I hope we don't get Shaq

[LilRip]

No no no! No kwame brown he sucks..... he really, really, REALLY SUCKS.

astute observation. TP!

[Jon]

I would rather have Kwame than Shaq....unless both can be had for the same price- The minimum, then I'll take Shaq.

Kwame would be fine as the 4th big until Perk comes back.

There are a lot of negatives with Shaq. He won't be satisfied with a backup role. He will be less satisfied once Perk comes back and he becomes the 5th Big.

Shaq could be worse for our team than Sheed. I still think Sheed caused our guys to tank in the regular season. We won 60 games without KG down the stretch in 2009, then we get sheed, Quis and Nate at the deadline and only win 50?

I want guys that want to win and get a high seed. We can be a 55-60 win team as long as we fill out the bench with a guy like Josh Howard and sign Kwame or Josh Boone for the minimum.

But this is you presuming that we can do better than Shaq for Sheed's deal.  If that's the case, I think most of us are for it.  However, if all we can get for Sheed is Shaq and Parker, so be it. 

This whole 5th center notion is silly.  It's the same silly debate Sox fans have every year about how we have too much starting pitching.  Well look how that worked out for the Sox this year as Beckett, Daisuke, and Buc all spent time on the DL. 

We don't know how quickly Perk can get back.  I'd like to believe he can, but who knows?  And who is to say by then another big of ours doesn't suffer a similar injury? 

And if Shaq becomes the 5th big in April and whines, so what?  People act like this is a bunch of soft, impressionable children here.  If Shaq whines, let him. 

And who cares about the regular season?  I think the issue was much more complex than you give it credit for (KG still missed 15 games, Pierce missed 11, Daniels missed 31, and Nate was only here for 26 games), but even if it's not, it's really the playoffs that matter, and Shaq can potentially help us there. 

[guava_wrench]

I would rather have Kwame than Shaq....unless both can be had for the same price- The minimum, then I'll take Shaq.

Kwame would be fine as the 4th big until Perk comes back.

There are a lot of negatives with Shaq. He won't be satisfied with a backup role. He will be less satisfied once Perk comes back and he becomes the 5th Big.

Shaq could be worse for our team than Sheed. I still think Sheed caused our guys to tank in the regular season. We won 60 games without KG down the stretch in 2009, then we get sheed, Quis and Nate at the deadline and only win 50?

I want guys that want to win and get a high seed. We can be a 55-60 win team as long as we fill out the bench with a guy like Josh Howard and sign Kwame or Josh Boone for the minimum.

But this is you presuming that we can do better than Shaq for Sheed's deal.  If that's the case, I think most of us are for it.  However, if all we can get for Sheed is Shaq and Parker, so be it. 

This whole 5th center notion is silly.  It's the same silly debate Sox fans have every year about how we have too much starting pitching.  Well look how that worked out for the Sox this year as Beckett, Daisuke, and Buc all spent time on the DL. 

We don't know how quickly Perk can get back.  I'd like to believe he can, but who knows?  And who is to say by then another big of ours doesn't suffer a similar injury? 

And if Shaq becomes the 5th big in April and whines, so what?  People act like this is a bunch of soft, impressionable children here.  If Shaq whines, let him. 

And who cares about the regular season?  I think the issue was much more complex than you give it credit for (KG still missed 15 games, Pierce missed 11, Daniels missed 31, and Nate was only here for 26 games), but even if it's not, it's really the playoffs that matter, and Shaq can potentially help us there. 

I think you underestimate the impact of a prima donna trouble maker of Shaq's stature in the lockerroom.

[guava_wrench]

IF WE HAD SHAQ? .........I tell you what we would of WON GAME 7 OF THE NBA FINALS THIS YEAR MY FRIEND!!

No, we would have imploded long before then with Shaq splitting minutes with KG, Perk, Sheed and Baby.

[Jon]

I would rather have Kwame than Shaq....unless both can be had for the same price- The minimum, then I'll take Shaq.

Kwame would be fine as the 4th big until Perk comes back.

There are a lot of negatives with Shaq. He won't be satisfied with a backup role. He will be less satisfied once Perk comes back and he becomes the 5th Big.

Shaq could be worse for our team than Sheed. I still think Sheed caused our guys to tank in the regular season. We won 60 games without KG down the stretch in 2009, then we get sheed, Quis and Nate at the deadline and only win 50?

I want guys that want to win and get a high seed. We can be a 55-60 win team as long as we fill out the bench with a guy like Josh Howard and sign Kwame or Josh Boone for the minimum.

But this is you presuming that we can do better than Shaq for Sheed's deal.  If that's the case, I think most of us are for it.  However, if all we can get for Sheed is Shaq and Parker, so be it. 

This whole 5th center notion is silly.  It's the same silly debate Sox fans have every year about how we have too much starting pitching.  Well look how that worked out for the Sox this year as Beckett, Daisuke, and Buc all spent time on the DL. 

We don't know how quickly Perk can get back.  I'd like to believe he can, but who knows?  And who is to say by then another big of ours doesn't suffer a similar injury? 

And if Shaq becomes the 5th big in April and whines, so what?  People act like this is a bunch of soft, impressionable children here.  If Shaq whines, let him. 

And who cares about the regular season?  I think the issue was much more complex than you give it credit for (KG still missed 15 games, Pierce missed 11, Daniels missed 31, and Nate was only here for 26 games), but even if it's not, it's really the playoffs that matter, and Shaq can potentially help us there. 

I think you underestimate the impact of a prima donna trouble maker of Shaq's stature in the lockerroom.

Maybe, maybe not.

Shaq really hasn't been that much of a problem child.  In 2006, Antoine Walker, not Shaquille O'Neal, was the 2nd highest scorer for the Heat in the NBA Finals.  

Last year he averaged a little over 11 points in a little over 20 mpg.  If he put up with that while playing with inferior teammates other than LeBron, I don't see how he gets beat up over touches.  

Plus, I also think it's silly to sell ourselves short on backup big men thinking that Shaq might cause a problem in April.  I'd much rather roll the dice on Shaq working out, than roll the dice on our other options.  

It would be a very different story if we had more options.  

[GreenEnvy]

I would rather have Kwame than Shaq....unless both can be had for the same price- The minimum, then I'll take Shaq.

Kwame would be fine as the 4th big until Perk comes back.

There are a lot of negatives with Shaq. He won't be satisfied with a backup role. He will be less satisfied once Perk comes back and he becomes the 5th Big.

Shaq could be worse for our team than Sheed. I still think Sheed caused our guys to tank in the regular season. We won 60 games without KG down the stretch in 2009, then we get sheed, Quis and Nate at the deadline and only win 50?

I want guys that want to win and get a high seed. We can be a 55-60 win team as long as we fill out the bench with a guy like Josh Howard and sign Kwame or Josh Boone for the minimum.

You think guys like Josh Howard and Kwame Brown want to win? Really? Brown doesn't seem to care about anything, and Howard cares about money and bud.

Shaq has one thing on his mind: More rings. If he can make a few addition million or get more minutes, of course he would like it. But if he had the choice of an MLE offer from a non-contender or a vet min from a contender, he's taking the latter.

The 2010 squad mentally checked out halfway through the season. I wouldn't blame it on 'Sheed, but even if you choose to, it [dang] near worked anyway. We were up 3-2 in the NBA Finals before Perk went down.

Kwame would be fine as a 4th big until Perk comes back, but is that a total given? Do you like Kwame as our 4th big in the playoffs? Our 4th big against Orlando and the Lakers? Our biggest advantage against Miami would be JO and Kwame? With Shaq, we are already better up front than last year. With Shaq AND Perk, we have the best and deepest front line.

With 'Sheed gone this season, you expect us to go back to 60+ wins if everyone stays healthy? I think this team would rather pace themselves and go off in the playoffs again than steamroll through the regular season and struggle in the playoffs (a la 2008 - they shouldn't have lost more than 5 games in the playoffs, but they lost 10, which is more than the 2010 squad).

I think they will have playoff positioning more on their mind this upcoming season, as they may want more favorable matchups if HCA is out of reach.

A wing is obviously important, but I would not complain about getting Shaq any which way. If he comes for the vet min AND we can secure a quality wing, I truly believe we are the favorites.

[moiso]

I would rather have Kwame than Shaq....unless both can be had for the same price- The minimum, then I'll take Shaq.

Kwame would be fine as the 4th big until Perk comes back.

There are a lot of negatives with Shaq. He won't be satisfied with a backup role. He will be less satisfied once Perk comes back and he becomes the 5th Big.

Shaq could be worse for our team than Sheed. I still think Sheed caused our guys to tank in the regular season. We won 60 games without KG down the stretch in 2009, then we get sheed, Quis and Nate at the deadline and only win 50?

I want guys that want to win and get a high seed. We can be a 55-60 win team as long as we fill out the bench with a guy like Josh Howard and sign Kwame or Josh Boone for the minimum.

You think guys like Josh Howard and Kwame Brown want to win? Really? Brown doesn't seem to care about anything, and Howard cares about money and bud.

Shaq has one thing on his mind: More rings. If he can make a few addition million or get more minutes, of course he would like it. But if he had the choice of an MLE offer from a non-contender or a vet min from a contender, he's taking the latter.

The 2010 squad mentally checked out halfway through the season. I wouldn't blame it on 'Sheed, but even if you choose to, it [dang] near worked anyway. We were up 3-2 in the NBA Finals before Perk went down.

Kwame would be fine as a 4th big until Perk comes back, but is that a total given? Do you like Kwame as our 4th big in the playoffs? Our 4th big against Orlando and the Lakers? Our biggest advantage against Miami would be JO and Kwame? With Shaq, we are already better up front than last year. With Shaq AND Perk, we have the best and deepest front line.

With 'Sheed gone this season, you expect us to go back to 60+ wins if everyone stays healthy? I think this team would rather pace themselves and go off in the playoffs again than steamroll through the regular season and struggle in the playoffs (a la 2008 - they shouldn't have lost more than 5 games in the playoffs, but they lost 10, which is more than the 2010 squad).

I think they will have playoff positioning more on their mind this upcoming season, as they may want more favorable matchups if HCA is out of reach.

A wing is obviously important, but I would not complain about getting Shaq any which way. If he comes for the vet min AND we can secure a quality wing, I truly believe we are the favorites.

Josh Howard competes hard every time I see him play.  He wants to win.  Not so with Kwame, however.

[BballTim]

IF WE HAD SHAQ? .........I tell you what we would of WON GAME 7 OF THE NBA FINALS THIS YEAR MY FRIEND!!

  First of all, in order to *win* game 7 of the finals, we need to *get to* game 7 of the finals. There's no guarantee we get there with Shaq. Also, the reason we would have won game 7 if we did was our championship level DEFENSE. Was Shaq going to play that level of defense? Judging by the Cleveland series, I'd say no. Defense is why we won the title in 08. Defense is why we almost won the title this year.

  People can come up with ways to fix the scoring drought late in game 7. People can figure out how to fix the rebounding problem we had in game 7. Nobody ever considers how those fixes affect the reason we got as far as we did.

Possibly.  But with how stagnant our offense looked at times and with how hard Ray and Paul found it to get open looks, Shaq's post game would've looked good.  Moreover, while I'm a huge Perk fan, you also have to ask yourself if Shaq's defensive disparity would've been made up (and then some) by the amount of times he'd finish plays that Perk (and to some extent, Baby) botched. 

  Ray got plenty of open looks. He just missed a lot of shots. And having Shaq isn't going to get him more open looks in any case. And look at the job the Celts did on keeping LeBron away from the rim (Perk was a big part of that). Then look at the job Cleveland did keeping Rondo out of the paint (Shaq was a big part of that). Do you really think that the few more points a game we'd have gotten from Shaq would have made up for LeBron (and Wade, for that matter) having an easier time getting to the basket?

[LilRip]

IF WE HAD SHAQ? .........I tell you what we would of WON GAME 7 OF THE NBA FINALS THIS YEAR MY FRIEND!!

  First of all, in order to *win* game 7 of the finals, we need to *get to* game 7 of the finals. There's no guarantee we get there with Shaq. Also, the reason we would have won game 7 if we did was our championship level DEFENSE. Was Shaq going to play that level of defense? Judging by the Cleveland series, I'd say no. Defense is why we won the title in 08. Defense is why we almost won the title this year.

  People can come up with ways to fix the scoring drought late in game 7. People can figure out how to fix the rebounding problem we had in game 7. Nobody ever considers how those fixes affect the reason we got as far as we did.

Possibly.  But with how stagnant our offense looked at times and with how hard Ray and Paul found it to get open looks, Shaq's post game would've looked good.  Moreover, while I'm a huge Perk fan, you also have to ask yourself if Shaq's defensive disparity would've been made up (and then some) by the amount of times he'd finish plays that Perk (and to some extent, Baby) botched. 

  Ray got plenty of open looks. He just missed a lot of shots. And having Shaq isn't going to get him more open looks in any case. And look at the job the Celts did on keeping LeBron away from the rim (Perk was a big part of that). Then look at the job Cleveland did keeping Rondo out of the paint (Shaq was a big part of that). Do you really think that the few more points a game we'd have gotten from Shaq would have made up for LeBron (and Wade, for that matter) having an easier time getting to the basket?

yeah, it'd suck to lose Perk for Shaq huh? oh no wait a minute, we're not! no one's saying that we should get rid of Perk. But it wouldn't hurt to be able to put someone in with a legit post game, especially if our offense needs help.



- LilRip

[GrandTheftRondo]

We wouldn't even need Shaq come the playoffs cause we would have Perk back.  The regular season is going to largely irrelevant for the Celtics this year.  They just have to hold the fort.

I hate when people say this...the regular season is VERY relevant. Home court advantage in the playoffs is a big deal whether you want to believe it or not.

[RAcker]

No no no! No kwame brown he sucks..... he really, really, REALLY SUCKS.

Don't sugarcoat it, man!  Tell us how you really feel.   

[Rondo9dunx]

I think it's pretty safe to assume we're not getting any home court again this year. Orlando is a better regular season team, miami was ranked 5th last year and I think they added a couple of guys to thier roster. The lakers are just as good if not better.

I like our team to win in the playoffs, but not the regular season.

I've also fallen off of the shaq bandwagon. He wants way more money than he's worth and if he does end up signing for crap money and bench minutes he probably will live up to his chemistry killer rep. Maybe Semih will get a couple minutes at PF so KG can play center against some of the lesser centers in the league.

Something has to happen tho, I find it hard to believe that Danny brought JO here with the intention of him playin 35min a game at center. I'm sure they are going to get a big man, probably wont be anyone spectacular but thats not what we need right now, perk will be back eventually no reason to invest too heavily in another center I guess.

[Tai]

I would rather have Kwame than Shaq....unless both can be had for the same price- The minimum, then I'll take Shaq.

Kwame would be fine as the 4th big until Perk comes back.

There are a lot of negatives with Shaq. He won't be satisfied with a backup role. He will be less satisfied once Perk comes back and he becomes the 5th Big.

Shaq could be worse for our team than Sheed. I still think Sheed caused our guys to tank in the regular season. We won 60 games without KG down the stretch in 2009, then we get sheed, Quis and Nate at the deadline and only win 50?

I want guys that want to win and get a high seed. We can be a 55-60 win team as long as we fill out the bench with a guy like Josh Howard and sign Kwame or Josh Boone for the minimum.

But this is you presuming that we can do better than Shaq for Sheed's deal.  If that's the case, I think most of us are for it.  However, if all we can get for Sheed is Shaq and Parker, so be it. 

This whole 5th center notion is silly.  It's the same silly debate Sox fans have every year about how we have too much starting pitching.  Well look how that worked out for the Sox this year as Beckett, Daisuke, and Buc all spent time on the DL. 

We don't know how quickly Perk can get back.  I'd like to believe he can, but who knows?  And who is to say by then another big of ours doesn't suffer a similar injury? 

And if Shaq becomes the 5th big in April and whines, so what?  People act like this is a bunch of soft, impressionable children here.  If Shaq whines, let him. 

And who cares about the regular season?  I think the issue was much more complex than you give it credit for (KG still missed 15 games, Pierce missed 11, Daniels missed 31, and Nate was only here for 26 games), but even if it's not, it's really the playoffs that matter, and Shaq can potentially help us there. 

I think you underestimate the impact of a prima donna trouble maker of Shaq's stature in the lockerroom.

Maybe I'm just ignorant, but what signs have there been that Shaq's been a "prima donna" to the point of breaking up the lockerroom? Because the Lakers traded him? Cause he asked Kobe to tell him how his butt taste years later? Or is it because of whatever happened with the Heat?