# Do we have ourselves a new starter?



## LamarButler (Apr 16, 2005)

The big theme as of late is how good Shaq has been for us.

He's averaging 12 and 7 on 70% shooting, in only 23 minutes. His stats don't tell the whole story either -- he gives the starting lineup a 5th very good offensive threat, and allows us to get ahead in every 1st quarter. He creates spacing for drives by drawing his defender towards him. This allows Rondo to run freely and Pierce to have open driving lanes. His post presence gives Ray, Pierce and KG all room to hit outside shots. He's also the finisher we've never had. Any double team on any one of the Big 4 seems to result in a dunk for Shaq. Plus, he's a guy you can throw the ball into and hope he creates a shot. And a lot of the time he draws a foul, which helps get the other team in the penalty early. 

Bottom line is, he makes other starter better. The offense is a beauty to watch, and its effectiveness almost always puts us on top at the end of the 1st quarter. I know we've had the same starters for 3 years, but these benefits make it a must that we start Shaq, regardless of how healthy Perk is. 

Perk can come off the bench, and allow the offensive minded bench players take the shots. Baby, Delonte, Nate and Pierce/Daniels will get the shots they need. Plus, he can strengthen the 2nd unit's defense as its surely not as strong as the 1st unit's. Plus, Shaq gets the benefits of playing with better defenders who can deal with fighting through picks alone.

It'll be good for when we play the Lakers too, as it'll be Shaq v Bynum, then Perk vs Pau once the subs come in.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

I'm not someone who feels that Perk NEEDS to be the starter when he gets back because he's been the starter the last few years, but I don't think it's going to matter too much who's in at tip-off. Assuming everyone's healthy some playoff time (and that's a pretty major assumption) I think we may see Shaq and Perk each playing 20ish minutes per game with Jermaine picking up the remaining 8-10 minutes with Semih squeezed out of the rotation. Such are the hazards of relying on the oldest player in the league and two guys with bad knees to hold down the middle.


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## VT Cats Fan (Mar 23, 2009)

Shaq has definitely been playing well, and the Celtics are a much better team with him, but the 5 best players don't always start the games. I think a better indication is who are the 5 guys on the floor when the game is on the line. Not that Baby is a better player than Shaq, but given Shaq's conditioning (age), he's probably not going to be the guy on the floor too much at the end of the game. With Perk out, that's been Baby's role. I'm exicted to see the possibilities when Perk comes back. He is a very solid defender and gives us 6 more fouls to use against bigs.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Given how well Davis has played this year, and the fact that he's normally a good free throw shooter, you're going to see a lot of him in game closing situations. I think you're going to see Boston use Shaq just as they have so far, to start the game to help Boston get the early lead, with the bench in the second and fourth quarters to help maintain leads (by giving the guards a reliable post option) and to start the third quarter.


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## UNHFan (May 14, 2005)

I have been very impressed of the improvements Glen Davis has made this season! Not a bad option as a starter and a great pick up by Danny!


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

I wouldn't give Danny too much credit, Shaq landed here mostly because Atlanta insulted him by asking him to take the minimum when they had their full MLE available. He wasn't going back to Miami or LA, Orlando made the least sense in the league, and bad teams weren't going to throw money at him. Boston just happened to be the only viable option where he could both log significant minutes at center and contend for a championship. In fact, Danny made the decision that throwing the MLE at Jermaine was a better option than going after Shaq, and we've seen how that's worked out in admittedly limited returns.


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## edabomb (Feb 12, 2005)

Bogg said:


> I wouldn't give Danny too much credit, Shaq landed here mostly because Atlanta insulted him by asking him to take the minimum when they had their full MLE available. He wasn't going back to Miami or LA, Orlando made the least sense in the league, and bad teams weren't going to throw money at him. Boston just happened to be the only viable option where he could both log significant minutes at center and contend for a championship. In fact, Danny made the decision that throwing the MLE at Jermaine was a better option than going after Shaq, and we've seen how that's worked out in admittedly limited returns.


I actually see Jermaine being completely out of the rotation upon Perkin's return to health. Pretty bizarre how steep his decline has been, given he is only 32 and hardly played his first few years.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Semih snapped out of a funk tonight and put up a very solid performance against the Bulls. It looked like he was attacking the basket more and trying to finish with dunks instead of going to the glass for a layup. Hopefully this carries over to the NJ game on Sunday.


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## UNHFan (May 14, 2005)

No matter who starts or who comes off the bench we have a very deep basketball team! If we can stay healthy I can see us battling for number 18!


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## Pacers Fan (Aug 25, 2002)

Shaq is fitting in unbelievably well with the Celts. He's a more than willing passer, is efficient scoring on his touches, and is putting some serious dedication into defense and rebounding. I have never in my life seen Shaq hedge pick & rolls and guard guys 35 feet out.


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## StephenJackson (Oct 28, 2004)

Wow. How is the Celtics forum this dead?


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

It got murdered by a RealBM troll a few years ago and never recovered. We've become much quicker on the ban trigger since. (If I'd been in upper management then he'd've got the perma-ban treatment.) But the regular Celtics posters got driven away from here and to other boards.


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## StephenJackson (Oct 28, 2004)

E.H. Munro said:


> It got murdered by a RealBM troll a few years ago and never recovered. We've become much quicker on the ban trigger since. (If I'd been in upper management then he'd've got the perma-ban treatment.) But the regular Celtics posters got driven away from here and to other boards.


That really sucks. This forum should be one of the hottest on the site. If I was a celtics fan I would help try to get this hopping again. I'm gonna be busy trying to get the Pacers forum going again.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

It used to be really really busy. But then the BMer joined here in 2005 and turned every ****ing discussion into a debate over the merits of Antoine ****ing Walker, who was more than a year gone from the team by then. When they signed Captain B-Cup (Scalabrine) he treated us to long paeans to the intelligence and hard work of white players (leading me to suspect that he was BM's Darth Celtic in disguise). Then began a campaign to rid this particular board of some of its long time posters (like myself). I politely requested his banning several times before someone finally paid attention. But by then we'd lost more than half the posters. And then the S2 split happened and took a severe toll on the ones left.


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