Source: Nate Robinson will re-sign with C’s

Posted by Brian Robb on Jul 16, 2010 921034 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F07%2F16%2Fsource-nate-robinson-will-re-sign-with-cs%2FSource%3A+Nate+Robinson+will+re-sign+with+C%27s2010-07-16+15%3A39%3A08Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D9210

Former C’s beat writer and now a terrific national writer for Yahoo Sports, Marc Spears passed along the news via his Twitter about the C’s guard:

Nate Robinson will re-sign with Celtics, a league source told Y! Sports. More info coming soon.

UPDATE: Boston Herald is reporting the deal is for 2 years, paying Robinson $4 million dollars annually.

CH’s Take: The signing really should come as no surprise to Celtics fans. Having let TA go, there were likely a few more dollars to spend in the owners bank account, and retaining Robinson was clearly the best way to spend that money.

That being said, there were a plethora of reasons to bring Nate back. First and foremost was the team’s guard depth. It consisted of a 20 year old tweener guard Avery Bradley, coming off ankle surgery who may or may not be ready to contribute, as well as an NBDL journeymen in Oliver Lafayette who has potential and will likely make this team.

The C’s needed helped desperately if they wanted to have a strong enough bench to remain a viable contender. Bringing back Robinson helps to solve that problem and gives the team a little bit of depth in backcourt.

Nate is being re-signed for more reasons than just for depth. Offense was a dirty little problem for this team last year, especially during the NBA Finals when the C’s crossed the 90 point plateau in just 2 games.

The C’s were a mediocre offensive team in the regular season (15th in offensive rating) and that reality was the one part of their game they couldn’t mask against the Lakers. That offense is also prone to taking another dive next year if proper reinforcements aren’t brought in to help the aging Big Three.

Jermaine O’Neal was a good start, but Robinson as an offensive sparkplug off the bench can help this team dramatically as we saw in both the Orlando and LA series. He helped carried the team to victory as a dangerous role player coming off the bench.

His contributions when he started receiving playing time in those final nine playoff games were inconsistent, averaging just 40% FG, and 32% from beyond the arc, but his presence on the floor as a viable offensive threat were invaluable.

Robinson averaged just 5.5 points in those contests exploded for double digits in short minutes in two of those games. The C’s lack that kind of explosiveness throughout their bench so having Nate back aboard gives this team that crucial element.

While Nate was inconsistent last year, let’s also not forget he was learning on the fly for the majority of the season. This team thrives on continuity, and having a playoff run as well as a full training camp under his belt shortly with this crew will prove to be invaluable for Robinson in becoming a more consistent contributor.

Doc Rivers finally showed some trust in Robinson at the end of the team’s run last year, just not enough in Game 7, as he admitted later he regretted not playing Nate more. With a full year in the system, that trust issue will likely not be a problem next postseason.

It’s funny, once the season ended, if you were to tell me Nate would be returning and TA would be let go for reasonable money, I would have said you were crazy. However, given the team’s need for offense, this shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. Danny Ainge probably would have liked to have kept both, but if he could have only kept one, would you have bet on Nate being the guy?

I’m not sure I would have, but with the C’s needing to put the ball in the basket more, I can’t blame him for picking the little guy.

Now if we can just find a way to get Rudy Fernandez in town, this bench will start to look pretty spiffy.