Shaq or Jermaine to start at 5?

[Spilling Green Dye]

Personally I'd go with Shaq b/c I think one of his best abilities (still) is to finish around the hoop.   With Rondo & Co in the game he will get a lot of easy buckets and opportunities.  Perkins has benefited greatly from this, but there were NUMEROUS times that Perkins blew perfectly easy buckets by dribbling/traveling, etc.  I think that is worth an easy 4 to 6 points a game bonus.

[vgulab]

I think KG and JO are simular players. They are both PF with solid mid range jumper(KG has better) and both can play defense so i don't think is best to have them both on the court in the same time. But KG and Shaq that will be fantastic they can compliment each other they are not selfish they can both make other teams double team them so they can play very well together i'm sure. If Shaq has two defenders on him he will pass to KG on a open mid range jumper and if there are two on KG there goes easy dunk by Shaq. Just imagine the possibility Shaq is better than Perk in the offensive end and remember how much Perk improve since KG came? Shaq should start he should play with the starters it' best for the team. And i'm not worried defensively because Shaq can block some shoot and he is big he just fill the paint plus KG is here.I can't wait to see KG and Shaq playing together probably one of the best PF's and C's in the history of the game

[moiso]

Personally I'd go with Shaq b/c I think one of his best abilities (still) is to finish around the hoop.   With Rondo & Co in the game he will get a lot of easy buckets and opportunities.  Perkins has benefited greatly from this, but there were NUMEROUS times that Perkins blew perfectly easy buckets by dribbling/traveling, etc.  I think that is worth an easy 4 to 6 points a game bonus.

Shaq is by far the better offensive player of the two, but Jermaine should be able to finish almost as well on these easy hoops you are talking about.  It's all the fallaway jumpers that I don't like.  If JO would start and focus on defense and easy hoops, that would be perfect.
Then when Shaq comes in with the bench he can be force fed the ball a little more.  Shaq is still an amazingly efficient scorer.

[Casperian]

Hmm, that´s no easy choice.

JO, who is a shadow of his former self, who had around 10 ok games last season for the Heat and shot around 20% against us in the playoffs, or the black Don Corleone, who doesn´t look like he wants anything else from this gig than continuing his endorsement deals and who should be on "Dancing with the stars" at this stage of his career?

I would like to see Big Baby Waldo get his chance at Center when the new season begins. It´s not ideal, but neither is JO or Shaq, and Baby could use the starter minutes to become a better player when the playoffs come and (hopefully) Perk is able to play again.
At least he´s young, and could surprise us. If it doesn´t work out, you can always go back to the Big Turtle.

[ozman]

It doesn't matter who starts to me. I don't think either are capable of 30 plus minutes any more. The minutes should be determined on match ups and form. [
quote author=Casperian link=topic=41589.msg840614#msg840614 date=1283957514]
Hmm, that´s no easy choice.



I would like to see Big Baby Waldo get his chance at Center when the new season begins. It´s not ideal, but neither is JO or Shaq, and Baby could use the starter minutes to become a better player when the playoffs come and (hopefully) Perk is able to play again.
At least he´s young, and could surprise us. If it doesn´t work out, you can always go back to the Big Turtle.
[/quote]

I'd love to see that, though its unlikely given the size of shaq and jermaine

[Roy H.]

Hmm, that´s no easy choice.

JO, who is a shadow of his former self, who had around 10 ok games last season for the Heat and shot around 20% against us in the playoffs, or the black Don Corleone, who doesn´t look like he wants anything else from this gig than continuing his endorsement deals and who should be on "Dancing with the stars" at this stage of his career?

I would like to see Big Baby Waldo get his chance at Center when the new season begins. It´s not ideal, but neither is JO or Shaq, and Baby could use the starter minutes to become a better player when the playoffs come and (hopefully) Perk is able to play again.
At least he´s young, and could surprise us. If it doesn´t work out, you can always go back to the Big Turtle.

Ouch.  You perhaps have exceedingly high expectations for an NBA center.  Some statistics, for perspective:

J.O.:  13th overall among centers in PPG, 11th in points per minute among centers playing 20+ MPG, 20th in FG% among centers playing 20+ MPG, 25th in rebounds per minute, 15th in blocks per minute

Shaq:  16th overall among centers in PPG, 6th in points per minute among centers playing 20+ MPG, 11th in FG% among centers playing 20+ MPG, 14th in rebounds per minute, 18th in blocks per minute

Jermaine's defense was above average, both in the post and overall.  Shaq's post defense was above average, but his overall defense is a weakness, especially on the pick-and-roll.

Both Shaq and J.O. are still very productive centers, relative to their peers.  Each will be able to help this team.

[moiso]

Hmm, that´s no easy choice.

JO, who is a shadow of his former self, who had around 10 ok games last season for the Heat and shot around 20% against us in the playoffs, or the black Don Corleone, who doesn´t look like he wants anything else from this gig than continuing his endorsement deals and who should be on "Dancing with the stars" at this stage of his career?

I would like to see Big Baby Waldo get his chance at Center when the new season begins. It´s not ideal, but neither is JO or Shaq, and Baby could use the starter minutes to become a better player when the playoffs come and (hopefully) Perk is able to play again.
At least he´s young, and could surprise us. If it doesn´t work out, you can always go back to the Big Turtle.

Ouch.  You perhaps have exceedingly high expectations for an NBA center.  Some statistics, for perspective:

J.O.:  13th overall among centers in PPG, 11th in points per minute among centers playing 20+ MPG, 20th in FG% among centers playing 20+ MPG, 25th in rebounds per minute, 15th in blocks per minute

Shaq:  16th overall among centers in PPG, 6th in points per minute among centers playing 20+ MPG, 11th in FG% among centers playing 20+ MPG, 14th in rebounds per minute, 18th in blocks per minute

Jermaine's defense was above average, both in the post and overall.  Shaq's post defense was above average, but his overall defense is a weakness, especially on the pick-and-roll.

Both Shaq and J.O. are still very productive centers, relative to their peers.  Each will be able to help this team.

JO's field goal percentage was flukey high for him last year.  Shaq always shoots a great percentage.  Every time I've seen JO in the last couple of years, he has looked like an allstar in the first quarter, then done nothing but shoot bricks at crunch time.  Except of course in the playoffs, in which he shot bricks all four of the quarters.

[Who]

Jermaine needs to start. He needs to be alongside Rondo and the Big Three to minimize his offensive weaknesses. Otherwise, he's a train wreck waiting to happen.

Shaq, on the other hand, would be great in the second unit because he can still create his own shot. Gives that second unit a nice go-to option, a starting point, offensively.

Plus, while I love how Shaq fits alongside the Big Three .. I'm not wild about Shaq playing alongside Rondo. I'd like to keep them apart most of the time.

[LilRip]

Shaq can play the Perk role better than JO I think.  I think Shaq will defend well enough (even the over analysed pick and role defense will be good enough).  Shaq will be happy with that role and JO will be happy to be featured more on the second unit.

it's not over-analyzed. it's just bad. that's about all the analysis we really need. What makes it bad is that Shaq often doesn't bother to show on the guard because he's too slow or he's not really inclined to make the effort. So yeah, it's pretty bad.



- LilRip

[jarufu]

As far as what Doc will do, I think he'll start the year with JO in the starting lineup. However, I have an idea things may change after Shaq demonstrates a more effective ability to work with the other starters. I guess it's nice to conjecture, but I really think we need to see how this team develops chemistry-wise before we can really make these calls.

This team has changed in many ways over the off-season, and I don't think anyone really has a clue as to how these new rotations/combinations are going to meld. It's going to be a heckuva lot of fun to watch things develop, but I think it's way too early to make these kinds of assumptions. We'll see soon enough.

I have to disagree with this in the strongest manner possible! We will not see 'soon enough', as you say. I want the season to start now!

[Evantime34]

Jermaine fits in better with the starters. He is more likely to run, and play the rotating defense that the Celtics have run in the past. Shaq makes an already slow first team slower.

However Shaq is perfect for the second unit. He draws defenders into the paint more so than Jermaine making space for Nate, Wafer and Delonte to shoot 3's.

[LooseCannon]

Start Jermaine O'Neal and keep him the starter even if Shaq seems to be playing a bit better.  I believe JO can mentally cope with sliding into a bench role when Perkins come back (if Perk is in any shape to start).  I'm not sure how Shaq will handle coming off the bench, so I want him to be put in that role immediately to send a strong signal that his starting days are over and he had better get used to being a role player now.

[Liam W]

Jermaine should start at the 5 with Shaq coming off the bench. I would say JO has more Offense down there + he has a nice mid range jumper + is better to watch than Shaq who just clogs up the lane.

But Dont get me wrong im looking forward to watching both #7 + #36 play at the same time, so it shud be good fun to watch

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Jermaine should start at the 5 with Shaq coming off the bench. I would say JO has more Offense down there + he has a nice mid range jumper + is better to watch than Shaq who just clogs up the lane.

But Dont get me wrong im looking forward to watching both #7 + #36 play at the same time, so it shud be good fun to watch

J.O. has better offense down where? J.O. should start unless Shaq proves he deserves it more and if it works. I WANT Shaq to start (biased) but I see it was promised to J.O... so for this to work I say give J.O. his due!

[karimb]

JO,  Shaq will help support the 2nd unit