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[rondofor3]

Maybe KG will rise up out of the ashes once again, throw the Celtics on his back and muster one final asault before he playoffs. 

At this point I'm not sure what more to expect. Hope is waning.

Just bummed.

Rise from the ashes? Without KG we may not have 7 wins. Can't ask for much else from him.

[nickagneta]

Last night's fourth quarter convinced me that of all the bigs other than KG, Doc trusts Sullinger the most to do what he wants.

At one point early in a possession, Sullinger got the ball 20 feet from the basket with his man playing way back in the paint and he jacked up the shot and missed. With most rookies or young players, Doc instantly pulls them and lectures them about quality shot selection, ball movement, playing within themselves and to not play hero ball.

Instead, he let him stay in the game all through the fourth until he fouled out. Sully's fouls being called against him were fairly bogus and the more playing time he gets and more familiarity he gets with the refs, the less the refs will call those fouls on him. He's obviously getting the rookie treatment from the refs right now.

But as the C's were coming back, the lineup Doc went with, for the most part was Rondo, Terry/Bradley, Pierce, Sullinger and KG.

The kid is playing very well, extremely smart, and hard nosed. He is their best rebounder by far. And his understanding of how to guard bigger men and where to be in this defense is exceptional for a 20 year old rookie.

Sullinger is going to start being on the floor during the games most important times. That's going to make Green and Bass expendable and Bradley's addition will make Lee expendable. When the time comes where they are eligible to be traded, I say watch for trades involving those three players.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

We need KG to play more minutes.

I understand we are saving his energy for the playoffs but it's been the recipe for disaster for us. Everytime he goes to rest, there is a big scramble on defense.

We need him to play 30-35 minutes. It can be brutal, but it's one thing we need to do if we wanna win.

That or find someone who can cover the defensive flaws when he's on the bench.

[Fafnir]

With Bradley coming back Bass might work out better than with Terry.

I'd rather have Doc give Sullinger another chance though, either way I want KG back to the 5 except if matchups require Collins post defense more.

[MBunge]

Last night's fourth quarter convinced me that of all the bigs other than KG, Doc trusts Sullinger the most to do what he wants.

The "trust" part of that is one of the things that makes Doc a good coach.  The "do what he wants" part, however, is one of the things that frustrates fans and complicates things for the players.  It often seems like Doc puts players into certain roles and only cares about how they fit that role, sometimes disregarding what else that can do.  The main reason that Tony Allen, Big Baby and Ray aren't here anymore is because they were no longer willing to play the role Doc assigned to them.  I think one of the reasons why Terry, Green and Lee have struggled is because of the roles Doc has pushed them into. And it's pretty clear that when a player doesn't have Doc's trust, it's extraordinarily hard to get it back.

Mike

[alley oop]

I agree. No one ever said last year when they had that lineup, “they didn’t have an identity”. They need that fifth person on the floor who can hit a jumper, both for scoring and to open up the paint. And as Bradley’s minutes increase, the opposing teams guard  penetration should go down significantly.

[Roy H.]

Jason Collins is probably the worst offensive player in basketball, and he's a poor rebounder and not much of a shotblocker.  His defense is good, but not elite.

In other words, he's a D-League caliber player who shouldn't be seeing anything other than emergency / garbage minutes. 

Sign Chris Anderson and play Sully more.

[nickagneta]

Last night's fourth quarter convinced me that of all the bigs other than KG, Doc trusts Sullinger the most to do what he wants.

The "trust" part of that is one of the things that makes Doc a good coach.  The "do what he wants" part, however, is one of the things that frustrates fans and complicates things for the players.  It often seems like Doc puts players into certain roles and only cares about how they fit that role, sometimes disregarding what else that can do.  The main reason that Tony Allen, Big Baby and Ray aren't here anymore is because they were no longer willing to play the role Doc assigned to them.  I think one of the reasons why Terry, Green and Lee have struggled is because of the roles Doc has pushed them into. And it's pretty clear that when a player doesn't have Doc's trust, it's extraordinarily hard to get it back.

Mike

Hate to break it to you Mike, but just about every coach on every level of basketball puts their players into roles that he or she feels those players need to fill in order to have a successful basketball team overall. This isn't some rare concept of Doc's.

[celts55]

The other thing, and you may disagree, is KG plays better at the 5. for some reason this shooting and rebound numbers seem to be down and he's not defending around the basket. I think in this league where there are not many "true" centers, KG is better suited there than at the power forward spot.

[Roy H.]

The other thing, and you may disagree, is KG plays better at the 5. for some reason this shooting and rebound numbers seem to be down and he's not defending around the basket. I think in this league where there are not many "true" centers, KG is better suited there than at the power forward spot.

I think in an ideal world, we'd have a defensive anchor down low, and would allow KG to "roam" on defense.  KG has lost a step or two laterally, but he's still one of the best.  He just needs a defensive presence to play beside.

Barring that, then yeah, KG at center makes sense.

[nickagneta]

 

Sign Chris Anderson and play Sully more.

Never thought the Jason Collins signing was any good or really very smart and I don't understand the Varnado signing when a defensive, rebounding big man like Andersen is out there and available.

[kozlodoev]

 

Sign Chris Anderson and play Sully more.

Never thought the Jason Collins signing was any good or really very smart and I don't understand the Varnado signing when a defensive, rebounding big man like Andersen is out there and available.

It was a great signing when he was a third-string big. Not so great when he's the starting center.

[Chris]

 

Sign Chris Anderson and play Sully more.

Never thought the Jason Collins signing was any good or really very smart and I don't understand the Varnado signing when a defensive, rebounding big man like Andersen is out there and available.

It was a great signing when he was a third-string big. Not so great when he's the starting center.

Correction, 4th string big.  He had KG, Wilcox, and Darko in front of him. 

And as a 4th center, he is a valuable guy.  The problem was when they lost their 3rd string center in Darko, they were forced to put Collins in a rotation roll they never envisioned him.  He was brought in for a specific role, to defend low post centers in case of emergency. 

I do think its interesting that they brought in Varnardo over guys like Andersen for the open roster spot.  I am not sure if that says more about Varnardo or Andersen.  Probably a little of both. 

[kozlodoev]

I am not sure if that says more about Varnardo or Andersen.  Probably a little of both.

We had Andersen for a workout a couple of seasons ago, maybe we just didn't like him.

But then again, I'm inclined to just consider Andersen done at this point regardless.

[pearljammer10]

 

Sign Chris Anderson and play Sully more.

Never thought the Jason Collins signing was any good or really very smart and I don't understand the Varnado signing when a defensive, rebounding big man like Andersen is out there and available.

It was a great signing when he was a third-string big. Not so great when he's the starting center.

Cant agree with you more. Collins riding the pine, coaching in the locker room, and coming in for those emergency moments is absolutely A-Ok. But he is not a rotation player on a championship caliber team, let alone a starter.

I wanted to see Darko get minutes so bad and if he only stuck it out a few more weeks we could have had a legit rotation caliber center in the starting lineup. Darko playing 20 minutes for us could have been a big improvement and kept us on a steadier ship than we are seeing now.