Fat Chance?

My first thought upon hearing that Michael Sweetney was invited to camp was "why?"  Actually, my very first thought was "hey, didn't he eat himself out of the league?"  Then I wondered if we had room for him on the roster.  Honestly, I could throw in about 15 different fat jokes right there, but that would be far too easy.

The point is, the team worked hard this offseason to bring in frontcourt depth.  Wallace, Baby, Williams, and Scal will back up KG and Perk.  That seems pretty solid.  With Lester signed, the team has 15 contracts.  If Sweetney actually made the team, someone would have to be cut or traded.  Is he worth that?  If so, who goes?

It is far too soon to tell if he's really got a shot, but there are some positive signs for Michael.  In the first preseason game, he scored 10 points in just 8 minutes (he also racked up 5 fouls - slow feet maybe?).  He followed that up by scoring 2 points and grabbing 2 rebounds in the second game (in just over 4 minutes).  Will he get more chances in the upcoming games?

Here are some quotes from Doc that would at least give him some encouragement.

"He's an NBA player," Rivers said. "There's no doubt about it. I mean, he has to get in better shape. We'll see how that goes. He's working at it."

Stay-on-the-Celtic-roster skills?

"There's a place for everybody - whoever earns it," Rivers said before the C's second exhibition game. "I mean, we would obviously have to do something to keep him, but that's up to him to make us want to do that."

The guy clearly has some basketball talent.  He's a typical Ainge camp invite in that he's got more upside than say an undrafted rookie.  Like Darius Miles last year, he has to get back into playing shape after an extended absence.  The fact that he's not yet in good enough shape doesn't bode well, but (as Celtics Hub points out) there's always the option of adding him to the roster and sending him to the D-League to get into shape for later in the year.

I'm still very skeptical of his chances.  If Ainge makes any trades that free up a roster spot, he's always an option.  If the frontcourt has any additional injury issues, he's an option for some added depth.  But I don't think I'd outright cut anyone on the roster in favor of him.