Celtics end of bench in need of a face lift.

[wiley]

Eddie House has been solid this season. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year and he's getting up in years (32 at end of season, 33 by next year's playoffs). It looks to me that we've seen the best that House has to offer and that decline is setting in ... and thus, that next offseason will be the right time to look for a new primary backup point guard.

For this season, I'm more than happy to have House as the primary backup guard. He's doing a solid job and I expect him to continue doing so.

I love Eddie House, but isn't one of the jobs of the backup PG to become the starting PG in case of injury.  That is actually one of the reasons teams have backup PG's--insurance.  I've yet to hear anyone say that either Eddie or Marquis could be our starting PG if necessary.

I also am very happy with Marquis, but if we add a true PG as a backup (ala Marbury or Cassell, but hopefully better) and then Eddie gets hot as he did playing next to Marbury, then it will be Marquis' minutes that go down, especially if this happens during the playoffs.

[nickagneta]

Tony Allen - Tony hasn't played this year, but that is just one of his many problems. In his 5 year career Tony has played over 51 games in a season just twice and may not make that number for a 4th year in a six year career. Now add in the turnovers, the bad outside shooting, the bad fouls, the fouls on three point shooters, the bad defensive rotations, the dribbling with his head down, the line drive tosses of the ball towards the basket and the fact that he is not demonstrably better now than the day he was drafted, and it's easy to see why he needs to go. He should never have been resigned.

so what you're trying to say is that you really don't think tony's all that good?

By George, I think he's got it!!!

[Fafnir]

Eddie House has been solid this season. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year and he's getting up in years (32 at end of season, 33 by next year's playoffs). It looks to me that we've seen the best that House has to offer and that decline is setting in ... and thus, that next offseason will be the right time to look for a new primary backup point guard.

For this season, I'm more than happy to have House as the primary backup guard. He's doing a solid job and I expect him to continue doing so.

I love Eddie House, but isn't one of the jobs of the backup PG to become the starting PG in case of injury.  That is actually one of the reasons teams have backup PG's--insurance.  I've yet to hear anyone say that either Eddie or Marquis could be our starting PG if necessary.

I also am very happy with Marquis, but if we add a true PG as a backup (ala Marbury or Cassell, but hopefully better) and then Eddie gets hot as he did playing next to Marbury, then it will be Marquis' minutes that go down, especially if this happens during the playoffs.

Sadly without Rondo we're not winning a title this year. The Lakers are better than in 07-08, Orlando is better, Cleveland is better, the Hawks are better, etc....

[wiley]

Eddie House has been solid this season. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year and he's getting up in years (32 at end of season, 33 by next year's playoffs). It looks to me that we've seen the best that House has to offer and that decline is setting in ... and thus, that next offseason will be the right time to look for a new primary backup point guard.

For this season, I'm more than happy to have House as the primary backup guard. He's doing a solid job and I expect him to continue doing so.

I love Eddie House, but isn't one of the jobs of the backup PG to become the starting PG in case of injury.  That is actually one of the reasons teams have backup PG's--insurance.  I've yet to hear anyone say that either Eddie or Marquis could be our starting PG if necessary.

I also am very happy with Marquis, but if we add a true PG as a backup (ala Marbury or Cassell, but hopefully better) and then Eddie gets hot as he did playing next to Marbury, then it will be Marquis' minutes that go down, especially if this happens during the playoffs.

Sadly without Rondo we're not winning a title this year. The Lakers are better than in 07-08, Orlando is better, Cleveland is better, the Hawks are better, etc....

Here is what I said about that in other thread:

(I don't buy into the argument that if Rondo goes down then we're not going anywhere so it doesn't matter anyway.  You still have to try to win, odds be [dang]ed.....and furthermore, if we're going to lose (without Rondo), let's not do it via turnover fest, which would be just plain ugly to have to watch......)

Adding to that, it would depend on the timing and duration of the injury.  For example, The Celtics might need to win ECF game 7 without Rondo in order to play some team who only got to the finals because Kobe was injured (Let's say Denver).  We'd have a chance against Denver without Rondo as long as we had a player who could consistently get the ball across half court with enough time to run the halfcourt offense.  We might very well lose withouth Rondo, but let's not lose ugly.

I'm still open, however, to someone telling me that Marquis or Eddie (or Paul or Ray) can bring the ball over half court consistently in an intense playoff series.  If someone tells me yes, then I'll let my PG obsession go.  But the answer is probably no, which is why I'm going to guarantee the Celtics add a pure PG before the playoffs role around.  Then, my argument becomes might as well do it sooner rather than waiting as long as we did with Marbury and Cassell.

[Chris]

Eddie House has been solid this season. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year and he's getting up in years (32 at end of season, 33 by next year's playoffs). It looks to me that we've seen the best that House has to offer and that decline is setting in ... and thus, that next offseason will be the right time to look for a new primary backup point guard.

For this season, I'm more than happy to have House as the primary backup guard. He's doing a solid job and I expect him to continue doing so.

I love Eddie House, but isn't one of the jobs of the backup PG to become the starting PG in case of injury.  That is actually one of the reasons teams have backup PG's--insurance.  I've yet to hear anyone say that either Eddie or Marquis could be our starting PG if necessary.

I also am very happy with Marquis, but if we add a true PG as a backup (ala Marbury or Cassell, but hopefully better) and then Eddie gets hot as he did playing next to Marbury, then it will be Marquis' minutes that go down, especially if this happens during the playoffs.

Sadly without Rondo we're not winning a title this year. The Lakers are better than in 07-08, Orlando is better, Cleveland is better, the Hawks are better, etc....

Actually, Rondo going down is one of the main reasons I hold onto the expiring contracts as long as I can.  If they trade now for a mediocre backup PG, then you are right, they are in trouble if Rondo goes down.  However, if he goes down before the trade deadline, you then have the assets to go after an Andre Miller, TJ Ford, or Luke Ridnour. 

And in the same vein, if Pierce or Ray go down, you can then use those (plus sweeteners) to go after anyone from Nocioni to Gerald Wallace or John Salmons. 

I don't think you go after those types of guys now because 1. you don't know if you will need them, and you would be trading in chips that could be used to fill a more pressing need later, 2. they are all guys who have played, and deserve major minutes, which the C's could not give them right away, and 3. If they are not playing a major role on this team, they become cost prohibitive going forward as 7th or 8th men on this team.

[Chief]

Dec 15, Danny needs to call his old friend Larry Bird. Ainge should offer expiring contracts for Watson and Dunleavy.

[Fafnir]

Dec 15, Danny needs to call his old friend Larry Bird. Ainge should offer expiring contracts for Watson and Dunleavy.

Ew, Watson can't shoot at all. Our backup PG really should offer shooting in case Rondo is ineffective.

[Bahku]

I think the bench needs more of a tummy-tuck than it does a face-lift ... and possibly a botulinum injection or two.

[mgent]

Eddie House has been solid this season. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year and he's getting up in years (32 at end of season, 33 by next year's playoffs). It looks to me that we've seen the best that House has to offer and that decline is setting in ... and thus, that next offseason will be the right time to look for a new primary backup point guard.

For this season, I'm more than happy to have House as the primary backup guard. He's doing a solid job and I expect him to continue doing so.

I love Eddie House, but isn't one of the jobs of the backup PG to become the starting PG in case of injury.  That is actually one of the reasons teams have backup PG's--insurance.  I've yet to hear anyone say that either Eddie or Marquis could be our starting PG if necessary.

I also am very happy with Marquis, but if we add a true PG as a backup (ala Marbury or Cassell, but hopefully better) and then Eddie gets hot as he did playing next to Marbury, then it will be Marquis' minutes that go down, especially if this happens during the playoffs.

I don't see why Marquis couldn't start.  He's a half-way decent backup PG.

And I wouldn't really mind starting House either.  Paul will bring up the ball when he needs to.  We've seen that lineup before.

[scoop]

Eddie House has been solid this season. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year and he's getting up in years (32 at end of season, 33 by next year's playoffs). It looks to me that we've seen the best that House has to offer and that decline is setting in ... and thus, that next offseason will be the right time to look for a new primary backup point guard.

For this season, I'm more than happy to have House as the primary backup guard. He's doing a solid job and I expect him to continue doing so.

I love Eddie House, but isn't one of the jobs of the backup PG to become the starting PG in case of injury.  That is actually one of the reasons teams have backup PG's--insurance.  I've yet to hear anyone say that either Eddie or Marquis could be our starting PG if necessary.

I also am very happy with Marquis, but if we add a true PG as a backup (ala Marbury or Cassell, but hopefully better) and then Eddie gets hot as he did playing next to Marbury, then it will be Marquis' minutes that go down, especially if this happens during the playoffs.

Sadly without Rondo we're not winning a title this year. The Lakers are better than in 07-08, Orlando is better, Cleveland is better, the Hawks are better, etc....

Here is what I said about that in other thread:

(I don't buy into the argument that if Rondo goes down then we're not going anywhere so it doesn't matter anyway.  You still have to try to win, odds be [dang]ed.....and furthermore, if we're going to lose (without Rondo), let's not do it via turnover fest, which would be just plain ugly to have to watch......)

Adding to that, it would depend on the timing and duration of the injury.  For example, The Celtics might need to win ECF game 7 without Rondo in order to play some team who only got to the finals because Kobe was injured (Let's say Denver).  We'd have a chance against Denver without Rondo as long as we had a player who could consistently get the ball across half court with enough time to run the halfcourt offense.  We might very well lose withouth Rondo, but let's not lose ugly.

I'm still open, however, to someone telling me that Marquis or Eddie (or Paul or Ray) can bring the ball over half court consistently in an intense playoff series.  If someone tells me yes, then I'll let my PG obsession go.  But the answer is probably no, which is why I'm going to guarantee the Celtics add a pure PG before the playoffs role around.  Then, my argument becomes might as well do it sooner rather than waiting as long as we did with Marbury and Cassell.

Let it go. Since when bringing the ball up is such an important factor? We won a NBA finals with House playing as the PG for extended minutes. Worst case scenario, he can pull a Cassell and spend 7 seconds of the clock while carefully backing his way up-court a la Jasikevicius. Or we can simply use a 2-guard front to start the offence. I suppose the risk of committing a turnover or losing 1 second of clock is higher, but the possibility of losing a playoff series because of that is negligible. Is it more important than the quality of the 15th man in the roster? I doubt it. House, Marquis, Pierce, etc. are very good ball-handlers. Do you think Roger Mason, Brown or Boobie Gibson are any better? They aren't.

What are you afraid of? That teams will play a full-court pressure defence on us for the entire game? That didn't work with Pitino when much more contact towards the ball-handler was allowed; a NBA team trying to run that defence would probably be blown out every game by +40 points.

[scoop]

Dec 15, Danny needs to call his old friend Larry Bird. Ainge should offer expiring contracts for Watson and Dunleavy.

As said, Watson would be a horrible fit, but in any case we don't have enough value in expiring contracts to make such a trade.

[scoop]

Eddie House has been solid this season. He just hasn't been as good as he was last year and he's getting up in years (32 at end of season, 33 by next year's playoffs). It looks to me that we've seen the best that House has to offer and that decline is setting in ... and thus, that next offseason will be the right time to look for a new primary backup point guard.

For this season, I'm more than happy to have House as the primary backup guard. He's doing a solid job and I expect him to continue doing so.

I love Eddie House, but isn't one of the jobs of the backup PG to become the starting PG in case of injury.  That is actually one of the reasons teams have backup PG's--insurance.  I've yet to hear anyone say that either Eddie or Marquis could be our starting PG if necessary.

I also am very happy with Marquis, but if we add a true PG as a backup (ala Marbury or Cassell, but hopefully better) and then Eddie gets hot as he did playing next to Marbury, then it will be Marquis' minutes that go down, especially if this happens during the playoffs.

If we add a "true PG" we should trade House, unless that PG is Jason Kidd or something. House can't guard or outrebound wings consistently.