Shaq will have the duty of filling in for Kendrick Perkins while he is out recovering from knee surgery. When the Celtics signed Jermaine O'Neal last month we all thought it would be his job to fill the gap, but obviously Danny Ainge and Doc have a different idea for the O'Neal's. With the addition of Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal will be able to fill in for Garnett and get minutes at the Center position. This takes stress off of all three of these players and also takes some weight off of Big Babies shoulders.
When this deal was first announced i was very skeptical of it. I first felt that it was a bad idea, and that Shaq wasn't needed to make the Celtics a Championship winning team. But now I believe in this move. When i look back on KG's performance in the Playoffs and regular season he looked tired and out of it. This move will help the team by dividing minutes across a number of extremely talented and successful players giving everyone a chance to rest and stay healthy. Any of the concerns i have with Shaq joining the Celts can be fixed and taken care of in practices leading up to the season. The biggest concern being that he will get in the way of Rondo when he cuts to the net. But this is a simple fix during practices. The pieces the Celtics have can easily be made into a cohesive winning unit as long as all of those pieces are willing to play their part.
Lets keep our fingers crossed!
