It is day four of the Celtics Summer Forecast on ESPN Boston. In the series, headed by Chris Forsberg, a panelist of eighteen experts around the Celtics blogosphere tackle one question each day during a three week time period. Today's question asked to the panel of "experts" is: Which O'Neal should start at center?
Fourteen of the eighteen experts on the panel went with Jermaine over Shaquille. I was not one of those.
Out of all fifteen questions Forsberg presented to us, I think this was the hardest to answer. There's a lot of things to take in consideration before coming up with a definite answer. The biggest thing: What if Perk doesn't come back healthy?
For that reason alone I believe it would be in Doc (Rivers) best interest to start The Big Shamrock. Here's the explanation that I gave on ESPN Boston:
Brandon Paul, Gino's Jungle (Shaquille O'Neal)
This is a question I've debated since the Celtics signed Shaq. Thinking in terms of the big picture, I would start Shaquille O'Neal. Unlike Jermaine O'Neal, Shaq is a legit center (just look at his size) who can beat and bang down low with other big bodies. In the event that Perkins does not come back fully healthy, or playing like he did last season, the Celtics will need a legit center in the playoffs to match up with proven bigs like Dwight Howard. Shaq can provide that. In the case that Perkins comes back healthy, Shaq will know the system and be ready to provide quality minutes off the bench, while Jermaine will be able to help relieve KG at the 4 spot.
I guess you can say with this response I was looking outside the box, and preparing for the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario, however, is very likely to happen with the severeness of Perkins surgery. There is a very good chance that right away he will not be the Kendrick Perkins we are used to seeing.
If this does happen and Perk is either A) not healthy or B) not playing well enough to compete with other starting center's around the leauge, do you really want Jermaine O'Neal as our starting center going into the playoffs? I sure and hell don't.
As much as I like to think Jermaine can come in and help this team, there's no doubt in my mind that he would get bullied around in a second round playoff matchup against Dwight Howard. Or even a first round matchup against a guy like Andrew Bogut.
Shaq, on the other hand, is big enough to compete and defend the majority of centers in the league. If he has a few months to adjust to Boston's style of play, he should be more than ready to compete come playoff time. And like I said in my explanation to ESPN, if Perk does come back healthy we have a capable NBA starting center coming off our bench.
In the meantime, Jermaine will be able to play his true position (power forward) and help give Garnett's legs some much needed rest. In my book it's a win-win scenario.
Be sure to check out the full article with all the expert picks on ESPN Boston.
Written by:
