As one of the leaders of the Greg Steimsma fan club, I am revisiting a question I asked in a fan post earlier in the season ( http://www.celticsblog.com/2011/12/29/2668200/should-the-cs-start-greg-stiemsma )

which is: " Should the C's start Greg Steimsma"?

When I wrote the fan post back in December, I believed Steamer should start in place of JO, since JO was struggling and Steamer was playing rather well at the time, but Steamer was never promoted to the starting center position.

Considering alot has changed since then with both JO and Wilcox now gone due to health issues, Steamer playing rather well over the course of the season and appearing to be developing into a competent and serviceable big man I want to ask the question again at this time which is "Should Steamer become the Celtics starting center"?

I think considering the C's do not have another legit center on the roster, KG is playing out of position at center, starting Steamer allows the C's to have a long "twin tower" duo when combined with KG (which I think is a very solid and intimidating front line on defense) and since Steamer has played rather well this year when given minutes, I think he has earned a shot to at least get a test run at being the C's starting center.

If we look at Gregs current stats and calculate it if he were to hypothetically lets say play at least 38 minutes a game he would be averaging about:

7 pts 9 rbs and 4.5 blks per game

I think those stats are not too shabby considering Steamer is a rookie, does not get hardly any setup touches on offense and is still learning the art of how to score, rebound and defend in the NBA.

Also lets keep in mind Steamer also offers shot altering, intimidation, size, length, wingspan, physical play and 6 hard fouls to throw at opposing teams bigs ( which do not show up in his stat line) but which immensely helps the C's.

I think considering Steamer shows alot of promise, he is a legit center with size and length at 6"11, 260 lbs (which is rare to find now a days), is young, athletic, has shown a decent perimeter jumper, can make free throws, can run the floor, can finish strong and above the rim on offense, has nice defensive footwork and hands, is a decent help defender, can alter shots, block shots, can rebound well, has soft hands capable of catching passes and passes well for a big man, all of which are pretty good skills for a young rookie center starting him would be a wise move to help the C's not just in the short term (this year) but also (long term) since it allows Steamer to get a jump start on his growth and development which can only help his cause to possibly become the C's center of the future.

So for all of the above reasons I think its time to have this debate again and would be interested in input from Celtic fans if starting Steamer should be a move contemplated or not by the Celtics.

Ok its still early in the season, we have not really gotten a complete look at Stiemsma yet, but what we have seen so far in the minutes he has played so far in the 2 preseason games and the one last night vs N.O., Stiemsma has looked pretty impressive and promising.

Stiemsma is a young legit center which is exactly what the C's need short and long term.

He has size, length (being 6"11, 260 lbs), is athletic, has shown at least so far to have decent vertical jumping ability, can run the floor, has nice defensive footwork,in the paint defensive skills, shot altering, blocking skills, rebounding skills, soft hands capable of catching passes, perimeter scoring capabilities utilizing his jumper and low post scoring scoring skills utilizing his hook shot , all of which are not much more you can ask from a center.

With the above said and considering Doc may not even do it , the question Id like to ask is is should the C's who have a old starting front line with JO and KG contemplate starting Stiemsma to get some younger legs, athleticism and energy into the starting front court and so we can also give Stiemsma a good test run to see what this kid truly has to offer?

I think playing Stiemsma who is a former NBA Development Defensive Player of the year award winner can possibly kill 2 birds with one stone as he can possibly help the C's not only this year, but it will also allow him to get some valuable quality playing time to allow the C's to possibly groom him and to see if he can be there center of the future that they will need as they seek to rebuild.

Also by starting Stiemsma another benefit is it will allow J.O. to move to the bench and to match up better against backup centers instead of starting centers to give him a advantage also at his current age.

What do you all think?

Is Stiemsma just a fluke and starting him is a bold and premature silly idea?

or

Is he possibly a gem Ainge has found and is possibly the young and promising center that the C's need short and long term and it would be silly not not to start him to help the C's cause this year and to also kick start his development?

With rumors heating up the C's are strongly engaged with talks to acquire Chris Paul and rumors also that the C's would probably have to package either Jeff Green or Glen Davis (via sign & trade) along with Rondo to make the trade work financially , one big question is who out of the 2 players should the C's ship to New Orleans if Ainge can organize a trade package to acquire Paul?

As a big Jeff Green fan I would prefer he stay in Boston, since I think he is young, athletic talent, who has upside and the potential to grow into the C's possible future starting small forward.

With J.J. drated this year who is another young, athletic talent and is a player with upside that has the potential to grow into the C's possible future starting power forward and since I think Baby has reached his ceiling, is a non protypical under sized power forward, I believe he is a expendable player and would prefer he be shipped to New Orleans along with Rondo instead of Green, if again Ainge can finalize a trade deal for Paul.

Though I think both Baby and Green are trade assets and would be trade chips worth giving up to get a talent like Paul, I personally would prefer Green to stay over Baby.

What do the rest of you think?

Ok if we have a season this year and the Celtics stick with the core to make one more run at a banner , one of the more interesting topics of debate which could be revisited again is if the Celtics should have Paul Pierce come off the  bench and in his place start Jeff Green (if he is retained) as Danny Ainge himself  last spring suggested he may be open to doing this year when interviewed on WEEI radio and by the Boston Globe. (see 2 links below for more info) .

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2011/05/weei_ainge_refl.html

http://audio.weei.com/a/40246279/danny-ainge-says-paul-pierce-could-come-off-the-bench-really.htm

I think this is a very interesting debate that merits some discussion especially if the lock out ever ends and the season ever gets underway .

I personally see 2 important positive aspects of starting Pierce over Green  which would be:

1) You would have your best talented allstar small forward starting to go head to head against opposing starting teams small forwards (which most nights is a advantage for the C's) instead of  Green who though I think is a up and coming young talent, does not at this time in his career have the caliber of talent as Pierce does.

2) Pierce meshes well and has a good chemistry with the current starting core which at this time Green does not have.

On the other hand though I also see 4 important positive aspects of starting Green over Pierce which would be:

1) By starting Green the C's would be getting some young, athletic legs in the starting line up which the Celtics starting unit is in dire need of I think.

2) By starting Green it would give him the necessary minutes and experience to develop his game and help groom him as a possible small forward of the future for the C's or at worst a more tradable trade chip asset to help the C's trade for another team player & team need down the line. 

3) By moving Pierce to the bench it would probably help reduce his minutes and workload this year and allow him to take advantage of the fact he would be matched up against 2nd line bench players.

4) By moving Pierce to the bench it would give the C's a mega weapon off the bench and probable instant  6th man player award winner. 

Moving Pierce, a allstar Celtic to the bench would be a interesting maybe bold move as it was when the C's moved allstar Celtic Kevin Mchale to the bench in the latter years of his career.

When Mchale was moved to the bench he did not miss a beat and was still as effective as he was as a starter.

With all of the above said I would not mind seeing the C's experiment early on in the season by starting Green and moving Pierce to the bench, just to give it a try and see how it works out.

What do the rest of you guys think?

Is it worth trying or something the C's should avoid doing?

Promoted FanPost

I read the recent SB Nation article "Supersized Frontlines, Not Star Perimeter Players, Key To Recent Championships" by Jonathan Tjarks and found the article rather interesting as it shared alot of my views also.

As a fan of basketball who grew up watching the long and big Celtic teams of the 80's and who has ever since enjoyed seeing basketball teams trying to win titles by utilizing front court depth, size and length along with speed and quickness ( and there have been many of them through the years) I agree fully with the article.

I also thought it would be interesting to apply the point of the article to the current Boston Celtics team.

Continue reading this post »

Ok  we are in the NBA off season and there is not much going on with the Celtics or in the NBA especially considering the lock out, so with all the free time I got to thinking today (not sure why) who were some of the worst players that ever wore the Celtic uniform.

So I thought it may be fun ( hope its not mean) to make a list of some of the worst players in Celtic history.

I can list a decent group of players who played for the C's who I think were some of the worst players in Celtic history, but to allow others enough former Celtics to name, I will limit my self to 2 players and ask anyone who posts any names to kindly do the same.

Well to get the ball rolling, I am going to go retro and name a couple of bigs  who I think were 2 of the worser players in Celtic history who were Eric Fernstein and Greg Kite (for those who do not recall them ) whom played for the Celtics back in the 80's with those great Larry Bird Celtic teams.

Anybody have a couple names of players who they would like to add to the list who they think is worthy of being considered one of the worst players in Celtics history ?

To begin, though I would of preferred the C's draft Vucevic, since he was no longer on the board when it was the C's turn to select a player,  I was happy to at least see the C's pick one of the other bigs on my plan B list, which was  Jajuan Johnson and most importantly I was happy to see them draft a big man altogether.

I think Johnson (can we just call him J.J.) has alot of promise since he is a athletic, young player, with good defensive, plus shot blocking skills, good offensive skills both out on the perimeter as a spot up player and in paint ... which I like best since I think the C's are in dire need of big men who can score in the paint, especially now with Shaq retired who was the C's only true low post scoring big last season.

Though J.J is a good shot blocker he does need to add some more lean muscle to his frame to help him defend the larger stronger NBA bigs in the paint and to also help him improve his rebounding.

The good news also about J.J is he has alot of upside and has time to improve his game and can get even better down the line.

But I think the biggest development aside from the C's possibly finding a future replacement for KG at the power forward position by the drafting of Johnson, is in the short term it possibly makes Big Baby expendable now for the C’s to now use him as trade bait to help them acquire even more young talent this off season to help the C's rebuilding for the future.

Does anybody agree this is a possibility and if this is indeed the C’s plan and they can arrange a sign and trade for Baby ( if the CBA situation is rectified) what position player do you think the C's should seek to acquire to help there long term rebuilding goals?

The C's have 2 young, athletic point guards currently on the roster in Avery and Rondo ( 3 if you count 2nd round pick Moore) so that position is not in dire need of bolstering at the moment.

The C's have no young shooting guards currently on the roster (other then Avery who could also swing over and play the position) so the C's could use and seek to acquire a young, athletic 2 guard using Baby as trade bait to bolster the position?

The C's have one young, athletic small forward on the roster in Green ( if the C's sign him) so that position is not in dire need of bolstering at the moment .

The C's have one young, athletic power forward on the roster now with the drafting of J.J so that position is not in dire need of bolstering at the moment either.

The C's do not though have a  young, athletic legit center on the roster currently ( though Johnson may be able to perform spot duty at the position against the smaller, quicker centers in the NBA) so the C's could seek to use Baby as trade bait to acquire such a player to bolster that position?

Now if the C's seek to trade Baby like I said above,  I assume they would seek to trade him in exchange for a young, athletic talent who can help the the C's goal to rebuild for the future.

If this is the case, looking at the young, athletic players of the future currently on the C's roster, what position do you think still needs to get younger and more athletic to help the C's goal to rebuild for the future?

Ok with the news this week that Shaq has retired and J.O. is returning we know the C's will have at least one center going into next year.

Now for the sake of debate and make things more fun lets assume the C's do not sign Krstic (for salary reasons or if he goes to Russia etc).

If this is the case the C's will need to acquire another center going into next year to help  J.O. out at the center position.

Now aside from Ainge possibly seeking to acquire a center by doing a straight up trade deal with another club or by drafting one in this years college draft ( which I hope he does because with J.O.'s health questions they will need a 3rd string center for insurance)  the C's best bet to acquire a center may probably be signing one of the many free agent centers that are currently available.

Now if Ainge seeks to acquire a center via free agency signing, the question will be who out of the the list of free agents available will he seek to sign?

I think who the C's seek to sign  will depend alot on if Ainge will seek to acquire a high tier, long term center, who will be able to play center for several years or more or if he will seek to acquire a lower tier, short term, stop gap center who would be signed to a 1 year contract to just play out next season.

Now if Ainge wants to go after a high tier, longer term center, though such centers would be expensive to acquire and would probably involve Ainge having to make a trade or two to free up cap space to afford them, if Ainge were to get bold and try to acquire one of them, the list of big name free agent centers he would have to choose from this off season would be: 

Marc Gasol
DeAndre Jordan
Tyson Chandler
Nene
Greg Oden
Samuel Dalembert

Though all the centers in the list above are quality centers, my 2 top picks from that list of high tier, long term centers would probably be Gasol and Chandler, though I would not mind to see Jordan wear Celtic green, due to his young age and potential upside .

Now if Ainge wants to go after a lower tier short term, stop gap  and less costly center (though it would be tough to sign some of them to short term 1 year deals)  he could try to go after the one of the following free agent big men centers this off season:

Yao Ming,  
Joel Przybilla,   
Spencer Hawes, 
Earl Barron

Tony Battie
Kyrylo Fesenko
Erick Dampier
Zydrunas Ilgauskas 

Jeff Foster 
Nazr Mohammed  
DeAndre Jordan
Kurt Thomas

Francisco Elson
Hilton Armstrong
Aaron Gray
Jamaal Magloire

Dan Gadzuric
Ryan Hollins
Kwame Brown
Theo Ratliff

Etan Thomas
Jason Collins
Eddy Curry
Hamed Haddadi

Alexis Ajinca
Kurt Thomas 

My top 2 picks for a lower tier, stop gap center from the above list would be Thomas and Pryzbilla, though I would not mind seeing Battie wearing Celtic green again.

It will be interesting to see if Ainge try's to go after one of the free agent centers listed above, who exactly he would seek to acquire and if he would seek to acquire a center for a long term fix or short term fix.

If Ainge does go after any of the above free agent centers, who would you like to see him acquire for "both" a short term and long term fix scenario?