Championship Bench vs Current Bench

[greg683x]

I know it's just for the sake of discussion but you really cant compare benches until we've seen our new bench handle the regular season and playoffs.  It's real easy to look a some names and stats and be able to assume our bench is better, but we dont know how much chemistry theyre all gonna have with each other, and also if team style of ball the Celtics play will limit their abilities.

Im sure last year a lot of us assumed that with a player like Stephon Marbury coming off the bench our 2nd team would be tremendous, but it didnt translate that way.

[mgent]

I know it's just for the sake of discussion but you really cant compare benches until we've seen our new bench handle the regular season and playoffs.  It's real easy to look a some names and stats and be able to assume our bench is better, but we dont know how much chemistry theyre all gonna have with each other, and also if team style of ball the Celtics play will limit their abilities.

Im sure last year a lot of us assumed that with a player like Stephon Marbury coming off the bench our 2nd team would be tremendous, but it didnt translate that way.

Thank you.

[gar]

It depends though. Our bench in 08 would be great against the Cavs, while our current bench would be better against the Magic.

It's all about matchups. I do think we should be fine though. Our PG situation in 08 was even worse than it is now (Rondo playing less minutes and House as the absolute backup).

I think this bench will create more mismatches. 

They have issues guarding KG on the pick and roll.  Now they can use Wallace on the pick and roll when KG is on the bench.  And when both KG and Wallace are on the floor, how do Shaq or Big Z guard one of them?

I was actually thinking defensively. If we bench Perk or KG, we have someone to deal with Dwight. Against Cleveland though, one of the most important qualities of our bench was having Posey come in and dealing with Lebron James, or having us go small with Posey at the PF to up the scoring since Big Z can be defended by just KG; somethign our current bench cannot do as effectively.

TP. I agree to a point. I was very concerned that we sign a SF with size to guard LeBron/Odom/ HedoT, etc. Daniels is most effective as a SG. Walker is stronger but not any bigger. Scal is the only other answer and  well.... sorry not my first choice to back up PP. Nice if Odom and Turkolo are both out of the title race; but other SF with size will create the same problem.

[mgent]

It depends though. Our bench in 08 would be great against the Cavs, while our current bench would be better against the Magic.

It's all about matchups. I do think we should be fine though. Our PG situation in 08 was even worse than it is now (Rondo playing less minutes and House as the absolute backup).

I think this bench will create more mismatches. 

They have issues guarding KG on the pick and roll.  Now they can use Wallace on the pick and roll when KG is on the bench.  And when both KG and Wallace are on the floor, how do Shaq or Big Z guard one of them?

I was actually thinking defensively. If we bench Perk or KG, we have someone to deal with Dwight. Against Cleveland though, one of the most important qualities of our bench was having Posey come in and dealing with Lebron James, or having us go small with Posey at the PF to up the scoring since Big Z can be defended by just KG; somethign our current bench cannot do as effectively.

TP. I agree to a point. I was very concerned that we sign a SF with size to guard LeBron/Odom/ HedoT, etc. Daniels is most effective as a SG. Walker is stronger but not any bigger. Scal is the only other answer and  well.... sorry not my first choice to back up PP. Nice if Odom and Turkolo are both out of the title race; but other SF with size will create the same problem.

This was my first question about Daniels (i even made a thread about it).  The way i see it is, we need back-up at the 1-3.  And we've got House who is basically a 2.  Why would we go after another guy who is mainly a 2, but can help at the 1 and 3.  We're gonna need another guy anyway, plus we've got the LLE.  Wouldn't it have been smarter to go after a true PG and a true SF who could help Eddie at the 2?

[Fafnir]

It depends though. Our bench in 08 would be great against the Cavs, while our current bench would be better against the Magic.

It's all about matchups. I do think we should be fine though. Our PG situation in 08 was even worse than it is now (Rondo playing less minutes and House as the absolute backup).

I think this bench will create more mismatches. 

They have issues guarding KG on the pick and roll.  Now they can use Wallace on the pick and roll when KG is on the bench.  And when both KG and Wallace are on the floor, how do Shaq or Big Z guard one of them?

I was actually thinking defensively. If we bench Perk or KG, we have someone to deal with Dwight. Against Cleveland though, one of the most important qualities of our bench was having Posey come in and dealing with Lebron James, or having us go small with Posey at the PF to up the scoring since Big Z can be defended by just KG; somethign our current bench cannot do as effectively.

TP. I agree to a point. I was very concerned that we sign a SF with size to guard LeBron/Odom/ HedoT, etc. Daniels is most effective as a SG. Walker is stronger but not any bigger. Scal is the only other answer and  well.... sorry not my first choice to back up PP. Nice if Odom and Turkolo are both out of the title race; but other SF with size will create the same problem.

This was my first question about Daniels (i even made a thread about it).  The way i see it is, we need back-up at the 1-3.  And we've got House who is basically a 2.  Why would we go after another guy who is mainly a 2, but can help at the 1 and 3.  We're gonna need another guy anyway, plus we've got the LLE.  Wouldn't it have been smarter to go after a true PG and a true SF who could help Eddie at the 2?

If we're playing House much he'll be at the 1, except against very small back courts.

[mgent]

It depends though. Our bench in 08 would be great against the Cavs, while our current bench would be better against the Magic.

It's all about matchups. I do think we should be fine though. Our PG situation in 08 was even worse than it is now (Rondo playing less minutes and House as the absolute backup).

I think this bench will create more mismatches. 

They have issues guarding KG on the pick and roll.  Now they can use Wallace on the pick and roll when KG is on the bench.  And when both KG and Wallace are on the floor, how do Shaq or Big Z guard one of them?

I was actually thinking defensively. If we bench Perk or KG, we have someone to deal with Dwight. Against Cleveland though, one of the most important qualities of our bench was having Posey come in and dealing with Lebron James, or having us go small with Posey at the PF to up the scoring since Big Z can be defended by just KG; somethign our current bench cannot do as effectively.

TP. I agree to a point. I was very concerned that we sign a SF with size to guard LeBron/Odom/ HedoT, etc. Daniels is most effective as a SG. Walker is stronger but not any bigger. Scal is the only other answer and  well.... sorry not my first choice to back up PP. Nice if Odom and Turkolo are both out of the title race; but other SF with size will create the same problem.

This was my first question about Daniels (i even made a thread about it).  The way i see it is, we need back-up at the 1-3.  And we've got House who is basically a 2.  Why would we go after another guy who is mainly a 2, but can help at the 1 and 3.  We're gonna need another guy anyway, plus we've got the LLE.  Wouldn't it have been smarter to go after a true PG and a true SF who could help Eddie at the 2?

If we're playing House much he'll be at the 1, except against very small back courts.

Yeah but on offense it's smarter to keep House off the ball.

[gar]

Assuming we dont' loose anyone (unlikely)

House    Cassel
Giddens  House
Daniels  Posey
BBD/Scal Powe/BBD
Wallace  PJ

Obviously a PG would help or Scal could play SF and move Daniels to SG; but is not a slam dunk yet.

[snively]

Posey's daggers were huge. But Sheed has maybe hit more huge playoff shots on this team than anyone not named Ray Allen. Sheed has played in more playoff games than any current C's player.

I think Sheed is better than Posey and PJ rolled into one. And Posey wasn't THAT great at guarding LeBron. Paul did most of that work. Maybe people don't realize how huge the Sheed pick-up was..

Agreed.

As great as Posey was for us, his utilization led to a lot of small-ball.  Until we got PJ, Doc had to go with Posey at the 4 to get the floor spacing he wanted, and even after PJ, he would go to it occasionally to get more 3 pt shooting.  Sheed fills both roles and then some. 

That alone makes our bench better than 08.

The real question mark is the efficacy of the Daniels-House combo.  If they can jointly initiate the offense with some effectiveness, we can finally say goodbye to the mostly counter-productive bench playmaking options we turned to in 08 and 09.  If they can work together, than House's shooting will be able to stay in the rotation (this was a problem in 08) and the bench will have a solid, non-Pierce slashing presence for the first time since Ricky Davis.

Then there's Baby.  I'd have preferred Powe, but that's not to be.  Instead if we keep Baby we'll have another big who's comfy with the ball, greasing the wheels further for the tentative bench offense, and can add offensive rebounding, iffy midrange jumpshooting and maybe a few interesting moves off the bounce.  Defensively, I'm not sold on him as a 4.

[tenn_smoothie]

The 2007-2008 bench was basically 3 men:  Posey,House and PJ ..................... Powe was in 2nd year and inconsistent.

all Powe did was win game 2 for the celts in the finals vs lakers.