Time to dust off Cassell

[PlayRyanGomes]

We will definitely see Sam on the road...here's a quote from Doc in today's Globe that pretty much verifies this:

"Coach Doc Rivers was asked about choosing between the two. "You know how you guys are," said Rivers. "If Sam is not playing well, play Eddie. If Eddie is not playing well, play Sam. Either way, you're a dunce. I think on the road Sam's experience would help. We'll see."

What a ridiculous statement by Doc.  He needs to do his homework.  Cassell has been absolutely abysmal on the road in the playoffs.  His stats don't capture his defensive ineptitude but his offensive numbers do enough to make Doc's cliche that his experience will help absurd coach-speak.

Here are his road numbers for this year's playoffs.
Min: 15.0/game
Pts: 2.2/game
Assts: 1.8/game
Rebs: 1.2/game
FG: 11.5% (Seriously) (.6 FGM/game / 5.2 FGA/game)

He's a detriment to this team.  House has been productive in 3 out of 4 games he's been the backup and was a nonfactor last night, not a detriment.

[crownsy]

while i agree with most of what your saying, i don't see how you can say he was a non factor, detroit called time out/ stopped the game every time eddie cam ein to swap in hunter to pester the heck out of him.

eddie looked real, real bad bringing the ball up. he can't dribble away from pressure.

if only we could clone sam's ball handleing ablity with eddies energy and ablity not to be a black hole on offense

we'd be unstoppable with Sam house out there.

[Andy Jick]

while we're at it, i wish we could clone perk's body with powe's abilities...

[johnnyrondo]

Sorry, but I've stopped wasting my energy - I've found that when I do back up my points with stats and/or convincing arguments, I am either ignored or trolled off the front page.

Instead, I'll just make sweeping generalizations like everyone else.  Seems to be effective.

Edit: I've been called everything from "idiot", "troll", "Cavs fan" to "Billups himself", "Sam Cassell" and "alien" on this board for stating my views.  Forgive me for repeatedly raising to everyone's attention the fact that:
1) Eddie Homeless is a notorious choker, especially in the playoffs.  You aren't a losing team journeyman for a reason
2) Sam Cassell is a notorious big game crunch time player - the exact reason we bought him out of his contract was to bring him here for this series.

It's baffling to me how evident it is that we are worse with House on the floor and how blind the majority of posters on this board are to that.  Everyone is so sentimental towards every player as if they were their child (unless, of course, they're ugly - everyone needs a scape goat).

I'm not going to repeat what I've already said with effort when the effort goes to naught.  Hope that clears things up for ya.

Well yesteday you were adamant about benching Ray Allen for Cassell. Allen then scores 25. Now you think we should bench House. If he has a good game 3 are you going to suggest we bench Pierce for Cassell next?

There was a time when Cassell was good, but it's like when we had Gary Payton. We weren't getting anything close to the Sonics Payton and right now Cassell is just a ballhog who messes up the entire rhythm of a 66 win offense and can't guard a broken chair. Unless Rondo gets injured, Cassell should remain dusted imo.

[2short]

sam in 2 minutes sections is about all we need
again when house is in at pg have ray or paul bring the ball up
sam's d will really show in detroit games (lack of)

[BballTim]

while i agree with most of what your saying, i don't see how you can say he was a non factor, detroit called time out/ stopped the game every time eddie cam ein to swap in hunter to pester the heck out of him.

eddie looked real, real bad bringing the ball up. he can't dribble away from pressure.

if only we could clone sam's ball handleing ablity with eddies energy and ablity not to be a black hole on offense

we'd be unstoppable with Sam house out there.

  More likely, if you gave Eddie that kind of ballhandling ability you'd get another black hole on offense.

  Just saying...

[BrickJames]

Well yesteday you were adamant about benching Ray Allen for Cassell. Allen then scores 25. Now you think we should bench House.

Really?

Waiting 5-10 minutes to bring Allen into the game and benching him are two different things, the latter of which I am by no means a proponent of.

Let Ray watch the first 5-10 minutes, witness the flow of the game, the defensive strategy, mentally prepare himself to rain threes down on the Pistons.

I think it would work.  Whatever Doc and Ray are doing now to prepare certainly isn't.  Apparently, I'm alone.  Actually, if I'm not mistaken, even JVG/Jackson said on Tuesday that someone on the team should give Ray a verbal lashing.

While I agree that verbal abuse isn't necessarily the most productive, delaying Ray's entrance to the game could only work in his favor.  He will be able to attack the weak point in the Pistons' offense.

It's definitely not going to hurt his scoring numbers.....

This exact strategy actually worked last night - but only instead of not starting Ray, Doc left Ray on the bench for the final 8 minutes of the first half.

and for the record, I've always said that House is junk, so that's nothing new.

I still say the Celts win the series in 5, and that Cassell will play a somewhat significant role from here on out.

Once again, time will be the vindicator.

[ScoobyDoo]

In general I like Eddie but that doesn't mean you should completely Ice Cassell either. He might have been helpful at certain points last night or in other games. Also, it just give the defense of the other team something different to adjust to.

I'd try Sam and see how he's rolling. But it would be in spurts and I wouldn't be opposed to Rondo 35-38 and House and Sam split the difference or slightly higher or lower depending on how Rondo's doing...

[da block]

i agree.. i think its time for doc to step up his game and bring up cassell from the bench.. no more eddie house or tony allen... the olnly way tony allen would get to play is if there is a defensive stop u realy need allen because cassell defense isnt ass guwd ass tony allen got the best d off the bench as a point guard

[droopdog7]

I'm sure this will be a lightening rod topic but really, I thought about posting it before the series even began.  Detroit completely exposed House for what he is not (a PG) in the regular season and I figured they would put extra pressure in the post season.  Looks like that is what is happening.  House can barely even get the ball over half court, forget about trying to initiate any offense.  And no, I don't think we should be content to have someone else bring up the ball because that causes two problems.  We have a scorer doing something HE doesn't do well (e.g., Pierce) AND, we take away some of this ablity to score.

Sit House and play Cassell.  We'll have to live with the defensive consequences.

  Why do you think that the Pistons won't be able to expose Cassell for all of his weaknesses?

Here's the thing.  I don't think anyone can argue that House is not a PG.  That is plainly obvious, regardless of what stats someone wants to bring up.  And for all of the solutions people are giving, having House in the game simply disrupts the team in too many ways.  All of a sudden, two and three players are being put in positions that they are not comfortable with.  The role of a PG isn't simply to bring the ball of half court.  They are supposed to initiate the offense.  When House is in the game, we don't have anyone that can do that.  The bottom line is, if House can't play back-up PG, then bring in someone who can.

As far as Cassell's weakness (defense), that may not be too big of a problem for a couple of reasons.  First, if he is going against Hunter, he isn't much of an offensive weapon anyway. As as Stucky, I believe we had our shooting guard on him most of the time.  And Billups?  Yeah, that could be a problem but as a back-up Cassell would not go against him as much.  Besides, if Det decides to go one on one as Sam anytime he comes in, that in a well will disrupt the flow of their offense.   

[angryguy77]

I'm really confused??? When we were losing to cleveland, it was bring in house! now we lose one game and we are calling for sam again? I don't claim to have the answer to who should play. Living in WI doesn't give much chance at seeing them play all year and making a solid judgement. I think there is a team somewhere around Milwaukee, but it hasn't been sited for a long time now(glad I'm a C's fan). I really would hate to be doc right now because I don't know if the answer is so clear cut. We didn't play good d last night and sam sat the whole game. What sucks is it seems that both players have the ability to contribute, the hard part is figuring what assets do we need on the court at any given time.

[Greenback]

I started the "Sam's Club" thread at the end of the Cleveland series and beginning of the Detroit series.  Please check it out.  The Celtics should be "Sam's Club" now.  He is the point guard who should control the game for us.

[crownsy]

i think the main call for sam would be that eddie looked atrocious when he had to dribble up against full court pressure.

personally, i think there's room and a time for both, its not a one or the other choice to me.

[BrickJames]

I'm really confused??? When we were losing to cleveland, it was bring in house! now we lose one game and we are calling for sam again? I don't claim to have the answer to who should play. Living in WI doesn't give much chance at seeing them play all year and making a solid judgement. I think there is a team somewhere around Milwaukee, but it hasn't been sited for a long time now(glad I'm a C's fan). I really would hate to be doc right now because I don't know if the answer is so clear cut. We didn't play good d last night and sam sat the whole game. What sucks is it seems that both players have the ability to contribute, the hard part is figuring what assets do we need on the court at any given time.

Yes I agree the bandwagon flip-flopping is frustrating, and Doc is in a helluva pickle right now in terms of trying to placate the fans.

There are some on here, though, who have been singing the same tune all along...  TP for greenback.