Off-Season Grades - Celtics: "B"

[Bahku]

I'd say they did well so far, so a B is good.  But as others have said, this is kind of like a professor grading your rough draft two weeks before the final paper is due as the final copy.  

It's just like a mid-term grade, or a grade on the first quarter's material covered ... like grading the C's at the end of December ... not too difficult to do, really. (Plus, it get's you a TP. )

[slamtheking]

From my response on the front page article:

graded a D
Resigning Ray and PP were a given. no credit deserved for something that he had absolutely had to accomplish and had all the necessary means to do so at his disposal.

JO signing is ok. the last thing we have to go on to evaluate his signing is the playoffs and he was atrocious. potentially, he could be good, but that’s potentially. if he satisfies that potential, the offers a good temporary or full season replacement for Perk and can cover both the 4 and 5 positions.

He missed out on TA which leaves a large hole at the back up wing position. Marquis is technically still available but do we want him back. the team’s finances leaves only vet min available to sign a replacement and you won’t get defense of TA’s level for that amount. Wasn’t that a great usage of the BLE. Not kicking ourselves for that move now are we?

Sheed’s contract is his lone valuable chip left to use and while he may be able to use it to fill the back up wing spot or get that extra big man we could use [JO, KG and BBD is a very short rotation to use until Perk can return and there’s no guarantee Perk will be in great playing shape by then] whichever hole he doesn’t fill is still an issue.

He missed out on resigning Shelden who was serviceable in the regular season. knock him for his playoff performance but that doesn’t change the fact he contributed in the regular season which is what we really need this year while waiting for Perk.

Nate? occasionally showed something off the bench but he’s just a backup point. that’ll help spell Rondo at times to keep him fresh late in games I suppose but Nate is a liability if used at the 2 guard due to his height. he’s not even definitely signed yet so if danny doesn’t get him, now we’re looking at a vet min replacement here as well or trying fill yet another hole on the bench with just Sheed’s contract.

In short, the bench is a mess again. we have BBD and 2 rookies (assuming Harangody makes the team which looks pretty safe right now) for sure. JO or Perk will be on the bench when Perk is ready. what else has danny added? Erden maybe? desperation there. Bringing back Scal? Seriously? The guy who’s departure we’ve anticipated for 5 years might be brought back? yikes. so many people on the site are talking up the summer leaguers as possible help for the bench. Have we reached the point of desperation that summer/D-leaguers look like plausible options for rotation spots on the roster?

At this point, Danny only deserves a D. solidify the bench with GOOD role players and he’ll deserve a better grade at that point but right now, he’s got precious little at his disposal to do so. He doesn’t necessarily need to move fast to do this as long as his patience ends up producing quality results.

[Bahku]

From my response on the front page article:

graded a D
Resigning Ray and PP were a given. no credit deserved for something that he had absolutely had to accomplish and had all the necessary means to do so at his disposal.

JO signing is ok. the last thing we have to go on to evaluate his signing is the playoffs and he was atrocious. potentially, he could be good, but that’s potentially. if he satisfies that potential, the offers a good temporary or full season replacement for Perk and can cover both the 4 and 5 positions.

He missed out on TA which leaves a large hole at the back up wing position. Marquis is technically still available but do we want him back. the team’s finances leaves only vet min available to sign a replacement and you won’t get defense of TA’s level for that amount. Wasn’t that a great usage of the BLE. Not kicking ourselves for that move now are we?

Sheed’s contract is his lone valuable chip left to use and while he may be able to use it to fill the back up wing spot or get that extra big man we could use [JO, KG and BBD is a very short rotation to use until Perk can return and there’s no guarantee Perk will be in great playing shape by then] whichever hole he doesn’t fill is still an issue.

He missed out on resigning Shelden who was serviceable in the regular season. knock him for his playoff performance but that doesn’t change the fact he contributed in the regular season which is what we really need this year while waiting for Perk.

Nate? occasionally showed something off the bench but he’s just a backup point. that’ll help spell Rondo at times to keep him fresh late in games I suppose but Nate is a liability if used at the 2 guard due to his height. he’s not even definitely signed yet so if danny doesn’t get him, now we’re looking at a vet min replacement here as well or trying fill yet another hole on the bench with just Sheed’s contract.

In short, the bench is a mess again. we have BBD and 2 rookies (assuming Harangody makes the team which looks pretty safe right now) for sure. JO or Perk will be on the bench when Perk is ready. what else has danny added? Erden maybe? desperation there. Bringing back Scal? Seriously? The guy who’s departure we’ve anticipated for 5 years might be brought back? yikes. so many people on the site are talking up the summer leaguers as possible help for the bench. Have we reached the point of desperation that summer/D-leaguers look like plausible options for rotation spots on the roster?

At this point, Danny only deserves a D. solidify the bench with GOOD role players and he’ll deserve a better grade at that point but right now, he’s got precious little at his disposal to do so. He doesn’t necessarily need to move fast to do this as long as his patience ends up producing quality results.

Great assessment, STK ... and I concur. Still plenty of time left, and I'm sure he's got some things in the works, but I was hoping for a bit more light at the end of the tunnel by this point. We'll see. (TP)

[35Lewis]

The offseason is over?

Man, I've been asleep for a really long time.

[BballTim]

From my response on the front page article:

graded a D
Resigning Ray and PP were a given. no credit deserved for something that he had absolutely had to accomplish and had all the necessary means to do so at his disposal.

JO signing is ok. the last thing we have to go on to evaluate his signing is the playoffs and he was atrocious.

  I could give Miami worse than a D if I don't give them credit for re-signing Wade or getting Bosh or James.

  You're seriously evaluating a vet like JO solely on his playoff performance? Are you expecting him to have a fg% of around 25% this year?

[Bahku]

The offseason is over?

Man, I've been asleep for a really long time.

Just to clarify, (once more), what seems to be completely overlooked, the question is "so far" in the off-season ... not in any way intimating that the off-season is over.

[the_Bird]

What I wanted Danny to accomplish this offseason:

1. Get Doc back (CHECK!)
1a. Get a good replacement for Tom Thibs as Doc's lead assistant  (CHECK!)

2. Resign Pierce to a reasonable extension (CHECK!)

3. Resign Ray Allen, ideally to a two-year contract (CHECK!)

4. Acquire a starting-caliber wing (Mike Miller, Reddick, Outlaw) to alleviate regular-season wear-and-team on Paul and Ray.  (FAIL!, at least so far)

5. Acquire a decent backup 5, to start for Perk while he recovers and to fill 'Sheed's role when he returns. (CHECK!)

6. Re-sign Tony Allen (FAIL)

7. Re-sign Nate Robinson (CHECK)

8. Improve the team's bench depth; another veteran big, another veteran wing (FAIL, so far)

9. Sign Perk to an extension (no rumblings of anything yet; may be more valuable as an expiring contract anyway)


Overall, I've got to give Danny at least a "B," and if he can convert 'Sheed's contract into a good wing then it'll be a solid "A-."  

Bonus points for getting Pierce and Ray Allen to agree to contracts that clearly look to be below-market.  Ray Allen (and Jermaine O'Neil, for that matter) could have gotten three-year offers elsewhere.  Pierce could probably have gotten either a fifth year or something more than $60M had he gone elsewhere.  

EXTRA bonus points for locking up Rondo last year, and saving the team what, probably $5M annually?  Rondo would have gotten a mighty, MIGHTY sweet offer from the Knicks or the Nets this offseason.  Gotta give Danny props for not letting Rondo even get to free agency.

[35Lewis]

The offseason is over?

Man, I've been asleep for a really long time.

Just to clarify, (once more), what seems to be completely overlooked, the question is "so far" in the off-season ... not in any way intimating that the off-season is over.

Which makes sense in August but when you are two weeks in then grading came out before the test. 

[dlpin]

Given the celtics situation (over the cap, good but not overwhelming favorites, starting 5 set so limited playing time to offer, etc) I think that so far Danny has done a pretty good job. Add a wing and I'll be pretty happy.

[slamtheking]

From my response on the front page article:

graded a D
Resigning Ray and PP were a given. no credit deserved for something that he had absolutely had to accomplish and had all the necessary means to do so at his disposal.

JO signing is ok. the last thing we have to go on to evaluate his signing is the playoffs and he was atrocious.

  I could give Miami worse than a D if I don't give them credit for re-signing Wade or getting Bosh or James.

  You're seriously evaluating a vet like JO solely on his playoff performance? Are you expecting him to have a fg% of around 25% this year?

Yes, you could give Miami a D if they don't resign Wade and get Bron and Bosh.  However, they did so they would get the A+.  They did the minimum required not to get an F which was resign Wade.  Getting Bosh alone (and kept their better FA's) would have got them an A-.  

As for JO, I'm a firm believer in evaluating players based on their most recent play and not what they did earlier in their career or even earlier in a season (with the exception of a minor injury).  JO's performance in the playoffs was atrocious.  plain and simple.  The new news that he may have been injured helps explain some of that performance if it was true but it just becomes part of JO's typical pattern of play during the past several years where injuries have impacted his play.  His pre-playoff injury may be minor enough to fully recover from before the preseason but it's just another concern-->another older player added to the roster with health problems.  Nothing to rate a higher grade on by itself.  

Now that Nate has resigned, I'd say I'd bump the grade to a D+ -->again, Danny has the tools to get this done so I'm not going to do cartwheels over it.  It became a necessity because the bench is still a very empty cupboard right now.  

If Danny can turn Sheed's deal into a couple of solid bench players that help at the wing and frontline OR he nets a prime backup wing that can play SG and SF well and say Kurt Thomas as a big off the bench, I'd consider that worth a B.  

Just to be clear what I consider the difference between an A and a B:
A-->C's are the clear team to beat in the East regardless of anyone else's roster
B-->C's are a clear contender for the ECF but not a sure thing to get there
C-->C's have a chance to get to the ECF if they catch fire again in the playoffs which essentially means they've treaded water.
D-->C's are clearly staying the course and not rebuilding but have not even held serve in regards to the caliber of their personnel from last season.
F-->C's are taking a significant step backwards.

Right now, Danny's moves qualify as a D.  They're staying the course with the big 3.  They only have 1 center on the team with NBA experience and his last time on the court wasn't particularly good.  They have no backup wing except 2 rookies who are short for their natural positions.  They're only big on the bench is short for either the PF or C spot and still will have issues with getting stuffed around the basket next year.  They've just re-upped a decent backup PG who's capable of putting up serious points but can be a liability on defense, again, based on being short for his position.  To me, that qualifies as a D right now for good reason.

As mentioned earlier, if Danny can improve on the quality and volume of players on the bench like another serviceable big man to suck up minutes until Perk returns and a really good wing that can sub for both Ray and PP THEN and only then does Danny merit a better grade.

[Birdbrain]

From my response on the front page article:

graded a D
Resigning Ray and PP were a given. no credit deserved for something that he had absolutely had to accomplish and had all the necessary means to do so at his disposal.

JO signing is ok. the last thing we have to go on to evaluate his signing is the playoffs and he was atrocious.

  I could give Miami worse than a D if I don't give them credit for re-signing Wade or getting Bosh or James.

  You're seriously evaluating a vet like JO solely on his playoff performance? Are you expecting him to have a fg% of around 25% this year?

Yes, you could give Miami a D if they don't resign Wade and get Bron and Bosh.  However, they did so they would get the A+.  They did the minimum required not to get an F which was resign Wade.  Getting Bosh alone (and kept their better FA's) would have got them an A-. 

As for JO, I'm a firm believer in evaluating players based on their most recent play and not what they did earlier in their career or even earlier in a season (with the exception of a minor injury).  JO's performance in the playoffs was atrocious.  plain and simple.  The new news that he may have been injured helps explain some of that performance if it was true but it just becomes part of JO's typical pattern of play during the past several years where injuries have impacted his play.  His pre-playoff injury may be minor enough to fully recover from before the preseason but it's just another concern-->another older player added to the roster with health problems.  Nothing to rate a higher grade on by itself. 

Now that Nate has resigned, I'd say I'd bump the grade to a D+ -->again, Danny has the tools to get this done so I'm not going to do cartwheels over it.  It became a necessity because the bench is still a very empty cupboard right now. 

If Danny can turn Sheed's deal into a couple of solid bench players that help at the wing and frontline OR he nets a prime backup wing that can play SG and SF well and say Kurt Thomas as a big off the bench, I'd consider that worth a B. 

I don't begrudge your opinion but, I have no idea how you came to conclusion that resigning your own players is not worth anything (especially HOF players) but, resigning other teams players is.  That doesn't pass the logic test. 

And JO stuff is pessimistic at best. 

You weren't the lowest but, you are bringing down the curve.

[slamtheking]

From my response on the front page article:

graded a D
Resigning Ray and PP were a given. no credit deserved for something that he had absolutely had to accomplish and had all the necessary means to do so at his disposal.

JO signing is ok. the last thing we have to go on to evaluate his signing is the playoffs and he was atrocious.

  I could give Miami worse than a D if I don't give them credit for re-signing Wade or getting Bosh or James.

  You're seriously evaluating a vet like JO solely on his playoff performance? Are you expecting him to have a fg% of around 25% this year?

Yes, you could give Miami a D if they don't resign Wade and get Bron and Bosh.  However, they did so they would get the A+.  They did the minimum required not to get an F which was resign Wade.  Getting Bosh alone (and kept their better FA's) would have got them an A-. 

As for JO, I'm a firm believer in evaluating players based on their most recent play and not what they did earlier in their career or even earlier in a season (with the exception of a minor injury).  JO's performance in the playoffs was atrocious.  plain and simple.  The new news that he may have been injured helps explain some of that performance if it was true but it just becomes part of JO's typical pattern of play during the past several years where injuries have impacted his play.  His pre-playoff injury may be minor enough to fully recover from before the preseason but it's just another concern-->another older player added to the roster with health problems.  Nothing to rate a higher grade on by itself. 

Now that Nate has resigned, I'd say I'd bump the grade to a D+ -->again, Danny has the tools to get this done so I'm not going to do cartwheels over it.  It became a necessity because the bench is still a very empty cupboard right now. 

If Danny can turn Sheed's deal into a couple of solid bench players that help at the wing and frontline OR he nets a prime backup wing that can play SG and SF well and say Kurt Thomas as a big off the bench, I'd consider that worth a B. 

I don't begrudge your opinion but, I have no idea how you came to conclusion that resigning your own players is not worth anything (especially HOF players) but, resigning other teams players is.  That doesn't pass the logic test. 

And JO stuff is pessimistic at best. 

You weren't the lowest but, you are bringing down the curve.

didn't realize we were grading on the curve 

My opinion on resigning your own players is that a decent GM will always be able to do so since they have the advantage of being able to throw more money and years at their players than other teams.  Throw is a players ties to the community as a small incentive to stay, the home team has an advantage provided the player feels the like the team is going in the right direction.  In PP and Ray's case, they both wanted to stay and made no secret about that.  Danny had no reason for not accomplishing that. 

I'm not giving him extra credit for that.  now if Perk were healthy going into next year and Danny had a frontline rotation of Perk, KG, JO and BBD, I'd be very happy but Danny's got to plan for having no Perk for most of the season and probably a lesser-Perk through the playoffs.  With that issue, Danny's task is to account for that problem and counteract it with more than just JO.  He has yet to do so.

[BballTim]

From my response on the front page article:

graded a D
Resigning Ray and PP were a given. no credit deserved for something that he had absolutely had to accomplish and had all the necessary means to do so at his disposal.

JO signing is ok. the last thing we have to go on to evaluate his signing is the playoffs and he was atrocious.

  I could give Miami worse than a D if I don't give them credit for re-signing Wade or getting Bosh or James.

  You're seriously evaluating a vet like JO solely on his playoff performance? Are you expecting him to have a fg% of around 25% this year?

Yes, you could give Miami a D if they don't resign Wade and get Bron and Bosh.  However, they did so they would get the A+.

  Sure, just like Danny *did* re-sign Paul and Ray. I just think that starting out an evaluation with "if you give Danny zero credit for his biggest and most important signings, his grade is..." isn't really a fair evaluation. But to ech his own. It's kind of like the people who start their evaluation of Danny as a GM with "if you don't give him any credit for trading for KG and RA...".

As for JO, I'm a firm believer in evaluating players based on their most recent play and not what they did earlier in their career or even earlier in a season (with the exception of a minor injury).  JO's performance in the playoffs was atrocious.  plain and simple.  The new news that he may have been injured helps explain some of that performance if it was true but it just becomes part of JO's typical pattern of play during the past several years where injuries have impacted his play.  His pre-playoff injury may be minor enough to fully recover from before the preseason but it's just another concern-->another older player added to the roster with health problems.  Nothing to rate a higher grade on by itself.  

  While I can see why you evaluated  him the way you did, I would think that if you evaluate him solely on his 4 ppg on 25% shooting in the playoffs, you're expecting similar production next year. I think that those expectations are awfully low, but it's your grade.

[Q_FBE]

Slamtheking is a tough marker here.

A - remains in title contention
B - Good enough to play in the ECF in 2011
C - Holding water - 2nd round exit
D - Stepping back but still a playoff team
F - Heading back to the lottery.

I would give Danny a B- so far but there is a lot work that needs to be accomplished to stay in the championship debate. And even if Danny gets all his players (we lost Ronnie Brewer to the Bulljazz which is a BIG loss), we may still end up with a Gentlemen's B-. 

What is wrong with bringing back Marquis Daniels and Brian Scalabrine?

What is wrong with having Sheed flip the switch in February and rejoining the team for one last hurrah?

[Mr October]

So far a "B". I expect the remaining holes filled before training camp:

a solid reserve wing
a depth wing
a depth big