The myth that the Celtics need a backup to Rondo who is a "true PG"

[amenhotep04]

EVERY team needs a "true" back up PG. You will never find a team without one. There is no myth. The use is situational but still a need. If your PG is hurt. Your back up is not a point guard what happens say...he gets hurt,ejected or foul trouble. You need a a true back up with out a doubt. Im not too sure why someone would toss this question out there                     
 House is a one year contract man for life. Security for the C's last year. They grabbed him cheap and gave the Celts time to see if Pru would develop. If he does, you may not see another pg signed. If he doesn't...we will.
  Pruitt, by the way is a "true" point guard.I keep seeing people say he is a two, but I know he was recruited to play point at USC. His problem is learning how to run a team. I dont believe the Celtics need him to run the team, more then they need him to bring the ball up and play D on the bigger point guards.
    He has better ball handling skills then House. He can D better too. Don't believe me, ask Kevin Durant and Dj Augustine, he had to cover them both during the NCAA's a cpl years back.

I agree with the assessment of Pruitt.  He's a much better point guard than people here give him credit.  He still struggles with the lazy pass, but he's a very good lane defender.  My thought at the beginning of the season was that Pruitt should have been given some of Tony's minutes.  I felt he was better than Tony at the beginning of the season.  I don't think there will be much of a problem with him this year.  He can play both the one and two. He'll make his share of mistakes, but unless Rondo goes down, there won't be a lot of pressure on him early in the season.

As far as House is concerned, I personally think he's a perfect fit for this team.  He's a great streak shooter.  Playing he and Pruitt on the court at the same time with the second unit could prove beneficial. I could see them playing a very helter skelter kind of play with high energy.  House's handle is good enough.  He's a great back-up. . . and then you have Jalen. . . .

[no kidding]

Koslodoev asks, "What do we need to upgrade on?"

Seriously, don't you think it'd be nice to have someone bringing the ball up where the rest of the team didn't have to be ready to run back and play hot-potato? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who create a bit off the dribble? How about someone a few inches taller, and a good deal faster?

If you think House was under-rated as a defender, then I have to admit, I'm one of those guys who didn't rate him too high.

Again, I'm thinking the answer's Pruitt, but I'm open to alternatives.

[cmburrill]

Mario Chalmers?  Heck, I'm still thinking Ainge should've taken Taurean Green last year, instead of Gabe Pruitt.  But the fact is, it's still way too eary to know who would've been the better choice, Green or Pruitt, much less Giddens or Chalmers.

 I am positive the Celtics started the season hoping they could get by with Rondo and House. The organization realized after seeingg some disapearing acts, or growing pains, by Rajon(Billups destroying him) and some poor ball handling skills by House under any form of pressure. They needed to have a playoff and NBA finals experienced pg. Sam I am was an awesome teacher. At times he was great and at times he was junk. He used his fouls well, and any young player can learn going head to head with him. You could also see the genius in the aquisition of bringingg in a PG who like to shoot...to teach a pg who does not.

   Green... this guy plays one position, led the ncaa's in turnovers, and had a lower assist to TO ratio. Not to mention after coming back cold from suspension..Pruitt blew up. Had he been able to practice and play a full season I'm sure his numbers would have been better. I like Mario Chalmers but why would you draft him if you were when the area that you need the most may need to be the void left by FA James Posey. Obviously the possibility of Giddens being traded is a possibility( sign and trade) Its apparent to me that the Celtics are satisfied with Rondo as the guy. They still want a an experienced back up and I keep hearing Lue...

[kozlodoev]

Koslodoev asks, "What do we need to upgrade on?"

Seriously, don't you think it'd be nice to have someone bringing the ball up where the rest of the team didn't have to be ready to run back and play hot-potato? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who create a bit off the dribble? How about someone a few inches taller, and a good deal faster?

If you think House was under-rated as a defender, then I have to admit, I'm one of those guys who didn't rate him too high.

Again, I'm thinking the answer's Pruitt, but I'm open to alternatives.

It would also be great to have, say, Tony Parker off the bench to handle the PG duties, but that's not happening, right.

Cassell was the guy who brought the ball up without the rest of the team having to play hot potato. Honestly, I didn't see any major difference between having him and Eddie House on the floor in this aspect.

As far as creating off the dribble, when we have Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, I definitely would not want to have someone with the abilities of a  backup PG creating off the dribble. It is not necessary, and it will rarely be the best option on offense.

House, I thought is pretty quick. He is also always in front of his man (actually, more often than Rondo, FWIW), and is rarely beaten off the dribble. Again, it all boils down to what you can bring to replace him. And I don't think that anyone on the market offers enough upgrade over House's weak sides to warrant foregoing his strong sides.

[no kidding]

cmburrill,

I could be entirely out to lunch on Taureen Green.  I only saw a bit of him in college, and was mostly impressed by what I saw of him in last year's summer league.  But what did you mean by "Pruitt blew up"?  I figure it was typo, but for what I couldn't guess.

[no kidding]

koslodoev,

If House did stay in front of his man more than Rondo (which I doubt), it was only because Rondo gambled too much trying to poke balls away. I don't recall House ever bring brought in to spell Rondo because he couldn't handle someone defensively (not counting times when Rondo would pick up silly fouls reaching for the ball).

But hey, you keep comparing House with what's available out in the market.  And I concede that's a valid point (unless you're a big fan of trying an experiment with Livingston).  But what about Pruitt? Are you particularly down on him?  Just wondering.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Koslodoev asks, "What do we need to upgrade on?"

Seriously, don't you think it'd be nice to have someone bringing the ball up where the rest of the team didn't have to be ready to run back and play hot-potato? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who create a bit off the dribble? How about someone a few inches taller, and a good deal faster?

If you think House was under-rated as a defender, then I have to admit, I'm one of those guys who didn't rate him too high.

Again, I'm thinking the answer's Pruitt, but I'm open to alternatives.

As far as creating off the dribble, when we have Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, I definitely would not want to have someone with the abilities of a  backup PG creating off the dribble. It is not necessary, and it will rarely be the best option on offense.

The problem is that House usually plays when those guys are resting. He's an awesome fit to have when he plays with the main unit, but when he usually plays, he rarely is in the floor with them. At most he's with one of them, and with 2+ of them being very rare cases.

Hopefully we get some playmakers in the 2nd unit to make House's weaknesses a non-issue because our bench last year pretty much sucked in a half-court offense.

[kozlodoev]

koslodoev,

If House did stay in front of his man more than Rondo (which I doubt), it was only because Rondo gambled too much trying to poke balls away. I don't recall House ever bring brought in to spell Rondo because he couldn't handle someone defensively (not counting times when Rondo would pick up silly fouls reaching for the ball).

But hey, you keep comparing House with what's available out in the market.  And I concede that's a valid point (unless you're a big fan of trying an experiment with Livingston).  But what about Pruitt? Are you particularly down on him?  Just wondering.

My thought was that House is solid, if unspectacular on defense. I knew nothing about him about prior to this season other that he can drain the three, but within our team defense, he's never been a liability.

Rondo is obviously the superior player, though he still has lapses in judgment as far as gambling for steals is concerned. And there have been some times during this year when he falls into these inexplicable spells of bad perimeter defense when he just can't stay in front of his man. But overall, I am not concerned. The kid will be fine.

We've all seen very little of Pruitt. My impression is that he's long and fluid, and certainly has the tools to be a very good defender. If he can keep his cool in the offensive sets and knock down shots he'll be fine. I hope he'll be ready to contribute this season. He didn't show much in terms of running our offense, but to be fair to him, he was only handed the keys to garbage time motley crews, so I'm not going to hold this against him. He certainly can be decent backup, I just don't know if he's ready yet. If he can contribute in stretches like Davis and Powe did, I think we'll be fine between him, Rondo, and House.

In general, I am not a fan of bringing in people who haven't played for years (Livingston, the Birdman, Jay Williams).

[no kidding]

kozlodoev,

A very reasonable answer.  I'd make one exception.  Surely Ainge has seen enough of Pruitt, otherwise, why is he still with the team.  I'm hoping Pruitt has shown enough to convince him that he can play with the big boys. But that's just a wish.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Rondo is terrible in staying in front of his man (exageration, but he's quite bad in this). He has a very poor defensive stance... he plays standing up, and relys on his quickness to get him through.

He has very good arms though, he pressures the ball well, gets his hands on balls, and his long arms help him.

But his poor defensive stance is something he needs to work on... on this regard, House was a better defender than Rondo... keeping the man in front of him.

[soap07]

But his poor defensive stance is something he needs to work on... on this regard, House was a better defender than Rondo... keeping the man in front of him.

Whole-heartedly disagree here. House was awful in keeping his man in front of him, certainly worse than Rondo. I thought Rondo's worst defense came on the pick and roll. Every single one of our point guards were getting swallowed up on a daily basis by an opposing big man setting a pick.

[kozlodoev]

Koslodoev asks, "What do we need to upgrade on?"

Seriously, don't you think it'd be nice to have someone bringing the ball up where the rest of the team didn't have to be ready to run back and play hot-potato? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who create a bit off the dribble? How about someone a few inches taller, and a good deal faster?

If you think House was under-rated as a defender, then I have to admit, I'm one of those guys who didn't rate him too high.

Again, I'm thinking the answer's Pruitt, but I'm open to alternatives.

As far as creating off the dribble, when we have Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, I definitely would not want to have someone with the abilities of a  backup PG creating off the dribble. It is not necessary, and it will rarely be the best option on offense.

The problem is that House usually plays when those guys are resting. He's an awesome fit to have when he plays with the main unit, but when he usually plays, he rarely is in the floor with them. At most he's with one of them, and with 2+ of them being very rare cases.

Hopefully we get some playmakers in the 2nd unit to make House's weaknesses a non-issue because our bench last year pretty much sucked in a half-court offense.

All three of those guys should never rest. And they rarely do in more complicated games.

[billysan]

Pruitt was sent to the D league for a good reason. Several good reasons in fact. 'If' he learned anything from his time down there and in Celtics practice time he will get a shot. He has had pleanty of time to learn our offense and his role. The amount of time we see him on the court during preseason games will likely determine his future IMO.

I would love to sign Livingston to a training camp "make good" contract. I think the reason no one has grabbed him yet is because of the obvious knee history. At the same time, his agent is probably having him hold out for a guaranteed contract as long as possible. Cant really blame him I guess.

Guys like Lue will be available for a while yet. If we need to address PG depth, I am sure Danny will bring a bunch to training camp and make a trade if neccessary as well.

I agree with you BTW Budweiser Celtic about Rondo and his defensive position and footwork at times. The thing is, so far he is usually superior athletically and anticipation wise to pull it off. I think Tony Allen played much the same way before his injuries. Just my opinion, not meant as a knock on either player.

[cmburrill]

cmburrill,

I could be entirely out to lunch on Taureen Green.  I only saw a bit of him in college, and was mostly impressed by what I saw of him in last year's summer league.  But what did you mean by "Pruitt blew up"?  I figure it was typo, but for what I couldn't guess.

 No  Pruitts stock rose considerbly...in fact I could not a single pre draft ranking  listed green as a better pg prospect. Pruitt was usually  listed as the 5th-6th best point guard and Green was always listed behind him . Pruitt was considering coming back and playing at USC with OJ until his play in the NCAA's. I  know Green is a better 3pt shooter played well in the NBA dl. but his strong suits did not fit the Celtics need nor do they now.  Greens official  measured small and plays that way. I know he had an excellent summer camp(so did Forbes) and his stock rose, but turnovers were still an issue and  he played like he should have, the best guard there...but he was still ranked behind Pruitt.
 

  I realize I am new, to this forum and its foolish for me to have used "blew up" instead of expanding.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Koslodoev asks, "What do we need to upgrade on?"

Seriously, don't you think it'd be nice to have someone bringing the ball up where the rest of the team didn't have to be ready to run back and play hot-potato? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who create a bit off the dribble? How about someone a few inches taller, and a good deal faster?

If you think House was under-rated as a defender, then I have to admit, I'm one of those guys who didn't rate him too high.

Again, I'm thinking the answer's Pruitt, but I'm open to alternatives.

As far as creating off the dribble, when we have Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, I definitely would not want to have someone with the abilities of a  backup PG creating off the dribble. It is not necessary, and it will rarely be the best option on offense.

The problem is that House usually plays when those guys are resting. He's an awesome fit to have when he plays with the main unit, but when he usually plays, he rarely is in the floor with them. At most he's with one of them, and with 2+ of them being very rare cases.

Hopefully we get some playmakers in the 2nd unit to make House's weaknesses a non-issue because our bench last year pretty much sucked in a half-court offense.

All three of those guys should never rest. And they rarely do in more complicated games.

Didn't mean to make it sound as if he's mostly playing with all of them in the bench, but fact is that he plays with mostly ineffective half-court offensive players or players that thrive on someone making plays for them, instead of making a play themselves.

Even during the playoffs, the back-up PG usually played with the PG-Ray/Pierce-Posey-Powe/Baby-PJ lineup. At the times that the backup played with more than one of them, it was only for a couple of minutes. If they played more, it was because Rondo was playing poorly, and we shouldn't be relying on our starting PG to play poorly in order to give our backup some minutes with the main guys.

Isn't this Doc's MO? Subbing blocks of units? What that means, is that the bulk of the minutes of our bench guys are played with bench guys, with the exception of one of the big 3 with them, with 2 or more being extremely rare cases and for short minutes at that.

But his poor defensive stance is something he needs to work on... on this regard, House was a better defender than Rondo... keeping the man in front of him.

Whole-heartedly disagree here. House was awful in keeping his man in front of him, certainly worse than Rondo. I thought Rondo's worst defense came on the pick and roll. Every single one of our point guards were getting swallowed up on a daily basis by an opposing big man setting a pick.

Fine, let's say that House didn't do a better job at keeping his man in front of him. That doesn't make Rondo's poor defensive stance and poor job at keeping his defender in front of him, between his knees, untrue. It's something he needs to work in, and I don't really see him correcting it... he likes to play defense standing up for whatever reason.