Anyone else want Delonte West back?

[Birdbrain]

If Delonte misses games due to illness or if a player misses games because of injury, what exactly is the difference?

Baby missed 27 games this year because he broke his thumb punching someone. Delonte missed 10 games while attending to his illness. Which was worse?

I don't see that Delonte's mental illness poses any more of a risk in signing him than does immaturity(Glen Davis), fragility and history of being injury prone(Marquis Daniels) or age and attitude(Rasheed Wallace).

Well, I think signing Davis to a big contract is just as risky.

But the point is, it has happened twice now with Delonte.  That is a trend.  And it is different than a basketball injury, because of the nature of the problems.  Based on the problems he has had, I think there is a very decent chance that he does something to get suspended for a long period of time (or is in jail for a long period of time), or he is out with depression for a long period of time.

Either way, it is a huge red flag.

If we are talking about giving him $2 million a year, fine, then you take the risk.  If you are talking about giving him close to the entire MLE, then its a completely different story.

Or Delonte has finally found the right combination of psychotropic drugs and is stable and it will never happen again.

Mental illness is like any other illness. Take the proper medication and it can be kept under control. I'm not so sure you can take a pill to cure what ails Baby's immaturity, Daniels fragility, Rasheed's age or Tony's BBIQ.

Well I'd rather have Baby on this team.  I don't want a point guard that's not a point guard and a 2 guard that's too small to guard most 2 guards. Delonte is still not a good ballhandler. No thanks.

well
feel free to disagree for a tweener that gets blocked most of the time
and isnt a shooter

I would rather have BBD as well.  But you make a valid point about Delonte being a shooter.

[Birdbrain]

If Delonte misses games due to illness or if a player misses games because of injury, what exactly is the difference?

Baby missed 27 games this year because he broke his thumb punching someone. Delonte missed 10 games while attending to his illness. Which was worse?

I don't see that Delonte's mental illness poses any more of a risk in signing him than does immaturity(Glen Davis), fragility and history of being injury prone(Marquis Daniels) or age and attitude(Rasheed Wallace).

Really? you appear very uninformed regarding this issue, FYI.

What if he gets major jail time?

Anyway it's a mute point DA and Doc aren't going anywhere near DW.

Ironically the same people wanted Sheed and then the same people commented how Sheed was a bad signing.

Round and round we go.

[Jon]

Would love to have him back.  He can backup both G positions.  He has shown the ability to hit the big open shot.  He knows the system.  



He is better then every player on the Celtics current bench.  

But can he really "backup both G positions"?  If he was on the team last series, TA still would've gotten the call on Wade because of his defense and bulk.  West would be even more of a liability if he was coming off the bench to guard LeBron when PP or Ray was out. 

So what use would he be?  Sure, he'd be great against crap teams in the regular season that don't matter and he'd be a great backup for Rondo (all 3 mpg in the playoffs).  But I don't think he helps for the C's big concerns. 

[wdleehi]

Would love to have him back.  He can backup both G positions.  He has shown the ability to hit the big open shot.  He knows the system.  



He is better then every player on the Celtics current bench.  

But can he really "backup both G positions"?  If he was on the team last series, TA still would've gotten the call on Wade because of his defense and bulk.  West would be even more of a liability if he was coming off the bench to guard LeBron when PP or Ray was out. 

So what use would he be?  Sure, he'd be great against crap teams in the regular season that don't matter and he'd be a great backup for Rondo (all 3 mpg in the playoffs).  But I don't think he helps for the C's big concerns. 

Considering Wade averaged 33 points on 56% shooting, did TA really shut him down?


And West would be playing PG/SG, not SF.  Did Rondo guard Lebron?  Did Perk? 


Of course not.  Pierce, Ray, TA and Daniels guarded him. 


So, yes, he can back up both G positions since he has started both G positions in his career.

[jdub1660]

Delonte West, IN A HEART BEAT!

Not only does him being a lefty add a new dimension to our offense, but he's become a better shooter which we need for our 2nd unit.

His defense is solid, and he's athletic enough to attack the basket and still score. He's probably the best possible option to play 6th man in our offense.

The off court crap is still bad, but maybe he's worked his way through all that. Having a vet team like this could keep him in check as well.

[Spilling Green Dye]

I would love to have Delonte here.  He's exactly the type of tough, hustle player that's so important to have on a bench.  He's a great shooter and good defender, and he could play backup PG.  In other words, he'd fill the roles of both Eddie House and Tony Allen combined.

I miss Delonte.  I wish there had been a way we could have moved Tony in the Ray deal, but it just wasn't realistic.

I vehemently disagree with this, and if you are wondering why then you can see my bullet point post on the first page.  

Also, Tony Allen has a higher FG% and eFG% this season, so I don't know how "great" of a shooter Delonte is.  He also can't score off the dribble since he pulls the NASCAR "Left, Left, Left..."  He's more of an off the court headache than anyone on this team, and like I said before, this team does NOT need that... especially from a bench guy.  

[Spilling Green Dye]

If Delonte misses games due to illness or if a player misses games because of injury, what exactly is the difference?

Baby missed 27 games this year because he broke his thumb punching someone. Delonte missed 10 games while attending to his illness. Which was worse?

I don't see that Delonte's mental illness poses any more of a risk in signing him than does immaturity(Glen Davis), fragility and history of being injury prone(Marquis Daniels) or age and attitude(Rasheed Wallace).

Well, I think signing Davis to a big contract is just as risky.

But the point is, it has happened twice now with Delonte.  That is a trend.  And it is different than a basketball injury, because of the nature of the problems.  Based on the problems he has had, I think there is a very decent chance that he does something to get suspended for a long period of time (or is in jail for a long period of time), or he is out with depression for a long period of time.

Either way, it is a huge red flag.

If we are talking about giving him $2 million a year, fine, then you take the risk.  If you are talking about giving him close to the entire MLE, then its a completely different story.

Or Delonte has finally found the right combination of psychotropic drugs and is stable and it will never happen again.

Mental illness is like any other illness. Take the proper medication and it can be kept under control. I'm not so sure you can take a pill to cure what ails Baby's immaturity, Daniels fragility, Rasheed's age or Tony's BBIQ.

Well I'd rather have Baby on this team.  I don't want a point guard that's not a point guard and a 2 guard that's too small to guard most 2 guards. Delonte is still not a good ballhandler. No thanks.

well
feel free to disagree for a tweener that gets blocked most of the time
and isnt a shooter

I would rather have BBD as well.  But you make a valid point about Delonte being a shooter.

Birdbrain, you probably won't believe this but... I would rather have BBD as well lol

[LooseCannon]

If you want to talk about gun-toting crazies, why not speculate about acquiring Gilbert Arenas?

[CoachBo]

No.

[orrzor]

If we get Telfair back too, we could have a replay of the 2006-07 PG battle! I'm giddy.

[Brendan]

@Chris - not sure where you are getting MLE, anyways Delonte is under contract @~4 million per - my scenario was swapping Tony and Nate/Eddie out for Delonte. I'd keep Daniels (or some other option at SF, looking for someone with some size and D, but with West as the backup guard at both spots, I'd be flexible with what the SF could do offensively.)

In terms of people saying he can't backup Rondo - it unrealistic use of a roster spot to get a pure PG to play behind Rondo in the rotation.

You basically are stuck with the starters - so you need to maximize the talent of the top three guys off the bench. The way I see it is you need some positional flexibility in order to do that. If you don't have that - you end up using more and more guys off the bench - which means rather than getting 3 top guys on the bench you have to get 4 or 5 top guys on the bench. Given the limited avenues to improving the bench (without blowing things up) - I think Ainge should focus on creating a roster that can play 8 deep. (Once you make that decision your 9th guy is going to be the 4th big, and the roster after that point is really risk mitigation - i.e. someone to cover a month if a starter or rotation bench guy gets injured.)

So what would a three man bench look like? I see three options:

1. A big, a wing, a PG.
2. A C, a combo forward, a combo guard.
3. A big, a SF, a combo guard.

Because I expect Rondo to play the most minutes of any starter, I think approach 1 is a mistake. I'd rather go with option 2 and use something like:

Rondo 40 MPG, Ray 30, Pierce 30, KG 30, Perk 30

Sheed and BBD 30 (one guy will be primary and secondary, but it will rotate based on matchups, and due to fouls and fatigue the big insurance will be used regularly.)
Combo FWD 24
Combo G 26

Assuming you could bring in West as the combo guard, you'd then look for a fwd that could defend PF and SF and do one thing on offense (scrappy put backs, 3pters, post game, whatever.) I have no idea who that would be - but he's really your Lebron defender off the bench plus lets you play small ball when needed by sliding to PF. Worst case scenario you could use a guy like Finley and slide Pierce to the PF in a small ball lineup.

The next thing I would look for is the third string PG - a guy who can start for a short period if Rondo were to tweak a hammy, but who sits on the bench like a good teammate when everyone is healthy. The remaining 3 guys would probably be a big like Sheldon, whoever we draft, and maybe Scal on a vet min in a suit. I assume DA would use 14 and 15 on D Leaguers as he has tended to.

[Bankshot]

I'd rather have Tony for his defense than Delonte. Tony when playing alongside Rondo is pretty good and the defense with those two on the floor is great.  I think we should get a true backup point for once, someone like Luke Ridnour or Chris Duhon.  I don't think Delonte will be satisfied playing 10 min a game or less, because I don't think he's a good backup 2.  Besides, like someone said, we should not get a bench player with so much baggage, it's not worth it.

[Birdbrain]

If Delonte misses games due to illness or if a player misses games because of injury, what exactly is the difference?

Baby missed 27 games this year because he broke his thumb punching someone. Delonte missed 10 games while attending to his illness. Which was worse?

I don't see that Delonte's mental illness poses any more of a risk in signing him than does immaturity(Glen Davis), fragility and history of being injury prone(Marquis Daniels) or age and attitude(Rasheed Wallace).

Well, I think signing Davis to a big contract is just as risky.

But the point is, it has happened twice now with Delonte.  That is a trend.  And it is different than a basketball injury, because of the nature of the problems.  Based on the problems he has had, I think there is a very decent chance that he does something to get suspended for a long period of time (or is in jail for a long period of time), or he is out with depression for a long period of time.

Either way, it is a huge red flag.

If we are talking about giving him $2 million a year, fine, then you take the risk.  If you are talking about giving him close to the entire MLE, then its a completely different story.

Or Delonte has finally found the right combination of psychotropic drugs and is stable and it will never happen again.

Mental illness is like any other illness. Take the proper medication and it can be kept under control. I'm not so sure you can take a pill to cure what ails Baby's immaturity, Daniels fragility, Rasheed's age or Tony's BBIQ.

Well I'd rather have Baby on this team.  I don't want a point guard that's not a point guard and a 2 guard that's too small to guard most 2 guards. Delonte is still not a good ballhandler. No thanks.

well
feel free to disagree for a tweener that gets blocked most of the time
and isnt a shooter

I would rather have BBD as well.  But you make a valid point about Delonte being a shooter.

Birdbrain, you probably won't believe this but... I would rather have BBD as well lol

lol nice.  Well at least you would take him over a dude caught caring 3 loaded guns strapped to him on the motorcycle awaiting trial.  TP for being open minded.

[Brendan]

I'd rather have Tony for his defense than Delonte. Tony when playing alongside Rondo is pretty good and the defense with those two on the floor is great.  I think we should get a true backup point for once, someone like Luke Ridnour or Chris Duhon.  I don't think Delonte will be satisfied playing 10 min a game or less, because I don't think he's a good backup 2.  Besides, like someone said, we should not get a bench player with so much baggage, it's not worth it.

Whoever you get at Guard - if they are good enough to satisfy the get a true PG crowd, they won't want to play behind Rondo. Just like they wouldn't want to play behind Chris Paul or Deron Williams. The minutes are going to be limited.

As for West - I think he's a better SG than PG - even if on the small side for a SG.

[Bahku]

As long as he leaves the firearms in Cleveland. (Deja vu)