CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Positional Battles Part 5

September 15, 2006

Here is the final part of our look at the positional battles.

At Shooting Guard we should have a battle for the starting spot. With Telfair and Rondo sharing most of the PG duties, Delonte West should be spending more time at the 2. There are two schools of thought. One says that Delonte should start, given his great year last year and that he deserves the starting spot because of it. With Delonte starting, that would bring Wally off the bench, which would preserve those bone on bone knees of his and bring some scoring to the second team.

The other group feels that Wally should start because he is a veteran. Also, Wally seems to play very well with Pierce. This would bring West off the bench as the 6th man. As 6th man, West would also add some scoring as well as a spark off the bench with his energy and toughness. Delonte is a fighter and will battle for a spot in the rotation whether it is at the 1 or the 2. Hopefully today's report of Delonte coming in with a sore back won't affect training camp or the season.

We also have Tony Allen who could be very valuable. West could play some at the 2 and some at the point and that would open up some time for Tony. In today's Herald Danny says:

“Sebastian and Rajon are terrific young point guards, and they can give us some flexibility. Delonte can play some at off-guard and he can guard some of the bigger point guards.”

, so we can expect to see Delonte at the 2 but also at the point to guard some of the taller point guards.

If Allen is healthy and not in jail, and if he regains his explosiveness, he may be a very important part of the rotation. If Tony is healthy and plays like he is capable of, Doc will need to find him playing time.

The odd man out seems to be Allan Ray. Allan has a nice shooting touch and has athleticism but, there are just so many minutes to go around and West and Tony Allen both bring the same things to the team as Allan Ray does. If Ray makes the roster, he may be spending time in the D League in order to get some playing time.

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Comments:

We are blessed with veteran All-Star cailber wing players (Pierce, Wally), as well as young high ceiling players (Green, Allen, Delonte). This is the one position we need not worry about.

If I'm Doc, and I want a quick team, I'm putting in Tony Allen at SG and I'm going to use Wally off the bench.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 11:35 AM

And Delonte? I think taht Wally will start and West coming off the bench. Allen should have some minutes and Allan Ray too, but there are not enough minutes for all of them

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:26 PM

Delonte will get some playing time off the bench, but I'm thinking that Tony Allen will emerge as the backup wing player Doc uses the most off the bench. He's got a lot more to his game that we haven't seen yet. His defense and uptempo style of play will make a bigger impact off the bench.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 2:04 PM