Merry Christmas

Aloha,

Merry Christmas everyone. Santa certainly delivered a lump of coal with the Vincent news. First and foremost he was brought in for his defense and toughness. He would have been the designated defender for the small, quick point guards in the league. Recovery time for his surgery is 6 to 8 weeks. I’m not sure if that includes ramp up time or not. If it doesn’t, it could mean that we don’t see Vincent again until March.

It seems that Santa has been deliver coal to us all season long, with all the injuries. It makes one wonder if Santa has stock in a coal mine. While we finally have all our other guys back, it doesn’t mean we are back as a team. Availability and truly back are not the same things. The revolving line ups have robbed us of the continuity and chemistry that a team needs to play at a high level. It will take more time for players to settle into their roles.

Vincents injuries has other ramifications beyond his availability. If you were looking to use Vincent as a trade chip, that knee injury, coupled with two more years on his contract, will make trading him, problematic at best. It also narrows the kind of trade one can make using DLO. You almost have to bring back a quality PG. Not seeing those so far on the market.

But it’s not all bad news. The last two games have given me hope that we can turn this around. Against OKC our offense was clicking and our defense did enough against a quality team. I hear repeatedly that this team needs to trade for a 3 point shooter. We have 3 point shooters. LeBron 41%, Rui, 40%, Prince after a slow start 39%, Dlo 38% and Austin after a slow start is now almost 37%. In this last game Lebron was 5/5, Rui 3/5, DLo 3/6 Prince and Austin each went 2/5. That’s how a Lebron run offense looks. On a Lebron led to the ball finds the open man. It’s more important to have several guys around him that can hit a 3 than one volume shooter. While I believe we need to shoot more 3’s, the team needs to work at creating more 3 point looks. A trade does nothing if it doesn’t. I have heard bloggers call for a Bojan for Rui trade. Why in the world would you do that. Bojan is 34, a poor rebounder 2.7 in 32 minutes, Rui gets 4 in 24 minutes. Rui is a pretty good defender, Bojan is not. And Rui at 40% from 3 is about the same as Bojan. Instead of trading Rui, maybe run actions to get him or any of our other shooters more 3 point shots.

I believe internal improvements will be the key for this team. We just do not have the trade assets to compete with teams like Thunder, the Knicks and the Pacers who are all sitting on piles of draft capital and young players im hoping guys like Cam can find his shot again. maybe wood can as well. Give Rui more minutes. A pie in the shy trade isn’t going to happen. Maybe something small, I dot see anything major happening. Hopefully we can stay healthy long enough to jell as a unit. Only then will we truly know what we need.

Best the Celtics!