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Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 13, 2006 3:20:28 GMT -5
Who will be this year's surprise player? Ryan Gomes was arguably last season's surprise player--a guy who out of nowhere plays incredibly and forces Rivers to give him more playing time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2006 6:18:31 GMT -5
Either Green or Rondo have a shot.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Sept 13, 2006 14:22:10 GMT -5
Rondo or Powe .... Perk is going to be a force but that won't be a surprise...
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 13, 2006 17:21:11 GMT -5
Right, FL. I was thinking about omitting him from contention because it won't be a surprise if he gets 30 mpg.
Here's who I think it will be: Tony Allen. Yes, he plays at a position that has a lot of players already crowding the space for playing time. Pierce and Wally are in front of him, Delonte could be pressing Doc for playing time, and Gerald Green is looking to catch up ground fast.
But Tony Allen offers slick athleticism, and that is perfect for the uptempo game. Plus, he penetrates into the lane, which opens up plays for his teammates (which is why Doc likes him), and he plays really good defense. And above these things, Tony Allen makes things happen. He's an instigator.
IMO, Tony will be the one getting the most playing time off the bench this season among wing players.
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Post by eja117 on Sept 13, 2006 17:43:31 GMT -5
i will be surprised if Pitts starts a game or if he plays more than three years in the L.
If Powe gets starts I won't be surprised since Al is always hurt and Gomes is the Celtics and CG version of Rodney Dangerfield and Rudy combined. Cute, everybody laughs at him, a mascot, never gets what he deserves, biggest heart of anyone, keeps playing harder than everyone.
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Post by esco33 on Sept 14, 2006 21:45:40 GMT -5
Perk will have I believe the greatest increase in stats. Double actually, I think.
As for who will be the surprise player?
To the media, I would say Perk, because the media is so blind to anything not Kobe or LeBron.
For us true fans, I would say Gerald Green. I really expect him to get some minutes this year off the bench in a scoring type role when Pierce is out of the game. Kinda like when Ricky was here.
I can honestly see Gerald averaging 12-15 points a game this year off the bench.
Now, his defense and B-ball IQ will still be a work in progress, but the kid is a natural scorer and can pretty much get his shot off against anyone, whether shooting a jumper over the top of them, posting them up, or slashing to the basket.
I think Gerald will be a star in the league someday.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 14, 2006 21:55:26 GMT -5
Good call, Esco. I was thinking long and hard about Green's potential to be the surprise player. Like you mention, he has natural scoring ability, and he may come out of the blocks with guns blazing. He coulld be that instant scorer off the bench that Ricky was for us (which proved to be a valuable weapon).
With his feathery touch, quick leaping ability, and aggresive mentality, he may cause defenses to think twice about doubling up on Pierce.
Hmmm.... you've got me thinking now.
Nah, I will stick with my initial call, Tony Allen.
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Post by esco33 on Sept 14, 2006 22:04:05 GMT -5
Nah, I will stick with my initial call, Tony Allen. Something tells me that Green's emergence will force Allen to be traded to clean up our glut of talented 2's and 3's. I love Tony Allen's toughness, athleticism and his defense. He's just had a bad string of events with his knee, his accused involvement in the shooting, I think the guys that stay will be Delonte and Gerald probably playing the 2 along with Pierce and with Telfair and Rondo eventually playing most of the time at PG, and Wally, Gomes, and Pierce also at times playing the 3. Maybe there will be movement regarding this after this year though. Now is too soon, but I just think that Gerald just has too much talent to share that much time with another 2 guard. I don't like to think that our players will be traded, but I am just judging by DA's comments too saying that we just have too many young guys to all develop and not enough playing time for all of them to go around. Something will eventually give. I really believe that this year will almost be like a "training camp year" to see who sticks and who goes. Then again, DM you could be right. Maybe TA will be the surprise player. He's definitely more seasoned than Gerald, with TA being a 4 year successful college player and Gerald leaping to the NBA straight outta high school.
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Post by Roadrunner on Sept 14, 2006 22:22:55 GMT -5
Green will be the 'surprise' player. Has alot of potential. Not afraid to take his shots.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 15, 2006 1:01:33 GMT -5
I have no doubt that Gerald has more talent than Tony Allen (though its currently undeveloped). But whenever Tony's on the court, good things happen and that's part of the reason why I like the guy.
You are right; Ainge will probably make a move to relieve some of the overcrowdedness at the wings. Remember last year, after making the move with Minnesota, Ainge said that Doc was having a hard time figuring out whom to play. He had Ryan Gomes and Justin Reed vying for backup playing time and both guys needed playing time to develop. So he made the decision to hold onto the guy whom he thought was going to be better in the long run and let Reed go, even though he liked Reed. Plus, he needed to put Reed in the deal in order to get Dwayne Jones.
There is really no point in holding onto so many wing players, especially when we have a couple who could turn out to be amazing players. We have Pierce, Wally, Delonte, Allen, Green, and even Allan Ray possibly being in the mix.
IMO, down the line, it won't be any young player who is sent packing. It will be Wally. We are trying to go quick and athletic, but we have two incumbents who are neither of those (Pierce and Wally). Pierce is locked down for the next 5 years and he is the better of the two. Gerald is going to make his way into the starting rotation in a couple of years (once he establishes himself as an impact 6th man), and when he does, Wally will need to be moved anyways.
Between Wally and Tony Allen, if you look at what Ainge and Rivers are trying to accomplish here, its a better bet that Allen stays. He plays exceptional defense, is very athletic, is a perfect compliment in the uptempo style, and he can creates plays for himself. Wally is 5 years older and not nearly as versatile.
Green will be the 'surprise' player. Has alot of potential. Not afraid to take his shots.
That's what I like about Gerald too, RR. He's got confidence in his scoring abilities.
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Post by freshnthehouse on Sept 15, 2006 1:18:20 GMT -5
If Powe or Allen Ray become regular contributors, Id def consider that a nice suprise. The downside would be that there must be a lot of injuries if these guys are getting heavy minutes.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 15, 2006 1:25:10 GMT -5
If Allan Ray is getting a lot of playing time, it'll either mean that he's a Rookie of the Year candidate or injuries have taken out our young wing players.
If Ray and Powe get passed the cut (which I'm sure they will), they will probably see time in the D-League. We just have no playing time to give them.
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Post by BCHISTORIAN on Sept 15, 2006 11:41:58 GMT -5
tony will surprise us with the fact that instead of him delonte will be traded. and that's because tony will be superior player the celts decide to keep him
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 15, 2006 12:49:59 GMT -5
tony will surprise us with the fact that instead of him delonte will be traded. and that's because tony will be superior player the celts decide to keep him
This is something that has been in the back of my mind for awhile now, BC.
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Post by eja117 on Sept 15, 2006 19:05:50 GMT -5
Part of me thinks Delonte is better cause he can do more things. Part of me thinks TA is better cause he plays better D. The tie breaker is that Tony had a more serious injury and legal issues. i remember the other legal issue guy we had was Oriene Greene and he's not around now. Delonte is another Gomes. It doesn't matter what he does. He doesn't fit into a nice box for the writers and fans that have never played the sport so there is nothing good enough he will ever be able to do. Delonte and Gomes would have been better centers than Raef or Blount. Why? Cause they are better players. Basketball players to be a little more specific. They both get these weird and vague criticisms like "he's a tweener" or "he's not a true point guard". I guess they're quarterbacks or something.
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