We're Better with Terry and Lee

[Bankshot]

..rather than Ray.  Don't get me wrong, if Ray was still in his prime, I would rather have him, but he's not.

No more Rondo waiting for Ray to come off of 75 screens before he can find him for a shot, wasting the shot clock and we get better defensively as well.

I was ticked off when Ray left, now I'm happy he's gone and we have Lee and Terry.

[bdm860]

I was ticked off when Ray left, now I'm happy he's gone and we have Lee and Terry.

Reminds me of how I felt in the summer of 2007...

HOW CAN WE NOT HAVE LANDED THE 1ST OR 2ND PICK!!! THIS IS SUCH CRAP!!!  WE'RE SCREWED!!! 

[MBunge]

I'm not sure that Ray, even at this point, isn't an overall better player than Lee.  It is really clear that Lee doesn't exert the same influence on Boston's offense and has the athleticism Ray no longer does.  Ray can still do some of the same things as Lee but he has to make a conscious effort while Lee does it more easily.  A good example is watching Lee defend Johnson last night.  Ray might have been able to do much the same, but he would have had to work so much harder at it than Lee did.

Mike

[celtics2]

absolutely we are better off. just the fact Pierce is beating Rondo down the floor shows the new thought level of basketball. As Bob Hope used to say "Thanks for the memories"  for Ray Allen, the consumate Pro.

[slamtheking]

I agree we're better off with those 2 than Ray.  I look at it as 2 NBA-quality guards as opposed to just 1.  Lee's a much better defender and Terry has a bigger bag of tricks on offense as well as being a much better ballhandler.

I won't miss Ray trying to dribble on a fastbreak and either having his pocket picked, throwing a really bad pass or just plain losing the ball as he drives to the basket.  I will miss the almost-guaranteed free throws but after last year's playoffs, I can only picture those bricks being tossed up by Ray.

[csfansince60s]

.....and (don't forget) LB, the "Brazilian/Boston Blur". He's just icing on the "we don't need you Judas" cake.

[j804]

I agrees with Ray gone the offense runs 5x faster and I'm not even joking.

[TA9]

We are so much better of with Terry, Lee and Barbosa. This team is alot faster (Running up and down the court), compared to the team we had last year.

[snively]

I would have preferred Ray's 60+TS% scoring off the bench to Lee's defense, speed and corner 3s.

Still, I'm happy with Lee + Barbosa as a consolation prize.  Barbosa, when he's on can give a fair approximation of Ray's offensive dynamism.  And Lee is a very solid fill-in for Bradley.

Terry I view more as a replacement for Dooling (and Nate and Eddie before him) than for Ray.
 

[alley oop]

...Lee's defense, speed and corner 3s.
...

Lee's 3 last night was from the top, so he can hit them from both locations. He also put down a midrange jumper while be guarded.

[OsirusCeltics]

I agrees with Ray gone the offense runs 5x faster and I'm not even joking.

Deff agree. That 20 seconds spent on the shot clock waiting for Ray to run through screens really killed the Celtics offense

[karimb]

We're absolutely better with this lineup. We don't have to worry about Ray's feeling getting hurt coming off the bench and all that BS.

[crimson_stallion]

Is there even any debate about this?

Two starting calibre players vs a sigle starting calibre player - IMHO that's a no brainer.

Everyone has off games from time to time.  When Terry has an off game we have Lee, when Lee has an off game we have Terry.  Last season with Allen we never had that luxury...at least not until Bradley started to rise from the shadows.

The only thing you'd think Ray is better than (vs Terry) is three point shooting, but so far this preseason Terry has been lights out from three and Ray has continued to struggle.

Now you add Barbosa to the list?

When we need defense we can use Bradley+Lee, if we need scoring we can go Terry+Barbosa, if we need speed we can go Barbosa+Lee...we have so much versatility right now with this guard rotation, and we'd never have that if we had Ray instead of these two (or three) guys.

If we had Ray + Terry (as Danny was planing) we'd be REAL deadly, but then you're two primary backcourt scorers are an averge of 37 years old.  I prefer having the Experience/Youth ballance, offense/defense and shooting/slashing balance we get with Terry and Lee out there. I think they complement each other really nicely.

[Kwhit10]

I was an early adopter of we're better off with Lee/Terry than Ray. 

I was also tired last year of watching the offense stall while waiting for a play for Ray to take 21 seconds off the shot clock while he runs around (and barely as effect as he was when he was first in Boston) only to have Paul or Rondo to throw up a shot last second.

[pearljammer10]

Ever since the offseason started I was in the better off without ray camp, no matter who the replacement was. Now that weve got lee and especially terry (one of my favorite and most underated players in the game) I am even happier.