Cassell Says He Will Sign Contract With Celtics Next Week

[Chris]

Not trying to be incendiary, or maybe I am, but how do all of you "In Danny We Trust" guys feel about this positive move? I mean, you have to admit, Cassell has more talent than any other player that Danny has brought aboard this off season. You have to be loving this, right? Or are you going to start being negative?

I figure it would be prudent to revisit nick's post here considering Danny has no confirmed that Sam for once was not actually just running his mouth. All I can say is it's a shame. If I'm Eddie House right now I have be incensed by this move. Eddie turned down better offers from other team to stay here because he liked it here and figured he proved himself in the Finals when they went back to him and they won. Now he's gonna get his job stolen from him again. And what's worse is because Sam looks to shoot first, second and third when he's on the court I wonder how well the new guys are really gonna get incorporated into the offense when he's on the floor. First move Danny's made this offseason that I disagree with.

The backup PG job was never firmly his, and if he thought so, then he clearly wasn't paying attention.  Doc had been trying to not use House as a PG since last preseason, and it continued throughout the season and postseason.  He only played PG when they have no other choice.

The C's resigned him as a shooter off the bench.  Not a PG, but a basketball player.  I think all along they planned on playing him a good deal of minutes at the SG position, and that doesn't change if Cassell comes back.  All that changes is that Pruitt might be squeezed out.

[Greenback]

And our post players are, who again? 

Even a casual observer can see that the Celtics are a jump shooting team.
 
Just because Rondo cannot or will not post up, doesn’t mean we can’t use someone who can.

  We're not a jump shooting team. We're middle of the pack in percentage of inside shots.

  http://www.82games.com/FGTEAM11.HTM

If that stats says anything, it tells us that the rest of the league is full of jump shooters and an inside game is rare indeed when only 1 out of 3 shots are from inside.  Does it say how many inside shots are offensive put backs on jumpshots?

[Mr October]

mark me down as confused about the cassell signing...

I want House to play. Cassell is done. 

[KevinGamble]

A little more...

"Sam made a comment that he would like to coach someday, and I already knew that," Ainge said. "But we are working on a deal to bring Sam back as a player. There is nothing done yet, but we could get it done soon. "We always bring four point guards to training camp. We love where Gabe [Pruitt] is and we also have Eddie House. Rajon [Rondo] is our starter and they are fighting for the backup spot." Boston Globe

can we have more than 15 for training camp alone?  If so then I am for this, but if we have to cut a young player with potential, then I just don't get this move.  I hope we this deal is kicking off a phrase that treated us well last year--"the other shoe to drop", because this is shaking my previously unshakable green optimism. 

I like 4 pg for training camp.  I like sam helping out at some point this year, but I don't like loosing Pruitt or Walker before we know what we got with them.  BBD and Scal in a two for one for a back-up center?  I dunno.  I like the bench as presently constituted because there are a lot of question marks there that will be fun to check out here on the blog. But we know what Sam is, and that doesn't interest me that much in the pre-season. 

hoping.  Hoping.  HOPING

GO CELTS!

[Mr October]

And our post players are, who again? 

Even a casual observer can see that the Celtics are a jump shooting team.
 
Just because Rondo cannot or will not post up, doesn’t mean we can’t use someone who can.

  We're not a jump shooting team. We're middle of the pack in percentage of inside shots.

  http://www.82games.com/FGTEAM11.HTM

If that stats says anything, it tells us that the rest of the league is full of jump shooters and an inside game is rare indeed when only 1 out of 3 shots are from inside.  Does it say how many inside shots are offensive put backs on jumpshots?

You don't need stats to know that Boston is a jump shooting team. Just watch a couple games where the C's play against other contenders in the half court. You'll see a heck of a lot of jumpers. Sadly very few teams have a solid post attack (Duncan-style).

The C's just so happen to be a [dang] good jump shooting team. 

[Mr October]

A little more...

"Sam made a comment that he would like to coach someday, and I already knew that," Ainge said. "But we are working on a deal to bring Sam back as a player. There is nothing done yet, but we could get it done soon. "We always bring four point guards to training camp. We love where Gabe [Pruitt] is and we also have Eddie House. Rajon [Rondo] is our starter and they are fighting for the backup spot." Boston Globe

can we have more than 15 for training camp alone?  If so then I am for this, but if we have to cut a young player with potential, then I just don't get this move.  I hope we this deal is kicking off a phrase that treated us well last year--"the other shoe to drop", because this is shaking my previously unshakable green optimism. 

I like 4 pg for training camp.  I like sam helping out at some point this year, but I don't like loosing Pruitt or Walker before we know what we got with them.  BBD and Scal in a two for one for a back-up center?  I dunno.  I like the bench as presently constituted because there are a lot of question marks there that will be fun to check out here on the blog. But we know what Sam is, and that doesn't interest me that much in the pre-season. 

hoping.  Hoping.  HOPING

GO CELTS!

The C's can definitely carry a roster higher than 15 in training camp. I don't think they have to make final cuts until right before the reg season opener.

[D Dub]

Not trying to be incendiary, or maybe I am, but how do all of you "In Danny We Trust" guys feel about this positive move? I mean, you have to admit, Cassell has more talent than any other player that Danny has brought aboard this off season. You have to be loving this, right? Or are you going to start being negative?

I figure it would be prudent to revisit nick's post here considering Danny has no confirmed that Sam for once was not actually just running his mouth. All I can say is it's a shame. If I'm Eddie House right now I have be incensed by this move. Eddie turned down better offers from other team to stay here because he liked it here and figured he proved himself in the Finals when they went back to him and they won. Now he's gonna get his job stolen from him again. And what's worse is because Sam looks to shoot first, second and third when he's on the court I wonder how well the new guys are really gonna get incorporated into the offense when he's on the floor. First move Danny's made this offseason that I disagree with.

The backup PG job was never firmly his, and if he thought so, then he clearly wasn't paying attention.  Doc had been trying to not use House as a PG since last preseason, and it continued throughout the season and postseason.  He only played PG when they have no other choice.

The C's resigned him as a shooter off the bench.  Not a PG, but a basketball player.  I think all along they planned on playing him a good deal of minutes at the SG position, and that doesn't change if Cassell comes back.  All that changes is that Pruitt might be squeezed out.

A shooter off the bench to spread the floor for Ray, Paul and Kevin.  Which means he won't be playing SG.

We used him as Rondo's primary backup last year, and I believe the same is expected of him this year.  He has a much more difficult time guarding opposing 2 guards, while he excels at defending the one.   

One of our better crunch time lineups last year featured him at pg.  Yes he can play the 2 if need be, but Danny brought him in to be a backup pg.

[kenmaine]

Cassell came close to costing the C's the title last season. He sucked, plain and simple.
He had about one or two decent games and a couple of good moments here and there. If Doc didn't finally go back to House when it was almost too late, we probably wouldn't have won.
 Why do people feel obligated to defend Cassell? He had a nice career, it's over, move on.

Whatever talent he had is irrelevent- he's old! And personally, I prefer a team game, not one-on-one play, even though Sam is(or was) an amazing talent.
Please Danny, whatever the fascination is with this guy, don't do it.

[EJPLAYA]

Not trying to be incendiary, or maybe I am, but how do all of you "In Danny We Trust" guys feel about this positive move? I mean, you have to admit, Cassell has more talent than any other player that Danny has brought aboard this off season. You have to be loving this, right? Or are you going to start being negative?

I figure it would be prudent to revisit nick's post here considering Danny has no confirmed that Sam for once was not actually just running his mouth. All I can say is it's a shame. If I'm Eddie House right now I have be incensed by this move. Eddie turned down better offers from other team to stay here because he liked it here and figured he proved himself in the Finals when they went back to him and they won. Now he's gonna get his job stolen from him again. And what's worse is because Sam looks to shoot first, second and third when he's on the court I wonder how well the new guys are really gonna get incorporated into the offense when he's on the floor. First move Danny's made this offseason that I disagree with.

The backup PG job was never firmly his, and if he thought so, then he clearly wasn't paying attention.  Doc had been trying to not use House as a PG since last preseason, and it continued throughout the season and postseason.  He only played PG when they have no other choice.

The C's resigned him as a shooter off the bench.  Not a PG, but a basketball player.  I think all along they planned on playing him a good deal of minutes at the SG position, and that doesn't change if Cassell comes back.  All that changes is that Pruitt might be squeezed out.

A shooter off the bench to spread the floor for Ray, Paul and Kevin.  Which means he won't be playing SG.

We used him as Rondo's primary backup last year, and I believe the same is expected of him this year.  He has a much more difficult time guarding opposing 2 guards, while he excels at defending the one.   

One of our better crunch time lineups last year featured him at pg.  Yes he can play the 2 if need be, but Danny brought him in to be a backup pg.

Sam hasn't EXCELLED at guarding the one in years. He is slow as molasses and the huge majority of pg's blow right past him. This causes other players to have to rotate to pick his man up which leaves open theirs. If you want to throw out Sam's positives, which there are a couple, don't be making stuff up.

Positives:

He is a decent "bring the ball up under pressure" pg.
He is obviously liked by his teammates and coaches.
He can get hot at times.
He can back smaller guards down on the block.

Negatives:

He is shoot first, second, and third before looking to pass the ball.
He does not push the ball up the floor, rather looks to hard dribble the thing up with his back turned and head down.
He can shoot you right out of a game much more often than shoot you in one.
He rarely posts anyone up anymore because he doesn't let the play develop.
He is extremely slow footed these days and can't play decent defense.
He stalls the offense.

All in all, there really isn't a very good reason to bring this guy back. I am willing to bet that House didn't know this was likely to happen prior to signing up with us again. I think it is all in Gabe's hands to prove he can be a decent third guard so they will cut Sam. If not, and Doc is willing to have Sam sit, then maybe it isn't the end of the world. Pretty close though...

[D Dub]

Not trying to be incendiary, or maybe I am, but how do all of you "In Danny We Trust" guys feel about this positive move? I mean, you have to admit, Cassell has more talent than any other player that Danny has brought aboard this off season. You have to be loving this, right? Or are you going to start being negative?

I figure it would be prudent to revisit nick's post here considering Danny has no confirmed that Sam for once was not actually just running his mouth. All I can say is it's a shame. If I'm Eddie House right now I have be incensed by this move. Eddie turned down better offers from other team to stay here because he liked it here and figured he proved himself in the Finals when they went back to him and they won. Now he's gonna get his job stolen from him again. And what's worse is because Sam looks to shoot first, second and third when he's on the court I wonder how well the new guys are really gonna get incorporated into the offense when he's on the floor. First move Danny's made this offseason that I disagree with.

The backup PG job was never firmly his, and if he thought so, then he clearly wasn't paying attention.  Doc had been trying to not use House as a PG since last preseason, and it continued throughout the season and postseason.  He only played PG when they have no other choice.

The C's resigned him as a shooter off the bench.  Not a PG, but a basketball player.  I think all along they planned on playing him a good deal of minutes at the SG position, and that doesn't change if Cassell comes back.  All that changes is that Pruitt might be squeezed out.

A shooter off the bench to spread the floor for Ray, Paul and Kevin.  Which means he won't be playing SG.

We used him as Rondo's primary backup last year, and I believe the same is expected of him this year.  He has a much more difficult time guarding opposing 2 guards, while he excels at defending the one.   

One of our better crunch time lineups last year featured him at pg.  Yes he can play the 2 if need be, but Danny brought him in to be a backup pg.

Sam hasn't EXCELLED at guarding the one in years. He is slow as molasses and the huge majority of pg's blow right past him. This causes other players to have to rotate to pick his man up which leaves open theirs. If you want to throw out Sam's positives, which there are a couple, don't be making stuff up.

Positives:

He is a decent "bring the ball up under pressure" pg.
He is obviously liked by his teammates and coaches.
He can get hot at times.
He can back smaller guards down on the block.

Negatives:

He is shoot first, second, and third before looking to pass the ball.
He does not push the ball up the floor, rather looks to hard dribble the thing up with his back turned and head down.
He can shoot you right out of a game much more often than shoot you in one.
He rarely posts anyone up anymore because he doesn't let the play develop.
He is extremely slow footed these days and can't play decent defense.
He stalls the offense.

All in all, there really isn't a very good reason to bring this guy back. I am willing to bet that House didn't know this was likely to happen prior to signing up with us again. I think it is all in Gabe's hands to prove he can be a decent third guard so they will cut Sam. If not, and Doc is willing to have Sam sit, then maybe it isn't the end of the world. Pretty close though...

I was talking about Eddie in my post.  I am in full agreement with you on old boy Sam.

[EJPLAYA]

Not trying to be incendiary, or maybe I am, but how do all of you "In Danny We Trust" guys feel about this positive move? I mean, you have to admit, Cassell has more talent than any other player that Danny has brought aboard this off season. You have to be loving this, right? Or are you going to start being negative?

I figure it would be prudent to revisit nick's post here considering Danny has no confirmed that Sam for once was not actually just running his mouth. All I can say is it's a shame. If I'm Eddie House right now I have be incensed by this move. Eddie turned down better offers from other team to stay here because he liked it here and figured he proved himself in the Finals when they went back to him and they won. Now he's gonna get his job stolen from him again. And what's worse is because Sam looks to shoot first, second and third when he's on the court I wonder how well the new guys are really gonna get incorporated into the offense when he's on the floor. First move Danny's made this offseason that I disagree with.

The backup PG job was never firmly his, and if he thought so, then he clearly wasn't paying attention.  Doc had been trying to not use House as a PG since last preseason, and it continued throughout the season and postseason.  He only played PG when they have no other choice.

The C's resigned him as a shooter off the bench.  Not a PG, but a basketball player.  I think all along they planned on playing him a good deal of minutes at the SG position, and that doesn't change if Cassell comes back.  All that changes is that Pruitt might be squeezed out.

A shooter off the bench to spread the floor for Ray, Paul and Kevin.  Which means he won't be playing SG.

We used him as Rondo's primary backup last year, and I believe the same is expected of him this year.  He has a much more difficult time guarding opposing 2 guards, while he excels at defending the one.   

One of our better crunch time lineups last year featured him at pg.  Yes he can play the 2 if need be, but Danny brought him in to be a backup pg.

Sam hasn't EXCELLED at guarding the one in years. He is slow as molasses and the huge majority of pg's blow right past him. This causes other players to have to rotate to pick his man up which leaves open theirs. If you want to throw out Sam's positives, which there are a couple, don't be making stuff up.

Positives:

He is a decent "bring the ball up under pressure" pg.
He is obviously liked by his teammates and coaches.
He can get hot at times.
He can back smaller guards down on the block.

Negatives:

He is shoot first, second, and third before looking to pass the ball.
He does not push the ball up the floor, rather looks to hard dribble the thing up with his back turned and head down.
He can shoot you right out of a game much more often than shoot you in one.
He rarely posts anyone up anymore because he doesn't let the play develop.
He is extremely slow footed these days and can't play decent defense.
He stalls the offense.

All in all, there really isn't a very good reason to bring this guy back. I am willing to bet that House didn't know this was likely to happen prior to signing up with us again. I think it is all in Gabe's hands to prove he can be a decent third guard so they will cut Sam. If not, and Doc is willing to have Sam sit, then maybe it isn't the end of the world. Pretty close though...

I was talking about Eddie in my post.  I am in full agreement with you on old boy Sam.

I am so glad to hear that D Dub! Unfortunately there are still some who think Sam is the answer. 6-7 years ago he was great. He's now just old! TP for my misread!

[Chris]

Not trying to be incendiary, or maybe I am, but how do all of you "In Danny We Trust" guys feel about this positive move? I mean, you have to admit, Cassell has more talent than any other player that Danny has brought aboard this off season. You have to be loving this, right? Or are you going to start being negative?

I figure it would be prudent to revisit nick's post here considering Danny has no confirmed that Sam for once was not actually just running his mouth. All I can say is it's a shame. If I'm Eddie House right now I have be incensed by this move. Eddie turned down better offers from other team to stay here because he liked it here and figured he proved himself in the Finals when they went back to him and they won. Now he's gonna get his job stolen from him again. And what's worse is because Sam looks to shoot first, second and third when he's on the court I wonder how well the new guys are really gonna get incorporated into the offense when he's on the floor. First move Danny's made this offseason that I disagree with.

The backup PG job was never firmly his, and if he thought so, then he clearly wasn't paying attention.  Doc had been trying to not use House as a PG since last preseason, and it continued throughout the season and postseason.  He only played PG when they have no other choice.

The C's resigned him as a shooter off the bench.  Not a PG, but a basketball player.  I think all along they planned on playing him a good deal of minutes at the SG position, and that doesn't change if Cassell comes back.  All that changes is that Pruitt might be squeezed out.

A shooter off the bench to spread the floor for Ray, Paul and Kevin.  Which means he won't be playing SG.

We used him as Rondo's primary backup last year, and I believe the same is expected of him this year.  He has a much more difficult time guarding opposing 2 guards, while he excels at defending the one.   

One of our better crunch time lineups last year featured him at pg.  Yes he can play the 2 if need be, but Danny brought him in to be a backup pg.

Sam hasn't EXCELLED at guarding the one in years. He is slow as molasses and the huge majority of pg's blow right past him. This causes other players to have to rotate to pick his man up which leaves open theirs. If you want to throw out Sam's positives, which there are a couple, don't be making stuff up.

Positives:

He is a decent "bring the ball up under pressure" pg.
He is obviously liked by his teammates and coaches.
He can get hot at times.
He can back smaller guards down on the block.

Negatives:

He is shoot first, second, and third before looking to pass the ball.
He does not push the ball up the floor, rather looks to hard dribble the thing up with his back turned and head down.
He can shoot you right out of a game much more often than shoot you in one.
He rarely posts anyone up anymore because he doesn't let the play develop.
He is extremely slow footed these days and can't play decent defense.
He stalls the offense.

All in all, there really isn't a very good reason to bring this guy back. I am willing to bet that House didn't know this was likely to happen prior to signing up with us again. I think it is all in Gabe's hands to prove he can be a decent third guard so they will cut Sam. If not, and Doc is willing to have Sam sit, then maybe it isn't the end of the world. Pretty close though...

I can't argue with much of this, except one thing...this is based on a very small sample size compared to the rest of his career.  You described what Sam was perfectly when he was on the C's last year.  However, he was not nearly as bad earlier in the year on the Clippers, and has showed over the years that his style of play can be incredibly successful on a playoff team.

So the question is, was he really as cooked at the end of last year as he looked, or was the combination of injuries, and a new system to learn without much time what contributed to him looking like he aged about 5 years in a 2 month period?

I don't know the answer to this, because I think either could be the case.  But what I do know is the Cassell that he has been for nearly his entire career up until the last few months of last year (yes, even the one who averaged nearly 13 pts, 5 assists to 2 turnovers in 26 minutes over 38 games with LA last year), would be a huge addition to this team.

Maybe he is Eric Gagne, who looked good on the Rangers before taking a nose dive that doesn't look like it is going to be changing after being traded.  Or maybe he will be able to right the ship, by coming in healthy, and having a full training camp to learn his teammates and the system better.

I think it certainly is worth a shot.  And since it is a vet minimum deal (reportedly), if he proves to be the same guy he was at the end of last year, then they just let him go.

[BballTim]

And our post players are, who again? 

Even a casual observer can see that the Celtics are a jump shooting team.
 
Just because Rondo cannot or will not post up, doesn’t mean we can’t use someone who can.

  We're not a jump shooting team. We're middle of the pack in percentage of inside shots.

  http://www.82games.com/FGTEAM11.HTM

If that stats says anything, it tells us that the rest of the league is full of jump shooters and an inside game is rare indeed when only 1 out of 3 shots are from inside.  Does it say how many inside shots are offensive put backs on jumpshots?

  It does for the individual teams:

  http://www.82games.com/0708/0708BOS3.HTM

  29% of our shots were inside shots, 4% were dunks and 1% were tips. We're in the bottom 25% of the league in dunks (big surprise).

[cordobes]

If so then I am for this, but if we have to cut a young player with potential, then I just don't get this move.

Young player with potential? Get over it. Who are we, the Timberwolves? And what young players with potential are we talking about? Future all-stars? Pruitt, Giddens, Walker, POB? Hardly. Nobody can tell if they'll be in the league in 3/4 years. Decent chance they won't.

I don't like loosing Pruitt or Walker before we know what we got with them.

The team will know that after the training camp.

[cordobes]

Teams without good jump-shooters, with range on their shot, end up taking more jump-shots. And then you have bad jump-shooters taking them.

That's why a team like Roy Hobb's Blazers wouldn't win more than 15 games in a NBA season.

Generally, fans have an unreasonable preference towards "attacking the rim", "dunks", "low post", etc. Aesthetically, they may have a point. 

But Coaches have to win games...