I really wasn't prepared to be asking these questions right now... but... here we are.
There are a lot of questions for the Celtics to answer this offseason. As Chuck alluded to last night, the Celtics are in a precarious financial position. They've got all their money tied up in the Big 3, and that leaves them very little money left over to cobble a bench together. Last year, James Posey and PJ Brown worked out very well. This year, Mikki Moore and Tony Allen did not.
The formula for getting decent back up talent on the cheap is simple: find a decent ring-less veteran and convince him that taking less than he might be worth is worth the shot at the champagne shower. And isn't that what we have in Stephon Marbury right now? So the question is... should the Celtics roll the dice and bring him back for one more go-round? He does like it here.
Playing pros and cons here:
Pro: He's a very capable back up point guard who still has the ability to score in bunches and bolster a second unit.
Con: He's used to being a starting point guard. And when he came over here, he put that aside for a shot at a ring. There's no guarantee he'll be happy as a back up for an entire season, especially if the C's go on a losing streak.
Pro: That attitude we kept hearing about was nowhere to be seen in Boston. He was on his absolute best behavior.
Con: While a lot of us started to buy into the 'Steph is misunderstood' argument... there's also no doubt that he's been a disruption in the past. We've got one more year left with the Big 3... do we really want to roll the dice on our back up PG being disruptive?
Pro: He's going to have a full preseason to get used to the way things work... and he'll be playing with Kevin Garnett again. He'll be much better than he was this season.
Con: He's a year older... so will he still be able to do the things we expect him to do? What if he doesn't get better? What if the end of this season is the best we can get from him?
If Steph goes, we're going to need another back up PG. I think Eddie House has shown he's better coming in at the 2 than at the 1 (if he comes back at all. He's got a player option for next year). If Steph is willing to come back... if he says he's willing to play back up to Rondo... do you want him back?
