Chris Mannix "Celtics glaring hole Center position.. JO utterly useless"

[Change]

http://www.csnne.com/sportsnetNewEngland/search/v/50291951/mannix-celtics-look-old-and-tired.htm

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Look, there have been players on a team I root for wholeheartedly that I just don't and can't like as a player and JO happens to be one. Nothing against him off the court but I just don't see him at this stage being a starting C for a REAL contender! I will cheer JO as much as his biggest fan as long as he plays for us but I won't pretend that I think he is good right now! I'm not saying he's a bad player but he is a guy you bring off the bench and give 15mins to and if it's a good day 20 at most (looking at JO it seems even 15 may be too much sadly)! We have to do something!!

[Smitty77]

Mannix is spot on!!!!

[snively]

Expected nothing from him offensively this year, but he has been disappointing defensively.  I was expecting more of an impact from him there, but he's been pretty invisible.

[33_Larry Legend_33]

I mean this with all sincerity, but he reminds me of when the Celtics picked up Arthritis Gilmore back in 1988.  Gilmore was done at that point, a fossilized, cement-footed center who just couldn't move laterally.

That is where JO is now... Injuries and father time have taken their toll.  It's time to put a fork in him.

[vinnie]

9 rebounds in 60 minutes. You gotta do a lot better than this, JO. Come on.

[lukiz]

I've never been a JO fan, far from it actually, so moving him or him retiring I wouldn't mind.

[Finkelskyhook]

This is pretty much what you get when you tank a year at O'Neal's age.  No matter how hard you work in the offseason...(And O'Neal is probably, at least visibly, in the best shape he's been in in years)  It's going to probably take half the season for O'Neal to get in basketball shape.

He's shown glimpses of looking pretty decent.  If he decides to play, O'Neal will probably get better as the season goes on if Rivers doesn't play him too many minutes.

[MBunge]

This is pretty much what you get when you tank a year at O'Neal's age. 

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That probably extends to some of the other old guys on the team, even KG.  They may have kept up their normal off season routine, but I'd bet the possiblity of not having a season may have affected their workouts.  Now they've had an abbreviated camp and thrown right into an accelerated schedule.

If JO and others can't play themselves into shape in a month or so and this is the level of performance they can give, there's no way Ainge doesn't make some kind of move before the trading deadline.

Mike

[Finkelskyhook]

This is pretty much what you get when you tank a year at O'Neal's age. 

\

That probably extends to some of the other old guys on the team, even KG.  They may have kept up their normal off season routine, but I'd bet the possiblity of not having a season may have affected their workouts.  Now they've had an abbreviated camp and thrown right into an accelerated schedule.

If JO and others can't play themselves into shape in a month or so and this is the level of performance they can give, there's no way Ainge doesn't make some kind of move before the trading deadline.

Mike

I see enough flashes, especially defensively from O'Neal, to think he will be solid in a month if he still feels like playing this torrid schedule.

[2short]

If Pierce came back I'd be ok with a starting lineup of:
rondo, ray, paul, kg and either bass or another center
let jermaine get his legs under him, he's looked good at a few things (few) but is just moving too slow

[Celtics4ever]

I think he has looked horrible on putbacks on offensive rebounds but on dunks on the move, I think he has had two at least.  He flushed them both with authority.  Sometimes his knees look shot and other times he looks ok.   He is like two different men.   He was a good player when he played for Indy all those years.  So all this talk of him never being good is unfounded.   He has never been great but for a large section of his career he was above average.

[MVP]

I think Mannix is spot on here. We are good, but we won't go far with JO as our starting center. Our hope is to use JO's expiring contract along with a combination of Bass/Wilcox/Bradley/picks/Johnson/Moore/Pavlovic to land a competent starting center. The two that come to mind who might be available for that kind of package are Kaman and Jefferson. If we can get one of those guys and have our core healthy, we'll be a tough out in the playoffs IMO.

[RyNye]

I think it is a bit unfair to criticize JO overly much at this point. In the last 3 games our defense was HORRIBLE, but it was largely due to the guards and not the big guys. I mean, it doesn't matter if you are Dwight Howard, if your guards let people get to the basket with impunity there is only so much the big guy can do.

[slamtheking]

I think Mannix is spot on here. We are good, but we won't go far with JO as our starting center. Our hope is to use JO's expiring contract along with a combination of Bass/Wilcox/Bradley/picks/Johnson/Moore/Pavlovic to land a competent starting center. The two that come to mind who might be available for that kind of package are Kaman and Jefferson. If we can get one of those guys and have our core healthy, we'll be a tough out in the playoffs IMO.

It'd probably take JO with Bass and JJJ/1st rounder to get either Kaman or Jefferson.  by the time the trading deadline comes around, the C's may be so far out of it that we may just hold on to him to get the cap space next year.  I wouldn't want to acquire Big Al or Kaman at the expense of cap flexibility.