The Celtics' Secret Weapon

I know what you are all thinking. You all clicked on a link somewhere with the title “The Celtics’ Secret Weapon” thinking… “Holy crap, this is it… this is the answer I have been looking for”…

Well it is… kinda.

I have one question for the Boston Celtics that could potentially solve everything. It is a question that they are all too familiar with and they have put themselves into the situtation, and I am not talking about Scalabrine’s abs.

Right now, the Celtics have “The Big 3″, arguably the most talented point guard in the game today, an able-bodied center, Uno-Uno, TA, the Tan Man, ‘Quise, Mr. ‘Ball Don’t Lie’, Krypto-Nate, @sheldenwilliams, and some guy named Marcus Landry (who if, according to ESPNBoston’s Chris Forsberg, you google “Marcus Landry wiki,” the first result is his brother’s Wikipedia page… popular dude).

Go ahead and take a minute to count that roster…

No, seriously, count it out.

Ok, it’s 13.

13 men on the current roster. Yes, this is a team that normally doesn’t need a full 15 man roster to keep it going but I think at this stage in the game… they need to.

I recently participated in a chat with Chris Forsberg and had to finally get the question out there:

To be honest, I have no idea what the Celtics thoughts are right now. Yes, a 10-day signing could be proven useless knowing the way that Doc uses his bench. Poor Shelden Williams barely gets playing time while a guy like Rondo played the full 48 minutes last night.

But in the long run, there may be no other team in the NBA that needs to have a body in each of those seats on the bench, and no, Glen Davis’ XXXL shorts do not count him as two.

The Celtics need to figure something out to get bodies in those seats for numerous reasons which are not just situational, these are reasons we have already seen this season:

• If the Celtics are up or down by a wide margin in the fourth quarter, they have to play their immediate back-ups, if not mixed with starters, when they could be giving those guys rest. Watch, it will only get worse in March which is highlighted by a week of five games in seven days.
• Lets assume that KG, Pierce, Big Baby, and Marquise Daniels all got injured at the same time (weren’t they?), that leaves you now, with 9 players. Unfortunately, that group includes Tony Allen… so 8. That’s an exhausting stretch of games.
• In recent years, the Celtics have moved to this “bring in the veterans” society to win now. I am all for that and a big believer that Championships right now equal $$. But what do the Celtics do as they head into next season? With Ray Allen either taking a pathetic deal or leaving, not to mention TA, Shelden, Scal, and others also becoming free agents, and KG being questionable every day on his 4 million mile knees, this team is going to be looking at a whole new roster next year. Gotta start building up a base.
• The Celtics main issue throughout the majority of the season has been fizzling out in the second half. Clearly an issue of exhaustion. Fresh legs and a spark off the bench take care of that every time.
• Also does not help the team, at any point in the game, when there is no true backup point guard. One general on the floor is a must at all times and assuming Rondo isn’t Superman is a wager I would take to the bank.
• I don’t think you need more.

So the Celtics “secret weapon” is exactly the thing that they “don’t have”. Danny needs to figure something out and quick. He has two open roster spots and there are names and faces all over basketball still available. I am still in favor of getting Tyronn Lue out of the suit on the sidelines and into the green, if only to play the part of Sam Cassell circa 2008.

Danny, if you are reading, and for some reason I have a feeling that you are not, put bodies in those last two seats. By losing Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens (truely Eddie House was not the biggest loss here as Nate is an equalizer for him), whether fans realize it or not, you have put this team into serious jeopardy and probably even further pushed the hobbling Celtics even closer to a catastrophic collapse.