Sam is absolutely NOT "the best option on the roster". He's counter-productive to everything the Celts are trying to do on both ends of the floor, and a tempo-killer. Sam played over six minutes last night, was 0 for 2 field goals, 0 for 1 three-pointers, (for a grand total of 0 points), and had one assist! How in the heck can you justify that by saying Eddie can't bring the ball up the floor against Fisher but Sam can? Eddie's played against Fisher before and done at least as well as Sam has, without making the horrible decisions to pound the ball and waste time by slowing the offense down and letting the opponent set up their defense that Cassell does.
Sorry, but last night is a bad example for your argument. I hate the +/- stat for anyone but a PG (and its not great for them either), but Cassell was second on the team with a +11. That doesn't happen if the offense is not running, and the defense is not playing well when he is in there.
Granted, you are right for many games, but last night he played pretty close to flawlessly (even the shots he took were within in flow, and the ball rotated to him). Last night he got them into their offense quickly, moved the ball well, and was a big part of them building the lead in the first half, rather than the usual fall-off when Rondo sits down.
I hate the +/- stat, too, because it's a very poor indicator of a player's total effectiveness on the floor, and to say that Sam's performance last night was "flawless", just because he was forced to finally pass the ball, (due to the fact that the Lakers were swallowing him up whenever he touched it), is not remotely objective.
If that was a flawless performance, I'll take Eddie's "flawed" performance any day. Sam is a tempo-killer, and he did it again last night, despite his team's efforts to cover and take up the slack for his lack of energy and momentum. Honestly, to be pleased with Cassell's performance last night ... sorry, but it makes no sense whatsoever.
I'll admit that the damage he did was minimalized by the production of the rest of the team, but to say he's playing perfectly because of a misleading +/- stat, I just don't get it. It's the same kind of thinking that has caused Doc to keep hurting us by putting this guy on the floor, and it's denial of the worst kind.
To have absolutely no points and one assist in over 6 minutes .... how can that possibly be "flawless" production?!? Time for this perfect playing to be flawless while warming the wood.
Well, you saw a different game than me, because I never saw the tempo "killed" last night (except for in the 4th quarter).
He was flawless in running the offense. That is the job of the PG. Everyones biggest complaint of Cassell is that he shoots too much, and doesn't move the ball, and now that he does it, he is doing something wrong, because he isn't scoring?
No one in this game is
ever flawless ... I've truly yet to see
anyone in the history of the game that played perfectly, and certainly not Sam, and not
remotely last night. He was relatively
mistake-free last night, but was hardly instrumental in "running" the floor effectively. Guess it's all about perspective, and while I'll agree to disagree, I'm just far less "Sammy-Friendly" than most, (obviously), because he's wasted most of his time here running his mouth and playing impotent half-court basketball. To each his own.
