May The Best Man Win

	West guards Allen in the Elite Eight of last year's NCAA Tournament. OSU won the game, advancing to the Final Four. Photo: NBAE/Getty Images
	West	Allen

May the best man win, that may be the mantra if the Celtics enter training camp in September with the backcourt as currently situated, following the selections of Delonte West and Tony Allen in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft.

It should be a fierce battle as the Celtics add the two first round picks to a backcourt that already includes Paul Pierce, Ricky Davis, Jiri Welsch, Chucky Atkins and Marcus Banks. But the competition is something that Executive Director of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge, thinks will be good for the team.

“There’s going to be a lot of competition in the backcourt,” said Ainge following the first round of the draft. “A ton of competition, I love that. We got two tough guys that are going to come in and push the talented players we have right now. Doc (Rivers) is going to have some management issues with the minutes, but it’s going to be a war for playing time.”

The upside for Rivers is that the Celtics will have plenty of options in terms of combinations and mismatches in the backcourt, which can only help the fast break style of play that both Ainge and Rivers advocate.

“We’re a wing team if you look us,” said Rivers. “We have a lot great scorers and a lot of great shooters. You look at the skill set on our team and that’s it. We need to run more and we need to be more aggressive.

With the two new perimeter players along with the current backcourt, the Celtics will be a more quick and athletic team, something Rivers will love to see on the court come training camp. But as Ainge mentioned, playing time could be an issue.

If we break it down, we know Pierce, Atkins, Davis and Welsch will all be in the rotation, but after that it will be a dog fight in camp.

The Celtics are hoping that last year’s number one pick, Marcus Banks will be ready to shoulder more of a load next year, but if he can’t then the backcourt picture will be awfully cloudy.

Ainge and Rivers expect West to battle for minutes at both shooting guard and point guard, while Allen is mainly a shooting guard that may have the athleticism to play a little small forward. Being top college players last season both should be able to contribute right away, which makes the situation even better for the Celtics, but playing time issues a little tougher for Rivers.

When asked about the rotation Ainge said, “That’s what he’ll (Coach Rivers) decide in training camp.” But according to Doc Rivers, he’ll be able to tell you what he expects in a week or two.

As far as the options in the backcourt go, there will definitely be winners and losers, but that’s something that Rivers and the players will have to worry about. Either way it should be a fierce and fun training camp to watch come September.

And as the saying goes, you can never have too much talent. So, if the Celtics have a problem, it's a good one.