We should have signed Birdman.......

[BirdNerd]

POB was useless.    I'll be surprised if he turns up as a serviceable player down the road for ANY team.

I read Birdman was out of shape during his workouts with the Cs, but he really would have been a perfect energy guy off the bench with rebounds, hustle plays, and blocks (8 blocks tonight!!!).    Nuggs signed him @only $998,000 for one year = bargain as he was trying to save his career. 

I believe Mikki will contribute just fine and has been serviceable, but Birdman would have been a better fit.    I feel like sometimes Mikki is a "fake hustle" guy, and really doesn't make much impact on the game.   Doesn't contest shots, is a soft rebounder, and rarely offensive rebounds.

I was really pulling for that signing at the time, but hindsight is always clearer. 

Thoughts? 

[slamtheking]

Mikki's a 'real' hustle guy.  I disagree about contesting shots -- he does contest them.  He doesn't block many but he's got a hand in the shooter's face.

His rebounding and overall defense is lacking.  Haven't seen Birdman play to know if he'd be an improvement over Mikki or POB.

Cutting POB and signing Mikki makes me seriously question how bad POB was --> if you're a young center and you're moved so your team can get Mikki, you need to seriously evaluate your abilities.  Always looked like POB could score, rebound and block shots when he got PT -- more so than Mikki.

[CoachBo]

After the Paddy mistake, anyone would be an improvement - Mikki, Birdman, the rotting, fetid corpses (corpsii?) of George Mikan and Wilt Chamberlain.

The question is how much of an improvement you're looking for.

[BballTim]

  From what I've seen of Anderson he just runs around trying to block shots and plays no semblance of organized defense. When we're healthy he'd be our 5th big just like POB was and Moore is.

[twistedrico]

I like having Mikki Moore on this team.

[moiso]

This topic is getting a bit old, but yes, I agree.  He had 10 rebounds and 8 blocks off the bench last night- just awesome production.  And games like this havn't been unusual for him lately.  He is an impact player off the bench, something Moore and POB clearly are not. I never bought that Andersen is a character risk either.  In all these years, he's never been a problem at all except for the point that his substance use got out of control.  He's always played with great effort and enthusiasm and he's never been a problem with teammates or coaches.  I really wanted him this summer.
And I agree that Moore is a real hustler, he's just not very talented.

[KJ33]

That ship sailed long ago, useless to fret about it now.  Whether it was Birdman, POB or Moore, it would have taken alot for someone to beat out Davis and Powe for the 1st 2 Bigs off the bench.  Moore clearly has taken a bigger role with KG and Leon going down, if those 2 were healthy, he would hardly see the floor except for foul trouble and certain matchups. 

All the pining for this that and the other guy really misses the mark with this team.  When you have the league's best starting 5, and all are healthy, which they were at the time offseason pickups were being made, how much bench time is even available?  Especially in the playoffs when rotations are extremely shortened.  Even assuming 35 minutes a game for each of the 5, which may be a tad low, there is only 65 minutes of playing time left for the bench, that is just over 20 minutes a game for 3 guys, and the team already had Eddie, Leon, BBD, and even TA and Scal for those slots.  You can debate that Birdman would have beat out one of those guys to make the top 8 I guess, but I don't see it, and how much difference is that one guy going to make playing 15-20 minutes tops?

[RAcker]

Old...old...old.  We killed Birdman when we last played the Nugs.  He just lurks hoping to block shots and leaves his own man open for dunks and put backs. 

This thread is like beating a tattooed bird to death with a shillelagh.

[KungPoweChicken]

As far as end of the bench players go, Birdman would be a huge upgrade over Moore. Birdman is simply a better player. And yes, I do agree to some extent that Moore is a "fake hustle player."

[wdleehi]

I can't blame the Celtics for not signing a guy that was suspended for multiple seasons because of drugs who shows up for a workout when trying to get his career going again out of shape.


That is just to many strike marks for a team look to defend it's title.






POB was a mistake all of it's own. 

[RAcker]

POB was a mistake all of it's own. 

That may be the understatement of the year.  At least Danny realized it and got rid of him.  You can't teach that fire good players have.

[twinbree]

I don't know. I'm not a fan of his overly aggressive approach to shot blocking. He probably gave up as many points to layups and free throws because he was trying to swat everything and he was actually keeping track of the number of blocks last night. Its the same problem I have with Steve Nash and taking charges. These things compliment playing good defense they can't be the foundation.

[dark_lord]

i respect and agree with the celts passing on birdman.  just too much of a risk (remember vin baker!).

[KCattheStripe]

Didn't even Birdman admit that he showed up to his workout with the C's out of shape? I mean it must have been pretty bad, Danny loves his goofy looking white big guys with tatoos. 

[davemonsterband]

I never thought he should have been passed over because the deep bench gamble should be the one with the highest possible payoff on a team of this quality, I thought he was that man. But then again, Danny's track record speaks for itself, he saw something, that's enough for me.