David Harrison, Voskuhl, Doleac

[Mark Piotrowski]

RHowe --- belive you me, I'm already on board!!! Defending champs baby!!!

And I totally agree that we should not be hitting any panic buttons. 
Like i said we're not at "threat level midnight" (maybe one of my 
favorite "The Office" quotes).  But, currently we have 2 centers on 
our roster:  Perkins and O'Bryant.  And it sounds like Perkins will 
miss most of training camp.

I, for one, am very hopeful/optimistic that O'Bryant will be a solid 
addition to the DEFENDING CHAMPS(!), but every year I would feel 
better going into the season with 3 centers and 3 Power Forwards --- 
its just a bias i have toward bigs and big man depth.

Worst case scenario, i"m actually fine with starting O'Bryant --- 
playing alongside Garnett has made many a center look their best 
(see: Dean Garrett, Olowokandi, Nesterovic, et al).  I just don't 
want to fool with a formula that worked and play a ton of minutes 
with Garnett or Powe at center.

Center is the only position that even gives me pause:

PG - Rondo, House, Cassell, Pruitt --- i expect Gabe to probably get 
waived in favor of Cassell, a move that I woulda flipped out over 5 
months ago, but that i'm oddly comfortable with at this point.  I 
think Cassell might be key in keeping guys' eye's on repeating; 
having done it with Houston.

SG - Ray Allen, Tony Allen, Giddens --- again, love the depth here. 
I hope Giddens can push Tony Allen for minutes and as i said before, 
wouldn't mind even seeing Ray and Tony switch starting roles (a la 
Jiri and Ricky a few years back) but i leave that to the coaching 
staff that WON THE 2007-08 NBA TITLE!!!!

SF - Pierce, Walker, Scal, Miles -- i'm probably most excited to see 
where Bill Walker is at and  if he's ready to be Pierce's primary 
backup.  I expect to see Scal some early in the season at SF and PF 
and don't mind that terribly. Oh yeah forgot about Miles. Total wild 
card IMO.  Will be fascinating if he can reinvent himself like Derek 
Smith did about 10 years back after multiple knee injuries.

PF - Garnett, Powe, Davis, Scal --- Like i've said I lean towards 
Powe over Davis, but the pairing of Scal, Davis and Pierce in the 
frontcourt for some stretches is something i could envision: Scal 
playing a Laimbeer like role, Davis on the Block, Pierce driving and 
dishing.

C - Perkins, O'Bryant --- That's it.  If Perk was 100% healthy, i'd 
really have no worries here, but he's not so its the one area i think 
we're thinnest, most vaulnerable in.  Don't count me in the camp that 
says  "we can just sign some big man like PJ Brown at the deadline 
like last year." That happens less often than not, so to bank on that 
is folly.    I guess Davis can play there in some weird way (like 
against Z in the playoffs, but he'd be really overmatched on offense 
against 7 footers).

But like i said, if that's our biggest concern,  it sounds like guys 
like Harrison, Voskuhl, Doleac, etc, would be available later if Perk 
were to go out for an extended period of time. (Truth be told, my 
real hope was that we'd go after Adonal Foyle, but that didn't 
happen,and he resigned in ORL, one of only 3 teams that i think pose 
legit challenges to Boston (In order: CLE, ORL, DET)

And for the record I think this need is a one-year thing  ---- since 
I'll go on record saying we go after Rasheed Wallace next summer (!). 
A signing at the MLE (for 2 years) that i'd fully endorse.

(the other) mark



>Before hitting panic buttons on these players, I'd prefer to see if 
>Davis improves the norm 25% from rookie year if given PT, By 
>pictures it looks like he has lost a lot of fat especially around 
>the face. Also lets not be too hasty on O'B without seeing him in 
>training camp to see if he looks to deliver on some obvious talent 
>with a new lease on life with the C's. If not wait to see what 
>training camp journey-man Center cast-offs shake loose.
>
>Yes - the train is at the station... all aboard
>
>Go C's 
>
>--- On Tue, 9/30/08, Noah Evans <noah.evans at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>From: Noah Evans <noah.evans at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: David Harrison, Voskuhl, Doleac
>To: "The Boston Celtics Mailing List" <celtics at igtc.com>
>Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 2:04 PM
>
>David Harrison is a nut. Not in a good way. You don't want him
>anywhere near the Celtics.
>
>On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 11:37 AM, Mark Piotrowski <mark at 10thumbs.org>
>wrote:
>  > While I don't think we're at "threat level midnight"
>yet, I have long
>  > hoped (even back to last year) would bring in some more bigs.  I'm of
>  > the theory that you can't ever have enough bigs.
>  >
>  > Perkins will continue to battle -- injury or not.  But O'Bryant is
>  > just not enough insurance IMO. And KG will do what it takes but has
>  > said he doesn't like playing center --- so why fool with putting him
>  > there.
>  >
>  > I know Ainge has said we won't be signing more folks, but I sure
>  > would like to see either:
>  >
>  > (a) a 2-for-1 deal that returns a big -- something like Scal + Pruitt
>  > + pick for Joe Smith
>  >
>  > (b) 2 of Pruitt, Miles and Big Baby waived and one of David Harrison
>  > (an enigma, but a very good shot blocker and even spot starter); Jake
>  > Voskuhl (solid veteran) or maybe even Michael Doleac brought in as a
>  > 3rd center.
>  >
>  > But hey, we're DEFENDING NBA CHAMPS!!!
>  >
>  > (the other) mark