Glen obviously has an offensive advantage, but I’m not sure I need his defensive liability down the stretch.

Thanks for reading! Love the disagreements!!!

Celticsfanatic, you should post that comment on ur site, it’s an article in itself (lol). I must say, however, despite the length of the comment, I agree with it completely.

Big Baby will take his normal spot in the rotation and Shelden will take the back seat. If our guy’s are in foul trouble in the second half of the game, I’d like to see BBD with the ball– not Shelden.

Plus– BBD spreads the court in similar fashion to KG and Sheed’s ability to do so. He can hit free throws late in the game, he can hit from 15-20 feet out and he can rebound (remember– rebounding is just as much position and boxing out as it is jumping ability).

All in all, though I have learned to love Shelden (his twitter responses nearly make it impossible to not love him), I have to pick BBD in my rotations before Williams.

Nice read man.

Anyway. I agree with a lot of points you made, mainly being that he’s shown gusto when necessary and he’s good in the passing lane.

BUT, I’m not 100% confident in his jumpshot. Are we relying this all on the fact that he nailed a shot to win a game? I sure hope not.

Would you rather have I’d rather have KG, Sheed, Ray, and Pierce take that shot before Glen. Even Eddie. Even Quisy. Glen is far down the list of who I want taking a mid range J at the end of the game. That being said, I think Shelden offers the length, the boards, and the quicker body to make rotations that Glen still can’t make.

But, I’m sure I’ll be wrong and will regret this post. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Love the comment, CF. Love it!

That being put out there, I’m gonna have to say… I strongly, strongly, disagree here. Glen Davis is one of the best outside shooting big man (oh, and I’ll remind you that I’m infatuated with Glen Davis. Still, I can bring stats into this and make a worthy argument that he’s sitting right behind KG and Timmy and Yao. Though he doesn’t have quite the range Matt Bonner, Dirk, Rasheed, Rashard Lewis, or even KG has).

He’s proven he can throw his best punches in crunch-time, while Shelden hasn’t. Granted he hasn’t gotten a chance if my memory isn’t failing me, and Davis has struck twice, and in a vehement fashion, if I may say so. The Orlando game was pressure-packed as ever, yes, but the spotlight of the San Antonio game was thrown under the bus by the time YouTube videos of the Orlando game accompanied by dramatic piano skits were flying up every where you turned.

But enough about his shooting. The real thing that comes to mind when you think of Glen Davis is clandestine defense. Davis cements a space in the paint where he won’t allow the offender past, staples a wide and abnormally low (for the more lanky big men) position where he can fall back to if he allows his matchup to catch the ball too far into the paint (a rare course of events).

He’s exceptional in the passing lane. He’s always sticking a hand out, he rarely ever lets a ball zip past him, and he has unbelievable court vision. Once in a blue moon you’ll see Davis not giving the guy dishing the entry pass trouble, and he will be HOUNDING the receiver of the pass. He’s shockingly flexible for his size, and he can literally coat a player from toes to chest. He’ll have his head peeking over the player’s shoulder constantly.

He’s wonderful in the fast break game. He has terrific hands, and can recover any ball in his general area. Like you mentioned, he’s a great finisher, being able to flick it in even with contact, and has the soft touch invaluable to Yao Ming’s game.

He puts the same amount of effort into the game Shelden does. He has the heart, the passion, the blaze… whatever you want to call it. Sure, he may tear up. He may shout unnecessarily. He may plead for what he wants (primarily because he thinks it’ll make the team better; but not because he’s a pompous jerk). But Glen Davis does that because he’s a fiery character.

And what are those Celtics described as?

A fiery group of competitors.

I like Shelden, I really do. He’s a great complement to our corps of big men. But the potential and striving for excellence all comes back to Glen Davis.