I Miss Brian Scalabrine

Hurry back Scal. Yes Scal has been very Posey like when he has played this year.

Couldn’t agree more Jeff. A lot of people make fun of scal and take his game for granted, but Scal does things that no other bench player can do for us. Get back soon scal!

a lot of the good we got from scal came when he played with the 1st string. i worry that with his concussion, he has been unable to practice or play and his timing and conditioning will be off when he’s ready to come back. how long will it take to get back to where he was and how will he fare with the second unit?

I’ll bet he’s missed more in practice than he is in games. He is missed in games, too. The second unit, particularly Powe, has looked lost defensively a lot of the time the last couple of weeks. Scal directs traffic defensively and is rarely out of position himself.

….lost on defense – that hasn’t been much of an issue with the bench – scoring has been more agregious an inconsistency as TA has come back and Doc has reverted to the 4/1 lineup…this is like “Posey at the 4” all over again…once we use 2 to 3 starters with mixed bench – as we did during much of Jan – the team will re-stabilize.

But Scal has finally been worth his contract this year – he’s not on the level of Posey, but he was playing more consistently than Davis or Powe and the three of them give the team a legit chance to have 3 bigs producing every night, (Perk and KG being a virtual given.)

Underrated in the past couple of weeks with the slid in defense is Perkins’ absence and his return to top-form. Perk was playing at a near-star level leading up to his injury – putting up double-double statistics over a sustained period of time for the first time in his career.

While people are lamenting the past few losses, we’ve lost sight of the things this team can control – not using such a stark bench/starter mix and getting Perkins back up to form are two elements of the game that will fix a lot of perceived problems.

Getting Scal back will be huge for having a bench big who can space the court – it gives Doc many more rotation combos to work with.

Personally, I believe the health of the team and the eventual insertion of Cassell will be enough to get this team another ring, but Ainge will make additions if possible to upgrade either position – PG being primary, C/F secondary.

Scal’s been a joke up until this season…now he’s an asset – good for him…

Let’s see what we have to show up to now and we will use Baby and Powe as comparisons.

Baby as a rookie played 69 regular season games so he is the barometer if Danny/Doc think the rookies have it now to contribute.

Powe as a rookie 63 games too, 2nd year 56 games.

——-
Celt roster with youngsters:

1) 1st round pick JR- Goose egg
2) 2nd round pick Walker- 7 games
3) OB- 26 games, ave 4 min. mostly junk time
4) Pruitt 30 games, 8 min. ave 2.5 pts less than 1 assist.

Vets:
Scal- 36 games- 3 pts, 1 reb in 12 min of action.
Sam the Alien- no UFO on court sightings.

Others:
Tony- similar minutes and #s, has not been great lock down D guy we hoped for.
Powe- #s are fairly close to last years.
Baby- #s are pretty close but shooting only 40% down 8% from last year. And no way to expect Baby and Powe to grow any taller.
Eddie-#s are slightly improved over last years.

—— This was part of the replace Posey by committee, dismal failure.

Celt moves- resign House- okay move
- resign Tony- okay move
- lost Posey after low ball offers
- did not respond positively when Mutombo called asking to join Celts
- has not been able to get PJ out of retirement
- waiting on Marbury to call his own shots before deciding if he wants to take his buyout and join us.

Youngsters not developed like Baby and Powe were, no veteran help for the bench besides Eddie. Celt management has been cutting corners it appears and unless Danny has a magic trick, we have to pray for somebody to fall into our lap, or we are pushing uphill big time trying to get #18.

I have been unhappy with Danny since the summer, nothing is changing my outlook. Celt brass are really letting the team and fans down, setting us up for legitimately coming up short this year in our quest to repeat. If we lost to the Cavs or Hawks last year in the playoffs it was on the players, losing this year, it is on management.

And would like to see Scal play for the Celtics beyond his current contract?

It’s amusing to remember what people were saying about Scal (and the team, and the need for the skill-set Scal brings to the table) by the start of the season. I wish I had the time to recover those posts and comments, it’d be a great case study about the insight of most fans.

Anyway, now this is getting excessive. Doc must find a way of getting Scal out of the rotation ASAP – and I say this with the same kind of certainty I had a couple of months ago when I said that Doc should work him into the rotation because the team was in need of what he offers and the general consensus was that he should be cut. It’s too risky to rely on Scalabrine to play an important role when it matters.

As long as Scal and the bench stick to their roles, they’re fine. When they step out of those roles, is when they struggle.

To his credit, Scal admitted as much. TAllen & Baby should take note.

Any bench player, as long as they’re playing to their strengths and filling a role that a team needs, can be a valuable contributor.

1. Regardless of his “intangibles” his tangibles stink. 6.81 PER is awful.
2. The selection bias is real bad hear, Scal was only playing 14 MPG during blowouts early in the season.
3. We’ve also played the two of the three best teams without Scal.

All that said my primary complaint with Scal, was actually with Danny – Scal still doesn’t justify his contract, and he knows it: its why he says he’ll be begging for a job after the season.

As for his contribution, its a discredit to Doc, if Scal being out actually loses us games.

If we cant win big games because of not having scal, thats pathetic, and quite frankly not true at all, scal is still a bum, but for the simple fact he can sit at the 3 point line it helps the team spread the floor

Seeing BBD out there shooting jumpers in overtime… I mean, I’m confident BBD will keep developing into a legitimate player and start MAKING those jumpers consistently, but I was really wishing we had Scal to put in there instead. For all his flaws, he’s playing better, playing smarter, playing within himself. I think we’re really been missing him; Powe’s been taking a step back most of the year, and BBD is still too hit-or-miss. I’d love to get either Joe Smith or welcome back PJ, but in the meantime, we’re missing Scal.