Tanguay's Take

FSN's Gary Tanguay comes to the defense of Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge. He recognizes it's not the best assembled team but argues that the injuries and youth can not be ignored. Tanguay goes on to say, "Doc and Danny have never had the chance to see what they can do with a first, second, or even third pick in a Draft."

I'm not sure I buy that argument. Look at the Dallas Mavericks. Granted Mark Cuban likes to throw his money around. And they absolutely fleeced the Milwaukee Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki, a rare talent who went a spot ahead of Paul Pierce in the 1998 draft. But over time they built the right team around him. They acquired veterans Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse via trades to fill roles. They added the often criticized Erick Dampier (overpaid) and DeSagna Diop (not a world beater) who free up Dirk from taking a pounding.* And lets not forget about Josh Howard, an All Star in his 4th season. For the record he went 13 spots after Troy Bell who the C's traded for Kendrick Perkins.

More importantly I'm worried the C's are turning into the Memphis Grizzlies. They collected assets for years, are now battling the C's for rock bottom, and their GM is selling his house. Also all of the injuries obscure the fact that Doc does not manage a rotation well, is not developing Sebastian Telfair, may or may not have a zone offense, seems to fear the pick and roll, and struggles to come up with sound plays at the end of close games, particularly coming out of timeouts. In fact if Boston was out of timeouts and trailing by one with 5 seconds left the opposing coach might be best served using one of his own timeouts to see the comedy that ensues.

* It is just me or is there something inherently funny about the phrase "they free up Dirk from taking a pounding"?