Do the Celtics Need More Punch off the Bench?

As I was channel surfing the other night, I stumbled across a Minnesota Timberwolves game. You Know Who was on the court. After about four minutes, Randy Whittman sent Al Jefferson back into the game.

Until Whittman made that move, I had forgotten Big Al was even on the Timberwolves roster.

Why?

Former employee #8 was dominating the game, rebounding, passing, scoring from the paint, shooting and making treys.

It was quite impressive.

His final numbers for the night were


42 9-17 2-2 4-8 2 3 5 3 0 1 24

He then followed up with a less impressive, but still noteworthy performance.

29 5-8 0-2 2-4 0 2 2 1 1 2 12

Clearly, Antoine Walker is motivated.

But motivated for what?

To get out of Minnesota, I suppose.

The Timberwolves are 1-10, and no number of Antoine Walker noteworthy games will change their final record much at all.

So who might he be auditioning for?

I'm sure he'd love to return to Boston for a shot at a ring he wanted to win while he was playing there.

Would Doc and Danny be interested?

My first question is would there be a need?

Let me answer in the form of a question:

Who is our first power forward off the bench?

If the answer is Brian Scalabrine, then you need to realize Doc just isn't giving him any PT. Last night he played 6 minutes against the Bobcats, in a game where the Cs could have benefited from a more productive bench. The night before Scalabrine played 11 minutes in a comfortable victory against the Lakers.

If the answer is James Posey, my question is Posey really an answer at the back-up 4? Last night he had 1 rebound in 24 minutes. Against the Lakers he had 5 rebounds. Could Mr. Wiggle do better? Maybe, maybe not.

But the Celtics sure looked flat last night, and Walker has been getting the Wolves second unit to play together with a little more spunk. Walker also has passing skills not possessed by Posey, meaning if Walker played intelligently he could be a threat to score or get easy baskets for his teammates. Even last night, with 22 team assists, the Cs could have used a little more ball movement.

The possibility of the Celtics re-acquiring Antoine Walker for a third time is at least intriguing.

Of course, there will be the inevitable questions: 1. How would he impact the team chemistry? 2. What would the Cs have to give up to get him, and, if nothing is the answer, would he agree to play for only one year? 4. Would we consistently get Antoine's A-game, like we did in the 2002 playoffs against Philadelphia? 5. Once the "Bad Antoine" reared his head, how long would he stay?

And then there is one final question:

If McHale bought out Antoine so he could resign with the Celtics, and this move put the Cs over the top, how long would it take before we heard louder whispers of conspiracy between McHale's old team and his not-so-new one?