Mid-season re-evaluation: How much am I paying to watch each Celtic?


The Celtics played their 41st game of the year on Friday, so we're now at the exact halfway point of the season.  Combine that with the return of Rajon Rondo, and it's a great time to recalculate my article from the beginning of the year "Tonight's the home opener, how much will I be paying to watch each Celtic play?"  Basically I have season tickets at $70 per game, so I divided that money up by how excited I was to watch each player.  Here's my new breakdown, with original values in parentheses (you're going to enjoy this post a lot more if you click on the above link and compare them side to side):

$18 Rajon Rondo (N/A) - Originally I said I'd pay $25 of the $70 to watch him if he'd been healthy, but at this point after half a season some other Celtics have earned their watch-ability.  Some guys are going to have to drop by default anyway.

$12 Jared Sullinger ($8) - I'm absolutely convinced he's the next best player on the team now after Rondo.

$10 Avery Bradley ($9) - Bradley has developed into a pretty good shooter; I no longer cringe when he takes pull-up jumpers like I did a season ago.  Plus I can't wait to see him and Rondo back together again running the floor.

$6 Kelly Olynyk ($8) - This "demotion" is in part a factor of Rondo needing money.  I'm still very intrigued by what Olynyk may become, but for the time being his playing time is too inconsistent to get that excited about him.

$6 Jeff Green ($12) - On the other hand, Green dropping has nothing to do with Rondo.  I'm bored of Jeff Green.  With Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Rondo all gone, the first half of this season was Green's chance to be the man.  Instead he's been the same guy as before; capable of looking like a superstar in brief stints, and going for 20+ once every 3-4 games when he should be doing it every night.  I'm not waiting for the emergence of the alleged "real Jeff Green" any more.

$5 Phil Pressey ($5) - Timing is everything for Pressey.  If you'd asked me five days ago I would have had him at a dollar.  But after watching him dish out 19 assists and 0 turnovers over the past two games, I'm starting to believe he could actually be an effective backup to Rondo going forward.  He needs to keep working on his jump shot and realize he's too short to take the ball to the basket in traffic, but I want to see more.

$4 Kris Humphries ($4) - Boston has basically gotten the best case scenario out of Humphries.  He's played hard, rebounded well, shot better than many people expected, earned a starting spot, and maybe even created some potential trade interest around the league.

$2 Jerryd Bayless (N/A) - I assume Bayless will disappear when his contract is up at the end of the season, and I have no real interest in him.  But some of the things he does are moderately entertaining; shooting threes, driving to the bucket, in fact he sort of reminds me of a slightly duller Jordan Crawford.

$2 Brandon Bass ($2) - I actually really like what Bass is doing for this team.  In particular he's been busting past defenders for dunks a lot more often than I would have thought he was capable of.  Unfortunately I just don't think he's going to be around very much longer.

$2 Brad Stevens ($6) - Sorry coach, I think you're doing a great job, but Rondo's dollars had to come from somewhere.  Also, as it turns out, watching a coach during the game really isn't all that interesting.

$1 Vitor Faverani ($5) - After a very brief tease where we thought Danny Ainge might have found a diamond in the rough with Faverani, Vitor has taken his rightful place as the funny named foreign big guy on the end of the bench, Stojko Vrankovic style.

$1 Gerald Wallace ($4) - As tired as I am of him "calling out his teammates," and as much as I'd love for Boston to get rid of him in any way possible (which sadly may not even exist), every once and a while he does something on the court where you think "Huh, nice play there Gerald."  I guess that's worth a buck.

$1 combined: Joel Anthony/Chris Johnson (N/A) - If Anthony never checks into a game as a Celtic I doubt anybody would mind.  And the problem with 10-day contract man Chris Johnson is that I'm honestly not ever sure which Chris Johnson he is.

$0 Keith Bogans ($0) - Is he even on the team anymore?  Ainge's comment that it was mutually beneficial to both parties for him to leave seems to imply he may never suit up for the C's again.
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$70


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