Report card time for Celtics

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

This Boston Celtics season was supposed to be a season of repeated excellence. For the most part, they didn’t seem to lose a step, winning a franchise record 19 straight games at one point and finishing the regular season 62-20.

What it morphed into almost overnight was a campaign of survival, what with the loss of Kevin Garnett over the last three months and the sudden knee injury of Leon Powe. This was a year where the young guys, namely Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins, grew up in so many ways.

Now that the emotions of that game seven loss have sunken in, it’s time to look into the reality of what lies ahead this offseason.

There will be many questions for the Celtics this summer, and I expect most of them to regard the health of Kevin Garnett. Was his breakdown over the last three months a sign of things to come?

The other question is going to be how they’re going to manage the salaries of their Big Three of Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce and keep all their ducks in a row. The three are on the books for more than $53 million for the 09-10 season; Leon Powe, Glen Davis, Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury are all free agents, with the former two likely to demand at least seven-figure salaries. And in a perfect world, Rajon Rondo, who has a $3 million offer for the 10-11 season, would be signed to an extension.

Danny Ainge’s mid-season gambles on Moore and Marbury didn’t pay off quite as well as expected, and Garnett’s absence magnified this. Just what is their future with the organization?

That’s just a few of the questions. For now, though, let’s hand out some grades of the 2008-09 season.


Kevin Garnett: A-minus
I’m deducting some points here because he wasn’t available for the playoffs, but his impact is still too powerful to ignore – even in a double-breasted suit. Garnett, more than any other addition over the last two seasons, changed the fortunes of this franchise forever; he breathed a fresh air of life into a program that was wilting. This is a guy who is as intense in January as he is in May, a guy who sets an example in both the locker room and on the court. Just battling with Glen Davis every day in practice has turned Big Baby into a super-sub who will now have the power to demand some vet money.

But now there are whispers about his age (32) catching up to him, and whether he’s able to go a full season. His $19 million due in 09-10 and $21 million in 10-10 will put the C’s in a grind if he can’t go, and could set them back down the road.
Would I do it again, though? In a heartbeat.

Ray Allen: A
Statistically, Allen had a much better season, improving his field goal percentage by five (48.0) and pushing his three-point percentage into the 40’s (41.0), making 95.2 percent of his free throws and pushing his points per game up a full point (18.2). Yeah, he might have had a cold stretch here and there, but shooters respond. You’d be hard-pressed to find somebody in this town willing to argue that Allen is not one of the league’s best catch-and-shoot guys coming off screens. When they need him to step up, he’s always willing to take the shot.


Paul Pierce: A-minus
Like Allen, the captain saw an increase in points per game and had a three-point percentage hovering around 40. And like Allen, he has been willing to step up and call for the ball in the crunch. This postseason, though, watching him in the crunch was scary at times – the ole’ gather, hesitate, get trapped and throw up a terrible shot from a bad shot, then pray it goes in. Hey, when you’ve toiled in this organization since the 90’s, I guess you can get away with that.


Rajon Rondo: A-plus
Will everyone please stop with the “he is not an elite point guard” arguments and just appreciate the poetry in motion? Best point guard this franchise has had since DJ; if he stays a Celtic long-term, we’ll be hearing more comparisons to DJ, Cousy and Archibald.

Kendrick Perkins: B-plus
Interesting tidbit about the Celtics’ centers: there have been four starting centers on their 17 championship teams. Russell, Cowens, Parish and….Perkins. Sign of the times, no?

In an era where the true center is a lost art, Perkins provided the smackdown this year. He was the team’s most physical player, but sometimes that was a bad thing. He seems to always get in foul trouble, and needs to do a better job of setting screens. Still, Perkins provides that power-punch that all elite teams try to throw around.

Glen Davis: A
The evolution of an undersized, doughy-looking, bubbly, awkward, baby-faced kid into a bona fide starter who can come through in the clutch has been an absolute joy. The game-winning shot he made in game five was one of the defining moments of the season, and announced his arrival to the league. Somehow, some way, I expect the Celtics to throw some veteran money at him while maintaining the salary cap. That’ll be tricky, but it’ll happen.

Leon Powe: B
Had he been available for the second round, I would not be writing this column. Instead, I’d be musing about how much the media hypes LeBron and hates gritty defensive teams. Much like Big Baby, Powe has given the Celtics a better return than expected. Signing him long-term should be a priority.

Eddie House: B-minus
The 3-point specialist set a franchise record in three-point percentage this season and has given us countless hours of the ever-gangstafying Eddie House Face, and made some good defensive rotations when need be. But the guy is not a capable backup point guard, and his final performance of the season was shocking: 16 minutes, 1-3 fg, 0-1 3pt, 2 pts. WHAT?


Stephon Marbury: C
Jury’s still out on whether this guy is going to be part of the organization moving forward, but I might give him another chance – as long as the money’s not guaranteed, similar to how things played out this year and how the Darius Miles situation was handled. Starbury is a known lunatic, but he demonstrated maturity in his reserve role, and to his credit didn’t totally kill the team’s resolve. There were both good and bad stretches for the man, but like a rubik’s cube it’s hard to get a good read on this guy.

Brian Scalabrine: C
Hate to admit it, but for a guy who continually demonstrates the defensive awareness of an oblivious college student crossing Boylston Street with his iPod, he had a pretty decent postseason. Never in my wildest dreams did I envision this guy averaging 30 minutes and not completely killing the team’s mojo. And for that, he remains academically eligible.

Mikki Moore: D
After reaching out to seemingly every guy on the planet over 6-foot-10, from Dikembe Mutombo to Kevin Nash and The Undertaker, Danny Ainge settled on this 7-foot journeyman as the new P.J. Brown. Only, he was anything but. Brown was a long, lean guy in incredible shape for a 39-year-old, who could make key defensive stops in the fourth quarter. Moore was a fish out of water who was often caught out of position. The only thing he really did well was foul.

Incompletes: Tony Allen, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker, Gabe Pruitt