Sam Cassell wants to come back; how does that effect House? (merged)

[Rondo2287]

I really think that Cassel has been unfairly treated in this town.  He is a  scoring Point Guard.  He has been his whole career.  Doc Puts him in off the bench to score and we get upset when he shoots?  When you look at what he did with LA two years ago in the playoffs you realize how valuable he can be.  Him and Elton Brand played a game of two on two against nash and Marion(or whoever was guarding brand) the fourth quarter of almost every game and took the suns to a 7 game series when the clips were the three seed.  And lets not forget how crucial he was to the success of the team in game one of the finals.  I think he had 8 points including nailing a jumper in the second half when KG dove into the back court to save the ball.  I would welcome Sam and his Alien brethren back with open arms if he wanted to play here another season. 

[Rondo2287]

I really think that Cassel has been unfairly treated in this town.  He is a  scoring Point Guard.  He has been his whole career.  Doc Puts him in off the bench to score and we get upset when he shoots?  When you look at what he did with LA two years ago in the playoffs you realize how valuable he can be.  Him and Elton Brand played a game of two on two against nash and Marion(or whoever was guarding brand) the fourth quarter of almost every game and took the suns to a 7 game series when the clips were the six seed.  And lets not forget how crucial he was to the success of the team in game one of the finals.  I think he had 8 points including nailing a jumper in the second half when KG dove into the back court to save the ball.  I would welcome Sam and his Alien brethren back with open arms if he wanted to play here another season.

[libermaniac]

Did you also want Eric Gagne back with the Red Sox? 

[Rondo2287]

No because Gagne blew games for the redsox.  I cannot recall a single game that Cassel Blew for the Celtics. 

[Frontierboy]

To think about it, the Celtics can't say "no" to Sam if he's willing to play for the minimum.  I don't think Lue would come to Boston since we don't need another little guy......

If we keep the exact same players ( with the exception of PJ retiring ) I don't have a problem with that...... even resigning Pollard would be fine with me as a lot of the winning had to do with TEAM CHEMISTRY.  I'd hate to bring in a guy that ruins it. When the team signed PJ, its cause Ray and Paul lobbied for him so they knew what they were getting.  When Cassell joined, Ray and KG were close to him, so they knew what they were getting...... it's hard to add someone else because its a roll of the dice ....

TEAM CHEMISTRY BABY, TEAM CHEMISTRY

[Rondo2287]

Dont think this should have been merged..... one thread was people trashing cassel the other was me saying i wanted him back....

[crownsy]

whats your defintion of "blew it" in a basketball game though? i can remeber more than a few where we lost by 6 points or less and sam took more than 3 terrable shots (i.e leading to fast breaks/ blocks).

you could argue him giving away possesions in those games was crucial.
I prefer to look at it another way, name me games where sam had a significant impact on the victory. i can think of 3.

SA, the second Cavs playoff game, and dallas.

i can think of a whole lot more than those 3 where i thought he was stageringly ineffective off the bench.

Plus, he doesn't play defense, team or otherwise, not from lack of effort, but due to physical limitations. Those will only be incresed this year.

[libermaniac]

No because Gagne blew games for the redsox.  I cannot recall a single game that Cassel Blew for the Celtics. 

Well, it's a little different than baseball in that you can't pinpoint a loss to a single guy as easily, but his 0-17 shooting from the 2nd game of the Cleveland series till the end can't exactly inspire confidence.

[12417]

Cassell should be brought back at the vet minimum. Gabe Pruitt's game is a lot like Cassell's in his day. Pruitt will benefit greatly from being mentored by Cassell. Rondo's play in the post season, and his continued improvement was due in part to Sam. There's no other vet that can bring Sam's cache to the lockerroom or have a voice respected by the Triumvirate. I think it's obvious that his pros outweigh the cons.

Eddie's minutes shouldn't be effected by Cassell has much as they are going to be effected by Pruitt and the team's plan on getting him more PT. Cassell will only get minutes through injury and on some back-to-backs and those 4 games in 5 days road trips.

[Roy Hobbs]

Dont think this should have been merged..... one thread was people trashing cassel the other was me saying i wanted him back....

Everyone is talking about whether they want Cassell back.  That's the same topic, you just have a different opinion than the majority.  It would be fairly odd if we confined threads to only those people who agreed on a particular subject, and asked those who opposed it to start their own thread.

[Rondo2287]

I can remember plenty of times when Sam was effective during the game in the role that we needed.  You talk about bad shots he's taking but most of the time he is out there with a group of subs and either pierce or allen.  Pierce or allen are doubled, and with powe, posey, and perk or pj on the floor with him, i would say he is one of our better offensive options.  I am much more comfortable with him taking mid range jumpers which has been his game his entire career than with pj taking a jumper, or leon forcing it inside. 

I also think you need to give him time to adjust to a new team before you judge him.  The Celtics were asking him to do something he hasnt done his entire career which is be a spark off the bench. I think it is only natural to put up shots when you come into a game knowing your minutes are limited and trying to buy yourself more time by coming into the game and shooting the ball well. 

Also i can remember plenty of times when you saw Sam being the first player off the bench after a timeout is called congratulating guys and talking to guys on the bench about the game.  I think Cassel understands his role on this team and was an incredible character guy for them as well as a very knowledgeable veteran presence.

[Rondo2287]

Also, Cassel had 4 double digit scoring games in the first 8 playoff games this season.  But I guess some people have selective memories. 

[Roy Hobbs]

You talk about bad shots he's taking but most of the time he is out there with a group of subs and either pierce or allen. 

I'll agree with you on that: late in the year, and throughout most of the playoffs, Sam was misused.  The four-man bench units weren't very effective, and when Sam's shot was off, it absolutely killed the team because there were few other offensive options out there. 

Sam would have no doubt played better if he was out there with two or three of the starters at a time.  That being said, I think he's washed up.

[Roy Hobbs]

Also, Cassel had 4 double digit scoring games in the first 8 playoff games this season.  But I guess some people have selective memories. 

And in the other  four of those those games, he scored four points or less, shot 33% or below in each game, and never had more than two assists.

Just as bad as selective memories are selective stats.  For the entirety of the playoffs, Sam shot 33.3%, including 21.4% on three pointers.  He averaged 3.8 points and 1.2 assists per game, in 10.2 minutes.  Sam had a wretched playoff PER of 7.2.

During the regular season, he shot 38.5%.  While he was better than he showed in the playoffs, he still wasn't good.

[crownsy]

I can remember plenty of times when Sam was effective during the game in the role that we needed.  You talk about bad shots he's taking but most of the time he is out there with a group of subs and either pierce or allen.  Pierce or allen are doubled, and with powe, posey, and perk or pj on the floor with him, i would say he is one of our better offensive options.  I am much more comfortable with him taking mid range jumpers which has been his game his entire career than with pj taking a jumper, or leon forcing it inside. 

I also think you need to give him time to adjust to a new team before you judge him.  The Celtics were asking him to do something he hasnt done his entire career which is be a spark off the bench. I think it is only natural to put up shots when you come into a game knowing your minutes are limited and trying to buy yourself more time by coming into the game and shooting the ball well. 

Also i can remember plenty of times when you saw Sam being the first player off the bench after a timeout is called congratulating guys and talking to guys on the bench about the game.  I think Cassel understands his role on this team and was an incredible character guy for them as well as a very knowledgeable veteran presence.

right, all good points. but to be fair, he can provide leadership in an assistant coach role (which i would really have no problem with, all reports are he's a great teacher and wants to coach) and as to the "you relly need to give him time to gel" comment;

the man is 39, and his legs are clearly breaking down. as i said, he can't play defense. he is horrid moving lateraly. im not saying he's a cripple, i hope i can move half as well when im 39 on the court, but this is the NBA, not my rec league.

sam is out of time, he's a 39 year old gaurd. he's not going to make any marked improvemnts in his game.

assistant coach or on another team please.