2009 Celticsblog Draft: Draft Thread

[johnnyrondo]

The more I look at the suns roster the more I like it. obviously so much depends on big Al's health and Rondo's "leap" but you really don't have a noticeable weakness.

Except maybe a true backup pg

[indeedproceed]

The more I look at the suns roster the more I like it. obviously so much depends on big Al's health and Rondo's "leap" but you really don't have a noticeable weakness.

Except maybe a true backup pg

At this point I don't think I can worry anymore about Big Al's health..by that I mean either he's gonna be there 100% by December or he's not, you know? My team could very well end up a 'coulda been' by the All-Star break. Could also be a conference power.

[johnnyrondo]

I hope Big Al returns to the player he was last yr. Kind of a shame mcHale is gone from the bench. They did well with Big Al under him. But Big Al is awesome. Poor guy has just been all alone there.

[Gainesville Celtic]

Nick -- gonna disagree w/ you on CHI having the best starting 5 (and I'm not nominating ORL either) but I count 11 small forwards that Raja Bell has no chance of guarding...just in the East (lebron, GWallace, Granger, Caron, Durant, Gay, Melo,Artest,Prince, Pierce,Marvin Williams).

I'm clearly not saying all those teams are better than CHI (who are one of the top teams in the east) but that is a pretty big hole in the East (out west it would be slightly less of an issue)

[johnnyrondo]

Nick -- gonna disagree w/ you on CHI having the best starting 5 (and I'm not nominating ORL either) but I count 11 small forwards that Raja Bell has no chance of guarding...just in the East (lebron, GWallace, Granger, Caron, Durant, Gay, Melo,Artest,Prince, Pierce,Marvin Williams).

I'm clearly not saying all those teams are better than CHI (who are one of the top teams in the east) but that is a pretty big hole in the East (out west it would be slightly less of an issue)

Defense is often a team thing. If the worse thing you can say is our tough defender is two inches too short to play SF, we can live with that. I could of traded Raja for a more typical SF, but we want to have a running game and we like his moxy. Raja and Martin on the wings will make stopping CP3 that much harder.

[riah32]

Nick -- gonna disagree w/ you on CHI having the best starting 5 (and I'm not nominating ORL either) but I count 11 small forwards that Raja Bell has no chance of guarding...just in the East (lebron, GWallace, Granger, Caron, Durant, Gay, Melo,Artest,Prince, Pierce,Marvin Williams).

I'm clearly not saying all those teams are better than CHI (who are one of the top teams in the east) but that is a pretty big hole in the East (out west it would be slightly less of an issue)

Defense is often a team thing. If the worse thing you can say is our tough defender is two inches too short to play SF, we can live with that. I could of traded Raja for a more typical SF, but we want to have a running game and we like his moxy. Raja and Martin on the wings will make stopping CP3 that much harder.

Raja is actually a really good defender....He did a pretty good job guarding Kobe from what I remember, Granted he isnt going to shut down one player on his own but will do a good enough job that with a little help the Bulls should be fine. I just hope the Bulls bench steps up as much as they will be needed.

[The Walker Wiggle]

Where your team lacks long term is a bench that will be effective enough to give your starters the rest they need.

And let's give credit where credit is due, Bulls helped themselves tonight with the acquisition of Stevenson and Bogans (both solid defenders). Team's only misstep was keeping Mihm (18 games last season, 37% shooting, nearly as many fouls as rebounds, waived by the Grizzlies) over my guy Adam Morrison. But, ok, I'm partial.

[johnnyrondo]

Two bench looks I'm thinking about.

Paul, Horford and Raja go out


Williams, Martin, Deshawn, Pau, Armstrong

Martin and Pau go out

CP3, Raja, Bogans, Anderson, Horford


I think those units will continue to increase leads.

[nickagneta]

Where your team lacks long term is a bench that will be effective enough to give your starters the rest they need.

And let's give credit where credit is due, Bulls helped themselves tonight with the acquisition of Stevenson and Bogans (both solid defenders). Team's only misstep was keeping Mihm (18 games last season, 37% shooting, nearly as many fouls as rebounds, waived by the Grizzlies) over my guy Adam Morrison. But, ok, I'm partial.

Absolutely. Their bench is far better now than it was six hours ago. That said, six hours ago his bench was monumentally awful.

[nickagneta]

Two bench looks I'm thinking about.

Paul, Horford and Raja go out


Williams, Martin, Deshawn, Pau, Armstrong

Martin and Pau go out

CP3, Raja, Bogans, Anderson, Horford


I think those units will continue to increase leads.

Here's the problem j.r. A common occurrence in the game is having more than one starter having foul problems early in the game and late in the game. When that happens and your rotation gets thrown out of whack, your team might suffer worse in this scenario than any other in the league.

[johnnyrondo]

Two bench looks I'm thinking about.

Paul, Horford and Raja go out


Williams, Martin, Deshawn, Pau, Armstrong

Martin and Pau go out

CP3, Raja, Bogans, Anderson, Horford


I think those units will continue to increase leads.

Here's the problem j.r. A common occurrence in the game is having more than one starter having foul problems early in the game and late in the game. When that happens and your rotation gets thrown out of whack, your team might suffer worse in this scenario than any other in the league.

I have to disagree some. Let's say both Pau and Horford are in foul trouble, well we still have the best backcourt in the game by far. Now I'm biased, but I think that Pau and Horford is one of the best PF/C combos in the league. I think a team of CP3, Martin, Raja, Anderson, and Armstrong running and gunning won't suffer much, while we deal with both bigs being on the bench. Let's say though that lebron and J-rich get in foul trouble. What's the Magics strategy then?

[The Walker Wiggle]

And how about this argument? Braves are a team that's been thrown out a few times as an early favorite in the West, most recently by JR himself.

Here is Buffalo's bench versus Chicago's bench.

Linas Kleiza vs. Ryan Anderson
James Jones vs. James Johnson
Zaza Pachulia vs. Hilton Armstrong
Quentin Richardson vs. Deshawn Stevenson
Sergio Rodriguez vs. Jason Williams

Other than a clear advantage in the middle (where the Braves also have Brian Skinner) I just don't see the difference. In fact, after Bulls' deadline shuffling I give Chicago's backcourt the edge.

No?

[johnnyrondo]

There are some teams which don;t have that good starting lineups, but are deep. I agree that if your go to guys aren't that great and not that much better than your 8 and 9 guys, foul trouble might not be as big a factor. I don't think a team that is constructed like that though ever gets far in the playoffs.

There are a lot of good teams in our league. No two teams are identical. One team might have a soft PF, another might have an undersized 3, another might have a poor shooting pg, another might be missing a true star, another might have too many egos. So many variables.

[johnnyrondo]

And how about this argument? Braves are a team that's been thrown out a few times as an early favorite in the West, most recently by JR himself.

Here is Buffalo's bench versus Chicago's bench.

Linas Kleiza vs. Ryan Anderson
James Jones vs. James Johnson
Zaza Pachulia vs. Hilton Armstrong
Quentin Richardson vs. Deshawn Stevenson
Sergio Rodriguez vs. Jason Williams

Other than a clear advantage in the middle (where the Braves also have Brian Skinner) I just don't see it. In fact, after Bulls' deadline shuffling I give Chicago's backcourt the edge.

No?

You don't have to convince me. Early in the season we'll go with Bogans over Johnson too, but my recurring theme is the 5 bench guys are not going to be in together, unless our lead is HUGE (when the C's won the title how often did you see an Eddie House, tony Allen, James Posey, Leon Powe, Pj Brown lineup in together when it mattered? That team would get killed. Most teams go down to 7 and 8 man rotations in the playoffs too. There will be some battles for our spots.

In Buffalo's defense, Rebus has surrounded Howard with two good sidekicks in Ray and Jamison. I doubt he'd take Howard, Ray, and Jamison out at the same time. Kleiza is a good 6th man and Zaza is a good backup big.

[Donoghus]

Next weeks' schedule:

Mon (Aug. 10th)- Northwest Division Press Conference

Tues (Aug. 11th)- Southwest Division Press Conference

Weds (Aug. 12th)- Pacific Division Press Conference

Thurs (Aug. 13th)- Eastern Conference Seeding Voting

Friday (Aug. 14th)- Western Conference Seeding Voting

The following (and final) week will be playoffs.