The Celtics signed former Memphis Grizzlies guard-forward Dahntay Jones and Atlanta Hawks forward-center Estaban Batista to non-guarenteed contracts and will join the team in Europe for training camp, bringing the roster to 17.</p> Jones, who has played his entire four-year career with the Grizzlies, played in a career-high 78 games last season. He averaged 7.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.</p> Batista, 6-foot-10, 270-pound Uruguay native, played sparingly for Atlanta last season, but averaged a tournament-best 12.4 rebounds and 20.8 points during the recent FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas.</p> www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2007/09/camp_roster_set.html</p> <hr /> </p> </p> Dahntay Jones is going to be a guy who makes you say "with some minutes, this guy can be a really good player". Then when he does gets the minutes, he makes you say "AAAAHH WTF! 5 FOULS IN 25 MINUTES!". Thats basicly his problem. He can shoot okay, hes a strong penetrator...very good defender...but he gets into foul trouble and can make stupid decisions every once in a while. Saying that, DJ is a good pickup because he can go out on the court and really rough and a tire out a player good.</p> <div></div>
i think both are pretty good pickups for Boston, and if they actually get minutes, i think they'll both be able to produce.</p>
Great pickups for Boston.</p> As its standing the Celtics have:</p> starting Rajon Rondo / Ray Allen / Paul Pierce / Kevin Garnett / Kendrick Perkins</p> bench Eddie House / Tony Allen / Scot Pollard / James Posey / Brian Scalabrine / Leon Powe / Dahntay Jones / Esteban Batista / Glen Davis / Gabe Pruitt</p>
//</p> Alright now we're talking. Not that I think either are all that great but that bench is getting deeper.</p> </p>
Great moves again by Danny Ainge getting these two players. Dahntay Jones has molded himself into a tough perimeter defender, and Esteban Batista is exactly the type of player Boston needed to round out their roster.</p> This might be the two moves to put Boston over the top in the East.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticKing)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Great pickups for Boston.</p> As its standing the Celtics have:</p> starting Rajon Rondo / Ray Allen / Paul Pierce / Kevin Garnett / Kendrick Perkins</p> bench Eddie House / Tony Allen / Scot Pollard / James Posey / Brian Scalabrine / Leon Powe / Dahntay Jones / Esteban Batista / Glen Davis / Gabe Pruitt</p> </div></p> You forgot Brandon Wallace and Jackie Manuel.</p> They have a lot of roster trimming to do now.</p>
Two decent additions. Jones is arguably a better defender than a healthy Tony Allen. The rotation should look like: 5 Kendrick Perkins 4 Kevin Garnett 3 Paul Pierce 2 Ray Allen 1 Rajon Rondo James Posey, Eddie House, Brian Scalabrine, Esteban Batista, Dahntay Jones I'm still not confident in Tony Allen's recovery and I think Batista has a better shot at getting regular playing time than either Leon Powe or Glen Davis, who the Celtics were reportedly shopping. Pruitt is still a year away from contributing and Pollard takes his rightful spot on the IL.</p>
Fans around the league have made Ainge a laughing stock the past few seasons. All of a sudden, and out of nowhere, several bold moves and some really slick pick up pieces to fill out the roster and he's looking like a genius.</p> Jones has pretty much gotten better year over year and is still young. If the Celtics had to play him 30 minutes a game, he'd be plenty good enough.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DRob-50-Forever)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Solid pickups. Wallace and Manuel just lost their jobs.</p> </div></p> I believe so too. I'd rather have Batista and Jones. More experience.</p> </p>