Blog

The Jason Terry signing is official.  JET is now a Boston Celtic, the newest member of the family (for now), and a key piece in a rebuilding puzzle that continues to straddle the old and the new.  And if the impending sign-and-trade for Courtney Lee goes off as expected, Terry will become Boston’s dynamite off the bench – an explosive scorer whose ego can handle being this team’s sixth man, a role that Ray Allen may have balked at but one that Terry is perfectly suited to embrace.

Terry also gives the Celtics something else that the aging Allen lacked - the ability to break his man down off the dribble and get to the rack.  It’s a dimension that Doc Rivers is doubtless excited to exploit, as Allen rarely attacked the rim in the Celtics’ half-court offense.  Terry is a much more comfortable with the ball in his hands, and should have plenty of opportunities to attack.

But there are questions.

Like, what will the roles look like when Bradley returns?  If Bradley is the starting two guard, and Terry is the sixth man off the bench at the same position, where does that leave Lee?  I know he can play small forward, but you’ve got Paul Pierce and Jeff Green in that mix.

Is it a case of too many cooks in the kitchen?  Can Rivers find enough minutes to keep everyone happy?

I’m confident that Danny Ainge has thought this through, and that Rivers can make it work.  But if Bradley continues to struggle with injury and Lee excels at the two, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bradley shipped out to another team.  Don’t want that to happen, but can certainly see a scenario where Bradley ends up on the short end of this stick.

We’ll see.

But for now, it’s time to celebrate.  The Celtics are taking shape and are closer to takeoff, with Jason Terry a big part of what