Preseason just ended, time to evaluate it!

[TrueGreen]

Bench at start of season:  Eddie House at backup point. After pre-season:
Eddie House as 2nd unit scorer, Gabe Pruitt at backup point, Leon and BBD
consistently outplaying bigger opponents. TA still needs to prove it, but if he does we have a 5 man second unit that is pretty good. Last year 2nd unit was House, out of position, Posey, PJ at the end. I think this team is much better than last year's, especially with the "big three" having a year together under their belts. They are now playing on instinct, as opposed to thinking it thru.

[Atzar]

Tony Allen, despite his inconsistency, was probably the biggest 'up' in the preseason.  He's still turnover prone, but he showed that he's still almost unguardable when his shots are falling.  I think he'll get more consistent as the season goes along and he keeps getting regular minutes.  The 32 points in 28 minutes, though, was a very good sign that the old TA may not just be a thing of the past.  

Gabe Pruitt was also a huge plus.  He's shown signs of being a very good defender at the 1 - something we didn't have outside of Rondo - and he looks to be fully capable of running the offense and, when necessary, hitting his shots.  It was also good to see him run 44 minutes one night.  If nothing else, Gabe gave me the feeling that the team won't suffer too much if Rondo ever misses games this year.  

The starting 5 were themselves.  If anything, they work even better together now than they did this year.  But isn't that what they said - that this would be the year for the Big 3 to win it all?  They aren't entirely without flaws - I still don't like Rondo's shot, and Perk still fouls too much - but this is one of the top starting lineups in the league, hands down.

Eddie House and Leon Powe, surprisingly, both looked better than last year.  Eddie House can't miss right now, and Leon is all but unstoppable underneath.  He still needs to pass more - he plays like a PF version of Sam Cassell sometimes - but when the shots are falling, you don't mind too much.

Glen Davis has been inconsistent thus far.  He'll have to cut down on the fouls - fouling out in 15 minutes isn't going to help anybody but the other team.  I love the little midrange jumper that he's started to show, and I hope that develops into a reliable weapon.

Patrick O'Bryant was a little less than I'd hoped.  He looked effective with the starters when Perk was out, but he was inconsistent with the reserves.  At times - like the final preseason game - he looked downright horrible.  He doesn't understand positioning for rebounding, instead trying to just use his length.  He'll probably start out as the last big off the bench, only playing against teams where his length is a necessity.  Hopefully he'll 'get it' at some point.

Darius was a disappointment, but I think he'll eventually get to the point where he can help some team on the court.  The drive to the hoop in his final game looked promising, and he played about as well as he could on defense, but right now the athleticism just isn't there.

The rookies were a mixed bag for me.  Bill Walker looked great early on, but then stopped being aggressive.  I wonder if the team told him to chill a little bit so he wouldn't get in any fights before the season even started.  After the first few games, he seemed happy enough just sitting in the corner and taking himself out of the play.  I'm not all that impressed with his defense yet.  He seems to have trouble staying in front of his man.  One good sign, though, is it looked like he belonged on the court.  JR Giddens was a similar story.  He sat in the corner even more than Walker, but he plays better defense at this point.  He's probably the worst free throw shooter as a guard that I've ever seen - I don't think he broke 50% for the preseason.  Unlike Walker, at times he looked tentative and lost on the court.  Both of them need to learn to control their emotions better.

Scal is useless on offense and I never want to see him try to drive to the hoop again.  That said, he should be able to fit into the defense well enough in a pinch.  

Sam Cassell probably won't play much if Pruitt's emergence is more than a fluke.

[cordobes]

- The most important thing was that nobody got hurt and we're entering the season with full health.

- It seemed Rondo still can't shoot. That's a pity. I think people are starting to underestimate how bad of a shooter Rondo is or how big is the impact of having such a poor shooting guard on your line-up. If Rondo was a slightly bellow average defender jump-shooter, this team would have a top-3 offense in the league.

- Powe seems more confident than ever creating his shot. That's good, but his inability to pass is a cause of concern; he should work other areas of his game.

- Tony Allen is Tony Allen... he'll have plenty of minutes because there's not another wing on the bench and hopefully build a reliable game through the season.

- BBD seems to have spent the Summer working on a 12ft jumper. Once he masters that movement, it'll make things much easier to him.

- The rookies are rookies. I'd like to see Giddens more.

- Pruitt has shown he can play. At least, he generated some intrigue from my point of view. He may get some minutes.

- POB... I think it's truly impressive how a guy who's fighting for his NBA career plays like this. And people wonder why Don Nelson kept him in the doghouse? He still lacks the technique and the desire to play the post, on both sides of the floor. Until he learns that, he's pretty much a non-factor.

- I wouldn't be surprised to see Doc playing 2 guards front offenses and sets with the two post players placed in the high post (a gimmick, because it will hurt Rondo's ability to break down his defender and attack the rim). Also, Doc will try other things first, but I think he may be forced to play small-ball with Pierce at the 4 or even give Scal much more minutes than most of you would like.

- I think people who are not worried about the weaknesses of our bench are either being delusional or have prophetic powers that allow them to predict how some players will develop throughout the season. For one, I think that, assuming realistic scenarios, some trades/cuts/additions will happen until the trade deadline.

[Birdbrain]

TA - Healthy and Explosive.  The occasional disconnect between brain and limbs will lead to some untimely TOs.

House - The guy is money and he doesn't even know it.  Actually I believe he knows it.

Powe - Getting better and better.  Work on those FTs, because you'll be shooting a lot.

Pruitt - Good range and very long.  Still prone to thinking instead of reacting.  Should be in rotation!

BBD - He has very good form on his jumper so it's only a matter of time.  I the love hustle but, it's hard to impact the game laying on the floor or in the first row.

POB - 10X better than Scott Pollard's haircut.  Will need to gain more strength to play consistent minutes.

Walker - Nice hops but will struggle to see minutes early.

Giddens - Doesn't look ready to contribute this season.
 
Rondo - Bulked up a tad and lightning quick with improved passing skills.  Still lacking a consistent jumper

Perkins - Will provide strength down low.  Protecting Garnett allowing him to roam and play help defense.  The dreaded windup.

Pierce - Nothing to say that hasn't already been said.  Pencil in 20/5/5.

Garnett - See above.  Pencil in 19/10/4.  Back to the double double days even with less minutes.

Allen - See above.  Pencil in 19/4/4.  A better all around year.

The bench point from the above.  It sounds like 2007 all over again.  Count me in as prophetic group.

[Redz]

All analysis of the rest of the team is valid and worthy of mention, but I'm mainly tickled pink with the general smoothness of the Big 3.  They're super confident.  There's still pressure on them, but nowhere near last year when there was still the label of "can't win" on each of their careers.  They just look like they're playing with 100% confidence in what the sum of their parts adds up to.

I think Ray's going to lead the team in scoring this year.

Right now 1-through-8 I'm pretty happy.  House, Powe, TA seem to be ready to step in.  TA looks to have his step back, which will make the highs a lot higher with him (we won't speak of the lows).  Pruitt seems worthy of minutes at PG.  Big Baby is always going to be a guy who is worth having around for certain circumstances, but I haven't seen any development that has translated into him getting tons of minutes every game. 

[EJPLAYA]

The first unit is definitely impressive. I was a little dissapointed in not seeing an improvement in Rondo's outside shot this year. I don't think he spent near the time working on it as he did the last offseason. If he did, then this may be as good as it gets. With all he does out there that is pretty solid though. Ray seems to be moving better. I think he is healthy.

Pruitt is much improved and more confident. I think he can step right in at the backup PG spot and will get better over the year

Powe is the man. Of course we knew that last year.

House is also the man. What a deadly weapon offensively, and a pesky defender on the other end. Love the guy's heart and hustle.

Neither of the two rookies look like they will see the floor. Walker has unbelievable hops though. Even better than TA's his first year. He's a highlight waiting to happen.

TA looks much better some nights and a little better other nights. He still does some stupid things off the dribble that make you wonder.

POB looks like he needs to just get some more PT and add soome bulk. He does some nice things and then looks like a rookie at other times.

Scal is giving us what you'd expect. Not going to kill you while he is out there and if he hits some shots can be valuable. If not, then not so much.

The biggest issue I have is why is BBD getting such a big pass from everyone yet Scal, who not much is expected of, gets ripped to shreds. BBD looks absolutely brutal out there. Committs poor fouls. Looks terrible under the basket. His couple of makes from the outside are a fluke. The guy shot just that way last year and it is too ugly to be consistent. Even if he makes a reasonable percentage, he will never force teams to come out and guard him on the perimeter. Sure I would usually rather see him in the game instead of Scal, but why isn't everyone upset at the fact that the guy seems to have made no effort to improve over the summer?! If the answer is he worked on his jumper, then the guy is too dumb to realize where he needs the most work.

All in all though we look pretty solid for this upcoming season and once the big three and the two sidekicks start getting the bulk of the minutes we will be crushing teams. Hopefully we see Doc pull them quicker once the game is in hand to keep them fresh. Too many 30-40 pt leads last year with the big three getting 40 minutes.

[crownsy]

I don't think he spent near the time working on it as he did the last offseason. If he did, then this may be as good as it gets. With all he does out there that is pretty solid though.

good obeservations EJ, though on this one i would point out that he had a real short offseason to work on anything, compared to the extra 2 and a half months he got last year

he also didn't play in the preseason alot with the two holdouts coming in the "starter heavey" games.

I agree it would be nice if he improved it a bit though, we shall see

[2short]

Most important things in my mind:
our bench looks deep
our bench is playing the same unselfish find the best shot offense as our starters
our starters are looking smooth as a unit
Ray Allen I've always considered to be one of the most efficient players in the league.  Paul Pierce's game in preseason not only is starting where he left it last year but showing the same efficiency, smooth offense not killing himself for o just letting the game come to him.
Leon Powe the coaches and himself big jump in confidence in his abilities.  Eddie looks better than last year and Gabe will alleviate some of the ball handling.  Very happy with these 3.  TA great, looks back to what we thought he could be w/ less turnovers and playing smart bb!
Walker, like what I see but the season is long, he's young etc.
Davis beginning of preseason I was very disapointed, is now showing the jump shot he needs to make to stay around.
Giddens d league bound,not ready for prime time!
OBryant opposite of Davis, great start then disappeared.

[nickagneta]

I don't think he spent near the time working on it as he did the last offseason. If he did, then this may be as good as it gets. With all he does out there that is pretty solid though.

good obeservations EJ, though on this one i would point out that he had a real short offseason to work on anything, compared to the extra 2 and a half months he got last year

he also didn't play in the preseason alot with the two holdouts coming in the "starter heavey" games.

I agree it would be nice if he improved it a bit though, we shall see

What I love about Rondo is that he does work in the offseason and it's pretty evident he did this offseason. But from the looks of him, he didn't work on his shot. He did, however, work on his body, which looks to have added a good 10 pounds of muscle.

We look at Rondo and see a need for a better shot. Rondo may have looked at Rondo, not liked the way felt felt or suffered physically during the year because of the beating one can take playing 100 NBA games in a season and decided he needed to be stronger to be more effective. So he added muscle mass and strength.

I applaud him if that was his goal because it looks like for the second year in a row he probably succeeded in making a part of his game or himself better. If that continues maybe next offseason he works again on his shot.

[Greenback]

Overall, as the Celtics are currently configured, they will finish with about 50 to 55 wins and a 2nd round or conference finals EXIT.

The C’s are not as good as they were at the end of last season.  The loss of Posey and PJ are being grossly underestimated.
  
Detroit and Cleveland have improved and look as good or better.

The Small ball experimentation consisting of three little guards, two short power forwards will prove to be a disaster.  Celtics need more big defenders.

Rondo is not the answer as a starting PG with 3 aging superstars.  Sad to say, Pruitt may take his job.

The Rookies won’t be able to contribute during the long season and playoffs.

Ainge needs to hit another home run.  Without even a loud foul ball, he has clearly struck out during the off season.

[ma11l]

Here are my overall themes coming out of this preseason.  Most of them very similar to the other posts, and most of them positive.


- Leon will be much better than Big Baby this year.  While Baby will get some big minutes every once in awhile, I think Leon has surpassed him.  He should be a part of the regular rotation and seeing good, consistent minutes.

- Eddie House looks like a great signing right now.  He is what he was last year, a scoring and energetic bench player.  He seems to look even better this year, his stroke looks awesome.

- Pruitt and POB have shown to me that they are legit backups in the league.  Pruitt will sometimes be lost in the mix with House and Allen playing the role of quasi backup point guard.  However Pruitt is clearly the best pure PG we have coming off the bench, and he'll have his chance to show out in the regular season this year.  Defense looks very good, which will get him on the floor.
   We all need to remember what scope we should be looking at POB through.  He is a backup center.  That position is like the catcher in baseball.  We don't need him to do much to be an asset to the team.  He can rebound, block shots, and at times has shown some scoring touch.  That sounds good enough for me.  There will be times we go small when Perk is off the court, but there will are minutes to be had for POB on this team this year.

- Tony is back to being Tony.  He looks completely healthy.  Of course pre surgery Tony was sometimes wildly frustrating.  He has some great games and some bad ones.  I'm sure there will be a lot of the same going on throughout the regular season.  Here's hoping he'll gain confidence throughout the season and be ready for a good postseason, that's when we're going to need him the most.

- The starting five absolutely is the best in the league.  They looked awesome.  Paul's 3 point stroke looked as good as ever.  Ray looked as smooth as ever.  KG is KG.  Rondo has the chance to make an all star team this year, and Perk seemed to be back in his flow by the end of the preseason.  Awesome stuff.

- It truly is a shame we needed to keep Scal because of the money.  Miles would've had a shot in the dark at making an impact on this team.  Scal does not.  I hope he is in street clothes and Walker is in uniform on opening night.

[crownsy]

Overall, as the Celtics are currently configured, they will finish with about 50 to 55 wins and a 2nd round or conference finals EXIT.

The C’s are not as good as they were at the end of last season.  The loss of Posey and PJ are being grossly underestimated.
  
Detroit and Cleveland have improved and look as good or better.

The Small ball experimentation consisting of three little guards, two short power forwards will prove to be a disaster.  Celtics need more big defenders.

Rondo is not the answer as a starting PG with 3 aging superstars.  Sad to say, Pruitt may take his job.

The Rookies won’t be able to contribute during the long season and playoffs.

Ainge needs to hit another home run.  Without even a loud foul ball, he has clearly struck out during the off season.

im going to go ahead and disagree. i seem to be one of the few "in the middle" on big game james, who i consider an intragal part of last years team but by no means some sort of indespensable bench god as some have decided he is. most sem to either overvalue him to the extreme (like a 16 game swing and a 2nd round playoff exit) or pretend he wasen't a huge part of our bench (which he was).

however, to say that Posey is responsable for 16 wins a year, and 2 playoff series as you have here, is to me ludicris.

posey is a good bench player, and i would have loved to have him back, but, to give him a 4 year max MID contract at the age of 32 would have been irresponsable.

both parties did the right thing for them, james got some well earned scrap, and the celtics avoided tying themseleves to a bloated contract.

but to suggest somehow james posey is a 16 win swing in the regular season, and the primary diffrence maker in getting out of the seconed round of the playoffs. im sorry, its not based in realty.

also, how on earth have cleveland and detroit improved? detroit made zero moves, and got older.  clevland resigned its guys around lebron, who are inadequate. WEEEEEEE!!!!

the sixers improved. the raptors improved. clevland and detroit stood pat.

and rondo isn't a starting level PG? wow....just wow. apperntly in your mind, a PG needs to be dropping 20 points a game, because, as hollinger just pointed out along with barry, if you project his minutes out from his 27 (what he got last year, even with the increse late in the year, early he was getting 24-26) to 32-36, which is what most people think he'll get from doc this year, he's going to average somewere around:

9-10 assists, 5-7 rebounds, 3+ steals  , and 10-12 points.

considering he's the fourth scoring option, thats ridiculously good on a defensive squad.

i love people who say he needs to score more to be a good PG. really? who's shots are you taking away? paul's? rays? kevins?

honestly people....

[Birdbrain]

The C’s are not as good as they were at the end of last season.  The loss of Posey and PJ are being grossly underestimated.
  

I realize your post was meant to elicit a response but, I'll feed the beast anyway.

How is something grossly underestimated if it's posted 500000000 times a day?  Don't worry the worry warts that overestimate Posey have been out in force 10 fold all off season and pre season.  And I'm sure we'll here about him especially in close losses.. 'If we just had Posey we would have won, cheap Danny'  It's almost seems to me that some of you actually found Posey more valuable than either Pierce or Garnett.  If Boston would have resigned Posey he would been just another 7ppg scorer since they didn't he's now all world.  I wonder if the Anti Ainge crowd have now gotten there mojo back in form of James Posey.

[ma11l]

Overall, as the Celtics are currently configured, they will finish with about 50 to 55 wins and a 2nd round or conference finals EXIT.

The C’s are not as good as they were at the end of last season.  The loss of Posey and PJ are being grossly underestimated.
 
Detroit and Cleveland have improved and look as good or better.

The Small ball experimentation consisting of three little guards, two short power forwards will prove to be a disaster.  Celtics need more big defenders.

Rondo is not the answer as a starting PG with 3 aging superstars.  Sad to say, Pruitt may take his job.

The Rookies won’t be able to contribute during the long season and playoffs.

Ainge needs to hit another home run.  Without even a loud foul ball, he has clearly struck out during the off season.

I'll agree that Rondo isn't the answer at PG, but that's because there is no question.  He is absolutely the best guy for the job with the Big Three.  He energizes them, gets them the ball where they need it, and isn't intimidated by them.  Also he has the chance to be first team all-defense this year.  We have absolutely no question as to who our starting PG is.  Pruitt will never be the player that Rondo is.

[Redz]

Rondo is not the answer as a starting PG with 3 aging superstars.  Sad to say, Pruitt may take his job.

This would seriously hinder Rondo's All Star chances.

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