Can White or Randolph Move Ahead of Wilcox in Doc's Heart While KG Is Out?

[NocturnalRebel]

Moving ahead of Wilcox? I wouldn't go that far. Common sense should tell you Wilcox should play more instead of taking a back seat to one or both of them. But I hope and expect to see both White and Randolph get more than 2 minutes while KG is out. I would like to see Doc put some trust in both of those guys as well as T-Will and play them more.

Small ball isn't tha answer for every game. For a team that needs size, why Doc won't use what size he has is beyond me but I hope to see more of White and Randolph these next few games. They've shown positive signs in limited time.

[Celtics4ever]

Why neither is a better player or they would have been playing by now.   They have no record of playing minutes but Wilcox does.  Bottom line is Wilcox is a better player in the NBA and college than either of these guys.

they didn't get picked up during preseason by any team BUT they were under CONTRACT in China

China is not the NBA,  these guys went there because they got paid more to be a novelty and not because they are the cream of the crop.  While it is true they were under contract they were hardly in a basketball mecca.

[clover]

Yeah, Wilcox has had a better career than either of these guys and will likely continue to be more important to the team.  But big men's development is often slow and uneven.

Chris is four years older than White and one year older than Randolph. 

Also, as a specialist, for example, Randolph has a better career rebounding rate in the NBA than does Wilcox.

Matchups also make a big difference--both within a team and versus the opposition faced.

Wilcox clearly continues to have lapses within Doc's system, despite years on the team.  How will these new guys do in Doc's system?

Won't be that many minutes, but still it will be interesting to watch.

[mmmmm]

The only 'problem' with Wilcox is he's still obviously playing under mpg restrictions as he continues to rehab (remember, folks - his heart surgery was a couple months more recent than Jeff Green's!).  He's only recently brought his mpg average up to just under 15 min for March - it was much lower much of the year.

And that's probably justified.  The 7 games that Doc played Wilcox over 20 minutes, his production didn't go up accordingly - he pretty clearly ran out of gas.

So, the one 'advantage' that the China Boys might have over Wilcox might be simply the ability to play more minutes.

That said, this mythology that Wilcox is somehow playing awful is nuts.   You may or may not like his style of play - but his efficiency at the rim is something no one else on our team is providing and yet is fantastically valuable to an offense.   Even though Wilcox himself takes relatively few shots - our team's offensive efficency when he is on the floor has been unbelievable.

Here are Wilcox' ORtg & DRtg numbers for the season (650 minutes played):

ORtg:  126
DRtg:  105

If you look back over his splits, that dramatic margin was true even in the fall (before his thumb injury) and has been even better since he came back.

Here are his top (by minutes played) 5-man unit configurations with guys still on the roster:


Unit                                   GMs  Min  Pos OPos Pace   Off   Def    Net
Bradley+Lee+Pierce+Bass+Wilcox          15  42.1  80  84  93.5  112.5 110.7  +1.8
Bradley+Terry+Pierce+Green+Wilcox       15  29.5  59  60  96.9   94.9  83.3 +11.6
Bradley+Terry+Green+Bass+Wilcox          9  22.5  44  43  93.0   77.3 100.0 -22.7
Terry+Williams+Crawford+Green+Wilcox     6  17.2  33  35  94.7  112.1  97.1 +15.0
Terry+Lee+Crawford+Green+Wilcox          4  14.1  25  25  85.1  128.0 120.0  +8.0
Terry+Crawford+Green+Garnett+Wilcox      3  13.0  27  27  99.9   88.9  96.3  -7.4
Bradley+Lee+Pierce+Green+Wilcox          6  11.8  23  24  95.9  108.7  95.8 +12.9
Terry+Lee+Green+Garnett+Wilcox           3  11.7  23  22  92.0  113.0 100.0 +13.0
Bradley+Pierce+Green+Bass+Wilcox         6  10.5  22  21  98.3  113.6  81.0 +32.7
Terry+Williams+Crawford+Randolph+Wilcox  1  10.4  18  20  88.0   88.9 110.0 -21.1


So basically, we have a lot of data that shows that, overwhelmingly, the Celtics have played MUCH MUCH better with Wilcox on the floor.

Now, based on 35 minutes of D.J.White (Net rating of +8) and 44 minutes of Randolph (Net Rtg of -21)  you prefer them over Wilcox?

I have nothing against either guy, in fact I think both have some un-tapped upside.

But that's a real head-shaker.

[kozlodoev]

The way this team has been playing, anyone may move ahead of anyone this season.