Ask and you shall receive

[Eggcentric at aol.com]

This 'n that

 By Bob Ryan, Globe Staff

 August 29, 2007 | 03:13 PM

 I'm not blocking out the dates of the 2008 NBA Finals, but I now think 
there's a better chance the Celtics might actually make the playoffs.
 You OK with that?
 I'll never take back what I said the day Danny Ainge pulled off the Kevin 
Garnett deal. I thought, well, yeah, that was all well and good, but it was only 
a start. Last time I looked, the NBA was a 5-on-5 league, not a 3-on-3 
league, and there was the not insignificant matter of the rest of Danny's roster, 
which I maintained no other GM would trade for his. I said that 4 through 12 
they were the least accomplished bunch in the league. And they were.
 Now I haven't taken a close look at the rest to see where the Celtics now 
rank, but I'd say that with the addition of Eddie House, Scot (Man of a Thousand 
Hair-Dos) Pollard and James Posey, they're now a lot better.
 House can shoot. Teams won't be designing defenses to stop him or anything, 
but he can legitimately put down as his occupation on his tax return 
"Professional Jump Shooter." Pollard is an experienced back-up big man whose greatest 
skill, as one Celtics insider puts it, is "getting in the way."
 And then there's Posey.
 That has me fired up a bit. Teams need guys like James Posey. He's not 
great, but he gets it, and he's versatile. Best of all, he can guard, and if there 
was one thing in scant supply on Danny's roster it was guys who could guard. 
He can guard your basic 3, he can guard your basic 2 and he can even guard an 
occasional 1. Posey is also a 34 percent lifetime three-point shooter.
 Best of all, he's got a ring. He knows what it takes.
 So now we're getting somewhere. Getting James Posey makes me feel better 
about giving up Ryan Gomes in the Minny deal.
 And while I know there are those who really like Gabe Pruitt's potential, I 
still don't feel great about the point guard situation. Rajon Rondo will have 
a lot of pressure on him, and it would be nice if Danny can come up with a 
veteran to help the lad out. If he does that, I will relax.
 None of this necessarily puts the Celtics on a level with Cleveland, 
Detroit, Miami and a few others, but it distances them somewhat from the Sixers, 
Knicks, Bobcats, Hawks and others who all think they're better than they were last 
year, and thus playoff possibilities.
 So I move from Gimme A Break to Cautiously Optimistic. But that's all for 
now.



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