Team Chemistry and the Minutes Jam

[sofutomygaha]

One thing that will be interesting to watch: our starting lineup continues to get lest potent while our bench gets more potent.

That's well stated. I'm extremely interested in this as well...

Back to the subject at hand-

I remember thinking, right before the Red Sox traded Youkilis, that they were in a terrible position because there just weren't enough innings for everyone. Then they traded Youk for peanuts, Middlebrooks got hurt, Alex Gonzalez was terrible, and pretty soon Pedro Ciriaco and Maro Gomez were playing every day.

The point is that when Avery Bradley comes back, there are probably going to be minutes available that we didn't plan for. KG, Rondo, and PP have all gotten hurt for stretches before. In the meantime, if there's a log jam, you favor your veterans (i.e. terry over lee and Milicic, Wilcox, and even Collins on occasion over Sullinger, etc) and tell the younger guys that they will get their shot if they stay hungry and work hard.

I think you're going to see a lot less of Jared Sullinger than you are expecting, at least in the first half of the season.

Barbosa was out of the league until a minute ago. You don't need to budget minutes for him. You will use him if you need to. Last year we gave 35/25/25/10/6 minutes at SG and SF to Allen, Bradley, Pietrus, Dooling, and Pavlovic in the postseason. If we get 100% health and we have to give 35/25/25/16 to Bradley, Terry, Green, and Lee (with Green picking up a few more at PF), who could possibly complain?

[sofutomygaha]

clarification- Sullinger will get his shot. Big men get hurt. Late in the season, any two of Wilcox, Bass, Garnett, Milicic, and Collins are likely to be unavailable at any given time. In the meantime, he will be on the bench a lot and every time Collins or Milicic does something terrible we will write lusty "Free Sully" posts on the forum.

[MJohnnyboy]

clarification- Sullinger will get his shot. Big men get hurt. Late in the season, any two of Wilcox, Bass, Garnett, Milicic, and Collins are likely to be unavailable at any given time. In the meantime, he will be on the bench a lot and every time Collins or Milicic does something terrible we will write lusty "Free Sully" posts on the forum.

Totally agreed on this. Sully was great in the pre-season but because his rebounding and post game were something we had never seen before from a Celtic since KG came here, it made us overlook the fact that Sully's pick and roll defense was awful. I think he can improve on that, but our third and fourth bigs are probably going to be Wilcox and Darko.

I'm not hating on Sully and I actually hope he gets better and I even love what he brings now, but the fact remains that Chris Copeland was owning him on the pick and roll in the two games they played against each other. I can't imagine what real NBA competition could do to Sully.

[RJ87]

I think it's manageable in the regular season w/ players willing to take reduced minutes for the greater good.  I could potentially see it being an issue in the playoffs if all players were healthy. Wouldn't mind that being an issue.

Pre-Bradley Regular Season

Rondo (37) / Terry (11)
Lee (25) / Terry (14) / Barbosa (9)
Pierce (30) / Green (18)
Bass (25) / Sullinger (11) / Green (12)
Garnett (30) / Sullinger (9) / Darko (9)

Bradley Regular Season

Rondo (37) / Terry (11)
Lee (20) / Bradley (20) / Terry ( / Barbosa (DNP)

Think with a healthy squad Wilcox and Collins probably left out of the mix, but I'm sure they'll be needed for stretches.

Only issue I'd see, and again this is based off of theorizing everyone's healthy and no one gets traded, is the Jet playing less minutes than he's used to. Like others have suggested - if Lee works out, I see Ainge looking to move Bradley (probably for a 1st round pick).

Why? Just Why? I don't understand why people insist on when we get talent we trade talent away? Especially the best on-ball defensively player in the league. Then especially for a 1st round pick when you never know if they will be good or not. Yes you trade talent when you are struggling and need certain pieces for now and for the future you do, but this team is not going to struggle. No need to disrupt the players either because we know trading away players can sometimes affect the play of our players. I remember how Rondo was when his buddy Perks got traded. We don't need that, this team is in good shape and we don't need to trade away.

I'm assuming that the Celtics aren't prepared to pay Bradley this next year because I think he's going to command a lot of money.

I'd like to see 2 things happen before we open the checkbook for AB:

1.) Him play significant and impactful minutes for more than 30 or so games with opposing teams able to scout him.
2.) Him get through an offseason without needing surgery and needing to rehab.

Look, I like Avery. His potential is captivating, but he's a far from a proven commodity.

[nickagneta]

Bradley still has two years left on his rookie contract and then he becomes a restricted free agent where we can offer a qualifying offer and match whatever offer he gets. He basically is under a very cost effective contract for at least the next 2-3 seasons.

Please peolle research this stuff before saying things like Danny is going to move Bradley because he doesnt want to pay him.

[2short]

Minutes jam
I for one love the pp and kg minute watching.  Green has looked like the second best Celtic so far so  let's use him!
I love the depth ainge put together.  How many times at the end of the season have we seen kg playing on one leg, rondo playing with two bad angles, Paul with knee issues etc etc
I would love to see, pp, kg terry rondo get full games off.  Anyone prior to playoffs with an issue can take a break.
For periods of time we have guys at EVERY position who can fill into starting role like posey did