How To Fix A Team in a Month

It took the whole summer and most of fall to figure this whole thing out, but ladies and gentlemen: The NBA lockout is OVER! Thank you Tim Tebow (and God I guess). We now won't be forced to watch an excessive amount of NHL highlights on ESPN the whole winter and I can go back to paying less attention to the Bruins (phew). As we all know, the lockout took forever, and it was announced that players can start signing on Dec. 9th and the season will begin on Christmas day. Not a bad Christmas present if I do say so myself. With that said, that leaves teams with roughly a month to do whatever they need to, to fill out their roster.

The Celtics have some moves to make. We all know the starting lineup is set: Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett and O'Neal. After that the roster is thin. Avery Bradley will be returning for his sophomore campaign and hopes to crack the rotation this season. Rookies JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore will step in and do what they can if need be. That leaves the C's with 6 or 7 roster spots to fill beginning December 9th. The team is still paying money out to "The Big Aristotle" aka "Wilt Chamberneezy" aka "The Big Diesel" aka "The Shaqtus" aka "Shaq Fu" aka Shaquille O'Neal and Rasheed Wallace, so money for quality free agents is going to be hard to come by.

The best scenario for the team in my eyes would be to re-sign Jeff Green, Glen Davis and Delonte West first. Then dish out the remaining money to affordable veteran bench help. Who you ask? Allen Iverson comes to mind. I know the man is controversial and not liked by many, but I think since he is now willing to come off the bench for a team it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. He could mesh with KG, Ray and Paul and hopefully buy into the team first mentality the Celtics are based around. Last night I asked Celtics insider and Comcast SportsNet correspondent A. Sherrod Blakely on twitter which FA he would put money on the Celtics signing and he replied with Kwame Brown (thanks for replying A. Sherrod!). I like this. He has been widely considered by many one of the biggest busts of all time because of where he was drafted, but Kwame has actually been a productive backup/borderline starter for his career. He provides size and strength down low which is something the Celtics are seriously lacking. Another name I like is Michael Redd, he's had an abundance of injuries over the years, but during his healthy days the man could rain buckets and was regarded as one of the best pure scorers in the league. Redd would be forced to sign at a cheap price because of his injuries and lack of playing time the last few years. If not Redd, I wouldn't mind seeing Marquis Daniels back in town, prior to his neck injuries and trade last season, Marquis was always a very solid and versatile backup for the Celts and it would fit in nicely again alternating between backing up the 1, 2 and 3 spots. With those three veteran signings, the Celtics roster would look something like this:

PG: Rajon Rondo, Delonte West, Avery Bradley

SG: Ray Allen, Michael Redd/Marquis Daniels, Allen Iverson, E'Twaun Moore

SF: Paul Pierce, Jeff Green

PF: Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis, JaJuan Johnson

C: Jermaine O'Neal, Kwame Brown

That wouldn't be too shabby a roster if you ask me. Solid balance of strong minded veterans and young athletic, willing to learn youth. Good depth at all positions with Delonte being able to switch between PG and SG, Iverson the same, Jeff Green is able to play SF and PF depending on the matchup, Baby can play PF and C and Jermaine can switch back and forth between C and PF.

I hope you are reading this Danny Ainge, because this is how the Celtics should be fixed up for this season. Those signings will tide us over til 2012 and hopefully bring us banner #18. As for the 2012 offseason, that one is going to be a little tougher and a lot more exciting. Dwight Howard maybe? He looks great in a Celtics uni.

*Mouth open and watering* *Daydreaming of oops from Rondo to Howard*

We can dream right?

Until next time,

ZHawk