Little Wing?

Did you miss me?  Sorry for the extended hiatus once again, but I was busy being cooped up in a metal box for days on end, plus I had to go ahead and lose all of my money to various undeserving casinos and their patrons, so I've had no time to reflect on the world of sports.  Many of you are probably expecting to read (or at least skim) some bitter, semi incoherent rambling post about Tom Brady's left knee and the dirty Chiefs and the especially classless fans of the NFL who actually had the gall to celebrate and commemorate a horrific injury to the league's best player, but I've gotta leave something for Simmons to do, so that will not be a part of my post today.  Instead, I'm going to hide from my problems inside the twisted world of the NBA, where my beloved Boston Celtics are still champions, and my mistresses, the Portland Trailblazers are looking better than ever and are brimming with talent and potential.

I just read a report today stating that Sam Cassell intends to return to the Celtics to play one more year before becoming an assistant coach for the team.  That comes as news to me (and just about everybody else), and almost seems too presumptuous of the human gun aka the crystal skull (happy yet, Tyler?) aka Sam I am to assume, especially after his stink fest in the playoffs last June.  Ultimately we won, so it doesn't matter, but Sam seems so sure that he's part of the plan, I'm beginning to suspect that he put some LSD in Danny Ainge's drinking water and told him that he'd have the Queen of Hearts decapitate him unless Ainge agreed to bring back Cassell for one more tour of championship bandwagonnery (apologies to basketbawful for jacking his term, but imitation is the highest form of flattery, you know).

Regardless of the truthfulness of this report, it did get me thinking about next year's NBA season and the future of the still reigning champion Boston Celtics (this will never get old, and if you don't believe me, just keep reading throughout the year and take a shot every time I drop the championship accolades, by the second half of my opening night post, you'll be drunk, I promise).  The Celtics have made some minor moves this off-season, notably resigning Tony Allen to a modest deal (a great move for the money, as long as he doesn't have to handle the ball EVER) and adding the young and underplayed Patrick O'Bryant to shore up the front line after the crushing loss of Scott Pollard (does the sarcasm come through the html script, I hope so...) and the retirement of PJ Brown.

I've done nothing but bemoan the loss of James Posey since it happened, and I still hold firm that Darius Miles, despite his status as a no risk-high reward signing, is not an adequate replacement for the quintessential unselfish glue guy (two phrases that have only been mentioned in conjunction with Miles to describe things he is NOT).  Needless to say, the Celtics are paper thin at the wing, lacking a bench player with enough size to guard legitimate NBA small forwards and still be quick enough and enough of a perimeter threat to hang with the quicker, smaller 3s that are everywhere in the NBA these days.  Posey did all of those things, as well as provide championship level experience, reliable outside shooting, rebounding, and tough as nails defense.  The lowest common denominator for the Celtics wings this year would be having a few reliable bodies to eat up minutes (and fouls) while Paul Pierce is on the bench and resting.  At this point, they don't even have this locked down yet, which scares the living crap out of me more than the thought of having to watch another Manning championship run.

But it's not all bad for the Celtics, because, lest we forget, the Celtics play in the Eastern Conference!  And it gets better, for the Celtics play in arguably the worst division of all of Professional basketball, housing the Knicks, Nets, Raptors and 76ers.  Not all of these teams are terrible (just two of them are!), however even the Raptors and 76ers aren't as good as the formidable Boston 3-Party of Garnett, Allen and Pierce.  Don't get me wrong, both Toronto and Philadelphia have great squads that are potential Conference contenders, however both teams are untested and seem flawed in several key areas.

Curious?  Well, even if you aren't, allow me to explain (I'll pause here for the collective groan of my tremendous readership).  Toronto swapped TJ Ford for Jermaine O'Neal in a rare mutually beneficial NBA trade that seems to finally have addressed their lack of size, rebounding and interior defense with O'Neal.  If he can return to his preinjury form, he will anchor the Raptors and turn them into one of the toughest, fiercest and scariest teams in the entire NBA, East or West.  But that's a pretty big if.  It's been years since Jermaine O'Neal has played a healthy season at a peak level, and it's hard to see him coming back so strong so quickly.  But in the NBA, you never know (remember how Shaq couldn't move in Miami and then miraculously healed well enough to catch alley-oops from Steve Nash?).

Additionally, to get Jermaine O'Neal, the Raps had to jettison starting point guard TJ Ford, who despite his own slew of injury problems (he's broken his back how many times!?!?), did give Toronto depth at the point guard position.  Now all they have is José Caldéron, an emerging star and one of the best point guards in the Association, but nobody else to back him up and eat up valuable minutes.  Furthermore, the Raptors are still a bit suspect on the wing, having only a mishmash of players who are one-dimensional or incomplete, not to mention Darko 2.0 Andrea Bargnani filling out the front court rotation.  As an up and coming team, the Raptors are intriguing and sexy, but i still see plenty of problems that could hamper them down the road this year.

The Philadelphia 76ers, to me, seem to be in the same place as the Raptors.  They are in slightly better shape than Toronto, as they were able to fill a big hole by signing Elton Brand without having to give up a valuable piece of the puzzle in return.  Adding Brand is absolutely huge, as it gives Philly a reliable low post scorer, rebounding, defense and toughness, provided Brand's achilles shows no signs of lingering damage.  Brand is a seasoned veteran who should also provide leadership to what is still a very young team.

As with Toronto, however, Philadelphia is thin in certain areas and could struggle to find reliable scoring options outside of Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand.  Signing the likes of Theo Ratliff and Donyell Marshall does not a second unit make, and I think that up and coming stud Thaddeus Young will struggle this year at small forward, a position that is appropriate for his size, but not necessarily for his skill set.  I'll be interested to see whether or not Young can transition well to a new position, or whether he will get lost in the shuffle in Elton Brand's shadow.

Another issue I see with Philadelphia's line up is the lack of outside shooting on their roster.  Andre Miller's touch from the perimeter is reminiscent of my own, and you can't say much more for Young, Iguodala, Willie Green, Louis Williams or even Donyell Marshall.  Even with the addition of Kareem Rush (who has a slew of problems in his own right), Philadelphia's 3-point shooting will not be pretty next year (about as ugly as Ray's blackjack game).  If they can't stretch the floor, then opposing defenses will swarm Brand, Young, or anyone else who tries to score on the interior and the 76ers offense could stagnate completely.

Throughout the rest of the East, you can find similarly intriguing yet flawed teams.  The Wizards still don't rebound, defend or stay healthy enough to truly compete, and their core hasn't proven that they can win a playoff series together.  Orlando is still young, razor thin at the point, and lacking a true power forward to compliment Dwight Howard.  What about the Pistons?  They still have the same group of guys that haven't been able to get over the top for several years, and it appears as though the rest of the NBA has surpassed them.  As for the cavaliers, they scare me more than anyone else in the East, especially after adding Mo Williams to provide another reliable offensive weapon next to King James, but they too still appear to be a step or two away from being a championship level team.  

Despite the loss of Posey and the other lateral moves that the Celtics have made this off-season, I still like them to come out of the East this year, providing that Mike Brown doesn't send Sasha Pavlovic to take out Kevin Garnett's knee (still bitter about that Chiefs game, eh?).  Even without Posey, the Celtics will still defend, make the extra pass, and have three first rate scoring options to get a big bucket down the stretch.  All of those things, combined with another year of playing together to get even more comfortable with each other's styles, should make the Celtics the favorites to win the East, despite some of the earth shaking moves made by other teams in the Conference.  

There is still a ways to go before training camp and the preseason starts, so for now this is all still speculation.  I can only hope that the cooperation and sacrifice that carried a title hungry Celtics squad to glory last season will still be driving and motivating them this year.  Without Posey, I'm unsure if the Celtics can truly contend for the NBA championship, however they should still be in the mix for the Eastern Conference title.  And hey, you never know, Darius Miles could turn into a great find and become a true team player who is the glue that holds the ubuntu together (trying not to crack up here), or the Crystal Skull aka Sam Cassell could actually contribute this time around.  With a new season, hope springs eternal and a new era is dawning in Boston.  I can't wait for the NBA preseason to start, at least then I'll have something to distract me from the woes of the NFL and some more residual championship glory to bask in and relive.  The NBA: where hiding from your problems happens.