The Celtics Revisited

Earlier we reported that since the KG trade, Celtics tickets have been a hot commodity. Over the weekend, Celtics team president Rich Gotham confirmed that the Celtics season ticket base has grown by an astounding 50% since the KG trade. With the Reggie Miller return rumors running rampant, this number could be pushed even higher if Miller ends up signing with the Celtics.

As John Hollinger noted on his blog, which covered some of the potential NBA comeback players (Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, and Allan Houston in addition to Miller), most of them should stay retired. Oakley is too old and was terrible in his final three seasons. Hardaway had a horrendous PER of 8.99 in 2004-2005; his last season of 30 or more games. Houston has an arthritic knee, which as Hollinger pointed out, doesn't exactly go away. However, Miller was the exception. Miller retired when he was still a starter and had an above average PER of 16.62. Additionally, the Pacer's were 9.6 points per game better with him on the court than off.

Although certainly not the same player from the late 90's or even of 2004-2005, Miller would still provide the Celtics with a much needed additional shooter, who would have myriad open looks with KG drawing the double team and Pierce usually drawing help defense on drives. Additionally, with Rajon Rondo able to guard the PG and SG positions, Miller could always guard the weaker of the two opponents given his age and shaky defense. Furthermore, Miller would provide the Celtics with a fourth player who has literally sold out an arena by himself (KG, Pierce and Allen being the others). Even if Miller only played 10-15 minutes a night, he'd still draw fans and help the team as he was easily one of the best shooters of his era (.395% career 3 point percentage), and shooting is one of the few skills that normally stays with a player as they age.