All this talk about our summer league wonderkids is all well and good, but one thing we can't forget is that Ricky Davis is still the second best player on this team. We will live and die by Paul Pierce this year, but he'll lean heavily on Ricky to share the scoring load.
Tony Allen started a large part of last year with Ricky dutifully coming off the bench to provide scoring to the second unit. Now Justin Reed is playing his way into serious minutes and Ryan Gomes will not be denied a shot at the gate either. Does that make us overcrowded at the wing position? Absolutely. And we haven't even brought up the future prospects of Gerald Green. But does it mean that Davis will stay in his reserve role? I don't think so.
I see the development of the kids as reason enough to insert Davis into the starting lineup. Davis needed to be on the B-Unit because they were greener than shamrocks and needed someone with enough confidence to take the shots. Presumably now the younger players will have a better feel for the game and enough confidence of their own.
Regardless of Walker's future with the team, the C's will need that scoring 1-2 of Paul and Ricky if we are going to make enough noise in the reloaded Eastern Conference.
I know that Doc is going to preach defense and claim that it is the way to earn minutes. But if that was the only variable, than Mr. Reed would have had a lot more court time last year. This year he's bringing more of his game to the table and will be a great shutdown cornerback if we need him. Tony Allen is still a fierce defender and if he can keep focus and convert on those drives of his, he'll have no trouble earning minutes. We keep hearing that Gomes just knows how to play the game. I'm thrilled to hear it.
Still, if things don't change too drastically in the coming months, they'll all stand in line behind Ricky (who, by the way, can defend pretty well himself). And I'm pretty comfortable with that. Sorry Peter May.