Unbearable Sports Talk

So, it's July 6th, 2009 and the Boston Celtics have just aquired Rasheed Wallace. I need to tell you a few things about Sheed.

1. He's an asshole. I've watched Sheed since his early days in Portland. Actually, I've always been mildly in love with the Portland Trailblazers. So, I've watched his games. He talks too much. He's always running his yap. He talks to players, fans, refs, coaches... he never stops.

2. He's got post and range. He can make moves close to the basket. He can shoot the three. He's one of the best three point shooting 6 foot 11 inch guys to ever play the game. He's got some big time offensive skills.

3. He's a good to great defender, especially off the ball. You pair him with KG and the paint is closed. Closed, people! He eats up about three feet of shooting space on either side of the key.

4. He's an all or nothing. When he's on, the Celtics will be unstoppable. When he's off, they had better not let him within 30 feet of the ball because he will grab it, shoot it, miss it the entire night. I've seen him go cold for weeks and still shoot bad shots over and over and over. He takes really bad shots, but he makes enough of them to give you the thought that maybe that's a good thing.

The quick and dirty is... Celtics fans, he's Antoine Walker with height and a better shot. He's more athletic too. That's the bad news. The good news is the Celtics don't need him to be on every night. He's a fifth option at best. Maybe a sixth. If Sheedy can play sixth man, come off the bench after Kendrick Perkins pick up his 5th foul in the first quarter, he's a huge huge plus.

However, if he becomes a staple of the starting lineup and plays more than 25 minutes a night, this might backfire. There's not enough ball for Pierce, Allen and Rondo, nevermind getting Sheedy 20 touches a night.

Mark the words of the Murk. If Glen Davis gets a higher offer (remeber, he's a restricted free agent and the Celtics own him if they match any offer by other teams) and goes somewhere else, this will be bad. How bad? Well, not as bad as having NO ONE to spell Perkins and KG, but much less than ideal.

Why?

Sheed is old. He can't carry the minutes but he's stubborn and just good enough to get his number called to do so. And all this talk about veterans in the locker room and Doc Rivers having his respect is nice, if we're writing a movie script, but NO ONE is changing Sheed. Remember, this is the guy they put the manditory suspension for too many technicals in a season for. And this is not a man trying to restart his career or rebuild his image. This is an aging guy trying to trade time for a few more rings. He doesn't need a new contract after this. He will not be on his best behavior.

Do I like the move?

Oh fuck yes I do. I love Rasheed Wallace. He reminds me of me.