ARE CELTICS READY TO TWEAK LINEUP?

NBA AM: Is A Roster Tweak Coming?

By: Steve Kyler Last Updated: 1/20/10 7:51 AM ET | 521 times read


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Tweaking The Celtics: The Boston Celtics have been hit hard by the injury bug losing virtually every player on the roster at least once this season – Kendrick Perkins and Ray Allen are the only Celtics to have played in all 39 games.

Injuries aside, the Celtics have been able to remain in the 2nd playoff seed while missing key contributors Kevin Garnett – who may be ready to return - and Paul Pierce who missed several games in late December.

Surprisingly Ray Allen has been the most durable of the "Big Three", but his numbers are as low as they have been since his rookie year. Allen is coming to the end of his contract and while no one within the Celtics will admit it, he is an attractive trade asset as an ending $18.7 million contract.

Sources close to the thinking in Boston say that the C's plan is to allow Allen's deal to expire and look to re-sign him to a much more manageable number this summer using his "Bird Rights". However with so many major named players expected to be available at the trade deadline, it's been surprising that the Celtics have not been mentioned more as they have been among the more active "buyers" in the League.

The Celtics have reportedly made passes at New York regarding Nate Robinson and could be in the market for an energy player off the bench.

The Celtics have a number of ending contracts to offer in addition to Allen including Tony Allen ($2.5 million), Brian Scalabrine ($3.4 million) and Eddie House ($2.8 million).

The Celtics are not looking to radically overhaul the team, but if Kevin Garnett's injured knee continues to be an issue, the Celtics dreams of an 18th championship may go up in smoke and the C's may have to do more than tinker with the roster.

They may have to make a wholesale change and Ray Allen could be the best chip the Celtics have to offer.

Breaking Up The Band?: The Orlando Magic are in a funk – there is no way to deny that. The west coast road trip was brutal, they return home to face the Pacers after going 1-3 on the road. The good news is that of the Magic's next nine games, six are home games.

Yesterday during his chat at ESPN.com, Chad Ford offered up that the Magic were in crisis mode and willing to trade just about anyone on the team. While few Magic fans would argue that the team is not fitting and that change seems inevitable, the Magic are not holding a fire sale.

The Magic have been active for the past few weeks in seeing what's out there and more importantly gauging the value of their assets. It's not out of the question that Magic GM Otis Smith would make a splashy trade if a Chris Bosh or Carlos Boozer type player hits the market, but the Magic are not ready to blow up the team for change sake.

The line being spun from the Magic is that the team has really only played 12 games together and along the way virtually everyone has been banged up or out of synch for one reason or another.

As one insider suggested that it's hard to build on the court chemistry while sitting on the bench in street clothes.

As good as the Magic look on paper, the product on the floor has been less than desirable which is leading to the speculation on major moves. The Magic contend they are not shopping players as hard as some say they are.

The Magic have 14 games until the NBA trade deadline. In that span they see Boston twice, Atlanta again, and Cleveland again. How this next group of games plays out will likely determine how aggressively Otis Smith is in making a deal at the deadline, and whether or not he'll move one of his core players to try and right the ship.

For now the Magic say they are not panicking, fortunately there are some cream puffs on the schedule, so things could turn just as quickly as the soured, at least that is the hope in Orlando.

LeBron's "New" Manager: The running joke in the NBA is that no one has ever seen a 37-year man crave attention and the spotlight as much as Shaquille O'Neal does.

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Last night after knocking over the Toronto Raptors 108-100, Shaq was asked if he thought LeBron James should make good on his promise to dunk this year during All-Star Weekend – forgetting for a second that the lineups are set and unlikely to be changed.
Shaq, pretending to be LeBron's 'new" manager tossed out a challenge to Orlando's Vince Carter and Lakers' star Kobe Bryant.

"As his manager, I will only allow 'Bron to do the dunk contest if Vince Carter comes back out," O'Neal said to the Associated Press. "If Kobe comes back out and if another big name comes back out. If we could get a big prize and have half of the money go to the people of Haiti and the other half to the winner.

"The guys that are in it, no disrespect to them, but there won't really be any competition for LeBron. I want to see Kobe. I want to see Vince and I will allow my client to enter."

"I'm saying it now," O'Neal said. "So tweet it. Facebook it. E-mail it and hopefully it gets out. Vince, we're calling you out. Kobe, we're calling you out. We're calling everybody out. If those guys step up in the dunk contest, then I will allow my client to step up."

Anyone believe it will happen?

Why isn't LeBron in the dunk contest? Primarily because LeBron has nothing to gain from doing it, in fact he has much more to lose. What happens to brand LeBron if he loses? Most people also have no idea how much is required of players during All-Star weekend, especially guys in multiple events.

These guys are literally dragged from one event to the next from the moment they touch down in the All-Star city.
Orlando's Dwight Howard said he got about 5 hours of sleep in Phoenix last year, not because he was out partying, but because of the demands the league and his marketers have during the All-Star festivities. It had a noticeable effect on Dwight last year and I am sure Dwight conveyed that to LeBron this year.

Rich,

All of this, especially the health situation for Boston and Orlando keep leading me to the same simple conclusion; the NBA season is too long.

Regards

Ya, it is too long by 15-20 games. What would be interesting would be to expand the play-off season with a reduced schedule.

112288

Perhaps the real problem is TOO many teams and diluted talent.
Back in the 60-70's they played the same ammount of reg season games and less rounds in the playoffs. Not sure if they played games at any faster rate during the season. Plus early rounds at one time were 2 of 3 I think.


Used to be doubleheaders at neutral sights.


Teams are financially hurting. Do the league need 30 teams?
(and they are thinking of expanding overseas)

Guess the dollar will end up determining many thing if not everything and common sense goes out the window.

beat