Back in my day, teams used to go out and get players expressly for
dealing with the opposition. The Celtics went out and got Dennis
Johnson to deal with Andrew Toney.
So I'd like to think about dealing with the opposition: the teams the
Celtics have to beat to get to the playoffs (One step at a time,
ok?). And I'm proposing that other people here pick a team and write
a post about the matchups. Contrast and Compare. So please, join in,
it would be great to have some scouting reports (plus we could argue
over them).
I'm going to look at Celtics vs. Bulls.
The Bulls are a difficult matchup for the Celtics because they have
tough defenders to cover the C's scorers: Wallace for Jefferson, Deng
for Pierce. Likewise now they have Hinrich for Allen, so the trade
does not buy us much in this situation.
We lose West, who I would rather have defending Hinrich or Gordon than
Allen. So now I really don't like the trade in terms of helping us
defeat the Bulls.
I'm not sure what Rondo does here. But he's obviously penciled in for
38+ min a game. And he's going to need some help, but I don't know
from whom. I'm not crazy about Telfair or (assuming he's still
available) Brevin Knight playing much in a game like this.
So the prognosis: I don't think the Celtics have closed the gap at all
between them and one of the better teams.
>> Stay informed about: The opposition -- 1st of a series?