Yeah, I know that these things are usually done with half the season over, or monthly or whatever but I noticed that after last night's loss that the Celtics had played 35 games. Well if in the playoffs this year the Celtics go 16-7 to win it all they would have played 105 games. So we're just about at the third pole(okay, I've heard of a quarter pole but if the have one of those why can't we have a third pole).
Kevin Garnett - B-
KG seems to have lost about, what else, a third of a step, this year and a career spanning 14 years and over 1100 games(playoffs included) looks like it might just be starting to catch up with him. He's been more than happy to allow Perk to develop his inside game and hang outside a lot. You just don't see nearly as much of his patented turn around jumper from the low post anymore and he's become almost invisible on the offensive boards averaging over one half less as many offensive rebounds per game than his career average. In virtually the same amount of time played per game KG's points, rebounds, steals, and assists are all down. But KG is the DPOY and is still the heart and soul of this defense and the spirit behind this team. But he does seem to be slipping slightly.
Paul Pierce - B
The Captain and The Truth is giving this team his usual all around game and leadership. He continues to win games late for this team and continues to show that he is really the only true scorer on this team that can get the ball and get a shot off from anywhere. His leadership in directing traffic and putting out fires between team mates only goes to show how much he has truly grown as a Celtic Captain. If he hadn't started the season in such a prolonged shooting slump and played some fairly porous defense early on in many games, he'd have had an A.
Ray Allen - B+
Ray is just plain better this year. He flows so much better. He drives much better. He shoots so much better. Doc freely admits he had trouble getting plays for Ray last year but not this year. My one problem with Ray is his defense. Granted, he is often playing the best athlete on the floor most nights but he's going to need to be better come playoff time at limiting his opponent.
Rajon Rondo - A
Rajon is maybe one of the most improved players in the league this year. No the stats are not going to tell you that but he is such a better facilitator of the ball, a better decision maker, a better floor general, a better passer, and a better player than last year that he should receive some recognition from the league voters in that award. He won't win but he does deserve a few votes. If Rondo can start hitting one of those wide open three's every game that he's been taking recently as well as one or two regular jump shots and stops with the gamble defense and make it up by trying to slap the ball away from behind stuff, he might become this team's MVP this year.
Kendrick Perkins - A-
Let me explain this grade. No I don't think he's playing better than any of the Big Three. But considering he was recuperating from shoulder surgery all summer and spent no time on the court practicing, the improvement in his defensive and offensive games is astounding. Perk's low post hook has some arc on it. Perk has a McHale like over and under move, Perk is one of the league leaders in blocked shots. He's not committing nearly as many stupid fouls and has even not picked up a technical in quite a while. His rebounding is excellent and if he didn't have KG roaming the boards on the defensive end he'd probably be a double digit rebounder and among the leaders in the league there as well. How Perk transformed his game in a summer where he wasn't allowed to play is beyond me but keep up the good work Perk. You're a lot better than I thought you would have been this year.
JR Giddens, Bill Walker, Sam Cassell - INCOMPLETE
What can one say about guys who never see the floor?
Brian Scalabrine - C
Scal gives you want Scal has. Can one expect any more? I don't. He is what he is.
Gabe Pruitt - C
In the brief time he's seen playing time, he's shown flashes of much improved defense and that he can shoot the three. But he also disappears out there for long stretches of garbage time and if he wants to get rotation time he had better start making his presence felt during those times with leadership, passing, defense and a more complete package that includes better driving and dishing capabilities.
Patrick O'Bryant - F
I know that there are a lot here that will argue that he hasn't been given a chance and that his per minute stats are better than other bench players. What I see though is a fundamentally flawed big man that needs serious time learning stuff he should have been doing in high school practice and not learning three years into his pro career. The Celtics bench is screaming for for a big man with length that can play defense and rebound and yet POB sits. That tells me all I need to know after watching his sup par quality playing time versus the garbage of the league in blowouts.
Glen Davis - C-
He is the complete reverse of POB. He has the drive, the desire and the fundamentals and yet is about as physically limited as any person trying to play the center position in this league. I would have liked to have seen him somewhat more fleet afoot and thinner to start the year So his grade started low with a D but aI bumped him up because he has created a new wrinkle with that 18 footer that is starting to go down.
Leon Powe - C+
I want to give Leon a better grade but he's a black hole offensively, a flopper(which I detest but he's our flopper so I cut him some slack), his FT shooting needs work considering all the times his game sends him to the charity stripe and he's is so much more inconsistent than he was for the final 2/3 of last season that it's scary. I want to see recognition of the double team and a kick out to the perimeter and I want to see the consistency of his game improve before Leon gets a higher mark.
Eddie House - C+
I'd hoped that Eddie would have had a better handle this year but he doesn't and because of that he is what he is. If he's hot and hitting the three he's an overall B+ player. If he isn't, he's a D+ player. I'll give him the average of the two because he's consistently both.
Tony Allen - C-
Hate his game and his basketball IQ. He's had a bunch of good games and even more horrible games. I want him off this team in the worse way but he's still a Celtic so I will cheer for him. I will go no further than that.
Doc Rivers - A-
He's kept the starters minutes down, he's got a nine man rotation, he's got a ridiculous winning percentage, he's had two more young players take the next step in their development while under his tuteledge and his team won 19 straight. Can a grade any lower than this really be appropriate?
Danny Ainge - C-
He didn't crash and give Posey more money than he was worth but after admitting publicly that his team doesn't play small ball well at all and that he didn't want to play that style as much because the team was so successful in the playoffs with a standard half court set with a team with size, what does he do? He signs a project and resigns two more undersized backcourt players that don't have good handles. He never added length or any type of consistent veteran presence off the bench.
He might have had a good draft but we won't know until next year at the soonest. His project has thus far been extremely unimpressive in my eyes and he's fiorcing his coach to go with one of the most undersized benchs in the league. Last year Danny could do no wrong. This year there's not a lot of evidence that he's done anything right. But he did keep the team that won it all intact and when you can do that, defending champs can repeat so his grade gets the boost out of the D grade area.
Topic: Team Grades with One Third the Season Over. (Read 7380 times)