Can Danny?

With the new year upon us, it is time to take stock of where the Celtics are and how we look for the future. The present is obviously not a rosy one and it's time to figure out what exactly we have (or at least, try to figure it out as best we can since so many of our players are young and still living off of their "potential"). The Star: Paul Pierce is the Celtics. That fact has become painfully obvious since his injury. Also painfully obvious is the fact that stars on their second max contract don't seem to be getting the great offers that one would hope for so dealing Pierce may be out of the question. One red flag for me is the fact that Pierce the Ironman is now getting dinged up more often. Last season's elbow issue and now his foot problem might be nothing but odds are that a warrior like Pierce might just be breaking down as he reaches his 30's. While I've been a proponent of dumping Pierce for youth, right now I think that we simply won't get enough to make it worthwhile. We'll be essentially putting all of our hope in the lottery, which is a shaky proposition. Odds are we'd probably be looking at two to three years of terrible basketball before we are close to righting the ship. And that's if we draft well. I think it is time to build around Paul Pierce and get him the help that he needs today.

The Point: While there may be hope for Rajon Rondo, this is our most glaring weakness, a depressing fact seeing as we supposedly dealt with this issue in the offseason. Sebastian Telfair is, at best, a backup point guard who doesn't seem capable of running an offense, let alone making players around him better. Delonte West isn't a pure point guard but could be a nice backup. Who knows what Rondo can give us but I think his lack of a shot is problematic. If our offense is going to revolve around Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson, then our PG needs to be able to hit kick out three pointers. That's not Rajon's game. Odds are that Rondo will be a solid backup, giving us a nice duo of West and Rondo off the pine, but he isn't the PG of the future IMO. Danny Ainge has to address the point guard issue before anything else can happen.

The Post: Big Al Jefferson is the starting center of the future for the Boston Celtics. Unless we get Greg Oden or another center falls in our lap, I think Big Al is likely the man in the middle. And if that is how it is going to play out, then Ryan Gomes becomes a backup PF and we need to acquire a inside/outside player to handle the 4. Someone like AK47 would be ideal. Perkins and Gomes are a good enough backup duo although another banger who can defend quicker PF's would be nice to have as an option off the bench.

The Swingmen: The most difficult decision is what to do with Gerald Green. Personally, I think he is going to be a pure scorer who adds little else to the game. I'm just not sure if that's what we need alongside Pierce. If we can get a good fit at the point or the PF spot by dealing Green, I think we have to. Wally is a nice weapon to have come off the bench but I'm not sure how happy he'd be about that and with cheap owners, we can't really afford to have a big contract on our 6th man. Tony Allen is solid and could be a nice guy to have coming off the pine but he still is a bit too out of control for my taste. In the end, this spot will be the last one for us to fill as what we need here depends on what we get at the point and the 4. But one thing that I think is a must is that the guy we get needs to be able to play defense. Our defense is laughable and we need at least one guy that we can stick on the opposing scorer to give us a fighting chance.

So right now, I think we have our starting C, two of our backup big men, our captain/superstar, and a couple of backup PG's. That's a lot of holes to have after three and a half years of rebuilding.