Celtics sign O'bryant

[Mr October]

Okay, according to Fox Sports, it's a one-year minimum deal, with a second year team option.  I can live with that.

The Boston Celtics have reached a one-year deal with former lottery pick Patrick O'Bryant.

O'Bryant was drafted ninth overall in the 2006 draft by the Golden State Warriors, but averaged 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in two seasons.

The Celtics, who hold a club option for a second season, will likely lose veteran big man P.J. Brown, and O'Bryant is worth the risk at minimum salary.

O'Bryant also fielded interest from Miami, Indiana and Minnesota.

Link.

Perfect. No harm in a minimum contract flier. They can always cut him for a late season pickup. He gives the C's a body for insurance. And if he can become a decent rim defender, we may have picked up a little gem. A 7 footer for about 600,000. Sweet.

[gar]

I never liked O`bryant but I wanted to "scout" him out a bit more. What was said before the draft, his strengths, weaknesses, stats...

I have to say after reading all this that I am not that down on the guy anymore. A good environment, veteran team, Clifford Ray is just what he needs. He might be a decent pickup afterall...

Some links...

Draftexpress: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Patrick-O-Bryant-333/
NBAdraft.net: http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/patrickobryant.html


Stats:
College: http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/patrick-o-bryant
NBDL: http://www.basketball-reference.com/nbdl/players/o/obryapa01d.html
NBA: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/patrick_obryant/career_stats.html

The NBA stats are meaningless. The D league stats are comparable to Gabe Pruitt's adjusted for his position. I am not thrilled with Pruitt; but to say this is a big mistake lets be fair. His rebounding % was #1 in D league and he led in Blocks per. He was seen by many as "the dominant big man in the 2006 draft" according to draftexpress during a year where most mocks had him ranked in the top 15. Bradey and POB stole the show in the NCAA tournament "upsetting Kansas in the first round and Pittsburgh in the second. It was O’Bryant’s 28 point performance against Aaron Gray that put him in the national spotlight. On the season, O’Bryant averaged 13.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg, and 2.9 bpg in 25.7 mpg. He shot 55.2% from the floor, and 67.6% from the line". 

Danny looks at people in terms of their whole career. He was clearly watching POB closely in 2006. By the way draftexpress "worst case Michael Olywokandi" - still a young kid and a late bloomer at that. Only concern is he made over 2mil. last year; but decent gamble at  min. salary.

FOX link above second year team option

[Rondo2287]

Coach Don Nelson had critical words for him: "I told him if he goes down to the D-League and isn't a dominant player, there should be red flags all over the place, and he should be the first to notice. He's not only not dominating, he's not playing very well. He's a long-term project. I really liked him the first week of training camp, but I assumed there would be great progress. ... He hasn't gotten better one bit."

Sounds like a great pickup to me....

[Triboy16]

dannys worst free agent signings

1. dan dickau - I think danny literally saw himself in dickau and signed him. He was nothing like ainge at all and was his dumbest signing

2. blount - Ainge shouldn't be killed on this signing. Nobody knew blount would turn out to be one of those crooks. He performed his heart out before his good contract (i still recall that one 18 rebound game performance against miami) and you saw a player who was fluid, had skills and with hard work could be a really decent center in the league. After he got his money he turned into a complete different player. Cant really blame danny

I really can't think of many more bad ones. He made some bad trades also, but also made some amazing ones like getting rid of jilsh for enough draft picks, getting kg and ray allen etc

i think if o'bryant fails his track record is still good. He was dirt cheap probably, has a hunger to play in the nba, has potential, will get coaching from kg and perk. Worst case he is a big body that can deflect shots and just be a presence in the middle. Not much more we can ask for than that while kg or perk rest during games

[Cman]

12. Posey
13. House
14. Birdman
 

15. Bill Walker

Basically I agree with your line of thinking.  
If the Celtics end the summer having signed their draft picks (Giddens and Walker), resigned Posey, taken a flyer on O'Bryant, and brought aboard a vet PG and C, then I am a happy man.  Whether the vet PG and C are House and Birdman or two others (Arroyo and Elson?) I don't much mind.

[gpap]

I've never heard a thing about this guy! I hope this doesn't mean that Danny Ainge is turning back into the same cheap skate he was before last summer when he constructed the 2007/08 team.

[kw10]

wow 11 pages already, took some time to read...I think this is a pretty good signing, with the second year being a team option. I certainly like him better than the birdman, and what better cicumstances can there be for a big man to come to, with KG and Clifford Ray. The warrior's style certainly didn't suit him, so I think we still have yet to see what he really is. The only major concern I have about him is his strength to bang with others down low.

And oh, I like the nickname P.O Box 26, TP celticsballa32.

[Cman]

wow 11 pages already, took some time to read...

In my opinion, the 11 pages are mostly due to pent up anxiety/ excitement about the Posey saga.  This has little to do with POB, it is just the first official news out of that secret organization that we all feel is so special: The Boston Celtics.
 

[Fan from VT]

Awesome. This is the reason I love Celticsblog: coming back to check and having to read 11 pages about O'bryant. Anyway, having read this thread, these are my thoughts:

1. Hard to give Ainge a grade on free agents. He's never had anything but the MLE to work with, and with the MLE, it seems you have to have a desirable team to get anything of value, and with his first stab at free agency with a good team, he grabbed House, Posey, and Pollard, which turned out very well. Who knows how Googs and Dickau would have looked filling in that second unit this year?

2. Here is why I like this signing, assuming it doesn't eat into the MLE:

- He's had some success in limited minutes. In his second season, in what time he had, he posted a 13.41 PER.

- He can block shots. .4  in only 5.6 minutes. that's about 1.5 in only 20 minutes

- He's young, only 22, with room to grow.

- His rookie year was wasted with some injuries and transitioning from a smaller school to the NBA. He improved in his second season, but frankly Nelly does not like true centers and he doesn't fit Nelly's super uptempo style. I think he'd be much better on the slower C's, finishing dunk passes and blocking shots and rebounding next to KG.

- He rated okay in Hollinger's draft projection system. I know it's far from perfect, but it's more accurate than the actual draft, and it has him around the level of BBD, Alridge, McRoberts, Hawes, Turiaf, Frye. Some decent players there.

- Between the big three, the celtics' returned pedigree, our strength and conditioning coaches (look at the change that Big Al and Perk went through!) and Clifford Ray, I've got hopes.

- His game log is extremely bare, but it seems like in the few chances he actually got some extended run, he was productive.

[incoherent]

This pic proves Clifford Rays talent.

DA and Doc know Cliff will put it to this youngster and get him playing the right way.

I like this signing, we needed young athletic size.

BBD and Powe are Short Non Athletic front court players.

[Fan from VT]

This pic proves Clifford Rays talent.

DA and Doc know Cliff will put it to this youngster and get him playing the right way.

I like this signing, we needed young athletic size.

BBD and Powe are Short Non Athletic front court players.

Got to quibble with this. Powe is small for a PF, but he's got decent wingspan, is very strong and quite athletic.

[Brendan]

Doesn't matter what his measurments are: Powe is a good player and BBD is an okay one. Th PO Box is here to provide size when its needed, which is rarely. If he gets better great, if not so what.

[The Walker Wiggle]

I found this from last season. It's either funny or funny-sad depending on how seriously you take our signing a young, lazy center prospect for a one year look at the veteran's minimum.

...During a timeout in the final seconds with the game hanging in the balance, we swear we saw Patrick O’Bryant (not paying a bit of attention to what was happening in the huddle) take gum out of his mouth and pretend-bowl it under the bench...

I'm fine with it as long as it's a precursor to our signing Posey for the full MLE (i.e. not enough money available to offer a better backup center); and it doesn't mean trading away or waiving either Giddens or Walker for roster space.

He at least takes some of the heat off of Glen Davis, who was before this a lock to show up to training camp in the worst shape. And I like to imagine Garnett cussing him out during practice.

[RebusRankin]

I've changed my mind. I'm ok with this since its for the minimum. He is a young, 7 footer, with decent rebounding and shot blocking skills.

[Roy Hobbs]

I found this from last season. It's either funny or funny-sad depending on how seriously you take our signing a young, lazy center prospect for a one year look at the veteran's minimum.

...During a timeout in the final seconds with the game hanging in the balance, we swear we saw Patrick O’Bryant (not paying a bit of attention to what was happening in the huddle) take gum out of his mouth and pretend-bowl it under the bench...

Nothing to that Blount comparison at all.