I'll just post the 2009-2010 projection portion.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/hollinger?team=bosRay Allen:2009-10 outlook: Allen is in the final season of a deal that pays him $17 million and is a good bet to keep his performance near last season's level. He's had knee and ankle problems, but Allen is manic about his conditioning and good shooters tend to have extremely long careers. He's unlikely to maintain the phenomenal TS percentage of last season, simply because nobody does so for more than a season at a time, but if he can average a point every two minutes with a TS percent in the high 50s, the Celtics will be ecstatic.
Tony Allen:2009-10 outlook: Marquis Daniels' arrival will cut into Allen's backcourt minutes, so he'll compete with another great athlete with knee problems, Bill Walker, for playing time behind Paul Pierce. Since two seasons will have passed since his knee injury, Allen is likely to improve and could prove a strong asset if he's less hyper offensively and cuts the turnovers. Few teams have athletes of his caliber coming off the bench, so his ceiling is quite high as a two-way force making energy plays for the second unit.
To fulfill that promise, however, he must exorcise the mistake plays -- few players in the league made more last season. He's 27 and has an expiring contract, so he'll never have more incentive to clean up all the rough edges in his game.
Marquis Daniels:2009-10 outlook: Daniels signed a two-season, $3.9 million deal with Boston for its biannual exception and will be a key backcourt reserve for the 55 games in which he's healthy. Because he can handle the ball and defend shooting guards, he's a perfect partner for Eddie House off the bench, as House has to check point guards but isn't a good enough dribbler to man the position offensively. Daniels won't average anywhere near double figures this season and his bricks from outside are likely to drive Celtics fans nuts, but he'll defend and score in the paint enough to provide a solid 15 minutes off the pine.
Glen Davis:2009-10 outlook: Davis signed a two-season, $6 million deal to return to the Celtics as a restricted free agent but likely will play far less than he did at the end of last season. The return of Kevin Garnett and the addition of Rasheed Wallace leave Davis as the fourth big man in Boston's frontcourt rotation. While the Celtics are likely to spread the frontcourt playing time liberally in the regular season, Davis' minutes will plummet to about 15-20 a game. But if he can keep shooting midrange jumpers the way he did at the end of last season, he'll represent one of the league's top frontcourt reserves.
Kevin Garnett:2009-10 outlook: Obviously, Garnett's physical condition is much more important than any linear statistical projection I could offer, but in either case one should expect a sharp reduction in his minutes from a season ago. Boston signed Rasheed Wallace partly to have some insurance behind Garnett but also to have a player who could spell him for longer stretches.
Garnett averaged only 32.5 minutes per game even before the injury, but that number could dip to around 30 this season with the presence of Wallace and added caution regarding their star player's wounded limb. The strategy makes strong sense for Boston because he has three seasons and more than $56 million left on his contract -- the Celtics can't afford to have $20 million in dead weight on the payroll two seasons from now.
JR Giddens:2009-10 outlook: With Boston adding a D-League affiliate in nearby Portland, Maine, I see a lot of lobster in Giddens' future. He hasn't given any indication that he's ready for minutes with the parent club, and in truth he may never be.
Eddie House:2009-10 outlook: House opted to pick up the final season of his contract at $2.3 million, so he will be the primary backup to Rajon Rondo while occasionally swinging to the 2 when Boston goes small. Look for him to pair with Marquis Daniels off the bench, with Daniels handling the ball while House spots up on the wing and the two trade assignments on defense.
House is unlikely to keep his TS percentage at the lofty heights of a season ago, especially without any layups or free throws to supplement the jump shots. But as long as his 3-point percentage stays around 40, he'll be a valuable contributor with his scoring and floor-spacing ability off the bench.
Kendrick Perkins:2009-10 outlook: Perkins enters this season cemented into the starting lineup, and with his ability to defend big centers like Howard, Shaquille O'Neal and Andrew Bynum, Perkins is going to be a crucial part of any push by the Celtics to regain their title. New addition Rasheed Wallace may make a slight incursion into Perkins' regular-season minutes, especially if Kevin Garnett is healthy, but Perkins may mitigate it with increased per-minute productivity. At 24 his game is still on the upswing, and it wouldn't surprise anyone if his scoring numbers took another tick upward this season.
Paul Pierce:2009-10 outlook: Although Pierce's numbers have quietly slid, I suspect they may level off this season. He played far better after the All-Star break than he had before, which doesn't smack of a guy who's worn out physically. While his attempts at the basket are in decline, he should be able to knock down midrange jumpers until he needs a walker. In fact, the defensive end is where Pierce may exhibit signs of slippage. Pierce delivered All-Defense caliber performance the past two seasons, but as age slowly robs him of athleticism, that may be difficult to maintain.
One fact to remember toward the end of the season is that Pierce has an early termination option to become a free agent. Given the direction his numbers have headed the past two seasons, he might be wise to take it. He'll be 32 on opening day and has taken a lot of pounding from 10 seasons of going hard to the rim, so this seems like his last chance to cash in with a big payday.
Rajon Rondo:2009-10 outlook: Despite his play, the Celtics were discussing trading Rondo after the season because he'd become such a handful in the locker room. It's too early to know whether these are just growing pains or the sign of a more serious problem, but based on his age (23) and performance to date, Rondo appears to have a very bright future.
As his two-way play gets more recognition for one of the league' s premier teams, he has a good shot at receiving his first All-Star berth this season -- an honor he should have been accorded last season instead of teammate Ray Allen. Rondo won't compile nightly triple-doubles like he did in the playoffs, but averages of 13 points, nine assists and five boards seem within reach.
Brian Scalabrine:2009-10 outlook: With the addition of Rasheed Wallace and the return of Kevin Garnett, Scalabrine won't play as much as he did a season ago -- particularly in the postseason. If he stays confined to a role as Boston's fifth big man, he has some utility because he'll defend and stay out of the way offensively unless he gets an open J. But that's the maximum amount of daylight he should see on a contending team. He also has an expiring deal taking up $3 million in cap space, so it's possible he'll have a new home by the trade deadline.
Bill Walker:2009-10 outlook: Walker may see some more D-League run early in the season, but he could be in the parent team's plans by the second half of the season. He's unquestionably a promising prospect in the mold of Tony Allen, and rookies who have high turnover rates tend to progress much better in subsequent seasons than those who don't. Given Boston's lack of imposing talent off the bench, he could easily break through into a rotation spot this season to back up Paul Pierce. Tony Allen should be his main competition.
Rasheed Wallace:2009-10 outlook: Wallace signed a two-season deal with Boston for the full midlevel exception, hoping to give the Celtics two things they lacked a season ago -- a big man who can space the floor with 3-point shooting and a reliable fallback if Kevin Garnett's knee causes him to miss time.
As gambles go, it's an eminently reasonable one. Wallace didn't come expensively and he fills an important need, and Boston's risk is limited by the short term of the deal. That said, Wallace's decline last season had to be worrisome. While he has the two traits most associated with player longevity -- size and shooting ability -- he still needs to stay fit and maintain his competitive fire. Both seemed in question last season.
If Wallace shows up in shape and goes into the post once in a while, his defense and selflessness will be huge assets in the Celtics' quest to regain their crown. But with his decline last season at age 34 and his worrisome history of combusting at the worst possible time, whether he does so is open to question.
Sheldon Williams:2009-10 outlook: Williams signed a one-season deal with Boston for $1.3 million, where he'll get a chance to resuscitate his career as a fifth big man. Coach Doc Rivers tends to use his whole bench, so Williams should get a fair share of opportunities, but it won't matter if he's not in better shape. That said, this was a good value signing for the Celtics. Williams is young enough to improve, and his numbers from this first three seasons, while disappointing for a No. 5 overall pick, are far better than those of most No. 3 centers.
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