Lots of Work for Danny - Deep Deep East

[Nut from Nh]

Overnight a deep east just got deeper. 

Cavs - Shaq had a fantastic season and Clev gave up nothing to get him.  They were an elite regular season team w/o Shaq, they have free reign to rest him as much as possible for the playoffs.  Scary.

Orlando - Not only did they get the best player in their deal, they arguably got the 3rd best as well.  Ryan Anderson is a player, and his outside shooting and length will compliment Howard well.  He's no throw in.  Those who argue that this trade is not of a major concern if they don't resign Turk bc he is a facilitator point forward are wrong.  VC has a rep of being heady, even soft, and selfish but that's a rep.  Truth of the matter is that VC has always been a fantastic passer and it's refelcted in his assist #'s year in and year out.  He sees the court better than Turk, and if they are on the court together next season, God help us. 

Hawks - Even they got them selves a heck of a player in Crawford for essentially nothing.  Do I worry about them, no.  But we still have to play them 4 times and they will be better.  J Smith never got into a flow after his injury last year. 

Chicago - Did you sleep on them?  Did you expect them to play as well as they did in the playoffs?  I did.  Their Feb deadline trade was a windfall of talent.  They may not have Gordan, they may make a major move but if their team resembles last years squad and you give them a training camp...  they will be good.  I'll say this, if they can bring back the exact same squad they had for the playoffs they will host an opponent in the first round next year, a top 4 team. 

Detroit - Who knows.  My major point here is that Stuckey looks like 50 cent, that alone should frighten us.   

Celts - I know we have not yet begun our summer.  We sat out and watched the draft night fireworks, and that is fine with me.  You don't trade Rondo under any circumstance what so ever.  We MUST improve significantly, and we only have two opportunities to do so.

1) Trade Ray - It's been discussed so there is not need to hash it out again.  There is plenty of reason to trade Ray.  As others have pointed out, it's not like next summer when he comes off the books we get to go shopping with his old paycheck.  It's like, use it (in a trade) or lose it. 

2) Free Agency - and this is where you should be crapping your pants.  DAnny has NEVER once made a really good FA decision other than Posey, who fell in our laps.  He was locked in to NJ, we got lucky.  And if you recall, the only reason we were there waiting for Posey is bc Danny had just failed in his attempt to coax Reggie Miller out of retirement... yik! 

Blount, Scal, Dickau, Tommy GOOGS    THESE are some of his storied aquisitions!!  His greatest moves other than Posey, Tony Allen and Eddie House.  Oh boy.  I love Eddie House, and I wanted TA back, but c'mon people.

All you need to know about Danny and free agency is that he worked out Chris Anderson the Birdman last year.  And he said to himself, "You know what, I want to pay this kid Pat O'Bryant nealry double what I would have to pay Anderson".  Meanwhile Anderson blocks 2.5 shots a game, shoots 55% and rips down 6 boards IN 20 MINUTES PER GAME.  If you give Birdman 30 mpg you could be talking Defensive Player of the Year.  I've said that if we had Birdman then Perk would have been put on the bench and people flip out on me.  GET A CLUE. 

FACT - Anderson shot 10% better at the line, and averaged one block more than Perk, all when Perk played 10 MORE MINUTES PER GAME.  Perk ripped down one more board, I'm pretty sure if you leave Birdman in for another 10 minutes, he'll find a way to even up and grab that one rebound.

Sorry about the Anderson rant but we are about to go down that road.  Zaza?  Are you serious, this is who he likes?  We didn't even use the full MLE last year, and that's a joke.  We could have offered Josh Childress 5 mil per for 3-4 years. 

Danny has to make GREAT free agent moves this summer, or there is no hope.  I'm fine with keeping Ray, but you have to get 2 really good players in free agency.  Zaza won't cut it, McDice won't leave Detroit, and even HE won't cut it.  You need Sheed or Matrix, AND Grant Hill at the vet minimum.  Somethign that big, or we're in trouble. 

Here's hoping Danny breaks tradition and actually does something in free agency. 

[Fafnir]

Hawks - Even they got them selves a heck of a player in Crawford for essentially nothing.  Do I worry about them, no.  But we still have to play them 4 times and they will be better.  J Smith never got into a flow after his injury last year. 

Ctrawford is an awful player. He's essentially Ben Gordon without the virtue of accurate shooting.

[RonJohn]

I don't believe the hype on Vince Carter. At all. He takes a ton of games off. Chicago wouldn't be able to hold our jocks if both KG and Leone didn't go down.
Shaq is a STIFF now. He's legitimately calcified.
The HAWKS? Really? They have a TON of FAs.

It's too early to tell how the east "powers" will shake out.

Orlando gave up Courtney Lee whom I thought showed real promise in the playoffs.

[jdpapa3]

Going from Hedo to Vince is a lateral move, at best. And I think it was a backward move when you consider that they will have lost Hedo and Courtney Lee, and replaced them with Vince.

Doc is right. Half the reason why Cleveland kills us in defense so much is because of Ben Wallace and his versatility on D with the trapping on Ray Allen. It makes them a lot slower overall.

We killed Chicago when we had Garnett. I don't see how they sign Gordon without moving Hinrich.

Atlanta doesn't scare me. They have regressed, will lose Bibby, and already lost Childress. Lucky to get an 8 seed next year.

Washington could surprise some, but I won't be confusing them for a contender any time soon.

[celticinorlando]

i would rather orlando have carter than hedo...and i think hedo is gone in orlando...so no they didn't improve because they lost the one guy that could guard ray allen...courtney lee...cleveland signed a 37 year old shaq....big deal....perk eliminated him...guess what...boston is getting a helathy KG back...which IMO trumps anyone in the east...they need to address the bench but boston still has THE BEST starting five in the east and in the LEAGUE...bench needs the work

[timepiece33]

Orlando is a contender.  No doubt.   But no one said they wouldn't be.  It was just mentioned that Herkoglu/Lee/Gorat is a better mix of players in their matchup with us than Carter/Anderson.  Is that too difficult to comprehend?   

Cleveland got better and I do believe they will be more difficult to beat with Shaq even though I don't believe that deal is without risk to them.

Some fans want to act as if the Cetlics in the playoffs were not without Kevin Garnett.  Take the best player off any of the other teams in the East AND do they push Orlando to 7?  If you give us Garnett AND them Nelson, we beat them. 

Danny has work to do, but I want to wait until we see what he does with FA before going all chicken little.    We have a great foundation that we need to build depth around. 

Also, I could see Ray signing here next year for a discount. 

[PosImpos]

Overnight a deep east just got deeper. 

Cavs - Shaq had a fantastic season and Clev gave up nothing to get him.  They were an elite regular season team w/o Shaq, they have free reign to rest him as much as possible for the playoffs.  Scary.

Orlando - Not only did they get the best player in their deal, they arguably got the 3rd best as well.  Ryan Anderson is a player, and his outside shooting and length will compliment Howard well.  He's no throw in.  Those who argue that this trade is not of a major concern if they don't resign Turk bc he is a facilitator point forward are wrong.  VC has a rep of being heady, even soft, and selfish but that's a rep.  Truth of the matter is that VC has always been a fantastic passer and it's refelcted in his assist #'s year in and year out.  He sees the court better than Turk, and if they are on the court together next season, God help us. 

Hawks - Even they got them selves a heck of a player in Crawford for essentially nothing.  Do I worry about them, no.  But we still have to play them 4 times and they will be better.  J Smith never got into a flow after his injury last year. 

Chicago - Did you sleep on them?  Did you expect them to play as well as they did in the playoffs?  I did.  Their Feb deadline trade was a windfall of talent.  They may not have Gordan, they may make a major move but if their team resembles last years squad and you give them a training camp...  they will be good.  I'll say this, if they can bring back the exact same squad they had for the playoffs they will host an opponent in the first round next year, a top 4 team. 

Detroit - Who knows.  My major point here is that Stuckey looks like 50 cent, that alone should frighten us.   

Celts - I know we have not yet begun our summer.  We sat out and watched the draft night fireworks, and that is fine with me.  You don't trade Rondo under any circumstance what so ever.  We MUST improve significantly, and we only have two opportunities to do so.

1) Trade Ray - It's been discussed so there is not need to hash it out again.  There is plenty of reason to trade Ray.  As others have pointed out, it's not like next summer when he comes off the books we get to go shopping with his old paycheck.  It's like, use it (in a trade) or lose it. 

2) Free Agency - and this is where you should be crapping your pants.  DAnny has NEVER once made a really good FA decision other than Posey, who fell in our laps.  He was locked in to NJ, we got lucky.  And if you recall, the only reason we were there waiting for Posey is bc Danny had just failed in his attempt to coax Reggie Miller out of retirement... yik! 

Blount, Scal, Dickau, Tommy GOOGS    THESE are some of his storied aquisitions!!  His greatest moves other than Posey, Tony Allen and Eddie House.  Oh boy.  I love Eddie House, and I wanted TA back, but c'mon people.

All you need to know about Danny and free agency is that he worked out Chris Anderson the Birdman last year.  And he said to himself, "You know what, I want to pay this kid Pat O'Bryant nealry double what I would have to pay Anderson".  Meanwhile Anderson blocks 2.5 shots a game, shoots 55% and rips down 6 boards IN 20 MINUTES PER GAME.  If you give Birdman 30 mpg you could be talking Defensive Player of the Year.  I've said that if we had Birdman then Perk would have been put on the bench and people flip out on me.  GET A CLUE. 

FACT - Anderson shot 10% better at the line, and averaged one block more than Perk, all when Perk played 10 MORE MINUTES PER GAME.  Perk ripped down one more board, I'm pretty sure if you leave Birdman in for another 10 minutes, he'll find a way to even up and grab that one rebound.

Sorry about the Anderson rant but we are about to go down that road.  Zaza?  Are you serious, this is who he likes?  We didn't even use the full MLE last year, and that's a joke.  We could have offered Josh Childress 5 mil per for 3-4 years. 

Danny has to make GREAT free agent moves this summer, or there is no hope.  I'm fine with keeping Ray, but you have to get 2 really good players in free agency.  Zaza won't cut it, McDice won't leave Detroit, and even HE won't cut it.  You need Sheed or Matrix, AND Grant Hill at the vet minimum.  Somethign that big, or we're in trouble. 

Here's hoping Danny breaks tradition and actually does something in free agency. 

Okay, I haven't finished this yet (good post) but first of all I had to give you a TP for saying Stuckey looks like 50 Cent.  I totally agree!  I always think that when I see him.

Also, you're from NH so I'll give you another TP later.