Leon Powe


I love Leon Powe. In fact, he is my favorite player in the NBA right now. The guy always plays hard, and probably does more in the minutes he gets than any other role player in the league. When I first heard about the Celtics letting him go I was outraged. Why would we let one of our most important bench players, and the hero of Game 2 of the 2008 Finals go? The fact that what we got in return was Shelden Williams, made it seem even more outrageous. Shelden Williams is an under sized power forward that has had no impact in the NBA thus far. His claim to fame is being married to Candice Parker and being another failed former Duke star. Powe going to the Cavs made this all the more depressing. I never wanted to live in a world where I'd have to root against Leon.

I boiled over this whole situation for a few days, then realized this all kind of makes sense. Powe will be coming off a torn ACL, and won't be able to play until February. Now, if it was guaranteed he could return to the Powe of old at that time, I'd still say this was a bad move by the C's. However, the fact is we don't know if that will happen. Powe's main strengths are his ability to rebound and defend, and who knows if he will have the explosiveness to do that again. Also, I got to thinking that in a lot of ways Sheldon Williams has never had a chance in the NBA. He was never going to be a star in this league, but when you're picked at #5 you are expected to play like one. That pressure, added on to the fact that he's played on terrible teams, was a recipe for disaster. Now he gets to come to a championship caliber team, play 8-10 minutes a game, and have not much expected of him. Let's see what this guy can do before we rush to judgement.

The fact of the matter is none of this even matters if KG stays healthy, Rasheed plays up to his potential, and Big Baby builds off his outstanding second half of last year. Marquis Daniels was also an excellent pick up and will be able to spell Ray Ray and Pierce. Obviously the one thing they are missing is a true back up point guard, which is a whole other blog in itself.

Leon Powe will forever be missed and always be one of my favorite Celtics. Even though he is on the hated Cavs, I will always cheer for him. For those of you who don't know his back story, here is an interesting article about how he grew up. Makes you want to cheer for the guy even more. http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/120803aab.html