Sam It Ain't

There's not much to carp about when you've just reached the 60 win plateau, but we'll try. First, let me say again, the Celtics look awesome. They are destroying most teams, and are so dang professional that it almost gets me teary. The team is a joy to behold. 60 wins is a sure sign of a dominance, and no one can doubt that this group is an elite bunch.

But now let me have my caveat. Cassell is hardly playing. Sam has played in 17 games with the Celtics, averaging about 15 minutes a contest. He's also been DNP-CD five times, including tonight. He played one minute against the Hornets last week, and all of six against Phoenix. And like I said, he didn't play at all tonight.

So what gives? I know you hardly want to rock a boat that is sailing along as smoothly as the Celtics' has, but there needs to be a rational compromise here. House has been playing very well lately, and perhaps has earned himself a regular position in the playoff rotation, but Glenn needs to find minutes for Cassell. I mean, in the second night of a back to back why is Ray Allen playing 37 minutes and Sam none? Why in general has Glenn stuck with Tony Allen and regulated Cassell to the pine? Does he really think TA will be more important than Sam come playoff-time?

The point of these last few weeks is to fine-tune things, and part of that clearly should be assimilating Sam into the flow as much as possible. Yet Rivers seems disinclined to do this, which strikes me as shortsighted. What excites us about Sam is not only his gamesmanship and playoff savvy, but the fact that he is still a very good player. Unfortunately we have not gotten to see any of that since he joined the Green. The results surrounding Sam's disappearance have been positive - the bench has been great of late - but the truth remains: Sam is one of your more important bench players. He is more important than TA, and probably more important than House. He needs to play.

It takes a while usually for players to adjust to their new team. I would be concerned that Sam would not be able to fully adapt even if he were averaging 25 minutes a night since he joined Boston. But presently the concern is more profound. When the C's picked up Cassell I assumed they were getting a considerable resource - now I only get wistful.