Leon Powe interested in a Celtics return
Though still shocked and stunned by the Celtics’ trade, the “Leon Powe might return” news at least brings a smile to my face.
Okay, no it doesn’t. Powe has stunk since he left the Celtics, and I’m pretty sure his knees are worse than Brandon Roy’s at this point. Even though I love Powe, I don’t see how he’d help the Celtics at all. But, hey? Who knows?! At least he’s interested in returning. (CSNNE)
While Powe is exploring all of his options as a free agent, he would be open to returning to the C’s.
“I’ll be happy wherever I end up, but Boston is always holding a special place in my heart,” Powe told CSNNE.com on Thursday evening. “The fans were so good to me, everybody up there was so nice, and it would be a great thing to return back to the Celtics if I could.”
David Aldridge believes Powe will end up in Boston, because “no one is [a] bigger fan than Doc Rivers.”
I repeat, I love Powe. I really do. One of my first Celtics pieces ever completely tore apart the C’s regime for letting Powe go after he got hurt. Just seemed like a truly heartless thing to do, and I hated that move for exposing the NBA’s cold business side. But if Powe doesn’t help the Celtics now — and he doesn’t, unless he still has all his old talents but two different Cleveland Cavaliers coaches just didn’t want them — it hardly lessens the blow of losing Perk.
Even if Powe IS entirely healthy and his knees somehow are made of something more than rubber at this point and he’s somehow ready to step right into Boston’s rotation, the Murphy/Powe tandem doesn’t exactly satisfy me. Because that still means Boston’s relying on the O’Neal brothers’ health to win a championship. A thought that doesn’t at all help me fall asleep at night.
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Celtics Blog | Jay King | February 25, 2011
Folks who are praising this deal, including Doc, are invariably relying on one crucial thought – that Shaq will be back, will be healthy, will rock. But Shaq hasn’t been healthy for most of this season. If Perk hadn’t come back when he did, we would have been in a much bigger mess than we were over the last several weeks, because Shaq – who, let’s not forget, had been in and out all season – seemed to take a definitive turn for the worse. Shaq gave us more than we could have hoped for during much of the early part of this season. We brought him here to be a stopgap/sub, after all, and there were times when we wondered if Kendrick could get his job back from Shaq! We loved the fact that Shaq not only gave us a lot of raw power in the paint, but also gave Rondo a fantastic passing target. There were times when Shaq and Rondo together could virtually guarantee us a first quarter lead, by themselves.
But relying on Shaq right now is just nuts. I don’t care if Ainge were Red Auerbach, Vince Lombardi and Bill Belicheck rolled into one, it’s still a TERRIBLE idea on the face of it.
A second line of argument is that Perkins was not going to re-sign, so Danny had to try to get something for him. Ok, but you don’t do that in the middle of a very real championship hunt, even if you think, as I do, that this team had peaked and was probably headed for a big slide. I’m reminded of that famous move the Buffalo Bills made a decade ago, when they switched quarterbacks – from Flutie to Johnson – on the eve of the playoffs. I think it’s pretty well accepted, for very good reason, that when you are headed into the playoffs with a real chance to win, you don’t suddenly pull a big switcheroo. You go with the ones that brought you. You might tinker a little. If someone offers you a crazy deal you can’t refuse, like Danny did to OKC, maybe you grab it, before the person who made the offer comes down from their too-much-coffee-and-not-enough-sleep high. But you don’t suddenly revamp your team. This isn’t athletic ‘rocket science’. It’s just so basic and obvious a principle.
Doc gave possibly the best explanation on WEEI. He said that this trade allowed them to go to what appears to have been his favorite lineup for late in games, with Garnett at center and Powe (then), Green (now) at power forward. I have to admit, that starts to sound like an explanation that one can buy into. That could give us a faster, more athletic FINISHING five, with more offensive firepower. But even THAT explanation does not cut the mustard. Doc too had to start off his dissertation on trade-ology by asserting that Shaq would be our anchor – and that the new combover guy is, you know, pretty darn good. He has to know how shaky that proposition really is. Perk was our anchor. Shaq was insurance. If the new guy was that darn good, OKC would not have made the trade. His tough-guy resume seems to hinge on him throwing a chair at somebody. That’s being a thug, not being tough. Sadly, it seems that Doc is being a good company guy, trying to sell the lemon he’s been handed to sell.
The guys on the Celtics’ site last night were also trying hard to sell the new deal. They claimed that we badly needed a backup 3 to cover Lebron and such, which we obviously do, and that Green is a defensive stalwart. Ok, sure, if we could have gotten Green without giving up Perkins, that would have been a killer deal to make. I love the idea of adding Green. He gives us a backup 3 and versatility between 3 and 4, and increased athleticism and firepower. I LOVE the idea of him coming back to the Cs. But the problem all along was that to get someone who could give us the pieces we felt like we needed, we had to give up too much.
Come on, people. What Ainge did yesterday is exactly what it looks like and smells like. He got caught up in the trading frenzy that has been going on, and he got caught up in the panic caused by the way other teams in the East have been adding superstars, and by the way injuries have been hacking away at the Cs, and by the way the bench has failed to live up to hopes, and by the long offensive lapses and the way the team seems to not show up for games … he panicked over the same things we panic over, only we don’t have the trade button at our fingertips. Danny, unfortunately, did. Of course he won’t say this, but don’t doubt that he has a terrible trade hangover this morning. None of the trades Ainge made yesterday really made much sense, except maybe moving Marquis to the Kings. Ainge was obviously intent on moving a lot of bodies and was willing to make bad deals to do it. Basically it boiled down to Perkins for Green and a whole lot of camouflage.
Well, maybe this will all work out. Green may turn out to be just what we needed, and Shaq may finish the year strong, and the veteran signups may add key pieces. Maybe this team will struggle for a while, but then pick up steam and head into the playoffs on a roll and bring us number 18. I hope so. But even that happens, it’s gonna take a little while to get over the bad feeling of losing Perkins. But more likely, Celtics fans will be ruing this day for a while to come. Has any GM ever wrecked a team in the heat of a championship hunt like this? I’m sure it’s happened, but I can’t remember it.
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Paul…your emotions are getting the best of you. I generally love your analysis posts but your emotions are 90% of your post until reality hits in your last PP. DA knows how Shaq and JO are doing, we all do not. That factored into his thinking. Again, KP was not the anchor of the defense. KG is. KP was very marginal on offense. Shaq was averaging 9 pts in 1/2 the time per game and is a much better passer. We just added a very good, young, athletic player (that DA drafted so obviously he loves his game and sees the fit) to a terribly weak offensive and rebounding challenged bench. Green can also guard the wings and give PP and RA some much needed rest. The core 4 players are still all starting and when healthy I believe you will come to love this group and what they add to the sdrive for banner #18. As far as Leon is concerned, I am all for it if he’s in good health. He did not get time in Cleveland becasue they were dumb not to use him. DA did not wreck the Celtics yesterday and that will be proven or I will eat my words. Everyone should have some faith! Go Cs…
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One question for you guys… game 7 finals last year, up by 13 and Jeff Green coming off the bench, do we have the scoring to win that game? This trade may stop those scoring droughts we go through? We are still a great defensive team but now we are so much better on offense
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FA… KG wasn’t himself like he is this year (only 3 rebs in that game) and yes Green would have helped Kobe not get 15 rebs and add some more scoring off the bench. I just like the fact that we upgraded the 2011 opening line-up that has us in 1st place. Our bench is better and it’s younger and more athletic until Murphy comes hopefully but he’ll be an asset, too. Go Cs…oh and f*** the Laker refs the real culprits in the last 3 games but I want to forget that.
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