As summer winds down, most Celtics' fans are pretty satisfied with themselves. The reason, of course, is that this team is up to its ears in depth. Mikki Moore returned to the West Coast, and was replaced by Shelden Williams, who is known for his defense and rebounding, two things Moore couldn't be relied on to provide.
As noted in the last post, the Celtics now have Rasheed Wallace, Glen Davis, Marquis Daniels, and Eddie House as the first four players coming off the bench. That's pretty impressive. Only slightly less impressive is the fact that we have guys like Brian Scalabrine, Billy Walker, and Shelden on the roster as Deep Reserves. If I'm starting a franchise, I'd love to have Bill Walker and Brian Scalabrine penciled on the roster at spots 9-12.
We know everything we need to know about Scal: he's the perfect do-whatever-you-ask-him, whenever-you-ask-him guy, and perhaps one of the finest 12th men in Celtics' history. He's come a long way from the days when locals booed him every time he entered the game.
Then we have Sky.
As much as JR Giddens' fans would love to see their boy get a shot, and I count myself as one of them, remember who is coaching this team. Doc Rivers loves attitude, loves toughness, and loves a player with the intestinal fortitude to overcome injuries and naysayers. Sound like anyone on the Celtics' roster? Bill Walker. As a first-year 10th-12th guy, he wasn't going to see too much PT under Doc. This year he stands a realistic chance of playing his way into the second half of some meaningful games when the outcome is still in question.
Having said that about Scals and Sky, it makes you wonder who Danny was really dangling as trade bait in the Marquis-Daniels sign-and-trade talks. The summer started with Rajon Rondo's name being bandied about in trade rumors, and by the end of the summer, the rumor mill had touched at least two-thirds of the entire roster.
My guess is the only two guys who faced any chance of changing addresses were TA and JR. I'm not expecting much out of JR this year. But I will be curious to see what kind of role TA earns for himself. As I've stated before, he seems to thrive more as a deep reserve, when Doc can pick and choose his spots, rather than as someone Doc has to depend on.
6 comments:
No dude , TA did best when he got big minutes . I was enjoying the article until that .
Yeah, most people would agree with you.
Tony did play his best ball before blowing out his knee when he was getting big minutes. But I think the injuries have taken a lot out of him. He seems to play more tentatively these days. He doesn't have Leon's drive and toughness to bounce back from injuries and I don't know if he would even be the same player if given the big minutes. Or, maybe somehow he will get his aggressiveness back and surprise us all. I just don't have the confidence that he will and I think Danny has gotten tired of waiting for it as well.
Maybe I'm wishful thinking. But he seemed to play decent as posey's backup in 08, which is what he'd be this year.
Looking back at my first comment , it came across kind of harsh .
Even though I disagreed with you ,
I want to let you know that I think you're doing a nice job and I enjoy your site and the stuff you're writing .
JS33
No biggy, anon. Most people would agree with you. But I like how TA did backing up Pose.
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