Still

[R Howe]

I am excited about the C's right now more than at any other time in the last 10 years.  For the first time we have talented players down to about 10-11 deep. We have only one true all-star at this moment in Pierce but we have a very versatile, young, athletically and talented group of players behind him with a full camp to come together and figure out roles.

I would not get too worked up about hard and fast starting lineups at this juncture as over the next 3 weeks there will be a lot of combinations tried out and roles defined... Hey its camp.

I think the only constant that will be out on the floor will be Pierce. Where he plays and who plays with him should be game/match-up situation based unless there is some separation as Doc referred to (something to be hoped for). It sounds like that there will be an emphasis on playing defense to earning PT over someone else, which to me is the direction I would go. That's why I  lean to a West or Rhondo at PG, along with Allen, Gomes, Perkins or Ratliff to finish with Pierce. But this should not be a standard as Wally might be hot and providing solid vet presence while not hurting us on D,  same for Telefair.  Some games there might not be an answer to Jefferson or Green and should I even say Scals? (Now that may be too far) what ever the combos Doc has a lot of solid options to develop this year.

Another reason for optimism is that there cannot be anything but improvement by all of our youth-full squad. By most accounts it is a hard working group. I cant imagine Gomes, West, Rhondo even from college and summer, Perks, Jefferson, Allen, Telefair and Green to collectively not improve by at least 25% especially in the defensive areas.  If so this becomes a very dangerous and tough team to deal with.
 
I only wish I could see with my own eyes how it plays out.

Go C's - East Conf Champions this Year


gene kirkpatrick <gk_tyler at yahoo.com> wrote: I will wait to see how the starters and combinations work out, but it's puzzling why we would start three fellows who are 6' 7".  Pierce, Wally, and Gomes are the exact same height.  If it were Green at the two, then we would have a flyer for Telfair to run with.  If Pierce runs, really runs, then such a unit could be viable.  Yet it has neither speed, which is left on the bench, nor defense, also on the bench.  I think a hard decision will have to be made regarding Allen for Wally or we will be too slow and too porous.  Plus, as noted by others, how are we going to rebound effectively for the break?  It's not whether or not Wally is our second best player; he may be.  It's about balancing the lineup.  Ok, I'll wait now.  Cheers, Gene
   
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