Doc: "We could really use" Delfino

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Hypothetical, if Terry and Lee go down at the same time, who do we have in their place (if AB hasn't returned)? Don't say Xmas, Smith or Joseph (maybe him, I don't know if his contract is guaranteed) because neither are guaranteed to even be on the team.

If Collins and Wilcox are down at the same time, we still have Sully, Melo, and Green to plug into their places... while that isn't great, it's better than NO ONE!

That leads me to believe we are better off when it comes to bigs...

[Celtics18]

My guess is that the Jeff Green deal gets finalized soon and that Christmas and Joseph both get signed for the season.  That makes 15.

I'm more than happy with this roster.  There's no room for Carlos Delfino, as far as I can tell.

If we sign Delfino, then we don't need Christmas. Or Joseph for that matter. But I'll be pretty happy with the roster if we stood pat too.

Delfino is almost certainly a better option than Christmas or Joseph.  And I do think that kozlodev makes a good point about how we are weaker at the 2/3 spot than many people would like to believe. 

However, I do think Doc is over exaggerating about how "we could really use" Delfino.  Delfino wouldn't be part of a healthy playoff rotation.  That means two things.

1) It's not a very attractive situation for Delfino here.  If he's going to take smaller money, he's better off doing it somewhere where he can play to earn a bigger deal next year. 

2) If push came to shove and someone missed time during the regular season, we could survive with Christmas or Joseph getting 10-15 mpg. 

So really, Delfino is really about playoff depth, which is obviously a good thing, but likely not enough for us to get him. 

I would take Marquis Daniels in a heartbeat over Joseph or Christmas.  I am willing to keep one of them, but I'd rather have a vet with playoff experience around in case Green or Pierce got dinged up in the playoffs.

One benefit of signing Delfino or another dependable swingman: we can field lineups with Green at the 4 that do not feature Paul Pierce. Not sure whether we'll want to, but it's somethign worth having in mind, I guess.

I also agree about the exaggeration -- note he that he said this for an Argentinian magazine, so don't exclude the possibility that he was simply giving lip service to their fellow countryman.

I do agree with the first part, which is why I've been a big proponent of trying to get Pietrus to sign on for another run.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like Danny even made any effort to bring Peaches back, so I've more or less resigned myself to having Christmas and Joseph as developmental players who maybe get lucky enough to see some time in real games due to injuries or blowouts.

Doc's not afraid to go small, and I think we might see Lee get some minutes at the three with Green at the four. 

[Tradetime]

Hypothetical, if Terry and Lee go down at the same time, who do we have in their place (if AB hasn't returned)? Don't say Xmas, Smith or Joseph (maybe him, I don't know if his contract is guaranteed) because neither are guaranteed to even be on the team.

If Collins and Wilcox are down at the same time, we still have Sully, Melo, and Green to plug into their places... while that isn't great, it's better than NO ONE!

That leads me to believe we are better off when it comes to bigs...

I can completely see Collins and Melo getting more playing time than people expect. We're going to want to keep the minutes of KG/PP down so we can have them at full speed ahead for the playoff run.
So, in that sense, I think a legit wing like Delfino would be a better fit than Birdman, who would essentially be here to do what Collins and Melo will already be asked to do - play solid defense.

[moylana25]

By mid season we're likely to have six guard players: Rondo, Bradley, Dooling, Terry, Lee, Christmas. I know Christmas is big for a guard, has the body of a small forward, but his game and passing are more akin to a SG. Why use the money on Delfino just to bury him on the bench, or bury a player like Lee who was a significant part of our summer?

I'm sorry, I don't agree with some of the members' stance on our bigs. Anyone who can give KG rest is pivotal to the team's success, especially with KG playing 2-3 more years with us.

The way I see it, you have KG, Wilcox, and Collins as the only true seasoned players that can really play the C position. Fab can MAYBE contribute sometime this season. Sullinger needs to worry about being a PF in this league, not being a center. If you wanna stretch Bass to the C position in small lineups then fine.

Well we can't have Christmas and another big. That would give us a roster of 16:

PG: Rondo, Terry, Dooling
SG: Lee, Bradley, CHRISTMAS
SF: Pierce, Green, Joseph
PF: Bass, Wilcox, Sullinger, ANOTHER BIG
C: Garnett, Collins, Melo

Not sure what you're arguing here. If we get Delfino or another big, Christmas isn't even on the roster.

I'm going under the impression that only one of the two, Smith and Christmas, make the team. Which leaves one roster spot.

[Celtics18]

By mid season we're likely to have six guard players: Rondo, Bradley, Dooling, Terry, Lee, Christmas. I know Christmas is big for a guard, has the body of a small forward, but his game and passing are more akin to a SG. Why use the money on Delfino just to bury him on the bench, or bury a player like Lee who was a significant part of our summer?

I'm sorry, I don't agree with some of the members' stance on our bigs. Anyone who can give KG rest is pivotal to the team's success, especially with KG playing 2-3 more years with us.

The way I see it, you have KG, Wilcox, and Collins as the only true seasoned players that can really play the C position. Fab can MAYBE contribute sometime this season. Sullinger needs to worry about being a PF in this league, not being a center. If you wanna stretch Bass to the C position in small lineups then fine.

Well we can't have Christmas and another big. That would give us a roster of 16:

PG: Rondo, Terry, Dooling
SG: Lee, Bradley, CHRISTMAS
SF: Pierce, Green, Joseph
PF: Bass, Wilcox, Sullinger, ANOTHER BIG
C: Garnett, Collins, Melo

Not sure what you're arguing here. If we get Delfino or another big, Christmas isn't even on the roster.

I'm going under the impression that only one of the two, Smith and Christmas, make the team. Which leaves one roster spot.

You mean Christmas or Joseph, right?  Personally, I think they both make the team, unless Danny decides to offer the BAE to Peaches, and he accepts it. 

[the_Bird]

I've been saying for weeks that we're only two deep at the SF spot, and one of those two guys is going to be 35 (and always dealing with nagging injuries) and the other is coming off heart surgery.  The deep-backup options are Courtney Lee, who's barely played SF in the NBA and gives up a lot of size, and Joseph, who's a rookie second rounder who may not even make the team. 

Lee may be fine at SF against some opponents, but certainly not against Miami or any other team playing more of a "power" 3.  Lee in a smallball lineup is something you want to be able to do situationally (and something I think Doc will do a fair amount), but really shouldn't be something that one injury forces you to do regardless of the opposition. 

Delfino would be perfect, but even short of him I'd feel a lot more comfortable with one more legit SF on the roster. 

Pietrus would be great, too, but it sounds like he'll go to Europe before he signs another vet-min deal.

Guys like those two aren't going to be in any rush to sign contracts for what the C's can offer, so I suspect we won't see any more signings until we get pretty close to camp.  I do think there's one more player to be added, and that Joseph and Christmas are fighting for one roster spot. 

And yeah, they'll be looking for Jeff Green to play a fair amount of PF (probably half his minutes); you aren't paying him a starter's salary to play 15MPG behind Pierce.  He probably could have gone elsewhere and started; he's back in Boston because he's getting well-paid and because Doc's going to carve out a large role for him. 

[wahz]

The "small" man rotation will be at least 160 minutes going to Green, PP, Rondo, Avery, Lee, Terry. When one of those guys get hurt for awhile or worse that will free up 20+ minutes to a bench guy. It is going to happen. We need Delfino or Pietrus and I guess we will not get them

[Celtics18]

I'm fine with Joseph or Christmas being guys who may have to be thrown into the fire in case of emergency.  I'd rather have Pietrus or Delfino in place of one of those guys, but I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect to have more than nine or ten proven rotation guys on an NBA roster. 

In a way, I don't mind having some unproven young guys to fill out the end of the bench.  Once you start looking for vets to fill those last spots, you run the risk of signing guys who are close to being broken down physically and/or nearing the end of their professional playing days.  At least, Christmas and Joseph should be in good health. 

[indeedproceed]

I'd love Delfino. He passes better than lee or Bradley, and could play next to Terry better than either. He also would likely be as good or better than Green, as long as he gets his stroke back.

[LEHGOCELTICS]

SG/SF overflow. We have enough depth there. It always helps to have another big. Chris Andersen anyone? He said he's willing to take the vet's min. He could make us look like this:

Rondo/Terry/Dooling
Lee/Terry/Bradley
Pierce/Green/Joseph
Bass/Sullinger/Wilcox
Garnett/Andersen/Collins/Melo

[mgent]

I wish.  He and Pietrus are both built for contenders there are just none out there that can give them the 4-5 mil they deserve, and the bad teams that have the money are looking for young talent with upside.  Few other vets in the same boat like Parker, Webster, Fernandez, Josh Howard, Barnes etc.

Lot of solid options out there, unfortunately we'll probably round out the roster with a Scalabrine or Harangody type player (which is good enough).

[tarheelsxxiii]

Lot of solid options out there, unfortunately we'll probably round out the roster with a Scalabrine or Harangody type player (which is a solid reason for living).

fine insight. fixed up your post a bit.

[saltlover]

I wish.  He and Pietrus are both built for contenders there are just none out there that can give them the 4-5 mil they deserve, and the bad teams that have the money are looking for young talent with upside.  Few other vets in the same boat like Parker, Webster, Fernandez, Josh Howard, Barnes etc.

Lot of solid options out there, unfortunately we'll probably round out the roster with a Scalabrine or Harangody type player (which is good enough).

4-5 mil?  I think that's pretty high.  They're useful players, both, but would probably be the 9th-11th best player on virtually every contender, and offer no long-term upside.  That's pretty much who the BAE was designed for -- a vet who may get rotation minutes, but be at the end of the pecking order.

[Galeto]

Delfino's alright, I mean, if he was willing to sign for the veteran minimum, which he's not right now, I wouldn't gripe about his signing but I'd prefer a better defender against bigger wings.  Besides a rebounding big, that's the only specialist they're missing right now.  I don't think Delfino's much of a defender.  He's not horrible but the good scorers don't seem to have much trouble against him.

Since the two-guard rotation looks crowded and the SF position is similarly stocked, I think it's going to be hard to attract a good wing player even if the Celtics had more than the minimum to offer.

[mgent]

I wish.  He and Pietrus are both built for contenders there are just none out there that can give them the 4-5 mil they deserve, and the bad teams that have the money are looking for young talent with upside.  Few other vets in the same boat like Parker, Webster, Fernandez, Josh Howard, Barnes etc.

Lot of solid options out there, unfortunately we'll probably round out the roster with a Scalabrine or Harangody type player (which is good enough).

4-5 mil?  I think that's pretty high.  They're useful players, both, but would probably be the 9th-11th best player on virtually every contender, and offer no long-term upside.  That's pretty much who the BAE was designed for -- a vet who may get rotation minutes, but be at the end of the pecking order.

Just for reference, Delfino was earning 3.5 mil per year in his last contract while Pietrus made 5.3 mil per.  There are only a handful of role players that combine such high level defense with high level long-range shooting.  More often they are exclusive which causes a little bit of supply and demand.

There is a huge history of similar caliber wings making similar money.  Our own Jeff Green makes DOUBLE that.  You might feel differently but that's just the market-value.  The low level we use on guys like Marquis Daniels (whole other level).