Should Marshon Brooks Be A Starter?

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/boston-celtics-marshon-brooks-starter-012200752--nba.html



Boston Celtics: Should MarShon Brooks Be a Starter?
Yahoo Contributor Network Mark Evans 13 hours ago

COMMENTARY | In their trade with the Brooklyn Nets, the Boston Celtics didn't acquire too much talent in return. They received plenty of value in the form of draft picks, but also had to take on some pricey veterans to make the numbers work. Although they could play a role on another team, Keith Bogans, Kris Humphries, and Gerald Wallace don't figure to be in Boston's long-term plans.

The one somewhat intriguing player Boston got in this deal is MarShon Brooks. He's certainly very raw, and everyone knew this when he was drafted out of Providence a few years ago. Maybe raw is a generous way of putting it, as we've still yet to see him try to play any sort of defense. Still, he can be pretty good offensively as a scoring guard in the right situation. Brooklyn clearly wasn't the right situation, as Brooks wasn't a significant part of last year's team.

Anyone who has watched the Celtics knows they could use some help on the offensive end. Part of this struggle is that former coach Doc Rivers preferred to play a slow, half-court offense, leading to low-scoring totals. And, of course, some of this is just a lack of offensive fire power. Regardless of who the coach is, however, there will probably be scoring issues when you start Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley together. Although they can be dynamic defensively, there are issues on the other end of the floor.

This is where MarShon Brooks could come into the equation. His scoring ability will come in handy alongside Rondo, particularly with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce no longer in the equation. Although many have assumed that Brad Stevens will start Rondo and Bradley, should Brooks be the starting shooting guard?

Early in the year, this is a definite possibility. Nobody seems to know exactly when Rondo will return, creating a temporary starting spot. There's a logjam at guard, although no one seems to stand out amongst Bradley, Courtney Lee, Keith Bogans, and Jordan Crawford.

If paired with Rondo and other capable defenders such as Jeff Green, Brooks can be hidden a bit on the defensive end. His shot-making ability is something the Celtics will desperately need, and he could be a nice fixture in the starting lineup as someone who can create a little bit of floor spacing. If this were to happen, Bradley would be able to spell both Rondo and Brooks coming off the bench. Depending on match ups, Stevens could even play around with lineup combinations featuring all three guards.

By no means is there an expectation for Brooks to become an efficient scorer right away. The fact of the matter is someone on this team needs to take and make some shots, right? With Rondo setting him up in decent spots, is it unrealistic to believe he could score 15 or 16 points per game? Sure, his shooting percentage probably won't even be as high as 45%. This will be a year for the Boston players to grow and work out the problems in their game. Why not start Brooks and see if he can become a useful scorer? If it doesn't work out, that's fine. Trade him, cut him, do whatever. But give him an opportunity and at least find out what you have.

On a young, rebuilding team, a scorer like MarShon Brooks will certainly get a chance at some point. To create some sort of offensive threat with a potentially unthreatening Boston squad, Brad Stevens should strongly consider giving Brooks a shot as a starter.




bob
MY NOTE: It's too soon to talk about who starts, I think, but I'd give the nod to Bradley or Lee first since they already have experience playing with the rest of the core of the team. The idea of having an offensively oriented starting backcourt is intriguing, though. To start? I don't know about that.


.

Hi,
I agree with Bobh about using veterans, AB or CL, ahead of MB.
OTOH, when RR is back, I'd give MB a lot of playing time to showcase him for a possible trade, just in case.
Also, I think it's very premature question. The team is in such deep flux that at this point it doesn't really matter who starts at 2.

AK

It does seem that perhaps the Celtics should wait to see how Brooks performs for at least a minute before making this decision. And, even during the first month of the season, who starts at SG may not be indicative of who will play best in combination with Rondo. It's always about more than one player.
Sam

I haven't had much occasion to watch Brooks, but I have checked his stats, pretty solid. But I'm not sure I can justify starting him until later in the year if there are injuries/productivity issues for those most likely to have the starting job.

But then again, the beginning of the season will be in-flux with Rondo out. We could be seeing half a dozen different starting rotations.


KJ