave Gabe Pruitt? Outside of the obvious knee questions (Bill Walker and Darius Miles) heading into training camp, Pruitt is my biggest question mark. And Patrick O'Bryant was signed. So that says something.

4. Ultimately, much like Darius Miles, there is not a lot to lose from brining Cassell into camp. Just another reason to stay tuned.