Some observations from tonight's game against the Bulls.
#1: This game tonight showed and made it so obvious that the Celtics need an ATHLETIC Big, another WING player, and they desperately need a backup POINT GUARD!!!!
Scal is just wasting a roster spot, I'm sorry I've been biting my tongue with not saying anything that bad about Scal, but he is just not cutting it, He's pretty much useless on this team right now. he doesn't/can't rebound,block shots,handle the ball, defend, score, create,shoot consistently,post-up. the only thing he does is stretch the floor, and can hit the occasional 3, but honestly, whens the last time he hit a contested 3? Almost anyone can hit an open 3.
#2 Rondo is playing way way way way too many minutes. No surprise here.
He is playing all of these minutes because he is the only TRUE ball handler on team.
He is playing all of these minutes because he is the only Real point guard on the team.
He is playing all of these minutes because he is the only player w/ athleticism in the rotation
so he has to defend all of those quick guards like Derrick Rose, Monta Ellis, etc. b/c no one else on the team can. On top of that he has to be the spark that jumpstarts the offense every single possession.
#3 Paul Pierce is playing too much coming off of a KNEE injury.
Pierce is clearly not 100%, and playing him these long minutes coming off of an injury is not smart. Especially a KNEE injury. But he has to play because we dont have any wings.(dont give me that JR/ Bill Walker excuses either., Doc and the staff sees those guys everyday in practice, so there's a reason).
#4 Ray Allen is not touching the ball enough.
He took 10 shots tonight. Without KG, without Sheed, I want Ray Allen taking at least 14-15 shots a game. There are too many stretches/possessions throughout the game, where Ray doesn't/didn't even touch the ball.
They are running Ray off of way to many screens right now. With KG and Sheed out, and Big Baby still not in shape, you cant run Ray off that many curl screens, because your setting the screens with Baby and Perk, Shelden and Scal, or Perk and Shel, etc. none of those guys are pick and pop players, so you lose that option,when Ray runs off those screens. and the Defense is sitting there waiting on Ray, forcing ray to come off those screens at a wider angle.
#5 Shot Clock
I dont remember the last time I saw a team have so many, near shot-clock violations. Rondo is starting to dribble the air out of the ball again. I'm not blaming the violations and near-violations on Rondo, but he always seems to have the ball when the clock is winding down. Which means the ball probably did not rotate to different sides of the court. Sometimes we are passing up shots, being too patient, or most of the time, just looking lost offensively.
#6 Paul Pierce's game
Paul Pierce needs to find away to refine his offensive game. I think PP has got to look at pulling some new things out of his offensive bag of tricks. I dont know what exactly, but he is becoming increasingly predictable. Yes he is still effective, and I'm not sayin he needs to re-create who he is or how he plays, but I think its about time he incorporates a new thing or two offensively. A few new moves or something.
#7 Ray Allen needs more touches
Yes i know I covered this already, but I think it needs repeating! Ray Allen needs more touches outside of him running off of screens!
#8 Celtics need to get and bring in 3 new guys by the trade deadline.
We need another point guard on the roster, we only have 1! what other team in the entire league has only 1 point guard on its roster? I cant think of one. I find that absolutely ridiculous
We need another wing. they said Marquis' wont be back until After the All-Star Break, and then he'll have to get back in shape, so he wont be fully healthy and back in shape, probably until March. So that means, we can expect Ray and Paul to continue log 35+ mins. for another month and some change.
Even When KG and Sheed get back in a couple of weeks, it still wont make a difference, bc those are bigs, and we are still going to have zero depth at the wings.
We need an Athletic-Young Big, as I said before the only athletic players in the rotation is Rondo and Tony. We dont have any athletic bigs. We've got 2 of the least athletic players in the league in Baby and Scal, our Bigs are 3 guys with basically no above the rim (or at-the-rim for that matter) action in Scal, Baby, Shelden. and two 33+ year old guys who are having knee and foot injuries. So in summary, out of 6 possible BIG men on our roster, only 1 of them has any ounce of above the rim action. Perk is not really an above the rim player.
We need 3 new players by the trade deadline. pg, wing, big. We need to desperately get deeper and more athletic. AND we need to really get Ray, Paul and Rondo's minutes back down.
I dont want to wait until March to get Ray and Paul some relief on the wings
I dont want to wait until Rondo goes down w/ an injury b/c he's fatigued after playing too many minutes.
I dont want to wait until KG comes back to bring athleticism to the front line.
We can't afford to let this rare opportunity, right before the deadline (to go after players to make this team deeper, in a season where certain franchises are making decisions purely on the fact of this upcoming offseason, and shedding salary cap, etc.) slide by because we've grown to hard-headed and prideful.
By going after the 3 guys now, we can be assured that we'll have depth on the bench, until Daniels, KG, and Sheed are 100%. And at the worst, even when Marquis, KG, and Sheed come back, all that'll mean is we will be EXTRA Deep.
Even when Marquis, KG, and Sheed come back, it still wont hurt to be extra deep.
Topic: The Game tonight (bulls) what I saw (Read 1787 times)