You have one good player and its marion. He is also a scumbag and an aweful lockerroom guy. Stuckey is young and there is no reason to believe he is ready to start at the two guard in this league. Kirelenko is coming off two aweful years. There is a reason he dropped so far. And Blatche?? are you being serious?
First of all, I am being serious. Your critique on Marion is fair, but I strongly believe that the reason he has been prone to being somewhat of a, as you strongly put it, "Scumbag", is that it is difficult for him to accept that he was the third option on the Suns. It can be a jarring thing for an athlete when they find out they are not as valued in a system as they think themselves to be. Am I expecting him to be a locker room leader? No, I expect him to not care as long as he gets his touches and the offense is geared towards his style of play, which it will be.
You bring up a great point in Kirilenko's numbers going down over the past two years. I think he is in a very similar situation to Marion, only more dramatic. He went from being the Jazz's number one option to their 4th over the course of a season. That has to mess with one's confidence and passion. So again, I think the change of scenery would do wonderful for Andrei.
I believe Stuckey is ready to start as a two guard in this league. He has no physical deficits to make up. He has shown he isn't afraid of the moment, both defensively and offensively. The question mark is his 3-Point shooting. But he is so lethal from mid-range that it's hard for me to believe that someone with his physical abilities can't develop a consistent 3-Point shot. If Rondo's can jump leaps and bounds, why can't Stuckey's get a little better? And yes, I will not let him shoot around with Shawn.
Am I kidding about Blatche, no not really. I think that if Antwan didn't make his game redundant, Blatche would start in Washington. I think he is a physically gifted, 6-11 center who can shoot, has better post moves than is given credit for, and is an above average passer. He is also 21 years old. His stats are comparable to Perk's THIS season ( Blatche had a higher PPG while Perk grabbed more Boards) when Perk had 4 and a half extra minutes a game. When Perk was 21 he averaged rougly the same numbers as Blatche in Boards and Blocks while scoring 2 points less per game.
An aspect of my team I don't feel is taken into account is it's bench. While I knew players like Bassy and Kwame are not loved on these boards, they're back ups on this team. They're not starting, they're not being asked to be stars, which frankly I think is something both of them could use. Baby brings, and I love saying this, Championship experience to the team as well as leadership for a young team and positivity and charisma that can counter-balance Marion's mood swings. Also, the man can score and is going to evolve into a very good post defender. Villanueva is a fantastic back up PF, again not the star some people might have thought he would be , but a great scoring and athletic back up. JR Smith brings versatility to the bench, capable of playing the 2 and the 3, as well as giving us the 3 ball. CDR, I admit, was a selfish pick. This was the guy I wanted the Celts to take at 30. I think he's going to be a great slasher off the bench and will counter balance JR in a half court set.
Topic: 2008 CelticsBlog draft board. (Read 919347 times)