Our team is very very vulnerable from big wings, we don't have size. Trading Lee would be a big mistake if you don't have a contingency plan to add a player who can fit the role of a big wing defender.
I think Jeff Green and Paul Pierce can defend big wings better than Courtney Lee can.
The big power two guards in the league right now ... none of them have great quickness. You can play a Jeff Green or Paul Pierce against them. You don't need a quicker defender like C-Lee against them.
- Stephen Jackson plays the three exclusively these days. He's gone.
- Joe Johnson has SF level speed. Paul Pierce has done an excellent job on JJ in the past.
- Kobe Bryant is the most athletic of them and he's not a good athlete. Kobe has also destroyed Courtney Lee in the past. Paul Pierce is our best defensive option against Kobe.
- Andre Iguodala is the only one with high level quickness / athleticism. Not a great scorer anyways.
- Tyreke Evans has the size but lacks a power game. More of a dribble penetrator. A guard like Bradley or Rondo can do a good job on Tyreke.
- Gordon Hayward hasn't added a power game yet either. Plus, he struggles mightily as a defender/rebounder against big wings with size so Pierce / Green cause him lots of issues on the other end.
- Klay Thompson and Rip Hamilton are long but mostly run through screens for catch and shoot situations. I can live with Bradley against them. Kevin Martin is a more well-rounded scorer but fits a similar mold as them in terms of matchup issues. I think Bradley can handle them.
- Jason Richardson has lost a lot of quickness over the last few years and can be dealt with by a SF like Pierce or Green. That SF will create an advantage over J-Rich on the other end.
There is no reason for Courtney Lee to play ahead of Bradley/Rondo or Pierce/Green. The Celtics can matchup effectively, very often in superior way, by using a smaller defender or bigger defender than Lee to handle the various matchups at the SG position.
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Courtney Lee doesn't even matchup that well against bigger power two guards. He lacks the size/bulk to handle them. He has regularly struggled against them throughout his career. Orlando, New Jersey, Houston. Consistent problems against bigger two guards. C-Lee is not an answer against them. Just because he is 2 inches bigger than Bradley doesn't mean he can do the job. He's never (consistently) shown that capacity.
I think Courtney Lee's main value is against smaller quicker guards like Monta Ellis or Eric Gordon and explosive guards with average size like D-Wade or James Harden. But again, Bradley matches up even better against those quicker twos than C-Lee does.
All true, yet it would still remain a problem without the additional wing with size. Bring Bradley in, and remove Lee, and we still have the same roster problem we have at the moment, in part because we don't have another player capable of playing minutes as a SF.
And having a sixth man like Terry at hand, we need someone like Lee to complement him off the bench.
I have no problem with Pierce as a SG, in fact, I love him there, but I don't can't envision a scenario at the moment in which we can play him and Green together in substantial minutes without playing him into the ground.
Also, in no shape or form should my post should be construed as Lee rather than Bradley thing. I think we need both. Our roster make-up just calls for it, and in my opinion not much room for Barbosa other than some spot minutes when nothing is going to plan.