Joey Whalen of Slam Online examines the offseason moves made by the teams in the Atlantic Division. Here's the summary:
- Best Move: Toronto Adding Hedo Turkoglu
- Potential Over the Top Move: Celtics Sign Rasheed Wallace
- Best Long Term Move: Nets Trade for Courtney Lee
- Overpriced Signing: Toronto resigning Andrea Bargnani
- Best Offseason: Celtics
I can't argue with any of those claims. Here's Whalen's summary of the C's:
Wallace’s impact has already been discussed (see above) and adding Williams as well gives Boston a tremendous amount of size and toughness inside. These additions certainly have a lot to do with the injuries that KG and Leon Powe suffered last year, so Danny Ainge has made sure he will have plenty of able bodies to fill his frontcourt just in case the injury bug should strike again. The signing of Daniels provides a bigger scoring option on the perimeter and will be a great option off the bench for when Ray Allen or Paul Pierce need a break. The 6-6 guard is coming off of a career year even though he was limited to just 54 games with the Pacers. He’ll provide energy and versatility to the floor, able to score effectively in transition and in isolation situations. Daniels is certainly a better option off the bench than Tony Allen or Eddie House, at least in terms of scoring ability. Boston finally has a viable option to insert into the starting lineup in the backcourt if one of their star guards should face injury and a bench that will allow them to handle a longer grueling playoff series in the future.
Outside of RedsArmy and CelticsBlog, I believe there hasn't been enough written about the impact Marquis Daniels could have on this team. But Whalen gets it, and is spot on with his assessment.
My only criticism? Putting Shelden Williams and toughness in the same sentence.