Summer Forecast: Which Celtics rookie will have the biggest impact?
Doc Rivers never plays rookies. As a rookie in 2006-2007, even Rondo had to pay his dues, playing behind Sebastian Telfair for almost half the season. And that was on a 31-51 Boston Celtics team. So when Chris Forsberg asked the Celtics bloggers of the ESPN Boston Summer Forecast which Boston celtics rookie will have the biggest impact this season, we were understandably skeptical that ANY rookie would have an impact:The question seemed innocent enough: Which of Boston’s rookies will have the biggest impact next season? Our acerbic-tongued panel of Celtics bloggers wasted little time pouncing on the query.
“Impact may be a strong word considering the coach of this team and his track record for splintering the hindquarters of his freshmen class with pine needles,” quipped Justin Poulin of Celtics Stuff Live.
Nick Gelso of North Station Sports added, “The rookies will all have a big impact — in the D-League!”
For my part, I added:
Tommy King, Celtics Town (No rookie impact)
None of the rookies will have an impact next season. Rivers is notorious for not playing rookies and, on a veteran-laden team pushing for a championship, these guys have very little chance of cracking the rotation.
Yet, despite the depth of this veteran team, some bloggers felt either Avery Bradley, or Luke Harangody would have a positive impact. Of the 18 panelists, nine voted for Bradley, six voted no rookie would have an impact, and three voted for Harangody. For the explanations from the panelists, and to read the entire article, click here.
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Celtics Blog | Tommy King | September 1, 2010
Avery Bradley, chris forsberg, espn boston, Luke Harangody, Semih Erden
Actually as much as I would normally agree with this due to Doc’s nature of not playing rookies, I believe ALL of them will have an impact! Albeit not a huge one but an impact nonetheless.
Bradley will see more court time due to his defense. I see him getting minutes as a stopper while perhaps being in some kind of small ball speed lineup with Rondo, Bradley, VW, BBD, KG to run the floor.
As for Harangoddy, it will depend on whether they get another SF, and how well he can play D. He will take over Scal’s minutes, and likely get some additional minutes due to the almost certain injury to Quis.
Erden will depend upon the rest of his FIBA performance. I was not too enthusiastic about him until seeing him in the tournament. His stat line has been pretty impressive, and he may be used to matchup with some of the quicker bigs if foul trouble comes for the C’s. I could see him matching up well with a player like Horford or Noah as a young energetic big man off the bench for 10-12 mins.
He’s got good footwork, soft touch, reasonably good D, and nice athleticism for a big. If he regresses in some way then I see the D league for him, but being in Europe may provide a more polished game than Bradley at this point, though I think Bradleys D will get him the minutes to show what he’s got.
These rookies seem to have a different feel than the ones in the past.
They seem to be targeted to fill a specific role vs. looking for talent. If Bradley is the type of otherworldly defender he is toted to be, then I say he get’s the most minutes. But injuries could have more to say about this than Doc himself.
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Bradley should play because of his defense but the lame West signing today probably negates any chance he’ll get to show his ability as the Cs are apparently in love with West. God knows why? Go Cs…
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