The Good:
- With Allen out for the rest of the regular and the unlikelihood of the Celtics being able to pick up someone, Doc should have no other option than to play Pruitt at the backup 1 and Eddie at the backup 2. As much as Pruitt might not be 100% ready to contribute the way that Doc would like him to, I think putting a player at the backup point that can handle the ball better than Eddie and Tony and still be able to hit the occasional three and forcing Eddie into his more natural role of shooting guard is better than the Eddie/Tony backup backcourt overall.
- With Allen out until the playoffs, Allen won't be able to play anymore this year. Sorry if this seems cruel but I look at this as addition by subtraction.
- A roster spot has been opened up for at least one additional player if Danny can get a little lucky and find a trade or a buy out candidate to add to this team.
- It looks like in trading Cassell that the Celtics could save as much as a million dollars this year. Saving a million dollars has to be a good thing, right?
- There is still the possibility of Cassell returning.
- If Pruitt sucks, Tony could still be back for the most important part of the schedule, the playoffs. Boy, I hope Pruitt doesn't suck.
The Bad:
- The Celtics lost, from what all indications have led us to believe, a pretty [dang] good coach for backcourt players in Cassell. It has been reported that Sam and Rondo clicked well together and that Rondo really respected and used a lot of what Sam has imparted to him thus far this year. In that respect, he will be sorely missed.
- I'm not a Tony Allen fan but if he was goping to miss the rest of the season I wish it was because someone outplayed him for his spot or that he played himself out of his spot. I don't wish injury upon anyone and poor Tony has been an injury waiting to happen since he came into this league. As much as I hate his game and think he's not the smartest player ever to have trouble tying his shoelaces, I'd like to know what his game would look like right now if he had never once become injured.
- The loss of Allen and Cassell only goes to show what a colossal blunder last off season was. There is no one ready from the addition of the "developmental four"(Pruitt, Walker, Giddens and O'Bryant) that is ready to jump in and be an instant contributor. I said it last year and will say it again, what was needed was solid veterans who's game you could rely on and know what you were getting. The static at this site against this philosophy was palpable and as far as I'm concerned, decidedly wrong. People are starting to see the reason why. None of the "developmental four" are ready. Scal is hurt, Allen hurt and Cassell gone. That leaves Doc with eight players he can truly trust and rely on.
- The loss of Allen and Cassell only goes to show the need to have some players on your bench that have decent sized contracts so that you can facilitate trades. Danny's first off season of the Big Three Era was a disater for another reason. He should be using a very large chunck or all of the MLE on at least one player every year. Having a player, or in the case of next year, a couple of players on your bench with contracts that add up to $10-11 million will go a long way to making inseason imporvements if those players aren't working out exactly as you had hoped. The current situation of having no one desirable to trade that isn't making more than a million a year is handcuffing Danny from making a trade. If he had signed say Posey or Mason or Kurt Thomas or Pietrus or someone to the full MLE this last offseason he'd have some ammo to make a trade. If he had signed one of them and then this off season signed another full MLE player, Danny would have two players on his bench with good sized contracts that if things were needed could be used to address those needs. Of course, it would have been a lot better if said players produced and a trade wasn't needed but at least the options would be there.
I'm sure there's more but gotta make some important calls. I'll add oo later my other thoughts.