So, I am an unabashed Celtic fan and am having a conversation with a fellow Celtic fan on Celticsblog.com regarding what the Blazers would do right now if they could. So I am wondering Blazers fans, given the state of injury in Portland and the fact that your first big man off the bench is(gulp) Juwan Howard, if Kevin Pritchard could trade for Glen Davis 1 on 1 in a trade for Jerryd Bayless, right now, with no other strings attached, would he do it?

I understand Bayless has looked okay in the last few games and even just had a career night last night, but would Pritchard trade his current third string PG for a young player that has shown he can play two big man positions, which is something that with Oden out for the year, the Trailblazers could really use? Thanks ahead of the time for all your great thoughts and input.

The season is 11 games old, the Celtics have won 8 and lost 3 and I'm really not sure what this team is all about. Are they a defensive team? Are they an offensive team? Are they a rebounding team? Are they an old team? Are they a running team or a half court team? Are they a long distance shooting team? Are they a hardened bunch or are they soft? Who and what are they because so far this young season the Boston Celtics have kind of been all over the place. This Celtics bunch seems to be missing...an identity.

I'm pretty sure what this team wants to hang their hat on is the fact that they are a defensive juggernaut and will win Banner #18 with defense. I can't say that I can argue with that too much. It should be their identity and with the league's best defensive efficiency rating of 94.7, the league's best point differential of +10.2 and holding their opponent's to the second lowest amount of points per game, 88.3, they should be considered among the best or the best defensive team in the league.

But are they?

Over the last 5 games, almost half the total games they have played, the Celtics are giving up the following:

95.2 points per game

48.5% FG%

41.8% 3PT FG%

52.8 eFG%

40 rebounds(as compared to their own 37)

These are defensive numbers that would put Boston squarely in the bottom half of the league in defensive statistics, if not for their hot defensive start to the season. A defensive start that might be able to be explained away by letting everyone know exactly where the offenses of those teams they played in the first 6 games rank in offensive efficiency, points per game and eFG% in the league:

                                Off Eff            PPG         eFG%

Cleveland                    11th            18th            7th

Charlotte                     30th            30th          30th

Chicago                      28th            28th          28th

New Orleans               18th            19th          15th

Philadelphia                  7th            20th          11th

Minnesota                   27th            27th          27th

Not exactly the 1980's Lakers, huh? As a matter of fact 4 of the Celtics 8 wins have come against the 4 worst offensive teams in the league as New Jersey is the 29th worse team in all three of these categories and they played them just a few games ago.

So are we, the fans of the Boston Celtics being fooled into some sense of a false reality here? Is the Celtics defense as good as their overall yearly stats are or are they a result of playing some of the worse offensive teams in the league? Is the defensive effort and team that we have seen over the last five games more than likely the team we are going to see the rest of this year? Have the Celtics transitioned from a hard nosed defensive oriented, offensively efficient and diverse group to an old, somewhat soft, outside shooting, mediocre defensive team in just a couple of weeks time?

The Celtics have always, in their best years, had an identity of being tough, efficient, and one of the best defensively. That has been their identity since the days of Red, Cous and Russell. It is what the 2007-08 Championship team was all about. It is an identity that this team has lost over the course of the past 10-14 days and one they need to regain.

It's time to play that tough, smothering man to man and team defense. It's time to be pushing those big guys out of the paint on the defensive end. It's time to start sticking a behind on your man and rebounding the ball and to stop giving up rebounds. It's time to produce the effort we have all seen before. And it's time to start doing it every single night, game in and game out for the rest of the season. The Celtics, as a team are missing their identity and it's time to get it back.

By now Kendrick Perkins must be used to the lack of attention he gets not only in newsprint or on the internet or on television or, for that matter, the competition. Ever since Perkins has donned the Green and White there always been some else there that was better, more famous, more quoteable, more noticeable. So for Perkins, as he has progressed from the over weight teenager the Boston Celtics drafted to the slim, muscular, scowling starting center they now have, the lack of attention has pretty much been par for the course. Even during and after a banner raising season in which he became an NBA Champion.

This year though, that may all change. Last year on national television Perk took "Superman" Dwight Howard to the limit all by himself. In that series Perk scored 10.6 PPG, pulled down 11.6 RPG and had 2.29 BPG. But those aren't the numbers that show what he really did , these are: 16.4 PPG, 17.1, PPG, 54.9 FG%, 2.71 BPG. Pretty impressive numbers. But these were Howard's numbers versus Perkins in a virtual one on one battle. But Howard went played three other playoff teams last year and these were his numbers versus those teams were the defensive philosophy was for Howard to be constantly double and triple teamed:

vs Philadelphia 24.0 PPG, 15.8 RPG, 68.3 FG%, 2.8 BPG.

vs Cleveland 25.8 PPG, 13 RPG,  65.1 FG%, 1.17 BPG.

vs Los Angeles 15.4 PPG, 15.2 RPG, 48.8 FG%, 4.0 BPG.

Again, when reviewing these numbers remember that Perk was on a virtual island alone guarding and going up against Howrad in that playoff series. In every other series he was faced with constant double and triple teams and in the case of the Lakers his double and triple teams often came in the form of Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum, some very large and extremely talented players. Cleveland and Philadelphia did not have that type of talent to throw into double and triple teams at Howard and the numbers reflect that.

Anyway, numbers aside Kendrick Perkins had a little bit of a coming out party last May and now he is starting to get the recognition, even if it is a slow trickle that seeps slowly from the crack that is the national media. Two NBA coaches have now come forth and stated that Perk should get All-Defense recognition. His own coach is saying that Perk is indispensable towards winning a championship. His team mates constantly gamble on the outside or don't fret when they get beat because he is behind them backing them up. And some in the media are starting to come around to what we here at Celticsblog have known for quite a while, Kendrick Perkins is one of the best defneissve centers in the game and maybe the best one on one big man post defender in the league.

And he continues to demonstrate that this year. Right now Perkins has an average of 2.38 blocks per game which ranks him 6th in the NBA. His PER48 numbers are good enough for 3rd in the league among starters and he is amazingly 2nd in the league in an obscure but very telling stat blocks per personal foul ratio. This last stat is telling because up until a very short time ago one of the biggest knocks on Perk was that he couldn't stay on the floor long enough to be effective because he was so foul prone. Not anymore.

Add all this defensive prowess into the total package that is Kendrick Perkins, which includes a 62% FG%, a very real possibility of averaging a double-double this year, an ever expanding low post game that includes a virtually unguardable jump hook, a nice turnaround jumper and the occasional Kevin McHale like three step head fake and footwork for the lay in, and you see why many teams might be privately hoping the Celtics don't extend Perkins contract and let's him become an unrestricted free agent after next year.

But don't worry Celtic fans because if Perk continues to have the progress that he has steadily shown for the past few years, he is going nowhere fast but to the bank with a whole lot of Wyc Grousbeck's dollars in his pockets.

In 2007-08 Danny Ainge was awarded the NBA Executive of the Year for his wheeling and dealing the offseason before in attaining Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, James Posey and Eddie House and turning those acquisitions into Banner #17 for the Boston Celtics. In 2009-10, could Danny win another NBA Executive of the Year Award for his reloading of his team's bench with the signings of Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels and Sheldon Williams. and the re-signing of Glen "Big Baby" Davis. And, interestingly enough, the piece de resistance of the offseason could be the addition of Williams, who, is playing so well early in the season due to playing time gifted to him from a broken thumb courtesy of Davis.

Why could the crowning jewel of Ainge's EOTY Award be Williams? Because if Sheldon Williams, a 26 year old former All-American Duke Blue Devil that was a 5th pick in the draft before having lots of trouble adjusting to the NBA, can continue to perform as well as he is in his role as backup power forward, that makes Big Baby expendable. Davis is already in hot water with the Celtics owner, Wyc Grousbeck, and Glen can call up Sebastion Telfair and ask him what happens to players in green that anger the C's owner. They end up ex-Celtic players, that's what.

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The Celticsblog Hall of Fame is proud to announce that their fan and member interactive portion of the Hall has launched it's initial Fan and Member Vote for the 2008-09 season. Inside the forums you can find separate threads to vote for the Celticsblog Best Fanpost, Thread, Post, Game Thread and Front Page Article of the Year.

Please, take the time to journey to Celticsblog Hall of Fame forum under the Nominees/Discussion sub forum where you will find the threads where you can not only be linked to the nominated threads, posts, and articles but also vote for your favorite which will be entered into the Celticsblog Hall of Fame for permanent placement of Thread, Post, Game Thread, Front Page Article and Fan Post of the Year.

There's a lot of very interesting, thought provoking, humorous and informative reading to be had with literally hours of entertainment. Please, take the time and give it a read and let us know what you think is deserving to be called the best of the 2008-09 season. Voting will be tentatively scheduled to end Opening Night 2009-10 after the game and results and the induction with the revealing of the 2008-09 Inductees to the Celticsblog Hall of Fame to follow the next day.

Again, please, go here:

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?board=57.0

read and vote. Your participation and comments are welcomed and we look forward to to having you participate!!!!!

It's been a rather crazy off season in San Francisco and maybe the strangest part has occurred in just the last few days. Let's take a look at some of the nutty stuff that has been happening in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge this summer:

• Stephen Jackson, after somehow conning management into a 3 year extension on his contract a while back is now claiming he wants to be traded to a contender because he wants to play for a champion once again. Here's the funny part. He listed Cleveland, any team in Texas and the, wait, this is great, New York Knicks as those teams he wants to go to. Yes, the same Knicks that are supposedly offering David Lee, Nate Robinson and Jared Jeffries to the T-Wolves for Mark Blount and the rights to a PG that can't play a game in the USA until the 2011-12 season. I can't personally see the Knicks making it out of the lottery until 2020 and that's if they sign LeBron next year.
• Then there was the trade that almost happened on Draft Day 2009 where the Warriors were rumored to be sending Andris Biedrins, Brandon Wright, Marco Belinelli and, depending on who you were listening to, Stephen Curry to the Phoenix Suns for Amare Stoudemire, a guy who could have then opted out of his contract after the 2010 season leaving the Warriors with nothing. Luckily, someone came to their senses in Golden State and this did not happen.
• The Warriors did end up making a trade and sent Marco Belinelli to the Toronto Raptors for Devean George and a bunch of cash to pay for George's contract. Now, I am no fan of Marco Belinelli but even I have to admit the kid is young and has a bunch of potential and even if he doesn't reach it, is still a much better player currently than George who's skills have fossilized over the last 2-3 years. Once a fairly good to very good defender, even that skill is atrocious in George's game now. So a team that is over the cap makes a trade to give away a very good prospect to save $1.5 million give or take a few hundred thousand?? If they saved $4-5 million, fine I see it. But for chump change?? Weird!!
  
• C. J. Watson was given a qualifying offer and then a three year contract offer for $4.5 million total. The Warriors received all sorts of offers for the player with Orlando making a fairly strong push. Given the market and the way most restricted free agents were treated like they had a communicable disease this off season, the Warriors probably thought to play hardball and would get Watson, an NBDL success story, to take their offer. Here's the problem, reports are now out that he will be taking the qualifying offer for about $1 milllion this year and become an unrestricted free agent next year. The strange part of all this. Watson will now become the 5th PG signed to play for the Warriors 15 man roster with only one, Stephen Curry, the man I expect to be starting at PG in GSW, eligible to be assigned to the D-League.
• Now rumors are that the Warriors are in possible trade talks with Dallas to move Monta Ellis to Dallas for expiring contracts though after checking with shamsports.com and the ESPN Trade Machine looks to be an impossibility. Of course they could always trade Ellis to Dallas for Jason Terry and Jose Juan Barea and then have 6 PGs on the active roster. The way this off season is going, that would probably make sense.

Something has got to give in Golden State. They have a bunch of very good and very interesting young parts.

Andris Biedrins - a 23 year old center with a good offensive game, as long as he is within 5 feet of the basket, and a knack for being a rebounding fool. His one on one defense isn't great but he is a good weak side defender and shot blocker and if he was ever paired with a real banger of a PF could become All-Star material.

Stephen Curry - a 21 year old PG/SG that probably is one of the better gunners to come out of college basketball in a while that has shown a grittiness and maturity level that few gunners usually do. If he starts, he could put up Rookie of the Year numbers.

Anthony Morrow - a 23 year old undrafted free agent that surprised everyone last year and showed just an incredible three point shooting touch, 47% from three point land whiole throwing up 184 threes. In Nelson's system, he is a very dangerous commodity coming off the bench.

Anthony Randolph - a 20 year old SF/PF type that if he fills out will become an extremely imposing figure in the low post. He's got quickness, ups, skill, a knack for the ball, and length(a supposed 7'4" wingspan). He just completely tore up the Summer League and was invited to join the Team USA junior squad.

Kelenna Azubuike - a 25 year old SG/SF type that has done nothing but shown steady progress over the last three years and now is a scoring weapon with deep range and the ability to post up. The kid is a heck of an athlete and could be a long time starter for the Warriors.

Brandon Wright - a 20 year old built in the same mold as Randolph who's game is still a work in progress but who has shown in college that he has the stuff to be a difference making winner. I have always loved his game and think he could take a huge leap in the very near future.

C. J. Watson - a 25 year old back up slashing PG in the Bobby Jackson, Mo Williams mold of PGs.

That's seven very young, very inexperienced, very talented players on the roster and something has to give because the Warriors were a horrible team last year and that's with Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette, Jamal Crawford and Ronny Turiaf, all veterans and very good players in their own rights, making big contributions. Are they going to go with the youth movement? Are they going to realize that their vets have untradeable contracts and trade the youth? Are they going to continue to allow Nelson and his senile brand of basketball and decision making be the way they want to go forward? Are they going to keep 5 PGs on the roster without actually having a real PF on the roster?

Lots of questions surround this team and good GMs around the league should be ready to pounce to grab a championship completing veteran or a great prospect with lots of upside because, currently constituted, I don't see this team looking anything like its current roster come the trading deadline this year. Hope you're paying attention Danny!!