The Celtics have had to use 35-year old power forward Kevin Garnett at center a lot so far this year, and that wasn’t the plan.  33-year old Jermaine O’Neal has been banged up quite a bit so far this year.  He has played in 18 games (17 starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 22.3 minutes, 5.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game.  O’Neal still has some gas left in the tank, but it won’t matter if he can’t stay healthy.  26-year old rookie Greg Stiemsma has provided some help off the bench for the Celtics so far this year, but he’s not quite ready for prime time yet.  He has played in 18 games (1 start) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 8.5 minutes, 1.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game.

Whispers are starting to circulate that Rajon Rondo could be out until the All-Star Break due to a wrist injury for the Celtics and that is bad news.  Rondo has played in 13 games (all starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 36.4 minutes, 15.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 9.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game.  21-year old Avery Bradley has stepped into the starting lineup at point guard, and he is no Rondo.  Bradley is averaging 5.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game in his five starts.  He is also shooting only 34.2% from the floor since being elevated to the starting lineup and that is putrid.  Bradley has played in 17 games (5 starts) so far for the Celtics and he is averaging 16.1 minutes, 3.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  It’s likely only a matter of time until 31-year old Keyon Dooling bumps Bradley to the bench.  Dooling has played in 10 games (1 start) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 17.5 minutes, 6.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

UPDATE:  (2/4/2012) – Rajon Rondo returned to action last night for the Celtics.  He finished up with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals in 34 minutes on the floor.  This is outstanding news for the Celtics.

The Celtics need more production out of 31-year old SF/SG Marquis Daniels as he has been awful so far this year.  Daniels has played in 14 games (0 starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 16.1 minutes, 3.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.  He is only shooting 21 of 72 (29.2%) from three point range so far this year as it looks like the basket has a lid on it when he’s shooting the ball.  The Celtics are likely going to cut his minutes big time if he doesn’t start shooting better soon.

39-year old center Shaquille O’Neal played last night after missing 27 games with an Achilles strain.  He only lasted 5 minutes last night before hurting his calf muscle and sitting out the rest of the night after scoring 6 points and grabbing 1 rebound.  O’Neal has played in 37 games (36 starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 20.3 minutes, 9.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game.  He is shooting 66.7% from the floor and 55.7% from the free throw line his year, which is pretty amazing for him.  I really hope that the Celtics weren’t depending on Shaq when they dealt Kendrick Perkins to the Thunder.

The Boston Celtics hope that 30-year old power forward Troy Murphy and 31-year old point guard Carlos Arroyo can shake off the rust soon and contribute off the bench.  Murphy has played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 11.2 minutes, 2.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  But, he is only shooting 36.4% from the floor and that’s terrible for a player his size.  Arroyo has played in 3 games (0 starts) for the Celtics so far and he is averaging 17.7 minutes, 4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.  Arroyo is only shooting 33.3% from the floor so far this year for the Celtics.  Both Murphy & Arroyo are much better shooters than they have shown so far for the Celtics so they need them to pick up the pace.

The Celtics figured that they could move Nate Robinson in a deal because Delonte West is back from injury.  West can handle playing both guard spots, which makes him pretty valuable going forward.  West has played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 17.6 minutes, 6.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  He has now played in 371 games (223 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 28.2 minutes, 9.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  Von Wafer has played in 49 games (0 starts) so far this year for the Celtics and he is averaging 9.1 minutes, 3.0 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  He will likely see more minutes behind Ray Allen as the season goes on.

26-year old guard Nate Robinson is off to a very rough start so far this month.  Robinson has played in 5 games so far in February and he is averaging 12.4 minutes, 3.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  He is only shooting 6 of 18 (33.3%) from the floor so far this month and he is only 2 of 11 (18.2%) from three point range and that won’t cut it.  Robinson has now played in 52 games (11 starts) so far this year and he is averaging 18.2 minutes, 7.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  The Celtics won’t likely increase Robinson’s minutes unless he starts showing signs of life soon.

With 38-year old Shaquille O’Neal banged up, Kendrick Perkins has returned and laid claim to his old starting gig.  It will be interesting to see how Shaq handles a reduced role as he was playing pretty well for the Celtics so far this year.  In his last three games, Shaq is averaging 14.7 minutes, 2.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game.  But, overall he has played in 36 games (all starts) in which he is averaging 20.7 minutes, 9.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game.  O’Neal is shooting an amazing 66.2% from the floor and a passable 55.7% from the free throw line (that’s actually pretty good for him) so far this year.  O’Neal knew that he wasn’t going to get a lot of P.T. in 2010-11, so I think he will play nice when he finally gets healthy.

With Kevin Garnett out of action the Celtics really need 25-year old Glen “Big Baby” Davis to step up while he is out.  In his first six games in January, Davis is averaging 33.5 minutes, 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals on 41.7% shooting from the floor.  Davis doesn’t seem to be able to handle the big minutes he’s getting mostly because he is still out of shape.  When he’s coming off the bench playing 24-30 minutes it doesn’t hurt him as much.  His rebounding has been awful since he has replaced K.G. and he needs to pick up the pace in that area.  Davis has now played in 36 games (6 starts) so far this year for the Celtics and he is averaging 30.7 minutes, 12.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

The Boston Celtics will be without 34-year old power forward Kevin Garnett for the next couple of weeks due to a strained right calf.  Garnett has played in 30 games (all starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 31.6 minutes, 15.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game.  Garnett will be missed because of his defense and rebounding.  24-year old Glen “Big Baby” Davis will need to step up with K.G. on the mend.  Davis has played in 30 games (0 starts) for the Celtics so far this year and he is averaging 29.7 minutes, 12.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  The Celtics have enough depth on the front line with Jermaine O’Neal back that they can give K.G. all of the time he needs to heal and they should be careful with him.