Baby should still come off bench and we need Semih

During this stretch with KG out we have been starting Baby,I would start JON with Shaq and have Baby come off the bench.Shaq needs another shotblocker on his side,I like Sams formula of getting off to good starts and making the opponent play catch up.Baby is best against the opponents 2nd stringers and when you play him 30 plus minutes more of his deficiencies are exposed.Semih also is active,has good hands and runs the floor,we need his length and 12 minutes or so from him too.Lets go Celtics!!

Bargnani is doubtful for today, so is Bayless. Peja and Weems are out.

Bargnani is long, but he doesn't like to play inside. If he's out, who do they have playing center? Rookie Solomon Alabi?

This is a small team, even with Bargnani. They will run, run, run. So, do we run too, or do we play smashmouth inside?

Jose Calderon is ok, but Rondo's out too, so we're kinda even there. DeRozan and Barbosa will try to kill us on transition, but they're not Baby's problem. I expect to see A LOT of Q this game, for this reason.

Where Baby will come in handy, will be against Linus Kleiza. That is a matchup we'll want to monitor and where I think Baby's shortness at 4 won't be a liability. Kleiza has been playing 26mpg, but I expect that to go up if Bargnani is out. If we do "matchups", then it's Baby vs Kleiza. If we're playing smashmouth, then sic JON on him and he'll pound him into paste.

Between Shaq, JON and Erden, we certainly can own the 5 position, but the more we go big the more vulnerable we are to their speed and athleticism. If Rondo was playing I'd expect to see Toronto pick up a ton of fouls on Shaq as Rondo would feed him. They have no answer for our size except gamble on doubleteams and hope our shooters are cold.

bob

.

The hero in tragic Greek drama was classically guilty of over-reaching. You see the same thing in athletes today who feel for whatever reason they have to carry more than their share of the load. They try too hard.

That's what it seems both Baby and Paul have been doing since KG went down. At least Baby didn't cry when Doc tore into him at the end of the Detroit game. One doubts if Baby could have played for Red.

JON and Shaq on the floor together? Why not. Maybe JON will catch some of Shaq's junk yard dog.

Can't wait to see Shaq and Perk on the floor together - can't wait to see Chris Paul driving on those two . . .

Barring further injuries, (hear that? I bar them) it's looking as though, after not having played as a unit all season, this team is going to get healthy and come together just in time to get on an unstoppable roll for the playoffs.

"Barring further injuries, (hear that? I bar them)"

i like it, somebody has got to!

bob glad Weems is out that kid has a ton of athleticism,you have to go with best match ups,Kleiza will extend the floor,but any combo of our bigs should abuse him on defense.....against BIG teams I want to see JON and Shaq together.What a bust Peja has been.I also expect to see more Cool Hand Luke may also see some more of Avery Bradley,I'm hoping the light goes on in his head real soon.

The starters' offense is become so dysfunctional with Nate "running" it that I'd almost like to see Quis playing PG with them. They don't really need another perimeter shooter with Ray in there, and the second unit could use one. I believe that, though neither Quis nor Ray is an ideal PG backup, Quis would compete better with starting PGs (including posting them up on offense) and Nate would be better facing second-line PGs.

I fully understand that Quis is really the only backup for Paul Pierce, and Quis with the starters could mean extra minutes for Quis, PP, and Ray playing SF with the bench. Far from ideal. But we're not in an ideal situation here, and I was most disappointed to see that the bench's roughly +9 against the Hornets was more than negated by the starters' -11. After all, the starters play more of the game than the bench, so they need to be the more potent adversaries for their opposition counterparts.

Sam

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob glad Weems is out that kid has a ton of athleticism,you have to go with best match ups,Kleiza will extend the floor,but any combo of our bigs should abuse him on defense.....against BIG teams I want to see JON and Shaq together.What a bust Peja has been.I also expect to see more Cool Hand Luke may also see some more of Avery Bradley,I'm hoping the light goes on in his head real soon.

cow,

I think we'll see Luke trying to cool Kleiza's hand down a bit today. Bottom line, this Raptor team shouldn't be able to compete with us when healthy, and they're not.

I disagree that Peja's a bust. I just think he's done, end of story. He's 33 1/2 years old and has back problems. I expect him and his expiring $15M contract to be traded sometime this year and then maybe be waived.

As far as "the light going on" in Bradley's head soon, I wouldn't count on it. It has sorta kinda gone on in Nate's head and he's much more experienced than Bradley, was here playing in the system last year and had the benefit of training camp and pre-season this year. I think we've come to expect players to be able to just join this team and pickup the offense quickly. Rondo did it, so why not Nate and Bradley, right? Well, I don't think that truly gives credit for Rondo's talent and basketball IQ. Doc has a very complex playbook and Rondo picking it up in a year or so (he watched West for a year before the trade for Ray sent West west) is simply proof of how exceptional Rondo is and not how easy and quick it should be for everybody. I also think it says a lot about Luke that, physical limitations notwithstanding, the light has gone on in his head too. He "gets it" even if his body doesn't always let him "get there".

Delonte West will be back before Bradley "gets it". I'm hearing mid-January. If Avery Bradley suddenly becomes ready for prime time within the next 2 weeks or so, it'll be because of an Act of God.

bob

Bob and others, what do you think of the possibility that Bradley will go to the D League when West returns?

Sam

Sam wrote:Bob and others, what do you think of the possibility that Bradley will go to the D League when West returns?

Sam

sam,

Between good and damn good. One cannot deny the kid needs reps and he's not going to get anymore floor time when West returns than he got when West was playing before he got hurt. Furthermore, with the injuries in the frontcourt Luke's presence is a safety net for Doc ESPECIALLY since Doc likes veterans and "veteran" means not making bone head plays and executing the sets well and Luke seems to do that better than Bradley. If Bradley's offense was better he might have a shot at squeezing Von Wafer out, but it isn't, so it's musical chairs and they're playing Bradley's song.

bob

.