Author Topic: C's interested in Diogu  (Read 12826 times)

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C's interested in Diogu
« on: July 15, 2009, 07:35:56 AM »

Offline P2

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Diogu said "about 10 teams" have shown interest in him, including Atlanta, New Orleans, Boston, Dallas, Charlotte, Toronto, Denver and Washington.

In case Big Baby leaves?

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2009, 07:43:51 AM »

Offline byennie

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Sounds like the Cs were probably just kicking the tires... if anyone had shown serious interest he wouldn't be listing 10 teams.

Here's Hollinger's analysis. I must say, I'm perplexed why this guy has never gotten any playing time. Has anyone seen him play or know why he can't get any minutes?

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It was a wasted year for Diogu, who tore a calf muscle the first week of the season and never played his way back into the rotation. It's a shame because he's shown the potential to be a real force as an inside scorer -- in his 308 minutes last season he averaged 21.8 points and 11.0 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Diogu's numbers from his first two seasons in Golden State were nearly as strong, and taken together they paint a picture of a guy who will be very productive just as soon as somebody actually lets him play. He's had a PER above the league average all three years in the league, he averages nearly 20 points and over 10 rebounds per 40 minutes for his career, and he shoots a decent percentage and makes his foul shots (81.1% career). There's really no reason he isn't playing.

He goes on to say that his defense is pretty lacking, but still... I'm perplexed.

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2009, 07:45:03 AM »

Offline Prof. Clutch

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I don't object to their interest in Diogu (he's a solid back-up,) but why are they targeting a PF?  Shouldn't they be working on 2G/SF and PG?

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2009, 07:53:16 AM »

Offline Evantime34

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I don't object to their interest in Diogu (he's a solid back-up,) but why are they targeting a PF?  Shouldn't they be working on 2G/SF and PG?
I bet he like other players the C's have interest in was contacted near the start of free agency. The Celtics probably contact all the players they are eyeing, then near the end of free agency they pick up what's still left.
Baby or no baby I would love Diogu to fill out the rest of our roster.
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Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #4 on: July 15, 2009, 08:00:01 AM »

Offline Chris

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I don't object to their interest in Diogu (he's a solid back-up,) but why are they targeting a PF?  Shouldn't they be working on 2G/SF and PG?

Well, it's not like they cant be interested in more than 1 player at a time.  This is the point in FA when things really slow down.  Danny has contacted the agents of everyone he is interested in, and let them know what he is willing to offer (most likely just the vet minimum in most cases).  Now it's just a waiting game to see who doesn't get the bigger offers they want, and will be willing to try their luck in Boston.

And just because they have a bigger need for a wing and PG does not mean they don't need another big man.  If Baby walks, they will have a very big hole there, and will need to add at least 1 more guy to provide depth.  Diogu would be a nice pickup.

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #5 on: July 15, 2009, 08:16:52 AM »

Offline Prof. Clutch

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I don't object to their interest in Diogu (he's a solid back-up,) but why are they targeting a PF?  Shouldn't they be working on 2G/SF and PG?

Well, it's not like they cant be interested in more than 1 player at a time.  This is the point in FA when things really slow down.  Danny has contacted the agents of everyone he is interested in, and let them know what he is willing to offer (most likely just the vet minimum in most cases).  Now it's just a waiting game to see who doesn't get the bigger offers they want, and will be willing to try their luck in Boston.

And just because they have a bigger need for a wing and PG does not mean they don't need another big man.  If Baby walks, they will have a very big hole there, and will need to add at least 1 more guy to provide depth.  Diogu would be a nice pickup.

Agreed, I of course understand that they can be interested in more than one player at a time.  I just wonder why Celtics activity has been so quiet lately and now the only thing we here about them is their pursuit of Diogu.  I haven't heard even the slightest rumor recently of them contacting any PG's or wing players, which is a little disconcerning.

As I mentioned before, I think Diogu would be an interesting and solid pick-up for the C's, but would you prefer them to sign Diogu instead of a wing player?   At the moment we could enter the season with our three big men (Garnett, Perk, Sheed) and if we didn't sign anyone else, have Scal fill in at PF.  (I read in another thread that statistics from last year imply that our most productive and efficient line-ups included Scal on the floor.)  I don't think we need to lean on him too much, and I certainly don't expect anything dominating from him, but I think he's more than sufficient.  Especially when considering that our signing of another big could potentially limit our ability to sign a wing player (or point guard.)

There is currently no viable option behind Pierce at this point.  I don't think any of the young guys should be counted on, and in my mind that takes all the precedence.   With each passing day it seems more and more likely that their plan is to indeed go with the young guys behind Pierce, which seems to me is only going to lead to more stress on Pierce to take more minutes than he should be.

That's my only beef, that's all.

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #6 on: July 15, 2009, 08:28:18 AM »

Offline amenhotep04

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I don't object to their interest in Diogu (he's a solid back-up,) but why are they targeting a PF?  Shouldn't they be working on 2G/SF and PG?

I disagree.  With only three bigs (Perk, KG, and Sheed), plus Scal (health concerns with concussions) on the roster; and BBD a question mark. God knows what Mikki's situation is. The Cs still need more depth at the 4-5.

And while I agree with everyone that the Cs can look at several players at once, given that currently we have Gabe, TA, JR, Walker, Eddie, and possibly Lester on the roster as possible back-ups around the arc, I think we need to be careful not to have a team full of undersized players.

On a different note, and forgive me if this has been covered, but why the name, 'Prof. Clutch'? Why the association with a Hall of Fame logo of the Lakers, Mr. Clutch on a Celtics Blog?

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #7 on: July 15, 2009, 09:22:16 AM »

Offline ssspence

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Think the question is: what position is Sheed really going to play? My feeling is center, in which case Diogu would make sense at the minimum. He's not as good as Leon, but that's essentially his game, and we lack that on the team, even with Baby there. Baby can also play some center against the DW12s of the world where a Leon or Diogu can't.

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Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #8 on: July 15, 2009, 09:56:39 AM »

Offline footey

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A good replacement for Powe, but not a back up to Pierce and Ray. I could see signing him, and working out a sign and trade on BBD with Detroit or NO to get back our 2/3 backup.

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #9 on: July 15, 2009, 10:00:06 AM »

Offline wdleehi

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He is a decent fall back option for the 4th big man at a minimal. 

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #10 on: July 15, 2009, 10:01:02 AM »

Offline celticinorlando

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if baby leaves...play giddens, walker and tony for both forward spots...they can handle it :-\

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #11 on: July 15, 2009, 10:01:10 AM »

Offline Prof. Clutch

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I don't object to their interest in Diogu (he's a solid back-up,) but why are they targeting a PF?  Shouldn't they be working on 2G/SF and PG?

I disagree.  With only three bigs (Perk, KG, and Sheed), plus Scal (health concerns with concussions) on the roster; and BBD a question mark. God knows what Mikki's situation is. The Cs still need more depth at the 4-5.

And while I agree with everyone that the Cs can look at several players at once, given that currently we have Gabe, TA, JR, Walker, Eddie, and possibly Lester on the roster as possible back-ups around the arc, I think we need to be careful not to have a team full of undersized players.

On a different note, and forgive me if this has been covered, but why the name, 'Prof. Clutch'? Why the association with a Hall of Fame logo of the Lakers, Mr. Clutch on a Celtics Blog?

Why Amenhotep,
do I sense a hint of accusation in the tone of your question?

Okay, you got me.  I'm a rogue spy from the Lakers blog.  I've just been reading this blog for five years, a member for 2 1/2 years, and spent one year of my life working unpaid on an independent celtics documentary for no other reason than my love of the celtics, ALL as a ploy to get everyone here to trust me.  I thought I had gotten away with it, but alas you were too smart and figured me out.  You my friend...YOU!

Seriously though, if you really want to know the history of my name just send me a PM and I'd be happy to recount the story, although its not incredibly interesting.  I've never been asked before so it hasn't been "covered"  yet.  Suffice it to say, It has nothing to do with Jerry West.

As to your reply of my post, I tried to legitimize my concerns in my response to Chris.  But if your fear of Scal maybe getting injured, and the subsequent young guys who we could turn to for back-up at the wings, well...I just don't think any of that has any base.  Scal recovered, he played the entire end of the season, and he played well.  If you are going to base our moves on the possibility of our fourth option big man maybe getting injured, than how about the chance that our starting SF and most important player on our team maybe getting injured due to having no sufficient back-up.  It seems a more likely scenario that Pierce will get hurt trying to cover for the minutes that are lacking coverage due to no sufficient back up on the team.  Gabe, TA, JR, Walker, and Lester are not gonna cut it, and Doc has shown a career long unwillingness to play young guys when he has veterans.  

The way I look at it, you have two guys who can play either the PF or Center and Perk who only plays C.  There are 96 available minutes total at the big man positions.  Remember that KG is used to playing near 35 mpg, Perk is 24 yrs old and used to playing 30, and Sheed is used to playing 33 mpg.  We want these guys on the court to increase our effectiveness and can lean on all three during stretches.  Add those minutes that their normal career numbers show they are used to up and you get about 98 minutes.  Obviously we can reduce the stress on them by adding another big, but how thin are we there really?  Rather than trying to solidify a big that might need to contribute 10 minutes per game, how about focusing on a competent back-up for Pierce who will need to play about 15 or more minutes per game.

Its as simple as this, if one of our big men goes down this season, just like on any team, we would have to find a way to adapt.  But we are FAR better suited to deal with that than the majority of teams out there with the talent we have at the front court.  If Garnett or Perk goes down, we have Sheed to take his place.  If Sheed goes down we can turn to Scal and so on.

If Pierce goes down, what do the C's do?  Walker or TA as your starting wing?  Yikes!  It's as simple as that.  The most pressing need is a back up wing to relieve Pierce and a 34 year old Ray Allen of the stress of playing so many minutes.  Yeah, Scal had injuries last year, but so did both Pierce and Allen who sustained injuries in the playoffs (Pierce bone spurs in his ankle, Allen hamstring issues.)  That's all I'm saying.

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #12 on: July 15, 2009, 10:06:55 AM »

Offline jdpapa3

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You can't look at it as "if pierce goes down" or "if ray goes down" ...if any of the big 3 goes down, we're pretty close to dead, and the same would be true for any of the other top teams that would lose their guys. Last year, we lost KG for the latter part of the season and had Glen Davis starting and were still in a position to get to the ECF's if KG was able to make a return.

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #13 on: July 15, 2009, 10:13:06 AM »

Offline celticinorlando

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You can't look at it as "if pierce goes down" or "if ray goes down" ...if any of the big 3 goes down, we're pretty close to dead, and the same would be true for any of the other top teams that would lose their guys. Last year, we lost KG for the latter part of the season and had Glen Davis starting and were still in a position to get to the ECF's if KG was able to make a return.

if we would have had a legit bench last season..boston would have been in the ECF..but danny not doing a thing over the summer except resigning tony and then signing POB hurt...the midseason signs were a waste..so basically boston had 8 guys..no bigs...no back up for PP...by game 7 PP was dead in the water. if they had legit options that could actually stp in an contribute then we would have seen it by now.

we know what boston has in tony..absolutely nothing...walker is too raw and not ready to handle 10 plus minutes against quality players and giddens is a little to small to play the SF each night...so if we go into the season in the same situation has last year then we are in trouble...sheed was a GREAT start...but they need more

Re: C's interested in Diogu
« Reply #14 on: July 15, 2009, 10:16:40 AM »

Offline Aeacus

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But I don't understand why your worried about this news. Its not like offering a minimum salary roster spot to Diogu takes anything away from us pursuing a backup SF.  The lack of news on the SF position really has nothing to do with this.  And we do honestly need to sign another big man (4-5) to fill the garbage minutes/injury insurance position.  

BTW I'm sure Danny's got some ideas about filling out the SF position, but given our limited options because of the salary cap, we can only spend the LLE.  I'd guess we're having to wait for some players to realize the market isn't going to give them any more than that.