Should The Celtics Go After Rashard Lewis?

[Fafnir]

Why?  We already have Jeff Green (assuming we re-sign him, and we should).  Rashard fills almost precisely the same role as Green, without any of the upside.

Of any of the higher profile potential amnesty guys, Baron Davis and Brandon Roy make the most sense, though I think I'd rather re-sign Delonte West.  Mehmet Okur could be the best option, though I'm not sure how much game he has left.

Rashard is a much better defender at the 4 position, he's more comfortable with it. We can let Green be a full-time SF with Rashard here.

I think Rashard Lewis would work well with KG.

With Paul Pierce starting, using Green as only a "full-time SF" means at most 20 minutes a game.  Doesn't seem worth the money we'd be paying Green; it also wouldn't help him develop much into the future starting role we seem to hope he can grow into.

I would see Lewis as a full time power forward with Boston. Jeff Green needs to play more minutes at the SF spot. I don't look at them as the same player.

Perhaps not, but my point is that Jeff Green needs to play more than 15-20 minutes a night and he's not going to unless he gets some time at power forward (he's not gonna play SG or C).  If we have both Rashard and Green on the roster, even if we view them as substantially different players with different roles, the problem remains that one of them will have his potential playing time significantly reduced in favor of the other.  

In other words, combined the two would only play 35 minutes or so.  That doesn't leave a lot of room for both to have a role commensurate with their cost (or interest in playing here).

Okay I buy that having both would make Boston less attractive to them as players, I don't really care.

I want the best team we can field for this year. So we should pursue Lewis and see what sort of money he wants to come to Boston. He'd make us a better team, its just a matter of what it'd cost us.

[Who]

Why?  We already have Jeff Green (assuming we re-sign him, and we should).  Rashard fills almost precisely the same role as Green, without any of the upside.

Of any of the higher profile potential amnesty guys, Baron Davis and Brandon Roy make the most sense, though I think I'd rather re-sign Delonte West.  Mehmet Okur could be the best option, though I'm not sure how much game he has left.

Rashard is a much better defender at the 4 position, he's more comfortable with it. We can let Green be a full-time SF with Rashard here.

I think Rashard Lewis would work well with KG.

With Paul Pierce starting, using Green as only a "full-time SF" means at most 20 minutes a game.  Doesn't seem worth the money we'd be paying Green; it also wouldn't help him develop much into the future starting role we seem to hope he can grow into.

I would see Lewis as a full time power forward with Boston. Jeff Green needs to play more minutes at the SF spot. I don't look at them as the same player.

Perhaps not, but my point is that Jeff Green needs to play more than 15-20 minutes a night and he's not going to unless he gets some time at power forward (he's not gonna play SG or C).  If we have both Rashard and Green on the roster, even if we view them as substantially different players with different roles, the problem remains that one of them will have his potential playing time significantly reduced in favor of the other. 

In other words, combined the two would only play 35 minutes or so.  That doesn't leave a lot of room for both to have a role commensurate with their cost (or interest in playing here).

Unless you move Kevin Garnett to the center position and start Rashard Lewis at PF.

Play a one in four out offense with Rajon Rondo running the show surrounded by the best collection of shooters (Ray, Pierce, Rashard and Garnett) in the league.

Use Jeff Green as a combo forward sixth man, similar to Thaddeus Young in Philadelphia, to get him somewhere around 30 minutes a night too.

Play Jermaine O'Neal as your backup center and keep one of Garnett/Jermaine on the floor at all times to provide interior defense.

That team would struggle some on the boards but it'd be the best offensive team in the league + a well above average defensive squad.

[PosImpos]

Why?  We already have Jeff Green (assuming we re-sign him, and we should).  Rashard fills almost precisely the same role as Green, without any of the upside.

Of any of the higher profile potential amnesty guys, Baron Davis and Brandon Roy make the most sense, though I think I'd rather re-sign Delonte West.  Mehmet Okur could be the best option, though I'm not sure how much game he has left.

Rashard is a much better defender at the 4 position, he's more comfortable with it. We can let Green be a full-time SF with Rashard here.

I think Rashard Lewis would work well with KG.

With Paul Pierce starting, using Green as only a "full-time SF" means at most 20 minutes a game.  Doesn't seem worth the money we'd be paying Green; it also wouldn't help him develop much into the future starting role we seem to hope he can grow into.

I would see Lewis as a full time power forward with Boston. Jeff Green needs to play more minutes at the SF spot. I don't look at them as the same player.

Perhaps not, but my point is that Jeff Green needs to play more than 15-20 minutes a night and he's not going to unless he gets some time at power forward (he's not gonna play SG or C).  If we have both Rashard and Green on the roster, even if we view them as substantially different players with different roles, the problem remains that one of them will have his potential playing time significantly reduced in favor of the other. 

In other words, combined the two would only play 35 minutes or so.  That doesn't leave a lot of room for both to have a role commensurate with their cost (or interest in playing here).

Okay I buy that having both would make Boston less attractive to them as players, I don't really care.

I want the best team we can field for this year. So we should pursue Lewis and see what sort of money he wants to come to Boston. He'd make us a better team, its just a matter of what it'd cost us.

My point is that it's not worth the cost for us to play him 10 minutes a game; the same can be said for Jeff Green.  Yet, if we have both of them one of them will be playing at most 15 minutes a game.  I'd rather have Green play 25 minutes a game and then have somebody else (Wilcox, J.J., etc) playing 10-15 minutes.

[PosImpos]

Why?  We already have Jeff Green (assuming we re-sign him, and we should).  Rashard fills almost precisely the same role as Green, without any of the upside.

Of any of the higher profile potential amnesty guys, Baron Davis and Brandon Roy make the most sense, though I think I'd rather re-sign Delonte West.  Mehmet Okur could be the best option, though I'm not sure how much game he has left.

Rashard is a much better defender at the 4 position, he's more comfortable with it. We can let Green be a full-time SF with Rashard here.

I think Rashard Lewis would work well with KG.

With Paul Pierce starting, using Green as only a "full-time SF" means at most 20 minutes a game.  Doesn't seem worth the money we'd be paying Green; it also wouldn't help him develop much into the future starting role we seem to hope he can grow into.

I would see Lewis as a full time power forward with Boston. Jeff Green needs to play more minutes at the SF spot. I don't look at them as the same player.

Perhaps not, but my point is that Jeff Green needs to play more than 15-20 minutes a night and he's not going to unless he gets some time at power forward (he's not gonna play SG or C).  If we have both Rashard and Green on the roster, even if we view them as substantially different players with different roles, the problem remains that one of them will have his potential playing time significantly reduced in favor of the other.  

In other words, combined the two would only play 35 minutes or so.  That doesn't leave a lot of room for both to have a role commensurate with their cost (or interest in playing here).

Unless you move Kevin Garnett to the center position and start Rashard Lewis at PF.

Play a one in four out offense with Rajon Rondo running the show surrounded by the best collection of shooters (Ray, Pierce, Rashard and Garnett) in the league.

Use Jeff Green as a combo forward sixth man, similar to Thaddeus Young in Philadelphia, to get him somewhere around 30 minutes a night too.

Play Jermaine O'Neal as your backup center and keep one of Garnett/Jermaine on the floor at all times to provide interior defense.

That team would struggle some on the boards but it'd be the best offensive team in the league + a well above average defensive squad.

Starting Lewis at PF and KG at C not only makes our team smaller but also makes us worse defensively and gives us even less inside scoring.  We might have the best collection of jumpshooters in the league in our starting lineup (except on nights when old legs get tired), but we'd have no inside game to speak of.  

Your solution seems to do nothing but compound our current problems (poor rebounding, lack of inside scoring, inconsistent interior defense).

Suffice to say, it would make us worse on defense and I don't think it would make us the best offensive team in the league by any stretch.  In fact, many nights I think the increase in offense wouldn't make up for the decrease in defense.

[jambr380]

I understand people's reservations in getting Rashard because of playing time, but with the age of this team and the high probability of [even small] injuries, getting someone like him for the short term under reasonable contractual terms only makes perfect sense.

...pretty cool run-on sentence, eh?

[Roy H.]

I'd love to have Lewis here, and for chunks of the game we could run out he following lineup:

KG
Lewis
Pierce
Allen
Rondo

That allows us to match up better against Miami, and increases the team's versatility.  Lewis can easily play the 4, and would look good coming off the bench as part of an up tempo unit featuring him and Green, as well.

I don't think it will happen, but I'd be psyched if it did.