Marquis Daniels and Rasheed Wallace Will Impact Celtics

(Keith Allison)


By: Greg Payne

With training camp set to take off in less than 10 days, I perused the morning papers in an attempt to answer some of the questions we've been asking each other all summer. First up? Will we sign a veteran backup point guard, seeing as we have one available roster spot?

“I don’t know if we need to fill that spot, really,” Rivers said. “There’s no rush. We’re not going to play 15 guys. We’re not going to play 12 guys. So I don’t think that’s a big a deal for us at all.”

Does that also mean Lester Hudson's future as a Celtic is in jeopardy? That obviously wasn't Doc's overall message with that quote, but if you read between the lines, it's not always difficult to see what else is happening. That last part about not even playing 12 guys doesn't bode well for guys like Tony Allen, J.R. Giddens and even Bill Walker. If they want to see significant time on the court, they're probably going to have to outplay a guy like Marquis Daniels.

Now, speaking of Daniels, he could kill to birds with one stone for the C's, as Rivers apparently sees him backing up Pierce and/or Ray Allen, while also handling the ball for the second unit:

“Marquis, that’s the guy no one talks about,’’ Rivers said. “I’m really looking forward to coaching him. I didn’t like coaching against him; I thought he was very difficult to match up to. He can play 2 or 3 and he has the ability to handle the ball. We’ll use him at point forward."

“I cherish having Marquis as a part of the squad because the one thing that Paul and I talked about was our inability to get the rest during the game,” Allen said. “We love to play and we want to be on the floor every moment we can if that were the case. But, for the most part, it’s greater for us as a team for us to get more rest, especially playing a long season.”

I'm really curious to see Daniels play the point forward position, only because I'm interested as to how the matchups will play out when he assumes that role with the second unit. Will another forward guard him? Will a point guard try to play him? Will he have to try and guard a point guard on the other end? If the opposing team is putting a more traditional unit on the floor (a 1, a 2, a 3, etc.), and we're putting out a lineup that will probably consist of Daniels, Eddie House, Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis, along with Player X, it'll be interesting to see who covers which opposing player.

And finally, I was hoping to read something resembling the following concerning Rasheed Wallace:

“Rasheed is a leader, he’s an amazing guy. So far, just watching him, he’s so verbal on the floor. Having him and Kevin on the floor, verbally, defensively, will be amazing for Paul, Ray, Rajon, and everyone else."

“Two years ago and this year, two different teams. P.J. Brown, Posey, Sam Cassell; we had just different type of players as well. Rasheed has the ability to spread the court at the end of the game. His presence will probably affect Rondo the most, in a positive way. At the end of games, it will be difficult to come off of [Rondo] when you have four guys standing behind the 3-point line, or three guys [at the 3-point line] and Kevin on the floor. I think it will make Rondo a lot more dangerous.’’

Does this mean we won't see Kendrick Perkins as much late in close games?

The most important thing is that training camp is almost here and we're that much closer to putting all of this together to try and reclaim the championship.