Encouraging words from Ainge

[Celtics4ever]

“Our team is still not whole,” said general manager Danny Ainge. “We started out great. We played great basketball with Shaq (O’Neal) in the middle. I think it’ll be easier for Shaq to return in a starting position, which I think he has earned with his play this year.”

Ainge reported that Jermaine O’Neal is getting closer to a return from left knee surgery.

“He’s feeling better and he’s more optimistic than he’s been all year,” Ainge said. “I just saw him working out and shooting jump shots. He looked good.”

via the Herald

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view/2011_0226celts_still_missing_vital_pieces/

Now to be honest, Danny has to get behind this and sell this as he is the one who pulled the trigger on the trade.  But still twas good news to read.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Ignore.

[Birdbrain]

If one used critical thinking when looking at the trade one would have to conclude that he feels moderately hopeful regarding the O'neals.

I suppose anyone can just say prove it.. but, that's like proving a negative.  No I'll just be patient and assume as I mentioned in 1st sentence that he has to be moderately hopeful.  It's like the stock market.  No one knows anything but, some who actually look at the situation critically can see some clues.

To be honest they have said multiple times that they are being overly cautious with Shaq.  I'm sure it's half parts hopeful and half parts honest.  I don't see the use in being negative about something you have no real facts about so I'll believe them until proven otherwise.

Too each his own, as they say...

[Drucci]

I think the key will be Jermaine and I must admit it's encouraging to hear these quotes from Danny. Maybe it's just talk but I don't see why he would say this if it was untrue especially after the disappointing year and many failed comebacks from JO this season.

[Celtics4ever]

Aye, Birdbrain, I agree totally and have thought that he was optimistic since the trade otherwise this would not have happened.  But critical thinking is lately heavily outweighed by fan emotion lately.  It's hard when your emotionally attached to guy but those are the breaks.

Drucci, I totally agree on O'Neal.  He needs to play through some of the soreness and cowboy up.

ignore

I am devastated, BudweiserCeltic, NOT.  Replying isn't an ignore, BTW.  You validate my very existence with your reply.  

[BudweiserCeltic]

I posted something else, but I noticed I misread the quote so I edited my post so that it would be ignored.

[2short]

HUGE if but if jermaine is healthy he is the most rounded of all the centers we have or had.

[jdz101]

I happen to agree with him.

I would rather Shaq in the middle than Perk after a knee reco. That Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. will give way in a hard, tough finals series against strong opposition.

Not to mention Shaq has a brilliant defensive presence aswell.

[Roy H.]

Interesting to see that Danny has modified his approach from "Shaq played better as a starter" to "I think it’ll be easier for Shaq to return in a starting position, which I think he has earned with his play this year."

The first argument, of course, was nothing but blatant spin, since Shaq never once played in a game for us where he wasn't the starter.  Apparently somebody reminded Danny of this fact, since he has now changed his argument.

Anyway, here are his splits for the past three months before Shaq got hurt:

November: 12.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.2 turnovers, 3.5 fouls, 58.0 FT%, 69.4% FG%

December: 8.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 2.2 turnovers, 3.6 fouls, 63.2 FT%, 64.0 FG%

January: 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 1.1 turnovers, 3.1 fouls, 48.4 FT%, 67.7 FG%

It's pretty clear that Shaq's play has declined a lot since his hot start.  His points and rebounds are way down, while his turnovers and fouls have either remained constant or increased.  I'm hopeful that with his extended rest, Shaq can come back closer to the player he was in November.  The guy we've seen most recently has been poor defensively and on the boards, and mediocre offensively.  

[Roy H.]

Not to mention Shaq has a brilliant defensive presence aswell.

How so?  Shaq has been very poor this year in terms of rotating quickly enough, covering the pick-and-roll, etc.  He just has no lateral movement, and he's very slow.  The only thing he does is play strong one-on-one defense against large centers.

I like Shaq, but he's just not a good defender, at all. 

[Roy H.]

This is from February 12:

The Celtics thought Shaquille O’Neal would be out for a few games with what they called an inflamed Achilles. A few games have lasted longer than they expected and now it seems unlikely that O’Neal will be back until after next weekend’s All-Star break at the earliest. . . .

“Semih’s out until after the break and Shaq will be too,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said following the team’s practice on Saturday. “We don’t even know if they’ll be back after the break right now. Semih’s groin is not improving and Shaq’s Achilles is not improving at all. We thought we’d have them both back by the last game, but that’s fine. We’re good.”

Rivers said Shaq’s injury has not gotten worse, but it hasn’t improved. “It just hasn’t healed,” the coach said. “It’s no worse, but it hasn’t healed as quickly.”

I think it's fair to be skeptical when the team now projects that Shaq and JO will be fully healthy.  I obviously hope they're right, but as far as injuries are concerned, I'm not sure that Danny's lip service deserves much benefit of the doubt.  The fact is, the team just doesn't know (which is why they were wrong on Shaq's injuries previously, and wrong on JO's, too.)

[More Banners]

Not to mention Shaq has a brilliant defensive presence aswell.

How so?  Shaq has been very poor this year in terms of rotating quickly enough, covering the pick-and-roll, etc.  He just has no lateral movement, and he's very slow.  The only thing he does is play strong one-on-one defense against large centers.

I like Shaq, but he's just not a good defender, at all. 

True, but he might be the only guy in the league that's able to give a hard foul on Lebron steaming to the hoop and lay him flat out.  And now that he's not a 35 minute guy and hasn't had to watch his fouls as closely, he's show that he's willing to be the "hard foul" guy.  Shaq as a hard foul guy!  Ouch!

[jdz101]

Not to mention Shaq has a brilliant defensive presence aswell.

How so?  Shaq has been very poor this year in terms of rotating quickly enough, covering the pick-and-roll, etc.  He just has no lateral movement, and he's very slow.  The only thing he does is play strong one-on-one defense against large centers.

I like Shaq, but he's just not a good defender, at all. 

His size automatically discourages players driving the ball to the cup. You cannot argue with that.

Teams in the east aren't strong pick and roll teams anyway. Miami will mostly run isolation with Lebron and Dwayne Wade and those two will try to attack the rim primarily. Orlando will look inside to Dwight and Shaq has the ability to negate him on a good night.

The slowness thing is applicable to most large centers and you cant exactly say Perk after months of knee rehab will ever be quick on rotations again. Look at the winning record with Shaq in the team healthy and then look at the record with him out.

[billysan]

While I try to have a positive attitude about Danny's moves here, I cant help but feel like the team is a house of cards at this stage. His reassurance hasnt really worked for me yet and I am left suspicious that he has been 'gambling' for a title.

We cannot but assume that Danny has some surity or nod nod, wink wink agreement that a certain player or two will be available in the annual buyout phase of the NBA season. A player that is committed to joining the Celtics of course. This is a move that if true he would have learned at Red's knee and should be interesting.

The whole topic(s) of injury, recovery, rehab and availability of Shaq and JO is a headache. If either or both is too old, too sore, too hurt and is unable to play we do not have the depth to support the other one. Unless you believe Krstic will give us some depth at center and may be enough depending upon Shaq/JO going forward.

I understand why Perk was traded especially with the rumored 10 million dollar price tag. I also dont blame him for testing the market. I think Green will be a nice piece going forward and the pick could turn out to be even more valuable. It is only top ten protected and think of the players available at 11-15 in the past.

I understand the Marquis deal to a point, but not so much the the Erden/Harangody one. On the surface it is clearing roster spots and the 2nd rounder could be in the 30's so there is some value but I feel like there must be some behind the scenes work by GM's and agents here that hasnt unfolded yet. Cash for buyouts anyone?

[vinnie]

As I wrote in another thread - on January 21, Danny was also pretty confident that all JO needed was a month off and everything would be hunky dory. He would take that month off, do lots of exercises, and would return to play without restrictions. Of course, three weeks later, JO was under the knife. I got beaten up for posting that in another thread, so figured I would post it here so I could get beaten about the head again.  

While I want to believe Danny regarding JO, and while I want to hope that Shaq is going to be healthy and be able to contribute the rest of the year, I just don't. I am 100 percent sure that Danny believes what he says, but going on past history, it would not surprise me to see JO come back for 5-10 games, say his bone-on-bone knee hurts too much, and shut it down. And, it would not surprise me to see Shaq break down at least once more before the end of the season. The guy is the oldest player in the NBA.