Sheed to Start?

Posted by Zach Lowe on Jul 8, 2009 274418 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F07%2F08%2Fsheed-to-start%2FSheed+to+Start%3F2009-07-09+03%3A08%3A44Zach+Lowehttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D2744

I didn’t think it was possible for Perk to be demoted, but it sounds like Doc is already thinking about it. Via Fanhouse:

“We’re going to put our best five on the floor,” said Celtics Coach Doc Rivers Wednesday. “At this point, I don’t know if we’re going to change the starting lineup.”

This makes me…uncomfortable. More tomorrow. 

Oh, and ‘Sheed’s deal contains a player option for the third season, according to the Globe. This makes me more uncomfortable. As of right now, the only players guaranteed to be on the 2011-12 Boston Celtics are Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace.

UPDATE: CelticsBlog has a poll up here asking who should start at center, Perk or Sheed. The incumbent is winning in a landslide right now, which is interesting. Are we, as fans, blindly loyal to Perk because of the hard work he’s put in to become a more complete player on both sides of the ball? If so, are we, to put it bluntly, being stupid? If you polled GMs and asked them who is better at this moment, Sheed or Perk, I bet at least 20 would say Sheed without thinking about it for more than five seconds. 

There could also be another dynamic at work here. For whatever reason, we like the idea of an offensive force coming off the bench. We like balance in our line-ups. We don’t like the idea of Perk out there as the second scoring option among the back-ups. 

Of course, basketball is much more complicated than this, and no matter who starts, Doc will do all sorts of mix and matching so that each of the “centers” plays with various combos of the Big Four. That’s the nice thing about having depth.