Good Peter May Article in Yahoo about Wallace on Celtics

[footey]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ArsiVN33Y6Ssq6mqoOGQU3.8vLYF?slug=ys-wallaceceltics070609&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[Brendan]

Pretty good article, but this seems unfair:

We’ll never know, of course, but had coach Doc Rivers had someone like Wallace at his disposal, instead of Glen Davis(notes), the Celtics might have advanced well beyond the second round.

The problem was having Miki Moore as your third big man and that's it. Had it been Rasheed, Perk, Baby, and Scal, instead of Perk, Baby, Scal, and Miki - that's an improvement across the board.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Pretty good article, but this seems unfair:

We’ll never know, of course, but had coach Doc Rivers had someone like Wallace at his disposal, instead of Glen Davis(notes), the Celtics might have advanced well beyond the second round.

The problem was having Miki Moore as your third big man and that's it. Had it been Rasheed, Perk, Baby, and Scal, instead of Perk, Baby, Scal, and Miki - that's an improvement across the board.

Mikki wasn't even our 3rd big man. He was our 6th big man. Find me a team that goes into the playoffs having to rely on it's 6th big man on the depth chart to produce. It's really an anomaly.

[toinewalka]

Too right.  We would be talking about whether the Celtics could win their third in a row this year if either a) we had Rasheed last year or B) KG stays healthy.  Neither CLE or LAL got any better from the year before (and you can make the argument that Mo Williams actually hurt CLE in the playoffs). 

I think the most important factors going into this season are simply to find a backup 3/4-3/2 and to STAY HEALTHY.  If we can do that, we will be kissing rings.

[xmuscularghandix]

Another good Sheed article
Paul Flannery- WEEI.com

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/celtics/paul-flannery/2009/07/06/portrait-artist-young-sheed

[droopdog7]

Pretty good article, but this seems unfair:

We’ll never know, of course, but had coach Doc Rivers had someone like Wallace at his disposal, instead of Glen Davis(notes), the Celtics might have advanced well beyond the second round.

The problem was having Miki Moore as your third big man and that's it. Had it been Rasheed, Perk, Baby, and Scal, instead of Perk, Baby, Scal, and Miki - that's an improvement across the board.

Mikki was a problem for sure.  But Wallace is a huge upgrade over BBD.  Baby just isn't that good and he gets his numbers based largeley on the fact that teams ignore him.  But good for BBD for taking advantage.

[footey]

Another good Sheed article
Paul Flannery- WEEI.com

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/celtics/paul-flannery/2009/07/06/portrait-artist-young-sheed

Great article. Thanks.

[guava_wrench]

Too right.  We would be talking about whether the Celtics could win their third in a row this year if either a) we had Rasheed last year or B) KG stays healthy.  Neither CLE or LAL got any better from the year before (and you can make the argument that Mo Williams actually hurt CLE in the playoffs). 

I think the most important factors going into this season are simply to find a backup 3/4-3/2 and to STAY HEALTHY.  If we can do that, we will be kissing rings.

The Lakers got better. Bynum was healthy. Even if Bynum didn't dominate, having him get minutes instead of the backups we faced made the Lakers a better team.

Plus, Ariza was more integrated and he improved his jumpshot. We were able to abuse Radmanovic.

That was a better Lakers team than the one we beat.

[toinewalka]

Barely, if that.  Ariza I will give you added a little bit, but Bynum gave them nothing off the bench.  I have never seen someone so hyped coming back from an injury give so little to his team except McGrady, who just got hurt again.  We lost the best player on our team, and his backup.  We played the playoffs with three of our six big men active and then out of those three, only SCAL came back.  Even without Miki Moore and Marbury, we were the better team during the season.

That first game in LA was a mockery.  If you recall Rondo getting called for an offensive foul driving to the hoop where they said he pushed off with a hand that was on the ball.  That made top three awful calls last season, and the whole game went that way.  They still barely beat us.  I REALLY would have liked our chances.

[Gainesville Celtic]

Funny that May gets a dig in at Ricky Davis toward the end:

Ainge has never shied away from adding players who have had issues elsewhere. Stephon Marbury(notes) was the latest. Gary Payton(notes) and Ricky Davis(notes) came before Marbury. Ainge even traded Antoine Walker(notes), brought him back and traded him again. None of those players is around anymore (and Davis has gone through a number of teams since leaving Boston). Now comes Wallace, who can be as high maintenance as anyone.

Old habits die hard i guess.

[Birdbrain]

Pretty good article, but this seems unfair:

We’ll never know, of course, but had coach Doc Rivers had someone like Wallace at his disposal, instead of Glen Davis(notes), the Celtics might have advanced well beyond the second round.

The problem was having Miki Moore as your third big man and that's it. Had it been Rasheed, Perk, Baby, and Scal, instead of Perk, Baby, Scal, and Miki - that's an improvement across the board.

Mikki was a problem for sure.  But Wallace is a huge upgrade over BBD.  Baby just isn't that good and he gets his numbers based largeley on the fact that teams ignore him.  But good for BBD for taking advantage.

Hugh upgrade?  Wallace from 3 years ago maybe. 

[toinewalka]

Wallace has a better shooting percentage (and he takes more and harder shots), better at grabbing D boards, better overall defender, and can spread the floor, MUCH wider.  He may not be a HUGE upgrade, but he is certainly a significant upgrade.

P.S.  I love BBD.  I hope by some miracle we can bring him back.  I was sitting in a bar when we picked him keeping my fingers crossed he would fall that far.  Let's get him back here and have above and beyond the best front court in the game.

[crownsy]

Pretty good article, but this seems unfair:

We’ll never know, of course, but had coach Doc Rivers had someone like Wallace at his disposal, instead of Glen Davis(notes), the Celtics might have advanced well beyond the second round.

The problem was having Miki Moore as your third big man and that's it. Had it been Rasheed, Perk, Baby, and Scal, instead of Perk, Baby, Scal, and Miki - that's an improvement across the board.

Mikki was a problem for sure.  But Wallace is a huge upgrade over BBD.  Baby just isn't that good and he gets his numbers based largeley on the fact that teams ignore him.  But good for BBD for taking advantage.

Hugh upgrade?  Wallace from 3 years ago maybe. 

come on now.

Even the disintersted, half hearted wallace that quit about the same time dumars announced to the press that chauncy was traded for a team killing expiring contract is better than BBD.

I like GLen alot, and hope he resign's with us for depth and his energy off the bench, but he's an underized PF who can't jump and has a medicore jump shot. He's a bench player, not a starter or even 6th man.

[Brendan]

Rasheed put up a league average PER (14.91), down from the year before, BBD had a mediocre 10.77, down from the 11.40 his rookie year. It's just too big of a statistical gap for BBD to make up on intangibles. Couple in that Rasheed excels where BBD is supposedly talented (shooting and passing) and the only debate is if BBD's value against the leagues beef e.g. Shaq, Howard is that valuable. And my answer is no since he lets a guy like Howard just roam on the other end.

[Birdbrain]

14 - 10 per difference for a 2nd year player who wasn't starting vs a starter is a lot?  No in fact he's not a major upgrade.  He was 3 years ago now he's a slight upgrade but, if we lose BBD it we will still have problems getting  out the East and heaven forbid the C's have any injuries. Anyway I'll trust that DA knows more than me and will make the right decision. 

The Powe issue is still casting a cloud over this site.