2008 Celtics Bench

[Who]

One of the most under-stated value of the Championship winning 2008 Celtics bench was its depth. It was 12-13 players deep each filling a different role / skill-set that Doc Rivers could call upon as needed depending on the situation.

This helped make up for the fact that there was little high end bench talent on the team outside of James Posey. The rest were more solid than great. But ... there was so many of them and they had different a tool-kit to help the team that it allowed Doc & the team to find quality bench play.


G: Rondo, E.House, S.Cassell
G: Ray Allen, Tony Allen
F: Pierce, Posey
F: Garnett, Powe, Big Baby, Scalabrine
C: K.Perkins, PJ Brown, S.Pollard


This was a 14 man deep bench that went to 13 with Scott Pollard out injured. You could argue PJ Brown wouldn't have been signed without Pollard's injury but I believe PJ would've been signed either way. PJ was too good to pass on.

So at PG you had two different bench options with Eddie House as a explosive shooter / scorer at guard and Sam Cassell was more of a ball-handling PnR PG. Both had big moments during the playoffs. Cassell against CLE. House in that comeback win against LAL.

On the wing, we had James Posey was a vital 3+D SF who rebounded well and could play some PF allowing us to go small with KG at center if so desired. Or stay big with Posey as a big 6-8 SF. Tony Allen gave us a defensive specialist who could defend all 3 perimeter positions.

In the big man slots, we had two undersized PFs in Big Baby and Leon Powe. Powe was the efficient intelligent no wasted motion finisher in the paint. Big Baby had more ball-skills and more bulk for bodying up bigger guys (like Tim Duncan) but was more inconsistent with his own scoring than Powe was. Scalabrine gave them a stretch 4 who their best team defender at PF and only outside shooting big man. PJ Brown at 6-11 was a bigger longer defender who gave them more rim protection than the other two and could knock down the midrange shot. If Pollard was healthy, he gave an even bigger 6-11 260lb center to defend the post and rebound.


One of the things I found remarkable about this bench was how well they compensated for the lack of high end bench talent by having depth all the way down to the 13th-14th man. And how each individual bench player offered a different skill-set to the other guy giving the coach a high degree of optionality in terms of how he wanted the team to matchup (to negate opponent's matchup advantages or create matchups advantages for us).



I look at this 2022 team which has far more high end talent on its bench particularly with Brogdon but also with Derrick White, Grant Williams and Gallinari. As a result, this 2022 Celtics team should be less reliant on its 10th-13th players than the 2008 team was but ... at the same time, it shouldn't ignore the value those end of bench guys offered a title winning team.

If you can fill the end of your bench with useful veterans who can be relied on in a playoff game (even if only for 5mins), you should do it. They might just make a difference for you in a big game in the playoffs.


The only developmental non-rotation caliber player that 2008 Celtics team carried was Gabe Pruitt.


Like many, I was horrified by the end of our bench (10th-15th) man these last few years. To see Udoka last season or CBS in the past look down their bench and see nobody who could be trusted to play in a playoff game. This was not good. We should not repeat this mistake.

We should see the benefits of depth from that 2008 team and follow their example.

We already have one developmental spot for Sam Hauser and one wasted spot for Kornet. We cannot continue to waste roster spots on non-playing talent. We still need a defensive rebounding center and a true bench wing to finish off our bench and supply our coach with good alternatives should he need them.

Not to mention this 2022 Celtics team has a bunch of injury prone guys on it. Our two big men are the injury prone Rob Williams and a 36yr old Al Horford and these are the only two guys capable of providing good D at the center position on the entire roster. Brogdon is injury prone. Smart usually misses some time. Jaylen often misses a few games each season. Quality depth will be used if we have it.

10 men isn't enough. We cannot afford 4-5 developmental / untrustworthy bench players. Learn from the 2008 Celtics who had 13-14 reliable contributors to choose from. Mostly vets.

[CelticsWhat35]

Didn’t the 2008 Celtics round out their bench in August? So it’s not really fair to compare this year’s team when we don’t know what it will look like come training camp

[Roy H.]

I agree.  I'd prefer to have 14 guys with solid NBA experience, and one open spot for flexibility.

But, some folks will disagree on what a developmental guy is, versus a guy who can be trusted.  I think most of us can agree that we don't want Davison playing high-leverage minutes.  But, what about Kessler Edwards?  Isaiah Roby?  These are young guys who are still developing, but they've also started quite a few games and can potentially fill-in.

[Celtics2021]

Didn’t the 2008 Celtics round out their bench in August? So it’s not really fair to compare this year’s team when we don’t know what it will look like come training camp

Later even.  Cassell and Brown were both free agents who joined after the trade deadline.  Also, Big Baby was a 2nd round rookie.  It’s great that he was able to contribute immediately, but let’s not pretend that was any kind of guaranteed occurrence.

They even started the season with just 13 players.

[nebist]

In an ideal world, I of course agree with you. You want us much usable depth as possible. However, I do think coaches (and Stevens is a GM who probably still thinks primarily like a coach) are very aware of the fragile ecosystem of having players on the team that embrace (not just accept or tolerate) their roles. If you have even 1-2 guys on a team that are unhappy with their roles, it can upend the entire team structure.

Last year’s team became an extreme example of this. The depth was too limited. However, we knew exactly who our top 7 was, top 9 (Pritchard, Theis), etc. Of course, you don’t want to waste spots 11-15 as we had to last year after Brad consolidated the roster and cleaned out some of Danny’s past mistakes. However, you need to be very careful that the better players you bring in for spots 11-14 or whatever don’t upset the team chemistry and role definition you’ve established in your top 9 or 10. I’m just saying that I agree with Brad that building the best team is far more than acquiring the 15 most talented players you can get to sign with you.

[Csfan1984]

2007-2008 season had six vets I could trust. There was TA who gave elite defense but was still learning. So maybe you can say seven guys. PJ came on late so can't count him. The development players stepped up in Rondo, Davis, Powe and Perk. They all got better as the year went on, yet can't say I expected their impact. So to get to 14* was a whole year process that started with half the number.

The C's current guys I trust to contribute so far is 10. With some growth their impact can be greater and we still don't know who and what is to come.