As I was gripped to the television set the other day watching Ray Allen rescue the Celtics from the embarrassment of being a defending champion and going down 0-2 to a seventh placed team, I turned to my son and said "Can you imagine what this team would have been like if the other day we could have added a fully healthy and functioning KG, Leon and Scal?" Being a glass is half full type of guy, I couldn't help but think after watching Rondo go for a triple double and Big Baby drain jumper after jumper and Perk be a presence down low that all the injuries, as negative and counterproductive as they have been to this teams playoff chances this year, probably has opened a year or two more on the championship window of this team.
Okay, maybe this thought is a bit overboard and perhaps I'm just looking for the silver lining amongst the clouds but, ask yourself this; could Leon, Davis, Perk, Walker and Rondo have made the progressions in their games this year that they did if KG, Scal and everyone else who went down had not gotten injured.
Playing time for players that have nothing will usually not change a thing, they will pretty much always suck. Case in point, Gerald Green, Kwame Brown and to some extent Sebastian Telfair. But playing time for players that have "it" and get "it" will always speed up the development of a player. The trick for any coach is recognizing before handing out that playing time who has "it" and who doesn't. Personally, I think all five of the Celtics young players I mentioned above have "it" and there's probably a decent chance that J.R. Giddens does as well.
So by KG, Scal, and everyone else getting hurt, which are all negative things, add up to a positive eventually? Would Baby, Perk, Leon, Walker and Rondo have developed to the points that they have had the Celtics stayed healthy? Or, a better question might be, would they have progressed as quickly as they did had not the injuries to their team mates not occurred?
I don't see Rondo becoming the consistent scoring threat this quickly that he has become if KG's presence and 14 shots per game were being put up every game. I don't see Baby's jumper becoming nearly as effective as it has had he been playing only 13 MPG and playing with the second team. I don't see Perk's presence becoming as consistently powerful and necessary if KG is in the paint with him and there is another low post threat for this team. I don't see Walker getting any PT whatsoever if Scal doesn't get hurt. And lastly, I don't see Leon getting the time he needed to get out of the first half doldrums he was in for a while if he isn't getting the playing time he did.
If the Celtics hold onto Powe and Davis and extend Rondo this off season I think if these players come back having kept all the advances in their game and worked on something in the off season, it could go a long way toward extending the window for a championship for this team by another year or two. If Doc can rely on Rondo, Davis, Powe and Perk to give him what they do and maybe even a bit more when this team has all it's components healthy, I could see a dramatic drop off in playing time for the Big Three as this team builds large leads that make fourth quarters unnecessary for the older players to play in. I could see a championship next year and possibly contending for another year or two which many people didn't think would happen.
Okay, maybe I'm drinking way, way too much green kool-aid and should take off my green colored spectacles but I really do believe that the starting five has gotten deadly good because of KG's absence and that the bench has solidified itself in important areas because of KG and Scal injuries.
I think no matter how this year ends, and it could still end in a banner being raised, there are a ton of positives to be looked at and celebrated. All our young guns are getting more playoff experience and learning to deliver under pressure. They have all grown their games and now the Big Three know that they are not alone and don't need to do it all. They have certified excellent NBA players around them now that can handle the slack and make their lives easier. I think in the long run, the negatives of this season will turn into positives that will be paying dividends for years to come.
Topic: All the negatives equal a positive....eventually. (Read 2302 times)