The Weekend Greenie Bag - What Does Rozier's Play Mean For The Future?
Saturdays and the Weekend Greenie Bag a tradition unlike any other. Another solid week with a wide variety of topics to get to, and that’s possible only because you fine readers sent in your questions, your frustrations, your trades. All great stuff. As a reminder these fine people could be you, just tweet me something with #greeniebag or email greenieceltsbag@gmail.com
Having said that, a lot of submissions this week did not follow these simple rules. This may be a blog but we have rules. Without them this blog is going to spiral out of control. I’m going to allow it for this week only, but only because I’m a nice person.
Your questions…
In the East, absolutely. Now before you go calling me a homer and all that, simply look at the guards in the east. Right off the bat you think of Isaiah, Kyrie, DeRozen, Wall, Beal, Lowry, Kemba etc, and that’s only 7 people so yeah I’d say Avery is a top 10 guard in the East.
Of Avery’s start really only the rebounding truly stands out as a shock. His shooting and scoring has improved each year he’s been in the league, and while he may end up averaging less than 8 rebounds a game at the end of the year, he’s without a doubt improved that skill. At 26 he’s either at the very beginning or just about to start his prime, so I only see things getting better.
He’ll probably be an All NBA defender again this season, and the East isn’t necessarily loaded with that type of two way weapon.
James, you were not the only one who had this question after Rozier’s great showing in Orlando on Wednesday. The honest answer is there is no way to know yet if he could be, or should be, or will be. He’s played 23 games into this new role, and still has a LONG way to go before we talk about potentially replacing Avery or Isaiah. We also don’t know that if he keeps playing well, that someone won’t want him as part of a package for a future deal, and if that’s the case I imagine Danny pulls the trigger.
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But at the same time, he’s shown flashes, and those flashes make you think. Maybe it makes Smart more available, maybe they don’t resign Isaiah, who knows. We just witnessed a drastically different backcourt experience against TOR, so let’s all pump the breaks a little.
Yes. Especially if the Celtics have no plans on extending him.
Email:
I’m reading through your twitter beef right night over Isaiah and it blows my mind how much hate IT receives. What is it about him that people don’t respect? Is it just his height like I don’t get it… it is not like its his personality, he is a pretty genuine guy. Also what do you think it would take to silence the haters? Apparently becoming an all star then improving from last year isn’t enough to be an elite pg. Anyway all of us who understand the greatness that is in front of us appreciate your defense of Da Gawd.
-Henry proud IT fan
Henry, I’m with you. Look I’m not saying Isaiah is the perfect player, he has his flaws just like 99% of NBA basketball players. What’s bizarre though is like you mentioned, no matter what positives happen with him on the court, he continues to not get respect. Stupid shit like snubbing him for Eastern Conference Player of the Month nominations is an example, but it’s really the worst in his own city. People LOVE to say “Isaiah should come off the bench” or “Isaiah is at best a 3/4 option on a title team”, I mean they absolutely love it. Then you ask them why, and suddenly their brains panic. Uhh uhhh…defense! Is usually what they’ll say. Those people are right, Isaiah’s defense can at times be a liability, but I continue to ask, why does that not matter for other PG in the league? I think if Damian Lillard was on this team instead of Isaiah, no one would say he should come off the bench. That’s my problem.
My problem is deep down the reason is because of his height, and I’ve made it VERY well known how I feel about that reasoning. I care about production. You should care about production, and the shit Isaiah is doing on the court is among the NBA elite. Not just at his position, at any position. But the facts are, people will always try and find something the more Isaiah proves them wrong. That’s why this fight will be a lifelong fight and is not for the weak. Just know, he hears us
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Hey Greenie, if you had to choose between the young guards (Rozier, Smart, Bradley) in a right deal that comes along, maybe for Cousins, who do you want them to get rid of? And what do we do about the 2017 Draft Class that’s loaded with guards? Thanks!
- Ryan
The easy answer is they can have whoever they want if it brings Boogie to Boston. If I had to rank it though it would probably go like this
1. Rozier
2. Smart
3. Avery
I put Rozier first because I think Smart can do a little bit more for you. What I mean is to me, he’s a better true PG than Terry because Rozier is more of a score first guard. Smart also gives you the flexibility to guard 1-4 which Rozier doesn’t really do, and as the Celts start to play Isaiah more off the ball in certain situations, I’d rather have the better passer handling the rock.
Obviously I would hate to lose Avery because I think he is a legit two way stud.
Well, in most cases if you’re a “superstar” you aren’t available, so the answer is really only Boogie. Jimmy Butler isn’t available, neither is AD, or PG13, and guys like John Wall I think don’t solve your problems. Boogie solves everything.
More realistically, I’d love to see them find a way to trade for Andrew Bogut. Just do it Cuban your team is tanking. Bogut probably doesn’t cost a lot, and provides leadership, rebounding, rim protection, and his most attractice quality, he isn’t Tyler Zeller.
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Email:
What’s up Greenie,
It’s obviously wicked early for this conversation but assuming Brooklyn’s pick is top 3, are you in on keeping it, or are you looking for a trade? We obviously really need a center, but there really aren’t any centers that would be worth taking with a top 3 pick, unless you count Harry Giles as a center. I really like Josh Jackson, but now that we have Crowder and Brown, and maybe Yabu next year, we would probably have to end up giving up one of them. We could go for Smith, Fultz or Ball, but we would most likely be giving up Thomas, Bradley, Smart or Rozier. On the other hand, maybe Trader Danny makes some fireworks this season. What are your thoughts at this point in the season?
Thanks, Ryan
Man Ryan I have no idea what I want. At this point the Nets are 6-15 and are rounding into the type of team we hoped they’d be. Really this is a repeat of the situation we were in last year. Let’s say by the deadline that pick is looking pretty good and someone wants it, will Danny give it up? On the other side, will he even be ABLE to move it since he couldn’t last year, and people will most likely want to see what the pick is before they trade for it.
In a perfect world, that pick lands in the top 2, and we trade it on Draft Night for a stud, like MIN did with CLE for Love. As nice as it would be to have a young #1 pick, we have youth, we have guys entering their prime, if the Celtics are able to package that pick with minimal damage for a guy like Boogie, YOU HAVE TO DO IT.
The good news is the Celtics will probably get boned again in the lottery and fortunately this is supposed to be a deep as shit draft so they should still get a good player if they decide to keep it.
Either way he has to do something, there are only so many spots on the roster.
We now shift gears to this week’s Greenie Awards
This weeks MVP: Avery Bradley
He’s stepped up since Isaiah’s been out, shot over 50% from the field and from deep for the week. Scary to think where this team would be without him
Play of the week: Jaylen Brown
Still awesome, even a few days later
This week’s LVP: Tyler Zeller
12 minutes in 3 games. Zero points, didn’t make a shot, and gave up a billion OREBs. Sigh.
This week’s Most Improved Player: Marcus Smart
Three solid efforts from Marcus this week, double digits in all of em and shit shooting was tolerable. We also got some tape of him running point with the starters which had it’s moments, so all in all a pretty good week.
And that will do it for this week. Thanks again to those who wrote in, see ya right back here next Saturday.
Have a great weekend!