FWIW, this season is playing out exactly as I imagined. I had us playing .500 ball until at least January when we can explore trading some of our assets for an upgraded big. I think there's little question that's our main issue... size next to KG. Neither Bass or Sullinger is a starting big man in this league. Beyond those two it's a bunch of min contract bums.
At SG, we're trotting out a trio of averageness. Lee, Terry and Barbosa are all effective backup guards. They are somewhat redundant, though. I don't really feel Bradley is any better than them... when he comes back you'll have 4 redundant undersized backup shooting guards.
Cut Jeff Green some slack, though. I think he should be starting... and starting at his natural position (SF). He's not a big man. That was his issue in Oklahoma. He needs to be starting with Rondo and running the floor.
My eventual hope is that we can package some of the minimal assets we have (Sullinger, Bradley, Lee, Terry, Bass... whatever) and somehow luck into a real big man (Big Al? Maybe Josh Smith?) ... then I'd be favor of starting Green at SF, moving Pierce to SG and having whatever crap left over come off our bench. Thoughts?
Whoa hold up...you're calling Jason Terry and Avery Bradley 'average' and 'redundant'??
Jason Terry is one of the best sixth men and clutch scorers of this generation, and is second all-time in 3 pointers made. Even if you ignore history and only look at his current season his value to us is obvious. He is our fourth leading scorer so far (12 PPG, 50% FG, 38% 3PT, 93% FT, 25 MPG) and has scored at least 8 points in every one of our first 6 games. Terry ranked above both Lebron and Wade in clutch scoring last season - that's a hell of a feat. He's also our only genuine backup for Rondo at the PG spot - Barbosa can handle the position in spots, but only Terry is really capable of running the point if Rondo (god forbid) has to miss a game [edit: which may well happen after today].
Avery Bradley is arguably the best 1-on-1 perimeter defender in the entire league. You can make an argument for Tony Allen, but that's about it. There is no other player I can think of at the SG spot who gets up into every opposing players face full court the way Bradley does on defense. When he's not directly forcing turnovers with his ball pressure he's taking 5-10 seconds off the opposition's shot clock on every such possession, forcing teams out of their rythym and forcing them to rush their offense. He's also a competent offensive player who can score on back door cuts, on the fast break and with his (now pretty solid) jumper. Last season he had a greater net positive impact on our team then any other player on our roster not named Kevin Garnett. In the playoffs he was actually #1.
Terry and Bradley are not average or redundant players. Both guys bring the type of speciliast skills that win games - Terry with his clutch scoring and Bradley with his ability to shut down elite opposing guards.
Barbosa is somewhat redundant, although he does have a unique gift in his ability to use his speed to get to the basket - something that is also very important for a team that otherwise takes
way too many jump shots.
I would say that Courtney Lee is average and is truly redundant - he doesn't have any real skill that either Terry, Bradley or Barbosa does not or any specific skill he excels at. What the other three guys bring can make up for what you lose if Lee goes. I just don't get how you can call Terry and Bradley redundant though...the term 'redundant'suggests that they are not needed, and that the team loses nothing if we get rid of them - that's definately not true.
I believe that right now our most redundant players are Courtney Lee, Bass / Sully (either one) and Darko/Collins (either one).
Courtney is already getting minimal playing time so he'll get practically none once Bradley comes back. Wilcox has been backing up and PF and center so we only need one out of the Bass/Sully combo. Neither Collins nor Darko are getting any playing time, so either one of those guys is is currently a total waste of roster space right now.