NBA 2010-2011 Season - Page 104

On March 02 2011 11:44 citi.zen wrote:
Signing troy murphy takes some of the sting out. Perkins was injured, after all.

On March 02 2011 11:13 Ace wrote:The Celtics have never, ever, ever in the last 4 years been destroyed by perimeter players in a series.

On March 02 2011 16:06 Ace wrote:
Well then maybe I'm over reacting and still a bit upset with the reasons people are giving to justify this trade. The Celtics, like all teams are better with an elite wing defender. However I don't think Jeff Green is that guy.

Jeff Green, Oklahoma City. Something happened here, because Green wasn’t awful on D last year. But this year the numbers say he was one of the league’s worst defenders relative to opponent FG%, score, and his teammates’ individual on-court numbers.
Did the Thunder consciously give Durant more help, and put extra pressure on Green?

I don’t think so. Not from what I saw.

I think Durant’s rise as a defender caused opponents to send more at Green, and the numbers show that Green could not handle it. Green has slow feet, no doubt, and I saw several games when he didn’t contest very well at the rim–though he was OK against the Lakers in the playoff series in that regard.

The stunner: OKC gave up 107.7 points per 100 possessions when Green played, and only 97.7 when he didn’t.

That 10-point differential is the largest I could find among main-rotation players, and it’s a number only touched upon in previous recent years by Eddy Curry and assorted Memphis players.

On March 02 2011 11:13 Ace wrote:
ok look - stop reading into the bullshit articles that people write.

In the 2008 Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Perkins played 14 or fewer minutes in three of the six games and missed Game 5 because of a strained shoulder. His average in the series: 18 minutes a night.

...

Perkins was all heart and soul, effort and intimidation. Those endearing qualities overshadowed the fact he couldn't catch the ball and struggled with agonizing difficulty to operate in the post. He was vertically challenged before his knee injury and has been anchored to the floor since. It's fair to assume that, as his rehabilitation continues and his conditioning improves, his agility will get better. It's also fair to wonder whether, after knee (and shoulder) surgery, he will ever be the same player. In the meantime, he's expected to miss the next two or three weeks because of an injury to his other knee.

...

But, as the halfway mark of this season ticked by and the strangely erratic Lakers faded into a distant second in the West behind the San Antonio Spurs, the obvious need for someone young and reliable to spell both Pierce and Allen became more pressing.

Even though the Celtics are 3-0 against the Miami Heat, they were mindful of the Heat's frightening learning curve. It dawned on them that it wouldn't matter whether they could bang with the Lakers if they couldn't get past Miami in the East.

Thus, with Marquis Daniels seemingly done for the season with a spinal cord injury, the most glaring postseason need for the Celtics was someone to assist in the herculean task of chasing around LeBron James -- and Kobe, if it came to that. Rondo's end-to-end pursuit of King James last month was entertaining, but it was a stopgap, not a long-term solution.

Twenty-four-year-old Jeff Green can play small forward or power forward. He will be asked to assist in slowing up LeBron, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe.

Green also provides some flexibility should Rivers opt to go small with Garnett at the 5, a lineup that -- he has reminded anyone who will listen in the past five days -- helped the Celtics win that 2008 title. Back then, the Celtics had James Posey. Now, they have Green.

The Celtics love to spread the floor (if you had Rondo, you would, too), and Green and Nenad Krstic enable them to do that. The newcomers also will provide some legitimate offensive help off the bench, an elusive concept this season because of inconsistency (Nate Robinson) and injuries (Daniels, Delonte West, Erden).

A bench of Green, Glen Davis, Krstic and West is preferable to the previous incarnation. These guys are younger, more athletic and provide more interchangeable parts. West can ably back up Rondo or Allen. Green can spell Pierce or Garnett.

On March 03 2011 02:50 Southlight wrote:

As Cyric pointed out, I've never heard of Green as a good (or even decent!) defender, but he's gotta be better than Perkins at defending James/Wade/Melo. Especially a Perkins with two bum knees, because he was already monstrous at defending them healthy. At the very least he's a body, and he can somewhat offset his defensive deficiencies by scoring, which is one way of slightly equating out a black hole.

But my point was, the article's pointing out that Ainge already rolled the die on the O'neals. This cannot be undone. You can run into the postseason with like 4 big men and no one to back up Allen/Pierce (and then get stuck putting Rondo defending wing players lol) or you can trade one of the big guys for at least a body, particularly one that's young and might help them down the line.

All told when you look at it from that perspective the trade might even look to have been necessary. Now, the funny joke is that Corey Brewer got released and if the Celts can grab him, then the Green trade gets to be a bit redundant, but when the trigger was pulled no one imagined in their wildest dreams that release was going to happen.

On March 02 2011 14:12 RowdierBob wrote:
Yeah I used to really like watching the Thunder, but these days it's a free-throw clinic watching any OKC game.

Games are getting called way too tight these day. People creating contact to draw FTs is my biggest bugbear in the game and the amount of times it works is so frustrating.

On March 03 2011 06:53 Ace wrote:
He's still not elite and still not MVP. He's very good though.

On March 03 2011 06:55 FQD1911 wrote:
now i'll agree he may not be an MVP, but not elite? c'mon bro....what does he have to do to prove that? his numbers are right on line w/ the MVPs of the league this year (the differentials are 1, 2 most). at this point, i'd put him at top 3 PGs in the league...and w/ the trades, he might be #1 when it's all set and done.

EDIT: i hope they give it to LeBron, b/c if the Bulls & Heat face off, Rose is going to go nuts (just like Hakeem did to D-Rob that year D-Rob got MVP)