Davis is Not a Backup Center

The title says it all. I don’t care how much space he takes up or whether or not he can face up bigger opponents, Glen Davis can not play center in the NBA. Period. But then, you have Danny Ainge saying stuff like this in the Boston Herald.

While Celtics director of basketball operations Danny Ainge thinks Glen Davis will be able to play some backup center this season because he can take up space and face-up on opponents, Doc Rivers doesn’t necessarily agree. “He’s got the girth, but he doesn’t have the length, so the bigger bigs will just shoot over him,” he said. “And I think he would struggle trying to score over a longer player.”

Who would have thought that Doc Rivers would be the voice of reason in any debate? I think it will be brutally obvious tonight that Davis can’t play center in the NBA when Greg Oden and Lamarcus Aldridge feast on him in the post. He’s too short and not athletic enough to deter anyone from taking him to the box. Other than just holding his spot in the post, he doesn’t give much else on the defensive end. I can almost guarantee that Delonte West (we miss you!) will block more shots than Glen Davis this season. I know the minutes may not match up, but I’m sure it would be very close, maybe even still in Delonte’s favor, if you extrapolated them out for 48 minutes each.

Subaru Key Matchups of the Night

Getting excited for the game tonight? Yeah, me too. So to keep myself under control, I’m looking to breakdown the best matchups we can see in the game tonight.

Key Matchup #1: Lamarcus Aldridge vs. Leon Powe

       

 6’11”    Height    6’9″

240      Weight   240 

F/C     Position   PF 

Both of these players were highly productive players in their final season’s in college and were both selected in last year’s draft. Aldridge was eventually the #2 overall selection by the Bulls, but then quickly traded to Portland for the rights of Tyrus Thomas. Leon Powe, however, had to wait much longer to hear his name called on draft night. The Celtics traded back into the 2006 draft by obtaining the Nuggets’ 2nd round pick and took Leon Powe, who averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds his final year at Cal, with the 49th pick. Aldridge became a starter late last season while Powe played spot minutes.

Aldridge is obviously the better player overall, but I think that Powe can hold his own against Lamarcus, especially in a summer league game. Aldridge does have the height advantage as well as the wingspan in his favor, but Leon Powe has just got that desire and passion to rip down every rebound and grab every loose ball, which makes him so valuable to this team. Numbers wise, I can see Leon Powe out-producing Aldridge tonight, but I don’t expect Aldridge to play all that many minutes. I’m hoping these two get to play each other straight up tonight because I really think it could be a nice start to the summer league.

 Key Matchup #2: Martell Webster vs. Gerald Green

       

6’7″     Height    6’8″ 

210     Weight   200 

G/F    Position   SF 

This could very easily be the most intriguing matchup of the game. Both these players were selected in the 2005 draft (Webster at #6, Green at #18). These were two of the highly touted high school phenoms coming into the draft and to be brutally honest, neither has contributed much at all to their respective team. The Blazers are re-tooling, so it may be do-or-die this year for Martell Webster as he could be quickly replaced on the roster. Gerald Green doesn’t have any young guns coming in to take his spot, but he’s going to struggle to log quality minutes consistently with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on the team.

Both Webster and Green are good long-range shooters and both know how to put on a show at the rim. Gerald Green is definitely the better player at this point in his career, coming off a season where he averaged a career high 10.4 points on 42% shooting from the floor. Webster scored 7 points a night, but his FG% was under 40% (that’s almost Adam Morrison territory!). The summer league is perhaps the best chance for these two potential all-stars to show that they are ready for that 3rd season leap (Al Jefferson did it last year).

For the Blazers, to have Webster emerge as a 15-point a night guy, that would be huge with a core of players that include Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden. He would give them a legit outside shooter as well as a good slasher to build with a young nucleus. Gerald Green will be asked to do more of what he did last year, which was coming off the bench and providing instant offense. He poured in 10 a night last year, so if he could up that to 14 or 15 and become a good 6th man, he would be a great asset for the Celtics. If he could limit the production drop off between himself and either Ray Allen or Paul Pierce as well as bringing an offensive spark, Gerald will be a pivotal part to the Celtics success and chances of making the playoffs.

Does Telfair Have a Future in Beantown?

After the Ray Allen trade sent our backup point guard in Delonte West to Seattle, we were left with Rondo as our starter and Sebastian Telfair as the backup. Yes, the same Telfair that had his nameplate stripped from his locker at the Waltham workout facility. The team was talking as if Sebastian was not going to be back with this team next year, but with only one point guard on the roster, it looks like they may be back tracking just a bit.

Selected with the 13th pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, this high school legend was supposed to be the next great point guard for a long time. After spurning Rick Pitino and Louisville, he had his sights set on taking the NBA by storm. Portland took him even though many draft experts were not high on his game at all. Being drafted #13 overall was perhaps the high point of his young career.

Looking at his career numbers, he has never averaged 10 points a game, never averaged 4 assists a game and never shot over 40% from the floor. Seems like maybe a little seasoning at the college level, especially with a great coach like Rick Pitino, would have done Ba$$y some good.

The Celtics brought him in last year to challenge for the starting point guard position. This wouldn’t have been such a bad deal if you think about the team trying to grab a potential stud in Telfair to become the franchise point guard for many years. But when you take into account that we gave up the #7 pick, which turned out to be Brandon Roy (Rookie of the Year), it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Roy was the most NBA-ready player coming in to the draft and the Celtics didn’t need to get any younger. Roy also brought some good size to the point guard position.

Let’s not look at all the negatives, but try to shine some light on any positives there may be. Sure, he has been in some trouble with the law, but you have to realize he is still so very young. At the age of 22, he is still maturing and would be going into his senior season if he had gone to college. Maybe with his first three years behind him, he is ready to take his big step forward to show he truly belongs in this league as a point guard.

I know he will be stuck behind Rondo on the depth chart, but Telfair can definitely come in and be effective. With Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, he has to know that he should never be settling for jump shots. He needs to attack the lane and either kick it to a shooter on the perimeter, attack the rim or hit Al Jefferson with an easy drop down pass. When Telfair decides to be a scorer, that’s when he does himself, as well as his team, no good.

What do I expect from Sebastian Telfair this season? I hope he can solidify himself as this team’s backup point guard, make some good decisions and develop into a facilitator. It would be a great luxury to have two pass-first point guards on the squad, especially two that can get to the rim at will. Even if Telfair can’t win the starting gig, he can push Rondo to be better than he is now and help this team in some facet.

With that said, I hope that Telfair can play well enough to get another deal with the Celtics to backup Rondo for a couple more seasons. With Rondo, Telfair and a combo guard in Gabe Pruitt, the point guard position would seem to be in good hands.