Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Fantasy Celt picks
If you’re partly basing your all-time Celts-vs.-Lakers teams on the number of championships each player won, then Gary’s Celts picks make sense: Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Bill Russell.*
But if you’re basing it on gut instinct about the best players, championships or no championships, I’d choose: Dennis Johnson, Havlicek, Bird, Kevin Garnett and Russell. I could easily live with a coin flip between Hondo and Pierce.
Sorry, Cousy fans. But Bob’s game wasn’t suited for modern basketball. His style drifted somewhere in between the George Mikan and modern eras. … The only sure starting picks would be Bird and Russell, for obvious reasons. …
*But the picks don’t make total sense. Why count Havlicek’s five championships over the Lakers against Pierce’s one championship over the Lakers, and then not count McHale’s two losses against L.A. (for a minus one) when considering Garnett (plus one)? I’d go with Garnett over McHale because the defensive duo of KG and Russell would have been unbeatable … Agree on this: The Celts fantasy bench crushes L.A.’s fantasy bench. Imagine Rondo, Pierce, McHale, Parish et gang jumping in to give starters a spell. ... BTW - In an ideal fantasy world, some sort of Auerbach/post-Auerbach handicap would be calculated into decisions. Paul Pierce managed to survive the ugly Pitino-Gaston years. Shouldn't that count toward something?
Update -- Rounding out the bench, add Sam Jones and Ray Allen.
If you’re partly basing your all-time Celts-vs.-Lakers teams on the number of championships each player won, then Gary’s Celts picks make sense: Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Bill Russell.*
But if you’re basing it on gut instinct about the best players, championships or no championships, I’d choose: Dennis Johnson, Havlicek, Bird, Kevin Garnett and Russell. I could easily live with a coin flip between Hondo and Pierce.
Sorry, Cousy fans. But Bob’s game wasn’t suited for modern basketball. His style drifted somewhere in between the George Mikan and modern eras. … The only sure starting picks would be Bird and Russell, for obvious reasons. …
*But the picks don’t make total sense. Why count Havlicek’s five championships over the Lakers against Pierce’s one championship over the Lakers, and then not count McHale’s two losses against L.A. (for a minus one) when considering Garnett (plus one)? I’d go with Garnett over McHale because the defensive duo of KG and Russell would have been unbeatable … Agree on this: The Celts fantasy bench crushes L.A.’s fantasy bench. Imagine Rondo, Pierce, McHale, Parish et gang jumping in to give starters a spell. ... BTW - In an ideal fantasy world, some sort of Auerbach/post-Auerbach handicap would be calculated into decisions. Paul Pierce managed to survive the ugly Pitino-Gaston years. Shouldn't that count toward something?
Update -- Rounding out the bench, add Sam Jones and Ray Allen.
