That's right, Eddie's back for 2 more years. Tony Allen too. The team that won 66 regular season games and the NBA championship is bringing back all 5 starters, as well as every reserve who's not completely broken down, 5000 years old, from outer space, or named James Posey. Add in the top two draft picks (Semih Erden is not coming to America to play. Ever. There I said it) and you have a roster the Celtics could easily enter the 2008-2009 season with:
The Big Five, Leon Powe, Eddie House, Tony Allen, Glenn Davis, Gabe Pruitt, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker, Patrick O'Bryant.... and Brian Scalabrine. That's 14 roster spots confirmed.
The C's sound convinced Pruitt is ready to start contributing as a backup PG, so between him and Eddie that spot's settled. Tony Allen and House will both back-up the 2. Powe and Big Baby are your PF's off the bench. Patrick O'Bryant SHOULD be able to contribute as the backup Center, since motivation/focus sound like his biggest problems and he'll have KG screaming in his face for an entire year. He's only 22 years old and has put up huge numbers in college and the D-League, so if we can get him up to PJ Brown status with a stronger pulse, that position will be fine.
That leaves the question: Who's going to fill the void at SF left by Posey leaving? I honestly think J.R. Giddens is destined for the D-League for a lot of this year, but they could try and use him here. Bill Walker just had knee surgery (again) so you can't say for certain how much he'll be able to contribute, and he's not known for his D when healthy. Brian Scalabrine is the token white guy. So maybe they pick up another player to be their bench stopper/chucker of 3's.
A lot of role-playing swingmen have been snatched up already... Eduardo Najera and Jarvis Hayes to the Nets, Bostjan Nachbar signed on to play in Russia, Matt Barnes is a Sun now. Let's see who's still available:
Michael Finley hasn't signed yet, but he's 35 and made over 3 million last season. The guys I see unsigned so far are Kareem Rush, Gordon Giricek, Quinton Ross, Antoine Wright, Maurice Evans, and Kirk Snyder... and really all of those guys are more SG than SF.... and none of them would be a huge upgrade over using Tony Allen in the Posey roll, if you ask me.
I don't think they have the cash available to go after restricted guys, but there's two interesting options there. One is Josh Childress, who doesn't shoot the 3 like Posey but defends well and knows how to score.... though apparently he's considering signing in Greece. The other? And this is a dream scenario for me personally... Ryan Gomes. He was a great role-player in his first Boston tour and brings a lot of the qualities Posey possesses. Minny apparently wants to make a big push to sign him, but if the Celtics feel like they need one more piece, he could be the answer.
That being said, I don't expect them to make any more notable moves this off-season. The C's will clearly wise-up at some point and just start giving heavy minutes to Scals. Boom, 6th man of the year award. Done and done.
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