Rasheed Is No Artist!

Well tonight proves one thing, Rasheed is no artist! I mean he hates paint! The bad news is we are stuck with this stiff for 2 more years. Tonight was the night Rasheed could have shown the league he is still a presence down low in the paint, both from an offensive stand point and on defense. He is a complete waste of money and I guess Danny and Wyc were sold a bill of goods. Just a pathetic performance.

While I am at it, Doc is close behind. Instead of rotating Giddens into the line-up to add some energy, he buries him on the bench until midway in the 4th Q. While we are at it, why not use Walker as well. Williams had a nice game but he will be buried again on the bench!

Looked like the bad old days before the 3 amigos teamed up. Not sure if the good old days will return some time soon. It's going to be a long summer.

One bright spot, I think Danny is getting pissed-off at the Celtic's lack of focus. He kind of showed it in a Boston.com comment today. I believe he will not sit too long before he makes some kind of move and shake-up of the team!

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aw heck 11 it aint all that bad. We are takin some knocks and things aint goin our way but top to bottom we are the best team in the nba. I think doc is making right move not playin hurt guys for homecourt adv.

I am not opposed to trading for the right guy but i am also happy to go to the mat with what we have.

Jeb 65

Just blowing off some steam but Rasheed has not lived up to the billing. I wonlder if he has a no trade clause, cause he is not delivering as hyped! Second, if was a toss out game, why not use Giddens, Walker and Hudson to give them experience. We know what Scal can and cannot do, so us the young guys!

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I concur on the yungsters. frustratin. Rasheed has been a tad of a letdown but I feel is still a key key cog. I look for him to turn the knobs slowly up as the season goes on. ALL the vets but Ray are coasting in some games and disinterested in the regular season somewhat. It's troublesome.

Last night, Sheed was not replacing a low post player in the scheme of
attack. He was replacing KG, who does a high percentage of his damage
from the outside. Perk takes up a lot of space down low. Did the
Celtics really need another guy clogging up the middle, or did they
need to try to replace the balance that KG offers on offense? In
short, Sheed's role last night was not the same role he should be
filling as the main big guy with the bench. At least he was 3-for-7 on NON three-pointers. And the game was so obviously out of reach that I can't really fault him for trying four bombs in an attempt to make up ground in a hurry.



If I were to criticize Sheed in two areas last night, the first would
be his hoisting of 11 shots without recording a single assist. THAT is
not satisfactory replacement of KG. Of course, Sheed's not all that familiar with the first team's system of play either. One way or another, the recent smoothness of the starters' offense obviously took a hit with Sheed in there.

My second criticism of Sheed would be lack of defensive impact—a factor on
which I'd cricitize most of his teammates too, except maybe for Perk in
the second half and Tony throughout the game. The center position last night was ponderous in comparison with what it was facing.



I believe Sheed has become a reactive player. When things are going
well, he gets into the spirit, puts out a pretty impressive defensive effort, and has been doing a pretty good job of shuttling between the low post and outside to keep the defense honest. When things go south, he's not the kind of savior who will ignite the spark to turn it around through inspiring low post energy. He's not willing to expend that kind of intensity in a probable lost cause. Note that he didn't even bother to get very angry at anything last night.

The way I've got him scoped out, he could very well be a catalyst in helping the Celtics win a championship. But he's very unlikely to be a key inspiration in keeping them from losing a championship. It probably seems like an odd distinction, but I believe it bespeaks the selectivity of his demeanor on the court.

Whether that selectivity is something Doc or Danny or KG or anyone else can alter is debatable. I wouldn't count on it. To get the best out of Sheed, they have to get the best out of the rest of the team.

Sam

Sheed and KG probably feed of eachother too.

Sheed/Perkins/KG gotta be one of the meanest frontcourts in the league. All with big heart and spirit. The same thing that gives the grit also gives the technicals and sometimes a deep pit where they fall.

I think all Celtics fans will appreciate Sheed much more come playoffs, he aint gonna back down.

I watched the game through the end of the 3rd quarter and turned it off in the 4th.

I had seen enough.

Not upset that they loss. The team is still strong but just the rash of injuries has been disruptive.

With respect to Sheed he should have been in the low post. He scores very well when he is down there but his outside shooting is killing he team. So I think Doc should have pulled Perk away from the basket and post rasheed up.

Overall this was a poorly played and poorly coached basketball game.

This was the type of game where the 3 pups should have played big minutes. It was clear that Boston had no chance to win the game.

dboss

Hi,
IMO, yesterday was one of those ugly games that most of the team have during the season. You can't draw any general conclusions.
The only critisizm is for Doc. As dboss pointed out, he should've played the "pups" for much longer.
Let's see what'll happen in the next few games.

Happy New Year!
AK

Sam I have to repectfully disagree with you on Rasheed. First, against a team like the Suns and two of your top two shooters out you need to be taking higher percentage shots inorder to try to rack up as many points as possible. Shooting from where Wallace was taking shots was not the best percentage choice.

Second,we had Stod in foul trouble so why not work him over and get him to the showers early.

Third, since we are a poor offensive rebounding team, taking more shots by our big guy from outside weakens our chance for getting second chances.

Fourth, Rasheed is not as moble as KG and could never play his game. Rasheed is at his best down low.

Fifth, perhaps Doc blew the game by instructing Rasheed to be playing and shooting from outside the paint, perhaps not.

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I think in the long run we'll be fine as long as Pierce and KG can come back healthy,Sheed hasn't missed a game and was great vs Howard and Magic.The whole frontline has problems with teams they can't bang with,that can use movement without the ball and hit perimeter shots.We're great slugging it out,teams with too much mobility can expose our defense.Having said that no team is perfect,once we get all our pieces back we'll be fine.

Sorry, but I could never agree with putting Sheed down low and pulling Perk out. First, the only way Perk can score is from in close, and the thought of him putting the ball on the floor to get from the outside to the inside (including getting around Sheed) gives me the creeps. Second, opponents would just sag off Perk on defense, especially with one less perimeter threat for the Celtics. They'd clog the middle (they had 9 blocks as it was and bother not only Sheed inside but also anyone such as Tony and Rondo who tried to penetrate.

Perk was the one who got Amare in foul trouble. Why switch to Sheed to try to finish the job?

Sheed should definitely be down low a lot of the time when he plays with the bench, but I'm definitely not buying it for last night's game. Hindsight is nice, but what was lost last night by hoping he'd have a good game from outside? (It has happened a lot.)

No player precisely duplicates the traits of another player. That's not the purpose of replacing an injured player with another player. You hope that the replacement will bring his own attributes to bear in complementing the other members of the combo with which he's playing. I don't think Sheed did that in the passing or defense departments, but I'm simply not buying the premise that he should have been rendered redundant with Perk down low OR that he should have replaced Perk down low and rendered Perk less effective on offense.

Sam

I don't think Perk and Sheed in the post is an either/or proposition. You can effectively use two post players by moving them between the low, mid, and high post. The two players involved do need to feel where the other is going and move to a complementary spot. They also need to pass to the other post player when he gets good position, which can happen frequently when it works well. It takes time to develop the chemistry for this, but these two guys could make it work.

Outside

After starting the year hitting 15 of his first 33 three point attempts (45%) in Boston's first 5 games, Rasheed is a horrid 23% (26 for 113) in our last 26 games.

23%! In a third of a season. He was never a great three-point shooter (34.2% coming into this season is just ok) but he is close to getting to a point where he shouldn't even shoot them anymore if this is going to continue.

23% is just not acceptable for a three point shooter. And a third of a season is not just a little slump. He needs to get it together fast. I'm losing my patience with him. And it's not as if he's a rebounding machine to pick things up on that end. One rebound every five minutes is pretty lousy for a big forward/center.

Dealing with the nuances of instinctively interchanging between the low, mid and high post would take lots of time and practices to effect for most players. Perk's anything but a fast learner. If you're extremely shorthanded, have 40% of the starters who are novices in that situation, and playing a team like the Suns, who are sure to put all sorts of pressure on you, it makes sense to simplify things and hope for the best. Time is precisely what they did not have on their side in this case.

Sam

I'm still alot happier than the daze of Blount and Lafrentz,Mr Softy and the Big Pussy

Sheed's presence will win us banner 18 this year. Him and Daniels and I got a feeling we will get one more vet comin our way.

Another thing fellas and I know yall see this but the injuries have a huge upside for PP and Ticket...they are resting and that will help at the endo season.

Phil is just throwin his guys into the meat grinder. We are playon it smart.

Last night Sheed was strong in the post and still manged to knock down a couple of three's.

You get the sense that it is taking him a while to buy into what it is that the Celtics need for him to do.

He is going to take some deep shots but the most important thing is that he needs to use his size advantage in the post. The combo of Perk and Rasheed worked well as they took turns setting up in the post.

Once KG gets back and the Celtics have a full compliment of front court players it will be very interesting to see how these players are used in combination with one another.

dboss

First time I saw Rasheed show any kind of team passion since he has been with the Celtic's. Perhaps he is feeling guilty, perhaps KG had an influence on him. I liked the fire in his eyes when he had that power slam dunk in the 4th Q.

All I can say is keep it up and I'll be as quiet as a church mouse for the rest of the season.

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