Making a case to bring it back one more time....

[mmmmm]

I want to run it back ONE more time.

Rondo and Jeff Green should be the first options and Pierce should just settle for a smaller role. Bradley's offense should be good one Rondo is back.

I get why the Pierce taking a smaller role point keeps coming up... Obviously he is older and cant play as many minutes.

But I feel like a lot of people forget that Pierce averaged 18.6, 6, and 5 this year with a steal per game. He shot a bit below his career average but only .436% compared to .447%. His turnovers were actually a tenth of a point lower than his career averages. So does a player with those type of numbers deserve a smaller role? Im not so sure.

With Rondo back Pierce wont have to take control of the offense as much. I still think, as some others have said, that playing Pierce at the two and putting Bradley to the bench is our best option. If we can get the back up PG in Udrih and back up Center in Dalembert our core can be this.

Rondo/Udrih
Pierce/Bradley
Green
KG/Sully
Dalembert

At that point i think Terry, Crawford, Bass, and our 16th pick can be used as bait to net us another serviceable big man. And use our vet min or whatever LLE we have to get a swing bench player.

I tend to concur with this thinking.

People are getting too caught up with whether Pierce starts or comes off the bench or whatever.

More realistically, you simply want Pierce & Green on the floor together as much as possible.  Sometimes a the 2-3.  Sometimes at the 3-4.

I think that, in a 'run it back' scenario, Pierce is still likely to be one of your top 3 or 4 players.  Pierce, statistically, was still easily a top 5 among all full-time SFs last season.   Even if he 'drops off' a little, he'll probably still be top 6 or 7.  And that's a position that has Lebron and Durant in the rankings.    So ... he's still pretty [dang] good!

And the goal should be to have your top players on the floor as much as possible.

[Fafnir]

I don't think you want Pierce/Green on the floor at the same time. They get in each others way an awful lot unless you're going small with them as a 3/4.

[mmmmm]

I don't think you want Pierce/Green on the floor at the same time. They get in each others way an awful lot unless you're going small with them as a 3/4.

Disagree.

In the 2nd half of this last season, Green and Pierce were very effective when on the floor together.  Of our twosomes that played over 400 minutes together, the only pairing that had a higher Net rating than JG & PP (+8.4 in 688 minutes) was KG & PP (+8.7 in 584 minutes).   And the drop-offs when we didn't have either of those pairings on the floor was dramatic.

I.E. - as long as we had at least TWO of KG, JG & PP on the floor, we were a +7.3 (KG&JG) team.   But once we took two of those three guys off the floor, we started to drop dramatically.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

Didn't our best lineups towards the tail end of the season have both Pierce and Green on the floor together. Statisticians help me out here. My suspicion is the expectation of Pierce's role diminishing is as much a result of Green's role growing relative to it, as it is Pierce getting older. As far as I know that needn't be the case. On the other hand it does raise questions regarding Lee, and Bass who are the likely victims of Green's increasingly central role in team mechanics

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Maybe I'm delusional. Maybe I have my green goggles on. Maybe I've had way too many Sam Adams tonight. All I can say is that I think, providing a few good moves by Danny, this team can come back in the Eastern conference.

Let's face it, it's Miami and everyone else. Is a healthy Celtics team really that far behind a Chicago or Indiana? Allow me to highlight a few minor things I think would greatly help this team.

1) Convince Pierce to be a sixth man

I think this is extremely important if Danny "runs it back" persay. If Pierce can get his minutes down to about 30 a game, off the bench I feel he can stay fresh and be very effective.

2) Sign Samuel Dalembert

I crunched the trade machine so many times last year trying to figure out a way to get Sammy to Boston. Say his IQ is bad if you want but numbers don't lie (sorry Michael K) Sammy's per36 numbers equal out to about 14points/13rebounds/2.2blocks. He would immediately provide an inside presence this team lacks so bad. He would pair well with KG or Sullinger.

3) Draft Gorgui Dieng

Dieng anchored a defense that led Louisville to a national championship. His combination of defense, rebounding, athleticism, and size would be a great injection into Boston's front line. While his upside may be limited, Dieng can step in immediately and fill a role on this team.

4) Trade one of Crawford, Lee, or Terry for a big

This move does not have to be anybody special, just another big. Maybe Atlanta takes a sign and trade for Ivan Johnson. Johnson is somebody who will simply pound the snot out of you and play good defense. Him and KG would form one nasty front line.

5) Acquire Beno Udrih

The Magic likely have very little interest in bringing Beno back but he could serve a solid role for Boston off the bench. This past season, Udrih averaged 13.3 points and 7.5 assists per 36 minutes and hit on 44.1 percent of his field-goal attempts. He is a career 46.2 percent shooter, and he shot 50 percent from the floor as recently as 2010-11. I'm sure Orlando would entertain the idea of Crawford in a sign and trade instead of losing Beno for nothing.

So let's recap. Boston moves Pierce to the bench in a sixth man role. Signs Samuel Dalembert. Drafts Gorgui Dieng. Adds another big on the bench. Acquires Beno Udrih.

Rondo/Udrih/Williams
Bradley/Pierce/Lee/Terry
Green/Pierce
Sullinger/Bass/Dieng/Johnson
Garnett/Dalembert/Dieng

One more shot, one more chance. Then Boston lets PP and KG retire and their combined 30mill off the books.

I'm an absolute fanatic of legit big-man rotations, and there are many possibilities that would please me—the KG/Dalembert/Sully/Dieng/Bass/Decent Big X rotation you've constructed seems really good to me. Overall it has great defense and rebounding, pretty good shot blocking and scoring, and a good mix of youth and experience.

[gpap]

Not a bad idea.

Though it's kinda hard for me to root for bringing back the same team that played so poorly against such a hated team like the Knicks, I wouldn't mind it either.

It's a lot better than trotting out a team next season that will only win 20 games and try to get into the 2014 lottery.

I'll also do you one better. Imagine they can land Dalembert with the MLE and then use Jeff Green in a S/T for Josh Smith.

You could then start Smith at the 3, KG at the 4 and Dalembert at the 5 with Pierce/Bass/Sully as your primary bench guys.

Not a bad team at all!