CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Celtics' Summer Homework List

Every player on the team needs to work on something this season, even the veterans. The very good players always work on something new each off season and of course, our young players are still working on becoming very good players and are still building their skill sets. With this in mind, here is what I would like to see each player work on this off season.

Paul Pierce: Pierce needs to work on getting healthy first. If his elbow needs surgery, he needs to get it done early. If not, he needs to allow it to heal and then he needs to work on strength and conditioning. He came back from his injury over weight and out of shape and he needs to get himself back into the best condition of his career. He could also use some work on free throws.

Wally Szczerbiak: As with Pierce, Wally needs to get healthy first and foremost. Then he also needs to work on strength and conditioning. Finally, Wally could use some work on his defense since that is the biggest weakness of his game.

Brian Scalabrine: Scal came into this past season in better shape than he was in his first season here, but he still needs to lose some weight and work on his conditioning. He needs to also work on his shot. He shot only 40% from the field and for a guy who is supposed to be a scorer, that isn't good.

Theo Ratliff: Theo needs to get healthy. He says he plans to come back and play next season but with all his injuries, it is hard to say how much he will be able to play. Since he missed the entire year, he will have to work on conditioning and getting his timing back. His expiring contract may be used in a trade, or Danny may hang onto it to give us room to sign our young players as their rookie contracts are up.

Michael Olowokandi: I doubt that Kandi will be back, but if he is, he needs to work on conditioning and staying healthy. He will have to work on making the roster and improving his game enough to prove that he belongs.

Delonte West: Delonte needs to work on his right hand. If Doc is going to use him as a PG, he needs to work on running the fast break and learning when to shoot and when to pass. He also could use a little fine tuning on his shot to make it more dependable as he tends to be streaky.

Tony Allen: Work hard on his rehab and come back healthy and ready to get back to where he was. He needs to work on his midrange jumper to go along with his explosive moves to the basket. One of the few players who doesn't need to work on his defense. Tony's aggravated battery case is behind him and won't be a distraction for him but he needs to work on maturing so he doesn't get into more trouble off the court (see Telfair, Sebastian).

Kendrick Perkins: Get healthy and lose the 15 - 20 lbs needed to take some of the pressure off his foot so as to avoid another bout of plantar fasciitis. He also needs to work on his inside moves to the basket on offense. He needs to work on keeping the ball up after rebounds instead of putting it on the floor. A full summer of working with Clifford Ray should be very beneficial to him. I truly expect Perk to come back in great shape and have a break out season.

Gerald Green: Green has the most work to do this offseason of anyone. He needs to work on adding strength to his body. He needs to work on his understanding of the game, his ball handling, his defense, and his footwork. Green has a tremendous upside and great athletic ability, but he is still very raw and has a lot to learn.

Ryan Gomes: Gomes did a good job last season of working on his outside shot so as to be able to play the small forward spot better. He could use more work on his outside jumper and range as well as ball handling to better equip him to play the 3. If he will be playing the 4 once again, he needs to build more muscle.

Al Jefferson: Al needs to work on adding some muscle this off season. He lost the weight last season and got himself into great shape, but could use a little more muscle to be able to battle the bigger 4's on the blocks. He also needs to work on his defense and on passing out of the post. This has improved this season (for which he credits Perk) but he could work on this a bit more to be more consistent with it since he will obviously face double teams from here on out through his career. He also could work on making that mid range jumper automatic.

Rajon Rondo: Shooting, shooting, shooting. Rondo has great defense, good handles, great instincts and the only knock on him seems to be that he needs to improve his shooting. He could also use some improvement on running the team in a half court set. If Rondo comes back with a reliable jumper, the sky is the limit for this kid.

Leon Powe: Leon needs to work on his feel for and understanding of the game. He also needs to work on extending the range on his jumper. Leon proved that he can play and in spite of being undersized, his long arms allowed him to be an effective post player and rebounder but at times looked a bit lost in the offensive sets.

Allan Ray: Basically, Ray's value is in his ability to shoot the ball. He needs to work on developing point guard skills in order to make it in the league as he doesn't have the size to play the 2 guard.

Sebastian Telfair: Telfair won't be back with the Celtics next year. From all reports, he wouldn't have been back anyway, but now the Celtics have a very good excuse for cutting ties with him. Telfair needs to work on learning to run the offense and finding the open man instead of looking for his own offense. He also needs to work on making better decisions off the court so that he can keep playing on the court.

Doc Rivers: Work on bringing in a defensive assistant and a good X and O guy to make him look better since these are his weaknesses as a coach. Otherwise, I expect the team to flounder and Doc will be fired sometime during the season. Another thing Doc could work on is simplifying his system. Red always said keep it simple and Doc has a fairly complicated system for the players to learn.

Danny Ainge: Work on getting Oden or Durant. If that fails, use the pick along with Telfair and Ratliff's expiring contracts to bring in the all star veteran that Pierce has been asking for. Get Al signed to an extension, and otherwise keep this core group together.

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