The Boston Celtics have been a top tier team since they traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. These two superstars and Paul Pierce didn’t do it alone as Boston had front court players to make an impact on both offense and defense.

This isn’t the case in Boston anymore as the Celtics rely on an injury prone Jermaine O’Neal to help the “Big Three” bring them back to the NBA Finals.

In season number 16, Garnett is old and isn’t even a shell of the 2007-08 version of KG when the Celtics won the NBA Championship. Kendrick Perkins was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for small forward Jeff Green, who is out for the season, and center Nenad Kristic, who is playing in Russia. Shaquille O’Neal, who was old and washed up in his only season with the Celtics last year, retired.

This leaves the Celtics starting front court with players in the twilight of their careers in Garnett and O’Neal.

Jermaine O’Neal was once a great player as he went to six consecutive All-Star games from 2002-to-2007. He could score with his back to the basket at an elite level and then learned how to hit a mid-range jump shot.

Then he blew out his knees. O’Neal hasn’t played in more than 70 games a season since the 2003-04 season when he was with the Indiana Pacers. His points per game have dropped every year since the 2005-06 season while his rebounding numbers went up and down until plummeting to a career low last season at 3.7 rebounds per game.

This season he is scoring seven ppg and grabbing 3.8 rpg.

He is already missing games in a shortened and condensed 66-game season. In a post on ESPN Boston, Chris Forsberg states O’Neal has a tense hamstring. The soreness didn’t keep him out of the game, the athletic staff did.

The wear and tear on his body is only going to get worse. I don’t think the strategy of holding him out of games to preserve his body for the playoffs is going to work either. He may be a veteran player but it’s hard to stay in a rhythm playing every other game or so.

When O’Neal was pulled for the Celtics game against the Washington Wizards on Monday, rookie Greg Stiemsma received the start. The six-foot eleven-inch center from the University of Wisconsin scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds.

The rookie’s performance is worthy of a nice pat on the back, but can the Celtics rely on an undrafted rookie to carry the load in the paint? Stiemsma scored two points and had four rebounds against the New Orleans Hornets on Dec. 28. The center recorded 21 minutes in the Wizards game and 20 in the Hornets game.

I hate to say this, but I’d rather rely on an old, washed up, cagy veteran than a wet behind the ears center who wasn’t even drafted.

If O’Neal, Garnett and Stiemsma are the Celtics only options, meaning they don’t make any roster changes, the Boston Celtics are in trouble.Teams are going to beat the Celtics up in the middle whether it’s by physical domination or creating foul trouble.

If the Celtics lose in the paint, they’ll lose many regular season games and possibly a first round playoff match up. Allen and Pierce can’t shoot the Celtics’ way to a seven-game series victory against teams such as the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat or the New York Knicks.

O’Neal can’t be the guy the Celtics rely on to help them win games or to stay healthy.

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