Preseason just ended, time to evaluate it!

[Dybdal]

So, Preseason 2008/2009 just ended with a victory against the Knicks and now would be the time to evaluate the Boston Celtics preseason.

The Facts:

Detractions:
P.J Brown
James Possey
Scot Pollard

Resignings:
Tony Allen
Eddie House
Sam Cassel
Tom Thibodeau
Doc Rivers

Additions:
Patrick O'Bryant
J.R. Giddens (Draft)
Bill Walker (Draft)
Darius Miles (Later Cut)

Preseason Games:
Game1: @ Philadelphia L 92-98
Game2: vs Cleveland W 96-94
Game3: vs Houston W 90-89
Game4: @ Cleveland W 90-86
Game5: @ New Jersey W 111-108
Game6: vs New York L 97-104
Game7: vs New Jersey W 83-66
Game8: @ New York W 101-90

So have at it lads' whats your opinon on this offseason/preseason?

[Dybdal]

My own opinon is that we didnt succed to what expectation i had for this offseason, we went out and targeted Eddie House, Tony Allen, Darius Miles, Patrick O'Bryant and Sam Cassel. The orginization didnt want to spend the amount Late Game James wanted (and i dont disagree with the assesment made by the Celtics in this case) but the gaping hole he and more importently P.J. Brown left is still a major concern.

From what i can gather Patrick O'Bryant hasnt furfiled the expectations set forth by the Celtics and as such isnt seeing enough playing time, Darius Miles was cut for the same reason, Cassel isnt seeing time as Gabe Pruitt has shown he can play NBA basketball, both rookies are headed to the NBDL with Walker getting few backup minutes.

So as i see it, we lost Late Game and PJ' Brown and switched Gabe Pruitt out with Sam Cassel.. and added bench players that is seeing 3rd unit playing time.

That cant be regarded as a success in my eyes.

[crownsy]

UP

TA: Excellent. I was not a big fan of the "tony's going to be great this year now that he's back to 100%" crowd. i thought he would be a bust. So far, based on the preseason mind you, I am 100% wrong and happy to be.

tony had an excellent preseason, most of note to me were his defense and good explosion slashing, which were my main concerns. i'm really interested to see how he does in the regular season. he blew me out of the water in the preseason.

Leon: is looking very,very deadly as our 7th or 8th man. He has really shown some new post presence, and intriguing KG-esq fall away. needs to step it up on post defense, but everything else looks improved and efficent. Going to be fun to see him regular season, i think he takes a big leap along with TA this year.

Pruitt: to me, if he isn't active while sam sits, its a tragedy. always knew he could shoot, more impressed with his defensive toughness and passing so far. earned some decent minutes IMO.

house: steady eddie looks like his old self plus some new and improved ball handling and defensive awareness. should be our first gaurd off the bench.

Good, but could use improvement

Baby: nice to see the jumper emerge, and his low post defense looks solid. but, he was very inconsitant. one night he'd be very good, the next night awful.

Walker and JR: showed me some good things, like decent defense and excellent aggressiveness, and in JR's case a good shot. like to see them both go to the NBDL this year, because i think they would excel and look great next season. may not be possable due to our lack of SF depth in walker's case.

POB- frustrates the hell out of me. looks good one game, and horrid the next. not sure why i put him on the good list except that when he wants to be, he's really good. other times, like tonight, he takes trips off and looks horrid. shows raw talent though, i'll give him that

Bad

Scal looks awful, im sorry. i know someones going to say "but he plays good defense!" but i don't see it. not an NBA player imo.

[CoachBo]

My own opinon is that we didnt succed to what expectation i had for this offseason, we went out and targeted Eddie House, Tony Allen, Darius Miles, Patrick O'Bryant and Sam Cassel. The orginization didnt want to spend the amount Late Game James wanted (and i dont disagree with the assesment made by the Celtics in this case) but the gaping hole he and more importently P.J. Brown left is still a major concern.

From what i can gather Patrick O'Bryant hasnt furfiled the expectations set forth by the Celtics and as such isnt seeing enough playing time, Darius Miles was cut for the same reason, Cassel isnt seeing time as Gabe Pruitt has shown he can play NBA basketball, both rookies are headed to the NBDL with Walker getting few backup minutes.

So as i see it, we lost Late Game and PJ' Brown and switched Gabe Pruitt out with Sam Cassel.. and added bench players that is seeing 3rd unit playing time.

That cant be regarded as a success in my eyes.

Having only seen one game, it's hard to opine. I will say that the one game I saw - Game 4 Cleveland - alleviated absolutely none of my concerns about our lack of a bench. That game featured turnovers, horrible decision-making, little rebounding and questionable defense from the second five.

Still worry that we don't have a championship bench, based on what I saw and what I've read from others who've seen more games.

[KJ33]

My own opinon is that we didnt succed to what expectation i had for this offseason, we went out and targeted Eddie House, Tony Allen, Darius Miles, Patrick O'Bryant and Sam Cassel. The orginization didnt want to spend the amount Late Game James wanted (and i dont disagree with the assesment made by the Celtics in this case) but the gaping hole he and more importently P.J. Brown left is still a major concern.

From what i can gather Patrick O'Bryant hasnt furfiled the expectations set forth by the Celtics and as such isnt seeing enough playing time, Darius Miles was cut for the same reason, Cassel isnt seeing time as Gabe Pruitt has shown he can play NBA basketball, both rookies are headed to the NBDL with Walker getting few backup minutes.

So as i see it, we lost Late Game and PJ' Brown and switched Gabe Pruitt out with Sam Cassel.. and added bench players that is seeing 3rd unit playing time.

That cant be regarded as a success in my eyes.

How is this an assessment of the preseason?  I couldn't disagree more with your assertions in any case.  O'Bryant always figured to be behind Leon and Baby, so no real surprise there.  He will be used in certain games and situations, but he was and still is the 3rd big off the bench.  He is replacing the Pollard role at the beginning of last year, the PJ role may yet to be filled as they have plenty of time, or Powe, BBD and O'Bryant together may fulfill that need, we will find out.

I think the preseason, not the offseason moves, showed a few things.  The starting 5 looks to be clicking better than ever.  House and Powe were outstanding off the bench, TA was up and down.  Pruitt emerged as a candidate to get some time, perhaps even playing with House and TA in a 3 guard line-up off the bench.  Cassell and Scal are insurance and provide veteran presence.  The 2 rooks look promising for the future, but simply no minutes available for them to get much play this year.

[Tenacious D]

The A side. TA gives the C's a new look of the bench with a slashing attack that disrupts defences and mixes shooting and passing. An improvement over last season's  static trey or die approach. Powe banging away, as noted.  Pruis' emergence as solid defender and ball handler off the bench. Three solid developments. Oh yeh, Eddie's shooting lights out.

The B side. POB showed some flair with the starters, not so much with subs. Perk still fouls a lot. BBD still up and down. Scal is injury insurance.

Rate the record. Best starting 5. Solid 8 man rotation + BBD if Perk/Powe get in trouble. Not so worried at small fwd. Only wishing for some more length at 4/5. Looking good.

[guava_wrench]

Leon Powe has looked unstoppable down low and House has looked great bombing away. TA looks healthy and ready to contribute, though I would like to see him matched up with some premier defenders at the 2.

Pruitt looked ready to contribute, through I don't see many minutes for him in close games if Eddie keeps shooting the lights out. BBD looked batter later in the preseason, but is still inconsistent and still needs to work on setting picks legally.

POB looked good in the first 2 games, but seems to have missed on all his post moves since those games. Kinda makes his early hook shots seem lucky. Since Doc said early on that they were hoping he would be ready to contribute by the end of the season, I consider his preseason a success, and more practice in the system should help.

Cassell looked great coaching in practice.

Scal has look horrible. He throws the ball away on the simplest passes. He struggles in almost every aspect on offense. It is hard to even notice his defensive effort when frustrated over his errors on offense.

[lon3lytoaster]

I'm kind of upset Walker and Giddens weren't let loose really in the pre-season because with them being rookies it's unlikely that even one of them will crack the rotation on a regular basis unlike next year in Doc's system. That just seems to be how it works with him... Gomes didn't show up till late in his first season, Gerald Green only played a handful of minutes his first year, Powe didn't play much on a bad team, and Pruitt hardly played either.

I think they both can offer something in the regular season, but we're probably more likely to see them in Utah with the Flash.. 

[liam]

I'm kind of upset Walker and Giddens weren't let loose really in the pre-season because with them being rookies it's unlikely that even one of them will crack the rotation on a regular basis unlike next year in Doc's system. That just seems to be how it works with him... Gomes didn't show up till late in his first season, Gerald Green only played a handful of minutes his first year, Powe didn't play much on a bad team, and Pruitt hardly played either.

I think they both can offer something in the regular season, but we're probably more likely to see them in Utah with the Flash.. 

I thik you can play Pruitt and House together in some games. Pruitt has some pretty good size( 6'4" same as Tony Allen...) and makes a good combo guard. I would have like to have seen mre Walker and at least some of Giddens....

[nickagneta]

A couple of things I noticed:

- Even though they played limited minutes together, Ray Allen, KG, and Paul Pierce seemed to have forged a much tighter and effective chemistry to their collective game. The obvious increase in chemistry from the first unit will be the main reason why this team will repeat.

- There is no doubt that Leon Powe is the Sixth Man of this team and deserves all the accolades he will receive this year. He has elevated his game and was, along with Eddie House, the most consistent bench player the Celtics had this preseason. And although Eddie was as consistent, his game wasn't nearly as effective, to the point of being dominating at times, as was Powe's game.

- Much of the bench, excluding the aforementioned players, are still wildly inconsistent. Yes, this includes Tony Allen who, although he looked dominating for two straight games followed that up with extremely bland games the last two preseason games where his play was a non-issue. O'Bryant appeared soft and offensively confused when playing with the bench and much better when he started. Walker had some highlight reel stuff early and disappeared later on. Giddens was mainly a non-factor and showed why he will be spending much of his year in Utah with the NBDL. Pruitt and Davis both started out slow and out of synch better seemed to play better with every game. Scal was Scal.

- I noticed a couple of new wrinkles in certain players' games. BBD has been successfully working on his 15 foot jump shot and was shooting it with a lot of confidence along the baseline. Pruitt's ball handling skills and overall grasp of the offense improved much and his range is deeper than I remembered. Both Ray and Eddie's shot selection seemed much more natural and less forced. Rondo finished much better during his drives to the basket. Perk looks even more muscular and imposing if that was possible.

- As the preseason wound down, it was pretty easy to detect who will be rotation regulars that get playing time and who will be riding much pine and have a very short leash on them when they are in the game. Powe, House, Tony Allen, and Davis will make up the bench rotation and we will see Pruitt grow into a role and O'Bryant, Walker, Giddens and Scal used sparingly and Cassell maybe not at all. My picks for the inactive list will be Giddens(NBDL), Walker(NBDL and only inactive instead of Scal because he can get a ton of playing time and experience playing elsewhere that will benefit him, Scal is Scal) and Cassell.

- Doc hasn't opened up a lot of the playbook but I did notice a few new double high post offensive sets and a more consistent low post and baseline double screens to open up shots for Ray and Eddie. I was pleased to see they were being run with some effectiveness and consistency.

- Ball movement from the starters was almost mesmerizing at times. Their ability to move the ball to the open spot for the open man was a thing of beauty for most of the preseason.

[Kwhit10]

A couple of things I noticed:

- Even though they played limited minutes together, Ray Allen, KG, and Paul Pierce seemed to have forged a much tighter and effective chemistry to their collective game. The obvious increase in chemistry from the first unit will be the main reason why this team will repeat.

This is what I caught the most of when the big 3 and even the starting 5 (RR, RA, PP, KG, KP) were together.  I felt like they became more of a cohesive unit.  From seeing the starting 5 together it seemed like the ball movement was even smoother than last year and the players had a much better feel for each other in terms of what they were going to do on the floor, and where they were likely to move off the ball.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't think there were any real negatives during the pre-season. Scal is the only one that looked awful... all the others showed that they can have a solid presence, especially when you consider that during the season they'll play with more established players (instead of units filled with inexperience).

Though I really like Walker and Giddens, and Walker probably has an edge to make the roster, I really hope both of them go to NBDL just so that they get plenty of playing time. I just don't see Doc using either of them much if they make the roster, but both should start the season in the development league just so that they get the chance to play more even if they show they're ready for the NBA.

[cordialb]

A couple of things I noticed:

- Even though they played limited minutes together, Ray Allen, KG, and Paul Pierce seemed to have forged a much tighter and effective chemistry to their collective game. The obvious increase in chemistry from the first unit will be the main reason why this team will repeat.

- There is no doubt that Leon Powe is the Sixth Man of this team and deserves all the accolades he will receive this year. He has elevated his game and was, along with Eddie House, the most consistent bench player the Celtics had this preseason. And although Eddie was as consistent, his game wasn't nearly as effective, to the point of being dominating at times, as was Powe's game.

- Much of the bench, excluding the aforementioned players, are still wildly inconsistent. Yes, this includes Tony Allen who, although he looked dominating for two straight games followed that up with extremely bland games the last two preseason games where his play was a non-issue. O'Bryant appeared soft and offensively confused when playing with the bench and much better when he started. Walker had some highlight reel stuff early and disappeared later on. Giddens was mainly a non-factor and showed why he will be spending much of his year in Utah with the NBDL. Pruitt and Davis both started out slow and out of synch better seemed to play better with every game. Scal was Scal.

- I noticed a couple of new wrinkles in certain players' games. BBD has been successfully working on his 15 foot jump shot and was shooting it with a lot of confidence along the baseline. Pruitt's ball handling skills and overall grasp of the offense improved much and his range is deeper than I remembered. Both Ray and Eddie's shot selection seemed much more natural and less forced. Rondo finished much better during his drives to the basket. Perk looks even more muscular and imposing if that was possible.

- As the preseason wound down, it was pretty easy to detect who will be rotation regulars that get playing time and who will be riding much pine and have a very short leash on them when they are in the game. Powe, House, Tony Allen, and Davis will make up the bench rotation and we will see Pruitt grow into a role and O'Bryant, Walker, Giddens and Scal used sparingly and Cassell maybe not at all. My picks for the inactive list will be Giddens(NBDL), Walker(NBDL and only inactive instead of Scal because he can get a ton of playing time and experience playing elsewhere that will benefit him, Scal is Scal) and Cassell.

- Doc hasn't opened up a lot of the playbook but I did notice a few new double high post offensive sets and a more consistent low post and baseline double screens to open up shots for Ray and Eddie. I was pleased to see they were being run with some effectiveness and consistency.

- Ball movement from the starters was almost mesmerizing at times. Their ability to move the ball to the open spot for the open man was a thing of beauty for most of the preseason.

I completely agree, but i look for tony to be the first person off the bench as i think the rotation will generally spell ray or paul first while perkins and rondos minutes will increase. 

I would also love for walker to go to the D league, but i have one concern.  Who will they play to backup paul?  I'm assuming Tony will play there, and if there is an imposing 3, then Powe could spell him for a few.  I love all our subs and hope they all come along, but i'm not so sure that POB wont be stepping to the D league while walker learns with the team as he fills a bigger void at this point.  Will be interesting to see who is sent.

[Champzilla]

I don't think POB is allowed to go down to the D League, this is his 3rd season.

[Andy Jick]

wake me up when the real season begins...