Walker for Raef was more one-sided than we thought

[MightyToine]

http://celtics.bostonherald.com/celt...?articleid=180

LaFrentz' knee pains
By Steve Bulpett and Mark Murphy
Sunday, December 7, 2003

The Celtics may be ready to alter their thinking on Raef LaFrentz' problematic right knee, and if they do it could signal the official start to the 2004-05 season.

LaFrentz is still experiencing tendinitis pain in the knee, and Danny Ainge is concerned about long-term effects.

``Watching him play on one leg and grimace when he goes to the basket is tough,'' said Ainge, who was in Utah yesterday to scout college games. ``In every game he's got significantly more pain in the second half than the first. He's having trouble making moves he usually would make with ease. I think we may have to take a step back and see what needs to be done here. I don't know if that's getting the knee scoped (arthroscopic surgery) or getting him some rest for a while or just shutting it down entirely and getting it right. But right now I'm getting worried that he's going to do more damage or hurt another area. We'll just have to see what our options are.''

Considering the Celts' present state of affairs, losing a key component like LaFrentz would be cause to suspend any remaining optimism that the club could do anything of meaning in the postseason. Despite the fact the C's are 7-12, they have been close to many more wins, leading Jim O'Brien to believe that with good overall health, time to work the main players together and improvement on closing out games the club could make a reasonable run in the wobbly Eastern Conference.

Removing LaFrentz would make the next meaningful Celtic game occur next season.

``But, really, what's our next meaningful game now?'' Ainge said. ``I'm not saying you give up or anything, and definitely I think you play every game as hard as you can and put everything you have into winning it. But this team last year won 44 games and went out 4-0 in the second round of the playoffs. That's not good enough. You have to be building for something a lot better than that here. I want to win a championship; I don't just want to be a mediocre team that wins some games but you know isn't going anywhere.''

Ainge said the fact the Celtics have lost eight of their last 10 isn't swaying his decisions. He is still looking for trade possibilities, but they cannot be just quick fixes.

``I'm always looking at deals,'' Ainge said. ``But I'm not just going to get a guy because I think he might be able to help us win another game or two right now. Any trade has to make sense for us long term. We could bring in people who might win us some of these games we've been losing, but we'd lose in the long run because we wouldn't be playing guys who need to get minutes and develop.

``We want to win, but we can't do anything that could take away from what we might be able to do in the future.''

Looks like Josh Howard isn't the ONLY steal the Mavs have gotten. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Simon2]

That explains Raef poor play. :-) He was injured. The Celtics fans will now hope that when he comes back, he'll be a 17pts 10 rbs guy. Good luck.

[sike]

Originally posted by: Simon2
That explains Raef poor play. :-) He was injured. The Celtics fans will now hope that when he comes back, he'll be a 17pts 10 rbs guy. Good luck.

S2, thanks you made me smile!

[EricaLubarsky]

I thought we traded a little bit of rebounding for someone who could make shots for himself and others, but

Walker is a 17.2ppg 10.3rpg and 4.3apg guy- he's averaging a double double this season

LaFrentz is an 8.5ppg 5.1rpg guy who is oft injured
Welsch is struggling to get his 4.2ppg and 2.3rpg at SF and he is shooting .377/.208/.706 which is only acceptable in FTs

[dirno2000]

I believe that the main reason Welsch is starting is because Ainge needs to save face. The team is worse than last year in a worse conference and Raef is a disappointment. Lots of guys play with knee pain, but we all know Raef is soft. He's the last guy who's going to fight through pain and still be effective. Thus Ainge makes O'Brien start Jeri hoping he will get hot and stave off some the inpending criticism.

[Simon2]

Originally posted by: sike

S2, thanks you made me smile!

The worst thing for them is Raef comes back and gets a "big" game. After that, its back to the mediocre performances.

[MavsFanFinley]

I expect Raef will improve once the knee is healthy. If that really is the problem. You just don't go downhill like he did after his time in Denver.

I think we all saw what happened to Najera while playing on one leg.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: MavsFanFinley
I expect Raef will improve once the knee is healthy. If that really is the problem. You just don't go downhill like he did after his time in Denver.

I think we all saw what happened to Najera while playing on one leg.

Suuuuuuure. LaFrentz would be a 20-10-5 player if he was healthy...

He will never be more than an 8 board-a-night guy

[MavsFanFinley]

Uh, I never said Raef would put up those types of numbers.

I think he can contribute 10-12 pts, 6-8 rbs and 2blks to be an improvement over what he was here in Dallas. If he could just learn how to stay on the court, that alone, would be an improvement.

[madape]

I've seen enough of Raef to know that he has the ABILITY to be a great shotblocker, very good rebounder, and effective scorer. I don' t think he's incapable of 18/10/3. Really. He's got a great stroke, good hops. He's big, pretty strong, fairly quick on his feet for a guy his size. He has all the tools. For some reason he never fit in here. I though he would, and even thought this might be the year he established himself for the MAvericks. I think he'll be a very nice player for the Celtics for a very long time. This injury, of course, puts those plans on hold for a while. However, I think it's a little too early to proclaim him a bust in this trade. He's still a very young and very talented big man. Down the road, he could make Celtics fans very happy.