Is Pruitt a Good Enough Back Up PG?

[Aaron]

No.  No I'm not.

I think chasing after a swing is the wrong priority.  I'm going to shout this from the rafters until Danny hears me, but we need a backup PG.  Priority #1.

We can't let an unproven player take the reigns, and we can't give the duty to House.  We need him free from the ball, roaming, finding open shots.

We have depth at 2/3... we have nobody behind Rondo.

who is our depth at the 2, 3?

Allen, Giddens and Walker. 

We don't need a terrible amount of production from this position.  We just need somebody who can be on the court, giving PP & Ray some rest.  Giddens was draft for his D, and Walker can be effective on Offense.  They could absolutely fill that role, and if they fail, like I stated above, it won't be hard to obtain another swing later.  The league has swingmen coming out of the wazoo. 

If we don't get a solid back PG, that could derail our whole season.  And everybody keeps forgetting... WE CAN'T HAVE EDDIE HOUSE HANDLING THE BALL.  HE NEEDS BE FREE.

we won a chamionship without such a back-up PG outside of Eddie. and as for your point on the 2/3 position.... um... maybe you should stick to finding the back-up PG.

While I hated every second he was on the court, you seem to be forgetting about a little alien by the name of Sam Cassel.

He was that man on our championship team... um... maybe you should stick to freaking out because we may not get a subpar player to backup Pierce.

[vagrantwade]

LOL, I remeber when Pruitt was drafted and all of the Delonte West haters (remember them?) gushed about how much better he was going to be than Delonte.

pruitt = 1 nba championship ring

west = 0 nba championship ring

i guess that means pruitt is better. 

I'd rather have playing time than get a ring contributing absolutely nothing.

[dark_lord]

one word answer....no!

[ssspence]

No.  No I'm not.

I think chasing after a swing is the wrong priority.  I'm going to shout this from the rafters until Danny hears me, but we need a backup PG.  Priority #1.

We can't let an unproven player take the reigns, and we can't give the duty to House.  We need him free from the ball, roaming, finding open shots.

We have depth at 2/3... we have nobody behind Rondo.

who is our depth at the 2, 3?

Allen, Giddens and Walker. 

We don't need a terrible amount of production from this position.  We just need somebody who can be on the court, giving PP & Ray some rest.  Giddens was draft for his D, and Walker can be effective on Offense.  They could absolutely fill that role, and if they fail, like I stated above, it won't be hard to obtain another swing later.  The league has swingmen coming out of the wazoo. 

If we don't get a solid back PG, that could derail our whole season.  And everybody keeps forgetting... WE CAN'T HAVE EDDIE HOUSE HANDLING THE BALL.  HE NEEDS BE FREE.

we won a chamionship without such a back-up PG outside of Eddie. and as for your point on the 2/3 position.... um... maybe you should stick to finding the back-up PG.

While I hated every second he was on the court, you seem to be forgetting about a little alien by the name of Sam Cassel.

He was that man on our championship team... um... maybe you should stick to freaking out because we may not get a subpar player to backup Pierce.

cassell played limitedly and poorly. he was passed over as the playoffs went on, and we still won.

i should freak out because we may not get a subpar player to backup pierce? why would we want a subpar player to backup pierce? we already have plenty of scrubs who do that already -- each of whom you mentioned -- and they're a key reason we didn't have a stronger playoff campaign last year.

you forgot to mention that we basically have no proven back up for EITHER pierce or allen, particularly on the defensive end, and that they a) generally have to defend the other team's top scorer (lebron, VC, turkaglu, hamilton, gordon, wade, etc to name a few in the eastern conference) and b) that they're 10 years older than rondo and therefore tire more easily.

to suggest that having walker or giddens back-up those two over house backing up rondo suggests that you haven;t been paying much attention to Celtics basketball recently.

personally, i'd like to see us sign a capable swing player as a back-up / compliment to the stronger of giddens and walker, keep pruitt and house, and wait to see what shakes out in free agency between bigs, PGs etc. there should be some decent security blankets at the veteran minimum, and the options right now at PG aren't any better than that.

[Aaron]

No.  No I'm not.

I think chasing after a swing is the wrong priority.  I'm going to shout this from the rafters until Danny hears me, but we need a backup PG.  Priority #1.

We can't let an unproven player take the reigns, and we can't give the duty to House.  We need him free from the ball, roaming, finding open shots.

We have depth at 2/3... we have nobody behind Rondo.

who is our depth at the 2, 3?

Allen, Giddens and Walker. 

We don't need a terrible amount of production from this position.  We just need somebody who can be on the court, giving PP & Ray some rest.  Giddens was draft for his D, and Walker can be effective on Offense.  They could absolutely fill that role, and if they fail, like I stated above, it won't be hard to obtain another swing later.  The league has swingmen coming out of the wazoo. 

If we don't get a solid back PG, that could derail our whole season.  And everybody keeps forgetting... WE CAN'T HAVE EDDIE HOUSE HANDLING THE BALL.  HE NEEDS BE FREE.

we won a chamionship without such a back-up PG outside of Eddie. and as for your point on the 2/3 position.... um... maybe you should stick to finding the back-up PG.

While I hated every second he was on the court, you seem to be forgetting about a little alien by the name of Sam Cassel.

He was that man on our championship team... um... maybe you should stick to freaking out because we may not get a subpar player to backup Pierce.

cassell played limitedly and poorly. he was passed over as the playoffs went on, and we still won.

i should freak out because we may not get a subpar player to backup pierce? why would we want a subpar player to backup pierce? we already have plenty of scrubs who do that already -- each of whom you mentioned -- and they're a key reason we didn't have a stronger playoff campaign last year.

you forgot to mention that we basically have no proven back up for EITHER pierce or allen, particularly on the defensive end, and that they a) generally have to defend the other team's top scorer (lebron, VC, turkaglu, hamilton, gordon, wade, etc to name a few in the eastern conference) and b) that they're 10 years older than rondo and therefore tire more easily.

to suggest that having walker or giddens back-up those two over house backing up rondo suggests that you haven;t been paying much attention to Celtics basketball recently.

personally, i'd like to see us sign a capable swing player as a back-up / compliment to the stronger of giddens and walker, keep pruitt and house, and wait to see what shakes out in free agency between bigs, PGs etc. there should be some decent security blankets at the veteran minimum, and the options right now at PG aren't any better than that.

You're not reading what I'm saying.

My contention is that a backup PG is far more crucial to our success next season than a backup wing, for 2 reasons:

1. We can't trust an unproven player to man the point, and we cannot let Eddie handle that duty.  Eddie is a great weapon when playing off the ball.  We need him roaming free, finding open shots.

2.  While you may consider our backup wings as "scrubs", they've gotten just as little (or less) opportunity to prove themselves as Gabe.  Fortunately, there's a lot less responsibility on the wing than with the ball.  Annnnnnnnd, if our core of swing players falls, we can easily get another player to come in.  Swing players grow on trees in the NBA. 

But you ride the hot hand in the Allen-Giddens-Walker trio (just as Doc has done with Powe and Davis), and let someone step up.  These guys are going to be minute fillers, not people we rely on to stop LeBron in crunchtime come playoffs.

[ssspence]

No.  No I'm not.

I think chasing after a swing is the wrong priority.  I'm going to shout this from the rafters until Danny hears me, but we need a backup PG.  Priority #1.

We can't let an unproven player take the reigns, and we can't give the duty to House.  We need him free from the ball, roaming, finding open shots.

We have depth at 2/3... we have nobody behind Rondo.

who is our depth at the 2, 3?

Allen, Giddens and Walker. 

We don't need a terrible amount of production from this position.  We just need somebody who can be on the court, giving PP & Ray some rest.  Giddens was draft for his D, and Walker can be effective on Offense.  They could absolutely fill that role, and if they fail, like I stated above, it won't be hard to obtain another swing later.  The league has swingmen coming out of the wazoo. 

If we don't get a solid back PG, that could derail our whole season.  And everybody keeps forgetting... WE CAN'T HAVE EDDIE HOUSE HANDLING THE BALL.  HE NEEDS BE FREE.

we won a chamionship without such a back-up PG outside of Eddie. and as for your point on the 2/3 position.... um... maybe you should stick to finding the back-up PG.

While I hated every second he was on the court, you seem to be forgetting about a little alien by the name of Sam Cassel.

He was that man on our championship team... um... maybe you should stick to freaking out because we may not get a subpar player to backup Pierce.

cassell played limitedly and poorly. he was passed over as the playoffs went on, and we still won.

i should freak out because we may not get a subpar player to backup pierce? why would we want a subpar player to backup pierce? we already have plenty of scrubs who do that already -- each of whom you mentioned -- and they're a key reason we didn't have a stronger playoff campaign last year.

you forgot to mention that we basically have no proven back up for EITHER pierce or allen, particularly on the defensive end, and that they a) generally have to defend the other team's top scorer (lebron, VC, turkaglu, hamilton, gordon, wade, etc to name a few in the eastern conference) and b) that they're 10 years older than rondo and therefore tire more easily.

to suggest that having walker or giddens back-up those two over house backing up rondo suggests that you haven;t been paying much attention to Celtics basketball recently.

personally, i'd like to see us sign a capable swing player as a back-up / compliment to the stronger of giddens and walker, keep pruitt and house, and wait to see what shakes out in free agency between bigs, PGs etc. there should be some decent security blankets at the veteran minimum, and the options right now at PG aren't any better than that.

You're not reading what I'm saying.

My contention is that a backup PG is far more crucial to our success next season than a backup wing, for 2 reasons:

1. We can't trust an unproven player to man the point, and we cannot let Eddie handle that duty.  Eddie is a great weapon when playing off the ball.  We need him roaming free, finding open shots.

2.  While you may consider our backup wings as "scrubs", they've gotten just as little (or less) opportunity to prove themselves as Gabe.  Fortunately, there's a lot less responsibility on the wing than with the ball.  Annnnnnnnd, if our core of swing players falls, we can easily get another player to come in.  Swing players grow on trees in the NBA. 

But you ride the hot hand in the Allen-Giddens-Walker trio (just as Doc has done with Powe and Davis), and let someone step up.  These guys are going to be minute fillers, not people we rely on to stop LeBron in crunchtime come playoffs.

i understand what you're saying, and i disagree with what you're saying. if swing players 'grow on trees' in the NBA (i can't stand that cliche -- totally overused), why don't we have a good one -- or two -- on our bench? why didn't we last year? because we didn't sign one. and if you think poseys's presense and versitility to take defensive assignments and pressure off of pierce, allen and KG wasn't key to our success in 2007, then again... not sure what to tell you.

thinking only about the 4th quarter of game 7 is shortsighted. paul and ray were TOAST by the end of the Orlando series. It's the overuse of those guys that concerns me much more than whether Gabe or Lue or Cassell or Marbury or Sherm Douglas walks the ball up the floor on a half-court team. They are the key to the success and flow of this team on the offensive end, not a back-up PG who plays 10 mins a game behind Rondo.

Gabe has shown he can handle the ball and play above average defense. With limited financial options this offseason, he also comes cheap. I want a Posey replacement more than a Cassell replacement. You should too.

[KG_ended_Bias]

On Pruitt I say NO! Not when you stay out in a strip club drinking to 4:00am in the morning, the same morning you have a game with a 10am tip. I have 1st hand knowledge of that in my only night ever with him in Phoenix. That is unreliable from a PG who is supposed to be the leader of your team. 

[jdpapa3]

Lakers fans were probably freaking out about this last offseason with an unproven Farmar. The truth is that backup point isn't that important if Farmar and Shannon Brown were able to hold down the fort for a championship team.

[Chris]

LOL, I remeber when Pruitt was drafted and all of the Delonte West haters (remember them?) gushed about how much better he was going to be than Delonte.

I still think Pruitt is more talented than Delonte.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have 1/8 of Delonte's toughness or basketball IQ, which are what separate good role players from guys who wash out of the league.  

[Greenbean]

maybe, maybe not

[ForexPirate]

we'll never know until he gets some consistent minutes to show his stuff.  seeing him play occasionally for limited minutes is not enough -  

[Edgar]

last year pruitt....NO

this years

Who knows..

[Aaron]

No.  No I'm not.

I think chasing after a swing is the wrong priority.  I'm going to shout this from the rafters until Danny hears me, but we need a backup PG.  Priority #1.

We can't let an unproven player take the reigns, and we can't give the duty to House.  We need him free from the ball, roaming, finding open shots.

We have depth at 2/3... we have nobody behind Rondo.

who is our depth at the 2, 3?

Allen, Giddens and Walker. 

We don't need a terrible amount of production from this position.  We just need somebody who can be on the court, giving PP & Ray some rest.  Giddens was draft for his D, and Walker can be effective on Offense.  They could absolutely fill that role, and if they fail, like I stated above, it won't be hard to obtain another swing later.  The league has swingmen coming out of the wazoo. 

If we don't get a solid back PG, that could derail our whole season.  And everybody keeps forgetting... WE CAN'T HAVE EDDIE HOUSE HANDLING THE BALL.  HE NEEDS BE FREE.

we won a chamionship without such a back-up PG outside of Eddie. and as for your point on the 2/3 position.... um... maybe you should stick to finding the back-up PG.

While I hated every second he was on the court, you seem to be forgetting about a little alien by the name of Sam Cassel.

He was that man on our championship team... um... maybe you should stick to freaking out because we may not get a subpar player to backup Pierce.

cassell played limitedly and poorly. he was passed over as the playoffs went on, and we still won.

i should freak out because we may not get a subpar player to backup pierce? why would we want a subpar player to backup pierce? we already have plenty of scrubs who do that already -- each of whom you mentioned -- and they're a key reason we didn't have a stronger playoff campaign last year.

you forgot to mention that we basically have no proven back up for EITHER pierce or allen, particularly on the defensive end, and that they a) generally have to defend the other team's top scorer (lebron, VC, turkaglu, hamilton, gordon, wade, etc to name a few in the eastern conference) and b) that they're 10 years older than rondo and therefore tire more easily.

to suggest that having walker or giddens back-up those two over house backing up rondo suggests that you haven;t been paying much attention to Celtics basketball recently.

personally, i'd like to see us sign a capable swing player as a back-up / compliment to the stronger of giddens and walker, keep pruitt and house, and wait to see what shakes out in free agency between bigs, PGs etc. there should be some decent security blankets at the veteran minimum, and the options right now at PG aren't any better than that.

You're not reading what I'm saying.

My contention is that a backup PG is far more crucial to our success next season than a backup wing, for 2 reasons:

1. We can't trust an unproven player to man the point, and we cannot let Eddie handle that duty.  Eddie is a great weapon when playing off the ball.  We need him roaming free, finding open shots.

2.  While you may consider our backup wings as "scrubs", they've gotten just as little (or less) opportunity to prove themselves as Gabe.  Fortunately, there's a lot less responsibility on the wing than with the ball.  Annnnnnnnd, if our core of swing players falls, we can easily get another player to come in.  Swing players grow on trees in the NBA. 

But you ride the hot hand in the Allen-Giddens-Walker trio (just as Doc has done with Powe and Davis), and let someone step up.  These guys are going to be minute fillers, not people we rely on to stop LeBron in crunchtime come playoffs.

i understand what you're saying, and i disagree with what you're saying. if swing players 'grow on trees' in the NBA (i can't stand that cliche -- totally overused), why don't we have a good one -- or two -- on our bench? why didn't we last year? because we didn't sign one. and if you think poseys's presense and versitility to take defensive assignments and pressure off of pierce, allen and KG wasn't key to our success in 2007, then again... not sure what to tell you.

thinking only about the 4th quarter of game 7 is shortsighted. paul and ray were TOAST by the end of the Orlando series. It's the overuse of those guys that concerns me much more than whether Gabe or Lue or Cassell or Marbury or Sherm Douglas walks the ball up the floor on a half-court team. They are the key to the success and flow of this team on the offensive end, not a back-up PG who plays 10 mins a game behind Rondo.

Gabe has shown he can handle the ball and play above average defense. With limited financial options this offseason, he also comes cheap. I want a Posey replacement more than a Cassell replacement. You should too.

First, who killed us in the post season last year?  It was point guards - Rose & Alston.  Rondo was toast, too, having to play so many minutes with no backup.  Plus, we're not even taking his flimsy ankles into consideration.  He needs a quality backup, plain and simple.

Second, James Posey isn't walking through that door, and nobody left in the discount bins of small forwards is a James Posey-type player.  You're looking at player that are, at best, a minimal upgrade to Giddens/Walker/Allen.

And yes, "growing on trees" is cliche... but so is calling someone toast.

What has Gabe ever showed (outside of the summer league) that you feel comfortable handing him the keys, that Walker hasn't?

[ssspence]

No.  No I'm not.

I think chasing after a swing is the wrong priority.  I'm going to shout this from the rafters until Danny hears me, but we need a backup PG.  Priority #1.

We can't let an unproven player take the reigns, and we can't give the duty to House.  We need him free from the ball, roaming, finding open shots.

We have depth at 2/3... we have nobody behind Rondo.

who is our depth at the 2, 3?

Allen, Giddens and Walker. 

We don't need a terrible amount of production from this position.  We just need somebody who can be on the court, giving PP & Ray some rest.  Giddens was draft for his D, and Walker can be effective on Offense.  They could absolutely fill that role, and if they fail, like I stated above, it won't be hard to obtain another swing later.  The league has swingmen coming out of the wazoo. 

If we don't get a solid back PG, that could derail our whole season.  And everybody keeps forgetting... WE CAN'T HAVE EDDIE HOUSE HANDLING THE BALL.  HE NEEDS BE FREE.

we won a chamionship without such a back-up PG outside of Eddie. and as for your point on the 2/3 position.... um... maybe you should stick to finding the back-up PG.

While I hated every second he was on the court, you seem to be forgetting about a little alien by the name of Sam Cassel.

He was that man on our championship team... um... maybe you should stick to freaking out because we may not get a subpar player to backup Pierce.

cassell played limitedly and poorly. he was passed over as the playoffs went on, and we still won.

i should freak out because we may not get a subpar player to backup pierce? why would we want a subpar player to backup pierce? we already have plenty of scrubs who do that already -- each of whom you mentioned -- and they're a key reason we didn't have a stronger playoff campaign last year.

you forgot to mention that we basically have no proven back up for EITHER pierce or allen, particularly on the defensive end, and that they a) generally have to defend the other team's top scorer (lebron, VC, turkaglu, hamilton, gordon, wade, etc to name a few in the eastern conference) and b) that they're 10 years older than rondo and therefore tire more easily.

to suggest that having walker or giddens back-up those two over house backing up rondo suggests that you haven;t been paying much attention to Celtics basketball recently.

personally, i'd like to see us sign a capable swing player as a back-up / compliment to the stronger of giddens and walker, keep pruitt and house, and wait to see what shakes out in free agency between bigs, PGs etc. there should be some decent security blankets at the veteran minimum, and the options right now at PG aren't any better than that.

You're not reading what I'm saying.

My contention is that a backup PG is far more crucial to our success next season than a backup wing, for 2 reasons:

1. We can't trust an unproven player to man the point, and we cannot let Eddie handle that duty.  Eddie is a great weapon when playing off the ball.  We need him roaming free, finding open shots.

2.  While you may consider our backup wings as "scrubs", they've gotten just as little (or less) opportunity to prove themselves as Gabe.  Fortunately, there's a lot less responsibility on the wing than with the ball.  Annnnnnnnd, if our core of swing players falls, we can easily get another player to come in.  Swing players grow on trees in the NBA. 

But you ride the hot hand in the Allen-Giddens-Walker trio (just as Doc has done with Powe and Davis), and let someone step up.  These guys are going to be minute fillers, not people we rely on to stop LeBron in crunchtime come playoffs.

i understand what you're saying, and i disagree with what you're saying. if swing players 'grow on trees' in the NBA (i can't stand that cliche -- totally overused), why don't we have a good one -- or two -- on our bench? why didn't we last year? because we didn't sign one. and if you think poseys's presense and versitility to take defensive assignments and pressure off of pierce, allen and KG wasn't key to our success in 2007, then again... not sure what to tell you.

thinking only about the 4th quarter of game 7 is shortsighted. paul and ray were TOAST by the end of the Orlando series. It's the overuse of those guys that concerns me much more than whether Gabe or Lue or Cassell or Marbury or Sherm Douglas walks the ball up the floor on a half-court team. They are the key to the success and flow of this team on the offensive end, not a back-up PG who plays 10 mins a game behind Rondo.

Gabe has shown he can handle the ball and play above average defense. With limited financial options this offseason, he also comes cheap. I want a Posey replacement more than a Cassell replacement. You should too.

First, who killed us in the post season last year?  It was point guards - Rose & Alston.  Rondo was toast, too, having to play so many minutes with no backup.  Plus, we're not even taking his flimsy ankles into consideration.  He needs a quality backup, plain and simple.

Second, James Posey isn't walking through that door, and nobody left in the discount bins of small forwards is a James Posey-type player.  You're looking at player that are, at best, a minimal upgrade to Giddens/Walker/Allen.

And yes, "growing on trees" is cliche... but so is calling someone toast.

What has Gabe ever showed (outside of the summer league) that you feel comfortable handing him the keys, that Walker hasn't?

so who do you suggest we sign, guy?

[byennie]

Except point guards didn't "kill us" in the postseason. Rose was right at his season averages (keep in mind he played 45 MPG in the series) and Alston wasn't anything special. Yes, it would have helped to have a better 2nd option at the point, but there were a lot of things hurting us in the playoffs. Big Baby trying to guard Rashard Lewis for one was pretty painful.

We lost from lack of depth when Powe and Garnett both went down and our guys had to kill themselves trying to make up for it. Not because our backup PG situation could have been a little better.