Paul Pierce is losing a step and becoming a defensive liability.

[James Haley]

Da Truth is losing a step.  Still a Very good player but I would say he needs to play a lot less minutes.
Paul can't match up with today's Small Forwards he was exposed.
The C's need Green to display his potential with that he needs the ball and more minutes. Being Boston's team back with bird rights and make trades. Mayo would have been a nice pick up or Beasley but its more important to keep Boston's nucleus together and trust in Danny.

[SHAQATTACK]

Why I think Jeff Green (young & Healthy) is a MUST sign situation for the C's

[esel1000]

Why I think Jeff Green (young & Healthy) is a MUST sign siutation for the C's

This.

[hpantazo]

While I think he lost a little speed, his game was never based on speed. We should also keep in mind that he played the entire playoffs with a knee injury, which surely affected his defense.

[Roy H.]

I don't disagree with getting Pierce less minutes, but I think his defense is fine.  He's not a candidate for All-Defense, but he's an important cog in our outstanding team defense.  I still think he's a better option on that end of the floor than Green.

Of note, Pierce held opposing players to 36.1% FG%.  That's pretty solid.

[GrandTheftRondo]

He was injured all through the playoffs. I'd like to see him play fully healthy before I make this type of determination.

[wdleehi]

Pierce is still a better defender then most SFs in the league.  


With Ray, Bass and Pierce all in the starting linup during the playoffs, the Celtics still played top team defense.  


I think the liability on defense is being overblown on a few players.  

[anthony83]

This season can not Pierce and KG play 35/40 minutes, this is obvious, must reserve forces to playoffs, therefore you must have a bench warrants, no Dooling or Pietrus, because when KG, Pierce, Rondo going to the bench , we lose 10-point advantage, this is evident.

 I remember, Pierce was injured in playoffs.

[Celtics18]

Da Truth is losing a step.  Still a Very good player but I would say he needs to play a lot less minutes.
Paul can't match up with today's Small Forwards he was exposed.
The C's need Green to display his potential with that he needs the ball and more minutes. Being Boston's team back with bird rights and make trades. Mayo would have been a nice pick up or Beasley but its more important to keep Boston's nucleus together and trust in Danny.

Paul Pierce has been losing a step since the 2008 season.  He's still a top 5 small forward in the league, though, and my guess is that he will be until his contract is up.  

[chambers]

Perhaps, but he was injured in the playoffs.
Lebron destroyed him but Pierce did okay considering his knee problems.

As Shaqattack said, getting Green or a solid small forward back up will be key to him staying healthy and building a flow going into the playoffs. He'll have a chip on his shoulder because a lot of people are talking about how bad he was in the playoffs and that KG and Rondo carried us.
Great players don't forget things like that.

Give him 6 months from now and he'll probably be back like he was at the start of this just completed season.

[Celtics Fan]

Paul was having to much fun during the lock out and never got his groove back. That's the truth. He came in out of shape and was not ready to play. Now this time around he needs to go to Allen Phog Fieldhouse and get his mojo back last year was horrible and he owe us that.

[Professor of Rondology]

An idea that I've been tossing around in my head ever since we acquired Jeff Green is to have Green start in place of PP.  Ray as a 6th man works pretty well but I think PP is a much more ideal player for that role. Since he can create his own shot without relying on others [read: Rondo] to create for him, he might be a better source of instant offense off the bench.  Add to that the fact that PP at point-forward is our best option for a backup PG [I do think Dooling should be back, but only as a locker room presence- he looked pretty lost running the sets all year. But, looking back on Rajon Rondo's career when it's all said and done I think we might have to credit the arrival of Dooling with Rondo's maturation into a true superstar.  

Imagine a starting lineup of:
Rondo- Ray- Jeff Green- KG- Asik/Camby/whoever we use the MLE on
with PP and AB quickly coming off the bench (together) to provide a 1-2 punch of instant-offense AND instant-defense.  AB/PP combined would be the greatest 6th man in NBA history.
Thoughts?

[James Haley]

I am a Paul Pierce fan however he admits he could do a better job on LeBron, Melo his best Defensive was a strong offensive but now that teams have added players to guard Pierce their Star Players can take plays off. 

[clover]

An idea that I've been tossing around in my head ever since we acquired Jeff Green is to have Green start in place of PP.  Ray as a 6th man works pretty well but I think PP is a much more ideal player for that role. Since he can create his own shot without relying on others [read: Rondo] to create for him, he might be a better source of instant offense off the bench.  Add to that the fact that PP at point-forward is our best option for a backup PG [I do think Dooling should be back, but only as a locker room presence- he looked pretty lost running the sets all year. But, looking back on Rajon Rondo's career when it's all said and done I think we might have to credit the arrival of Dooling with Rondo's maturation into a true superstar.  

Imagine a starting lineup of:
Rondo- Ray- Jeff Green- KG- Asik/Camby/whoever we use the MLE on
with PP and AB quickly coming off the bench (together) to provide a 1-2 punch of instant-offense AND instant-defense.  AB/PP combined would be the greatest 6th man in NBA history.
Thoughts?

Word is the bidding on Asik started at $8M.

[hpantazo]

An idea that I've been tossing around in my head ever since we acquired Jeff Green is to have Green start in place of PP.  Ray as a 6th man works pretty well but I think PP is a much more ideal player for that role. Since he can create his own shot without relying on others [read: Rondo] to create for him, he might be a better source of instant offense off the bench.  Add to that the fact that PP at point-forward is our best option for a backup PG [I do think Dooling should be back, but only as a locker room presence- he looked pretty lost running the sets all year. But, looking back on Rajon Rondo's career when it's all said and done I think we might have to credit the arrival of Dooling with Rondo's maturation into a true superstar.  

Imagine a starting lineup of:
Rondo- Ray- Jeff Green- KG- Asik/Camby/whoever we use the MLE on
with PP and AB quickly coming off the bench (together) to provide a 1-2 punch of instant-offense AND instant-defense.  AB/PP combined would be the greatest 6th man in NBA history.
Thoughts?

Word is the bidding on Asik started at $8M.

Wow. Cross Asik off our list then. The Fab Melo pick looks better every day.