It's all about 18

What's done is done. Green and Kristic are Celtics now and Perkins, Robinson, Erden and Harongody are not. I think it is time for us to stop with the pessimism and to take a look at what we have and what we need the most. What we have is 4 hall of famers, 4 all-stars, a canditate for Coach of the year, a few injuries and three open spots on our roster. What we need is a little more complicated.

   Our starters are Rondo, Allen, Pierce and Garnett. It is not unreasonable to expect to get 24 min between the O'Neals to complement our starters. As it stands now our second unit is West, Vafer, Green, Davis and Kristic. Bradley is in his developing stages and should only be considered as a last option 3rd string point guard. If healthy our starters will win the championship playing around 30 min a game. Is our second unit capable of not blowing leads and buying our starters the remaining 18 min? As it stands they are not.

   The most glaring need in our second unit is rebounding. Also Baby is undersized for his position and will have some serious match up problems. Of all the names thrown around in buy-out situations Troy Murphy fills these critera best. Behind him Jared Jeffries is good for 4-5 rebounds in 20 mins. Our second biggest need is shooting guard who can stretch the defense with 3 point shot. While Vafer is a solid back up for Ray he is also the only one. If we lose Wafer Ray has no real back up. West is undersized and is our sole back up point guard. In a ideal situation, Rip Hamilton would fit this role perfectly. He can also play spot duty as a small forward if we are forced to go small. Probably there are ego, chemistry and money issues that would make this impossible. Rasual Butler would be the next option, since I think Anthony Parker is out of the question at this point.

   A lot of this is riding on JO/Shaq being able to give us 25-30 min. JO, Shaq and Kristic cannot play the likes of Howard, Noah and Bynum series after series. So our final spot must be reserved for a bruiser who can defend the post and take up good fouls. Unfortunately this is the most difficult role to fill. Ainge must place his hopes on JO who if even 85% healthy would be perfect with his size, experience and defense. Ideally of all the names tossed around Camby would fit this role perfectly, however Portland probably is not going to give away their only center. The second choice would have to be Joel Pryzbilla. If by some good fortune he is healthy and not retiring, he will be a popular guy. If we can get him and he his healthy we can consider ourselves extremely lucky. The field gets very slim after these guys with only one extremely risky and quite unpleasant option in Eddy Curry. Lots of personal issues and could cause havoc in the locker room. His shape is also questionable however he does have the capabilities to give us a physical presence. Also we would only need him for about 10 min a game barring injuries and foul trouble.

   I really like what Derrick Brown and Leon Powe bring to the table, unfortunately they do not provide us with what we need. A 3-4 hybrid does not adress our biggest needs of rebounding, length at the 4 spot and back up shooting guard. Rasheed Walalce might give us some post toughness we need however he would have to play mainly post on both offense and defense. However neither he nor the Celtics management seem to be interested in this. If we can address these needs, I have no doubt that we will bring home the championship and we will still have the best team in the NBA. It's all about 18.