Keyon Dooling's Comeback Cut Short for C's

by TLayman on Jan 27, 2012 10:46 AM EST in Boston Celtics News & Links

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Just when the Celtics looked to be getting a little veteran depth at the guard position, Keyon Dooling went out with an injury in last night's 91-83 victory over the Magic.

Gary Washburn, of the Boston Globe, had a note about the latest setback for Dooling.

Meanwhile, Keyon Dooling’s return was short-lived as he left in the second quarter with a right hip pointer. He stepped on Jason Richardson’s foot and hobbled to the locker room. Dooling tried to come out for the second half but was told by trainer Ed Lacerte to go back to the locker room. He is uncertain for tonight’s game against the Pacers.

Dooling was already MIA from the Celtics rotation with a knee injury.

The 12-year veteran was averaging 6.6 points in 10 games for the Celtics this season. He has showed flashes as an outside threat opposite Ray Allen, especially in the early Miami game, and has shot the deep ball at a 40.7 percent when healthy.

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Get well soon

Hope for a recovery. Like his energy and contribution this year. Moore and Bradley get pt upped I suppose. Not a bad thing though

by cltc5 on Jan 27, 2012 10:52 AM EST via mobile reply actions

How do you get a hip pointer by stepping on someone’s ankle? I thought this type of injury was from a direct hit to the hip area.

by kozlodoev on Jan 27, 2012 11:01 AM EST reply actions

likely occurred when he hit the floor after this

- JoeB

by joeb on Jan 27, 2012 11:09 AM EST up reply actions

i thought we didn't get back Delonte coz he's injury prone

by Karasu on Jan 27, 2012 11:23 AM EST reply actions

My thoughts exactly.

This seems to happen every year. Normally pretty durable guys fall to freak injuries. Moore is looking like a revelation here though so we should be able to deal with this one better.

by C'sFan on Jan 27, 2012 11:35 AM EST via Android app up reply actions

This just goes to prove.

You can’t predict injuries, that’s why you don’t give up a guy with intangibles like Delonte just because he had an unlucky year injury wise.

Danny screwed that one up, I’m sorry.

by C'sFan on Jan 27, 2012 11:38 AM EST via Android app up reply actions

Disagree.

He still made a sensible decision based on past history and the data at the time.

It is not fair to say someone ‘screwed up’ a decision based on an outcome beyond their control.

And for all you know Dooling could be back and fine the rest of the way and Delonte’ could break his arm flying through the air in the next game. It’s a little too early to characterize the outcome as ‘big time’.

NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.

by mmmmm on Jan 27, 2012 12:57 PM EST up reply actions

also

in general terms Dooling is a better player based on what Boston needed. West was primarily there to be a back up ball handler last year. Because Bradley was young and they didn’t have optimism regarding his ability. This year I think Danny had faith in both Bradley and Moore to be able to handle ball handling duties. So the primary need for a back up wing wasn’t a ball handler, but a shooter. Or at least a better shooter.

I loved West, I miss him, I honestly do. There are a lot of things about the guy that I really appreciate. But especially when Boston thought they still had Green healthy Dooling made more sense than West from a bench balance standpoint.

Sometimes glass glitters more than diamonds because it has more to prove.

by Kungfuguy on Jan 27, 2012 1:07 PM EST up reply actions

The point on Green is fair.

I think had Green been healthy, Sasha Pavlovic is basically useless on this roster, and Doc/Danny would be more willing to take a chance on Delonte just for the “feel good” value of having him with the team. He’s a good chemistry guy for that locker room.

So, maybe you’re right. Maybe in light of Green going down, and Daniels being your only other guy capable of playing the 3 after Pierce now (this was prior to Pietrus reaching a buyout with the Suns of course, so that has to be considered) using that roster spot on Pavlovic became necessary.

Hindsight is obviously 20/20, and in hindsight, we’re looking at a roster that has Pierce/Pietrus/Daniels, all playing the 3, and Pavlovic basically becomes redundant. So I’m saying I’d rather have used that spot on West.

But that’s hindsight, Danny couldn’t have known he’d get Pietrus at the time. Still, I don’t like it, I think he drastically underrated Delonte’s value.

by C'sFan on Jan 27, 2012 1:56 PM EST up reply actions

I think it's completely fair to say he screwed it up.

Stats have their place, history is nice and all.

But there’s a time when you have to look at more than the stats, more than the history, and look at the heart of a player.

Delonte should be on this team, Delonte belongs on this team. Rondo has said it, Pierce has said it, Delonte brings more to a team than on-court contributions. He has a toughness, a grit to him, a guy people want to go to war with. Danny used his head and not his heart, and he was wrong.

It’s my opinion of course, but all the stats and past history data in the world is not going to convince me otherwise.

by C'sFan on Jan 27, 2012 1:51 PM EST up reply actions

I agree its not fair to judge on the injuries too early

but Delonte is far better at point while being a solid 2 and for vet minimum it was hardly going to be a real risk for the team. How many undersized SG would we need?

by Karasu on Jan 27, 2012 3:07 PM EST up reply actions

This and letting go Tony Allen

I doubt Ainge on both

by Karasu on Jan 27, 2012 3:08 PM EST up reply actions

Tony wanted starter minutes. No matter how much Danny offered him

or how many years, he was not going to get starter minutes on this team over Paul Pierce. Never.

Tony leaving is on Tony, not Danny. He wanted a role that he could not have here.

NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.

by mmmmm on Jan 27, 2012 3:11 PM EST up reply actions

thats what they say, its tony who wanted a starter role

But without much insider information, I am not sold on that one side of story. Was there really a firm “either let me start or I am walking away” stance from tony? Many factors had to be considered for a guy like tony to make his decision, no matter hes “different people” or not. We couldn’t offer him the starter position but we are a bigger market, and he would have a lot of playing time beyond Ray and Paul. In some sense its GM’s job to persuade players to stay, no? An important part that makes a good GM is having both the will and ability to keep good players, IMHO.

by Karasu on Jan 27, 2012 6:38 PM EST up reply actions

Sure there were other factors

1) We had Daniels on an expiring contract. Daniels at the time was easily a better offensive player and by every measure just as good defensively.
2) Tony also wanted the extra year – that would be eating into our salary cap this coming summer. This is a critical issue to our long-term strategy.

Add in those reasons and it makes no sense to second-guess Danny on this particular transaction. He made exactly the right decision with Tony. He offered him what made sense to offer him at the time. Tony decided to go elsewhere.

NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.

by mmmmm on Jan 27, 2012 7:09 PM EST up reply actions

iirc it wasn't reported Allen wanted to start.

But he wanted an extra year. That was the lone deal breaker.

Allen sought longer-term security and the Celtics were reluctant to give him a guaranteed third year.

True Daniels was better offensively but Allen was a lot better defensively being able to contain Kobe and Lebron which Daniels has a hard time to do even pre-injury.

by LarryBird33 on Jan 27, 2012 7:57 PM EST up reply actions