The season hasn’t even started yet, but the Celtics are already a man down.

Actually, it’s more like a Baby down.

With extremely high expectations hanging above them, the Celtics were looking healthier and better than they had in years, including their 2008 championship season. With the return of Kevin Garnett and the additions of Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels, the C’s have been in the title conversation all offseason.

Then, Glen “Big Baby” Davis lived up to his nickname.

He was allegedly involved in an altercation with a friend and former teammate from LSU and wound up breaking his thumb in the process. Davis is scheduled to have surgery this week and is likely to be out at least two months.

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck told the Boston Globe on Tuesday that the team is leaning towards suspending Big Baby.

So now the C’s are down one big man. Davis did everything the Celtics needed him to do during last year’s playoffs as he replaced Garnett in the starting lineup due to KG’s knee injury. This season, he was expected to return to his role on the bench and spell both KG and Wallace, giving Boston one of the deepest benches in the NBA.

Now that Baby’s out of the picture for a good amount of time, expect to see more minutes from Garnett and Wallace. While there haven’t been any setbacks regarding Garnett’s knee surgery, he still doesn’t look like he’s where he was before the injury and it will probably take him some time to get back to the KG of old.

At the same time, Wallace is probably going to have to take a bigger role on the team than he expected to when he signed with Boston in July. At 35, too many minutes could wear on Sheed and create a domino effect with big man injuries, which is the last thing the Celtics need after the way last season ended.

The only other viable big man option off the bench for the Celtics is Shelden Williams, and I don’t think fans of the Green want to see him playing 25 minutes a game. Williams might be better than Mikki Moore, but that’s not saying too much.

If there’s any good news for the C’s, it’s that the injury occurred now and not in March or April. Baby can now go get his surgery, heal up completely and help out the team later in the season. If everything goes well, he should be back by the start of the new year and help the team prepare for the stretch run and the postseason.

This looks to be a minor slip as the Celtics’ travel towards their ultimate goal: An 18th banner in the Garden rafters. But look at the bright side, Celtics fans.

At least it wasn’t Garnett again.

Ryan Desmarais can be contacted by e-mail at rdesmarais@fanhuddle.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Most Recommended, News Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.