Encouraging Signs

I stuck by Scal last year when the Master Po crowd was carving him up on a regular basis. I liked his dimension off the bench then and it has been decidedly better this year. But I think he’s much better off – lifetime for himself, next year for the Celtics – just shutting it down. There are very few true experts on head injuries and Scal would be better off erring on the side of caution.

These injuries are toying with my emotions. Everyone’s coming back? Through no fault of my own, I’ll believe it when I see it.

It’s really a shame that happened to him, Concussions are awful. I’ve had three in my life but not all clustered together the way he had them. Who was the putz who finally put him out? Was it Ariza?

injuries linger and that worries me. but we have depth and we will need it for the second season.

… Perk re-injured his shoulder … Rajon twisted his ankle … Paul strained his knee … Ray-ray didn’t get enough sleep / rest due to his son’s health scare. These injuries / incidents happened at critical times during the Playoffs.

This year, we’ve been bitten by the injury bug but luckily, it has been during the Regular season. I really believe that come this year’s Playoffs, we will be WHOLE and healthy without further incidents. <Knocking on wood! Tap! Tap! Tap!>

Especially KG obviously. But keep in mind, while many here are euphoric about the “depth” of this team, that is usually not the deciding factor in who ends up winning the Championship once the playoffs start. Being 10-12 deep is a huge advantage in being able to survive the grind of an 82 game season, we have already seen the fruits of this after acquiring Moore and Marbury, despite their perceived shortcomings. Imagine if the C’s still had Sam and POB in trying to weather KG, Powe, Scal, TA, and to a lesser extent BBD and Rondo being out? The C’s record during this stretch would certainly not nearly be as good.

But when playoffs start and rotations are shortened, having an abundance of capable players is not really a huge advantage. Sure, the C’s can now bring in guys in case of foul trouble or for certain matchups, but in general, what is really important is having a healthy ,high-quality 8 guys. The good news is that if KG can come back close to 100%, the Celtics will possess that. But people need to temper their expectations about how far a “deep” team can go in the playoffs since there are simply not enough minutes for House, Marbury, BBD, Powe, Moore, Allen, and maybe even Scal to all regularly contribute. Playing platoons generally does not work, playoff rotations need to be shortened to get everyone gelling, there will not be 5-man second units employed, which again, is a way in the regular season to get rest over the long haul for the starters. In order to get into a good rhythm, the top 7-8 need to play as much as possible.

The good thing is that it will give Doc a wide range of choices from whom to select those top 8, especially in case of further or lagging injuries. But I can already hear the complaints now as someone in that 9-12 range who is a quality player, is going to have greatly reduced minutes simply because of the need to have the top 7-8 playing almost all the time. Whomever Doc picks, some good players are going to be left out in the cold, and since they will be favorites of many on this site, much teeth gnashing will commence.

I think they will hold off on Scal maybe get him in practices along with Powe when he gets back. If there’s not enough time left in the season to get them ready they will have to wait the second round most likely. KG could come back and start because he already had some time on the court. He looked really good and could take less time then the two others. I have a feeling Marbury might not see much playoff time along with Moore. Unless somebody gets in foul trouble and their needed. It’s better to stick with House, Big Baby, and TA so we get a guard, wing, and PF/C. Walker won’t see any time along with Giddens so don’t expect to see them unless it’s a blowout. I think if Powe gets healthy enough he could fit in the rotation and have a 9 man rotation if needed. Only reason why Marbury might not play is because he’s lacking in experience. The C’s don’t need him out there if he hasn’t really made as much progress they would like out of him.