Replicating a Championship Model with Eddie House

(CBTC)


By: Greg Payne

Not surprisingly, the Celtics waived sparsely used backup point guard Gabe Pruitt yesterday, leaving unsigned rookie Lester Hudson as the sole backup to starting point guard Rajon Rondo.

Or it would seem that way at least. General consensus says that Danny Ainge will most likely add a veteran point guard to the Celtics' roster before the start of next season, to better guard against potential injury and to further bolster a revamped Celtics bench. After all, the Celtics still have their 1.3 veteran's minimum to use and could potentially still possess a bi-annual exception, if a sign-and-trade can be worked out so secure Marquis Daniels.

But allow me to throw a specific scenario at you before a veteran point guard joins the ranks:

Let's say Ainge doesn't bring in Tyronn Lue or Stephon Marbury or any other point guard past his prime, but still capable of running the second unit.

Let's say free agent Bruce Bowen enlists with the C's. With Daniels already in the picture (he still has to get here), both Paul Pierce and Ray Allen would have substantial support behind them, allowing the minute slash we've all been hoping for for a number of seasons now.

But then, if Bowen is the sole backup to Pierce and Daniels is the sole backup to Allen, where does that leave Eddie House? Clearly House is a different type of shooting guard than Allen, but he's a shooting guard nonetheless. And a damn good one at that. No matter what roster moves are indeed made, House will certainly be in the grand scheme of things.

But if Bowen and Daniels are backing up Pierce and Allen, it would seem like almost a sure thing that House would in turn back up Rondo. Yes, the Celtics have tried this before, and yes, it did work. It worked very well, actually.

Back in 2007-2008 when the Celtics won the championship, Sam Cassell signed on March 3, 2008, but didn't play in his first game until March 10. As of March 10, the Celtics were 49-12 with House as their backup point guard. Sure, Cassell essentially took over the reigns from then on, but why can't the Celtics apply a similar formula this season?

Let Eddie House back up Rondo to start the season, and see what happens. If it worked so well two seasons ago, who's to say it won't work again this coming one. On top of that, if Glen Davis makes a triumphant return to Boston, House will arguably have an even better bench to work with than he did in '07-'08.

And the C's even have a security blanket to use, should the House experiment fail: Marquis Daniels. If the situation called for it, Daniels is perfectly capable of filling in at the point guard spot and initiating whatever offense the second unit is supposed to run. There was even talk about using Daniels in such a role when it was first reported he had verbally committed to the team.

Then, you comfortably switch House back over to the two-guard spot, and insert Daniels at the point. It could even be argued that Daniels has a similar game to Rondo in the sense that he's at his best slashing through the middle, and scoring in the paint, as opposed to pulling up outside for jump shots.

Players need not always be used at their natural positions. Back in 2003-2004, when Kevin Garnett was named league MVP, he, at times, played point guard in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers while none other than Sam Cassell battled significant back woes.

If this scenario actually played out, our bench would look something like this:

House/Daniels/Bowen/Davis/Wallace

There's easily enough talent there to dispel a lack of skill House might possess as a point guard. It might not be an ideal fit, but it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work. And I for one believe that it can work. If seeing is believing, then we should all have faith that it will in fact work and help us have another tremendous season.

I will say that House shot much better from three-point nation last season, when the burden of back up point guard was more conveniently lifted off of his shoulders. Two seasons ago, House shot only .393 from the nation, where as last year he set a Celtics single-season record for three-point field goal percentage with a .444 clip. But this isn't about glorifying House as a shooter. This is about winning another championship.

And if Ainge in turn feels the need to add a veteran point guard three quarters of the way through the season, then so be it. If we built a championship model two seasons ago, then maybe it's time to replicate it.

Stay Tuned.