Least Favorite Celtic Ever

In today's column "Smoke and Mirrors," Bill Simmons today completely blasted Rasheed Wallace. Good for him. I've been critical of 'Sheed ever since the preseason when he showed up fat, chucking a ridiculous amount of 3's and playing lazy basketball that would make Mark Blount blush. I've tried several times to give the man break after break. Both TB and Bohemian have tried to convince me that 'Sheed is an asset. I respect both of their basketball knowledge, so I really try to bite my tongue on Rasheed, but he's a complete failure.

Simmons writes, "Sheed will finish the 2009-10 regular season next week as my least favorite Celtic ever, edging out Todd Day, Fred Roberts, Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe and Vin Baker. At least Vinnie had an excuse: a drinking problem. Sheed has an apathy problem. His doughy, nonchalant shadow looms over every game." I can't deny that Rasheed has also been my least favorite Celtic ever. I can't stand him! I've laid out the stats to prove 'Sheed's horrific suckitude in more than a few posts this year (here, here, and here), but I'll add some of Simmons's stuff:

"Sheed's plus-minus is predictably bad: minus-4.6. I don't trust individual plus-minus as much as numbers for five-man lineups, so let's dig deeper. When Boston's three best perimeter players (Rondo, Pierce and Ray Allen) play with Garnett and Perkins, that unit is plus-280 for the season (plus-12.0 per 48 minutes). Swap Wallace for Perkins and it dips to minus-19 (-5.0 per 48 minutes). Swap Wallace for Garnett and it dips to minus-4 (minus-1.1 per 48 minutes).

THE FACTS ABOUT SHEED'S REBOUNDING


1. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Sheed has the lowest career per-48-minute rebounding average of anyone 6-foot-11 or taller who played 1,000-plus games (9.8).
2. His 2009-10 offensive rebound rate is significantly lower than that of any other center (2.8).
3. According to Basketball Prospectus' Kevin Pelton, Sheed in 2009-10 is tied with Toni Kukoc in 2005-06 for the third-lowest offensive rebound percentage ever among regular players 6-11 or taller (0.30). The two ahead of him? Manute Bol in 1989-98 (0.27) and Dirk Nowitzki in 2002-03 (0.28).
4. The 2008-09 Celtics outrebounded opponents by five per game and averaged nearly 10.5 offensive boards. The 2009-10 Celtics get outrebounded by 1.3 a game and average just 8.7 offensive boards. Hmmmmmm.
No one's blaming the entire Celtics disappointing season on Rasheed. He's a bench player. It's about the stars. It is a pretty big coincidence though that a team that gave its all every game for two years  now shows more apathy than pride. I won't go so far as to say 'Sheed infected the team with lazy, but I won't get on you if you say so.

While he certainly puts his need to fight with refs over the team, I don't really care as much about the technical fouls. It's idiotic, but I could certainly live with them if he was putting up numbers and effort. It's like Manny Ramirez. I was fine with Manny being Manny as long as he had an OPS over 1000. But trust me if Manny sucked at the plate, the whole Manny being Manny thing wouldn't fly. Newsflash to Rasheed: 'Sheed being 'Sheed isn't flying anymore because you now suck. You're not good enough anymore to have a meltdown a game. Doc benched Baby for getting a technical and more or less said he wasn't good enough to get away with that. That he wasn't KG. Well neither is 'Sheed. Grab some rebounds, do some crunches, and run the court and you can maybe have a meltdown every now and then. Right now you're not entitled.
Danny completely blew a golden opportunity to rid the Celtics of this piece of garbage back before the trade deadline. The Celtics offered Glen Davis to the Bobcats for DJ Augustin and the Bobcats countered asking for Rasheed instead. Most likely we could have squeezed the 1st rounder that the Bobcats gave Chicago from them in addition, as the Bobcats only went after Tyrus Thomas after Danny turned down their offer. We could of had DJ Augustin (more of a backup point guard than Nate) and Tyrus Thomas. We could of exchanged a lazy, old chucker for two young athletic players. Tyrus Thomas actually crashes the offensive boards, while Rasheed is allergic to them. Don't even get me started on Leon Powe, as I'd take a Leon Powe with 7 knee injuries over Rasheed.
I've never counted on Danny for smart trades or solid free agent signings, so the only hope is that Doc would step up, but he didn't. While he continues to talk about Shelden challenging Davis for playing time, he lets Rasheed do whatever he wants. Where was the 1 game suspension after 'Sheed's tantrum on his coach Sunday? Why has Glen Davis admitted that he's forced to play down low on offense, because  Rasheed (the 7 footer) is allowed to do whatever he wants and he chooses to play out on the perimeter.
I've said time and time again that Doc should bench Rasheed every time he shoots a 3. Nothing. In fact Doc will talk about how they're good looks. If a young knucklehead like Josh Smith can learn not to shoot 3's why can't a vet like Rasheed? Learn from the bench you bum.
I'm so glad Simmons wrote this article today, because it made me sick yesterday watching Rasheed refuse to move. Simmons says he goes from foul line to foul line. That's being kind. I see him repeatedly not get past either 3 point line. Yesterday I saw the Celtics run their offense and 'Sheed never even passed the half court line. Luckily that meant he was back on defense after the Celtics missed their shot. The next possession he made it all the way to the 3 point line, but didn't get back on defense until about 12 seconds were left on the shot clock. His shining moment came when a rebound bounced his way, but it also had a chance to go out of bounds. Rasheed made the decision that he'd prefer to just let it go out of bounds so as not to sweat. Odds were that Earl Barron might not get to it. Well he did. 
The Celtics need to go back to the Powe/Davis combo off the bench. What? You're telling me that Danny refused to give Powe the minimum and instead carries an empty roster spot? Luckily for the C's Shelden Williams is at least a poor man's Powe. A little taller, shorter arms, and much worse hands, but he busts his ass. Stop talking about giving Shelden Baby's minutes. Give Shelden Rasheed's minutes. It would show that you actually reward some one who gives a shit over someone who plays like shit and doesn't give a damn about the team. 
Again, much respect to Bohemian and TB, but I can't stand this bum wearing #30. I'm with you Bill. Least favorite Celtic ever.