Odom returning to the Lakers - C's need to sign Baby

[wdleehi]

The Odom signing worries me, but not as much as some.  I think Artest is an improvement over Ariza, but I still think the C's (minus Wallace and Daniels) would have beaten the Lakers in the Finals had KG been healthy. 

If you believe a healthy Celtic team would've beaten the Lakers last year (or at least would've held their own), you really have to ask yourself what team had the better offseason. 

Artest is an upgrade over Ariza.  However, Rasheed Wallace is an upgrade over Big Baby too.  Similarly, Marquis Daniels is arguably just as much of an upgrade over the likes of Tony Allen and Bill Walker. 

And while you can look back to 2008 and talk about what Bynum does for them now, you're looking at the whole picture if you're taking into account the enormous strides that Perkins and Rondo have made over the past year or so.  I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that both were half the players in the 2008 Finals that they are now. In 2008 Rondo was commonly replaced in key spurts with the likes of House and Cassell; P.J. Brown or Posey was often in for Perk.  Could you see that happening now? 

The Lakers will be good next year, but so will the C's.  What's more, the Lakers are going to have some competition going through the Spurs.  They didn't have that last year. 

KG is an upgrade over Davis,

[Jon]

The Odom signing worries me, but not as much as some.  I think Artest is an improvement over Ariza, but I still think the C's (minus Wallace and Daniels) would have beaten the Lakers in the Finals had KG been healthy. 

If you believe a healthy Celtic team would've beaten the Lakers last year (or at least would've held their own), you really have to ask yourself what team had the better offseason. 

Artest is an upgrade over Ariza.  However, Rasheed Wallace is an upgrade over Big Baby too.  Similarly, Marquis Daniels is arguably just as much of an upgrade over the likes of Tony Allen and Bill Walker. 

And while you can look back to 2008 and talk about what Bynum does for them now, you're looking at the whole picture if you're taking into account the enormous strides that Perkins and Rondo have made over the past year or so.  I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that both were half the players in the 2008 Finals that they are now. In 2008 Rondo was commonly replaced in key spurts with the likes of House and Cassell; P.J. Brown or Posey was often in for Perk.  Could you see that happening now? 

The Lakers will be good next year, but so will the C's.  What's more, the Lakers are going to have some competition going through the Spurs.  They didn't have that last year. 

KG is an upgrade over Davis,

True.  But I was looking at things through the lens of "what would've happened had KG been healthy?"

[wdleehi]

The Odom signing worries me, but not as much as some.  I think Artest is an improvement over Ariza, but I still think the C's (minus Wallace and Daniels) would have beaten the Lakers in the Finals had KG been healthy. 

If you believe a healthy Celtic team would've beaten the Lakers last year (or at least would've held their own), you really have to ask yourself what team had the better offseason. 

Artest is an upgrade over Ariza.  However, Rasheed Wallace is an upgrade over Big Baby too.  Similarly, Marquis Daniels is arguably just as much of an upgrade over the likes of Tony Allen and Bill Walker. 

And while you can look back to 2008 and talk about what Bynum does for them now, you're looking at the whole picture if you're taking into account the enormous strides that Perkins and Rondo have made over the past year or so.  I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that both were half the players in the 2008 Finals that they are now. In 2008 Rondo was commonly replaced in key spurts with the likes of House and Cassell; P.J. Brown or Posey was often in for Perk.  Could you see that happening now? 

The Lakers will be good next year, but so will the C's.  What's more, the Lakers are going to have some competition going through the Spurs.  They didn't have that last year. 

KG is an upgrade over Davis,

True.  But I was looking at things through the lens of "what would've happened had KG been healthy?"

Oh, in that case, Celtics win the title.  Lakers are to soft to deal with the KG/Perk front court for 7 games.  See what the Celtics did to Odom and Gasol the year before.

[zerophase]

Perk is under rated... his job on D-Howard was amazing compared to what the Cavs did. Therefore he can handle Gasol and Odom. Add Bynum into the mix though and things get tricky. I still think the Celtics have the front court advantage.

[mgent]

I'm wondering what's going on now with our off-season.

Signing Rasheed - great move

Odom resigns with LAL - We have to improve to keep up.

What makes you think that? When KG was healthy we were just as good as LA.

Yeah but we still have to improve to GET AHEAD.  Being as good as LA isn't good enough for me.

[Fafnir]

I'm wondering what's going on now with our off-season.

Signing Rasheed - great move

Odom resigns with LAL - We have to improve to keep up.

What makes you think that? When KG was healthy we were just as good as LA.

Yeah but we still have to improve to GET AHEAD.  Being as good as LA isn't good enough for me.

Rondo and Perk will be better. And Sheed is better than PJ Brown. If we're healthy I think we kick their ass in the Finals.

[DinTN]

2 years ago, we beat LA. Since then, they have Bynum back (durability a fair question) plus they have added Artest. We added Rasheed but lost Posey. There's been some other moves too on both sides plus some guys have gotten experience on both sides. As a diehard Celtic fan my heart says we beat LA again but my head tells me we need to do something else to separate ourselves. Also, we also now have CLE & ORL to be concerned with just to get there, so we need to separate ourselves from them too.

Would rather have too much talent and win # 18 rather than come up short and say "I wish we had done more..."

Hearing Powe to Cleveland makes me sick - Resign POWE!

Great forum and love what everyone has to say. Have a blessed day.

[Jon]

2 years ago, we beat LA. Since then, they have Bynum back (durability a fair question) plus they have added Artest. We added Rasheed but lost Posey. There's been some other moves too on both sides plus some guys have gotten experience on both sides. As a diehard Celtic fan my heart says we beat LA again but my head tells me we need to do something else to separate ourselves. Also, we also now have CLE & ORL to be concerned with just to get there, so we need to separate ourselves from them too.

Would rather have too much talent and win # 18 rather than come up short and say "I wish we had done more..."

Hearing Powe to Cleveland makes me sick - Resign POWE!

Great forum and love what everyone has to say. Have a blessed day.

But you're not taking into account the huge strides Rondo and Perkins have made.  Think about it.  Doc frequently had lineups of House, Ray, Paul, Posey, and KG in to close games.  At other times (such as the closing minutes of game 7 against Cleveland), P.J. Brown was in for Perk.  Given the huge strides and excluding some scenario where the C's are down by 3 with under 10 seconds left, can you imagine any way Rondo isn't out there in a key moment of the game?  And while Rasheed may, at times, play the end of games instead of Perk,  I think we can all agree that Perk has advanced past the point where P.J. Brown would beat him out. 

[nyceltsfan]

This is my first post on here.  I think all of you are great Celts fans.

In my humble opinion, we have to resign Baby and/or Powe or some other big man.  3 big men are not enough, especially with 2 in their 30's.  Think about the following second unit:

Marbury/Jason Williams/Anthony Carter
House
Wallace
Daniels
Baby

That group would have the firepower to keep the C's at bay and to increase leads against other second units.  Last year, we had no punch off the bench.

While I am putting myself out there in my first post, I still think that Marbury would be a great signing for this team, regardless of his off-the-court problems.  A full training camp to get his legs and synergy with this team would make him a very servicable point guard again.

[DinTN]

I'm fairly new myself.

Enjoyed the input - giving you a Tommy Point.

[DinTN]

2 years ago, we beat LA. Since then, they have Bynum back (durability a fair question) plus they have added Artest. We added Rasheed but lost Posey. There's been some other moves too on both sides plus some guys have gotten experience on both sides. As a diehard Celtic fan my heart says we beat LA again but my head tells me we need to do something else to separate ourselves. Also, we also now have CLE & ORL to be concerned with just to get there, so we need to separate ourselves from them too.

Would rather have too much talent and win # 18 rather than come up short and say "I wish we had done more..."

Hearing Powe to Cleveland makes me sick - Resign POWE!

Great forum and love what everyone has to say. Have a blessed day.

But you're not taking into account the huge strides Rondo and Perkins have made.  Think about it.  Doc frequently had lineups of House, Ray, Paul, Posey, and KG in to close games.  At other times (such as the closing minutes of game 7 against Cleveland), P.J. Brown was in for Perk.  Given the huge strides and excluding some scenario where the C's are down by 3 with under 10 seconds left, can you imagine any way Rondo isn't out there in a key moment of the game?  And while Rasheed may, at times, play the end of games instead of Perk,  I think we can all agree that Perk has advanced past the point where P.J. Brown would beat him out. 

Valid points. They still have room to improve - Rondo's jumpshot and Perkins as a scoring threat.

At this point, we've also lost Powe (see below), BBD is in limbo, Daniels stuck trying to get here, and needing a PG. Other teams are trying to get better such as Cleveland going after Powe. We need to improve the bench further and not just fill roster spots.

BRING BACK POWE - especially since Gabe is being waived & we have the open roster spot. Much rather have Powe for half a season over Swift. If he can't physically play then why are other teams talking to him & why are we letting him walk? He wouldn't need a huge contract either. It's not like we don't have room for his skills. He was a model teammate. Let's either get him back or have really, really, really good explanation please

[Discoflux]

Andrew Bynum will punk Big Baby Jesus so hard when they meet.

[mgent]

Andrew Bynum will punk Big Baby Jesus so hard when they meet.

Eh, not really.  Baby is one of the few guys in the game strong enough to handle Bynum.  Unfortunately, Davis will usually get matched up againt Gasol or Odom, both of which will "punk" him way more than Bynum could.

[dmopower]

I realize that BBD needs to come to grips with his conditioning, but to say that scal is better, and or deserves more minutes might be overstating things atleast a little.
Scal can not guard any decient 3, 4 or 5.
BBd worked his ass of trying to guard rashard Lewis, and did a better job, than I ever thought he would be able to.
Scal would have been flat out killed.
Then BBD guarded Dwight H, and did a [dang] good job, he can also guard, Shaq, one on one, which kills the cavs.
We will have a harder time guarding ig Z than Shaq, since Z can shoot and spread the floor.
If BBD gets in shape, he WILL suprise people.
I also think that this offseason has been a wakeup call for him.
conditioning has cost him millions of dollars, years of security, and made a joke of him.
I for one believe he will be hungrier than ever, no pun intended, well a little pun.
I think and hope he has seen the light and eats the competition alive, [dang] puns.
Anywayt, just had to whine about the whole Scal thing, the best use for scal, would be in a trade.
We need baby to guard the big post players, Perk is great, but shoulder?
RW is overrated, at guarding bigs, rebounding, and his IQ is not very high.
I still like this signing, I just see BBD and RW playing together, that is a solid bench.
We don't need him for 20 minutes a game, but we do need him for security, and matchups.

[Fafnir]

Andrew Bynum will punk Big Baby Jesus so hard when they meet.

Eh, not really.  Baby is one of the few guys in the game strong enough to handle Bynum.  Unfortunately, Davis will usually get matched up againt Gasol or Odom, both of which will "punk" him way more than Bynum could.

Bynum is a bad matchup for BBD, he's very tall and long.