Ainge to address the media at 9:30 AM

[Birdbrain]

I stand by that proclamation and this one.  The backup SF/C positions didn't preclude Boston from repeating.  KGs knee did.

Did anyone watch the playoffs and not feel that a healthy Garnett and we are in the finals?  Maybe it was just me.

you mean his knees that he has said bother him on an ongoing basis and have been put through 14 NBA seasons?

He barely played over 30 min last year.  If he can't hold up under that type of mileage we are screwed anyway.  Like this past season.

so the better plan is to do nothing to address depth and cross our fingers.

an interesting view.

No my point was KG knee being bad had nothing to do with depth.  I'm not saying do nothing I just don't see it as dire that we do much of anything.

[crownsy]

Well Orlando beat Cleveland and I think we could have beaten Orlando with a healthy Garnett.  It was 7 games without him.  

Not sure about this 'straw man'.

Just 1 c fans opinion.

we get that, you think KG going down cost us a championship, so do alot of us.

address the other questions being posed to you about who will backup certain spots and why the lack of depth on this team isn't a concern if injuries occur again.

sorry I edited my post while you were responding.  Nothing earth shattering though.  Just hoping for no major trades and a few additions if need be.

edit: saw it after my last response

I too would like to resign BBD, assuming he doesn't get a crazy offer from somewhere.

I don't mind trying walker, but i'd rather a vet.

MY perfect offseason would be:

get house back
get BBD back
MLE on dice
LLE on grant hill or another 3 with length who plays defense (barnes won't take it, anyone else besides hill at this spot?)
a vet PG for the min.

[winsomme]

I stand by that proclamation and this one.  The backup SF/C positions didn't preclude Boston from repeating.  KGs knee did.

Did anyone watch the playoffs and not feel that a healthy Garnett and we are in the finals?  Maybe it was just me.

you mean his knees that he has said bother him on an ongoing basis and have been put through 14 NBA seasons?

He barely played over 30 min last year.  If he can't hold up under that type of mileage we are screwed anyway.  Like this past season.

you are aware that he is coming off surgery and an injury that was not responding as expected, right?

to go into another season with three aging superstars without adequate backups would be insane IMO and just asking for another season altering injury.

[Fafnir]

And I stand by the results.

Blaming the early exit entirely on Garnett's injury is a strawman.

A healthy Garnett is going to be handicapped by a worn-down Pierce and Allen, regardless of his status.

The injury was a factor, but people using it to gloss over management's total failure to produce any bench depth are just covering up for Ainge. Again.

Rivers has laid out that failure pretty clearly, and pretty publicly. If it isn't addressed, we won't win a title.

JMO.

Garnett's injury was by far the greatest factor in the Celtics not repeating though right? Then how is it a straw man, especially when you acknoweldge that Garnett's absense put a huge strain on PP/RA?

[Birdbrain]

Well Orlando beat Cleveland and I think we could have beaten Orlando with a healthy Garnett.  It was 7 games without him.  

Not sure about this 'straw man'.

Just 1 c fans opinion.

we get that, you think KG going down cost us a championship, so do alot of us.

address the other questions being posed to you about who will backup certain spots and why the lack of depth on this team isn't a concern if injuries occur again.

sorry I edited my post while you were responding.  Nothing earth shattering though.  Just hoping for no major trades and a few additions if need be.

edit: saw it after my last response

I too would like to resign BBD, assuming he doesn't get a crazy offer from somewhere.

I don't mind trying walker, but i'd rather a vet.

MY perfect offseason would be:

get house back
get BBD back
MLE on dice
LLE on grant hill or another 3 with length who plays defense (barnes won't take it, anyone else besides hill at this spot?)
a vet PG for the min.

I would be ecstatic if it played out like that.  

I would be surprised if we could get McDyess for mle.

KG is going to have play 30 min a game for us to win it all whether we have adequate backups for him or not.

[Mencius]

...
True, but I believe that we could have had Chris Anderson (made $900K), Matt Barnes (made $1.2M) and Quinton Ross (came to MEM training camp as a non-roster invitee) for the same money we ended up spending on O'Bryant (O'Busto?), Cassell, Marbury, and M.Moore and we would have gotten far more consistent bench play that most likely have kept Ray and Pierce fresher for the playoffs after KG went down.

That's a really good point.  Those guys could have been had, and would have hugely improved our bench.  Danny had a miserable offseason last year.  He needs to knock it out of the park this offseason.  I'm glad he's seeing what's available, even for Ray and Rondo.  It's mere due diligence.  A bench is all the more important this year, because while still great, our Big 3 will decline a little more this year.  How much, I don't know, but it happens to all humans in their 30s.

I expect Ray to be traded at some point between now and the deadline.  I just think that it will happen.  GS still looks like a prime trade partner.  Even something semi-nutty like a Jersey trade for Wince and either Dooling (backup PG) or Jarvis Hayes (backup 3) and #11.  Helps Jersey shed Carter's 17.3 mil salary in 10/11, so they'd have to give up extra assets.

Anyway, I think Danny will trade Ray with an eye to getting back a combo of players that cumulatively will give more than Ray would have, and the package he receives in return must render a starter and one of the reserve positions we need filled.  He'd then still have the MLE, LLE, the combined expiring salaries of Scal, TA to further shore up the bench.

Just my hunch about what'll happen with Ray, based on nothing but the cool breeze wafting through my cavernous head.

No clue what he'll do with Rondo.  My guess is he stays.  If he does go, alone or in some combo with Ray, we'd have to get back a truly killer package.

[Eeyore III]

edit: saw it after my last response

I too would like to resign BBD, assuming he doesn't get a crazy offer from somewhere.

I don't mind trying walker, but i'd rather a vet.

MY perfect offseason would be:

get house back
get BBD back
MLE on dice
LLE on grant hill or another 3 with length who plays defense (barnes won't take it, anyone else besides hill at this spot?)
a vet PG for the min.

My next two UFA choices at SF are Walter Herrmann and Pops Mensah-Bonsu.  For the LLE, you aren't getting a "whole package" player.  While many think of Pops as a PF, he has really, really good foot speed and quickness, and I'd take my chances on him against the 6'9"+ SFs out there, and those are the ones we have to get past.

Just my 2 cents, since the issue got raised.

[BballTim]

I stand by that proclamation and this one.  The backup SF/C positions didn't preclude Boston from repeating.  KGs knee did.

Did anyone watch the playoffs and not feel that a healthy Garnett and we are in the finals?  Maybe it was just me.

you mean his knees that he has said bother him on an ongoing basis and have been put through 14 NBA seasons?

He barely played over 30 min last year.  If he can't hold up under that type of mileage we are screwed anyway.  Like this past season.

so the better plan is to do nothing to address depth and cross our fingers.

an interesting view.

  Address the depth or not, we still have to cross our fingers. We're not winning the title without a reasonably productive KG. Sure, we need a good bench. The best one that we can get. But that bench isn't going to make up for a loss of that magnitude, nor is it going to alleviate much of the wear and tear on Paul and Ray in the playoffs if KG's not healthy and productive.

[snively]

When you have the best starting 5 in the league the need for a good bench is somewhat lessened.  Our team can get away with a crappy bench better than other teams.  We really just need a shooter to sub for Rondo (we already have that in House), a wing who can defend and hit an open J (we have the crapshoot that is Walker, TA and Giddens, so we really need just one more guy), a quick 4 (Powe or Scal) and someone who can play passable defense on 5s (we have nobody unless we resign Baby). 

I think we could add Jason Collins and Quinton Ross for like 3 mil combined and we'd have plugged all the holes adequately. 

Of course the adequate is not the ideal, but I'm not seeing the doom and gloom.  As long as Ainge doesn't put rookies and projects in the holes again, which all signs point away from, I think we'll be fine.  Though I am a little nervous about Robert Swift getting a call.  Still, at least he's produced more than POB in his career.