Re: M.L.

[Nault <rnault@ptialaska.net>]

I think a team should win as many games as they can.  They should try to
balance their minutes between players that are good and players they are
developing, so that they can develope their players without a great expense
of wins.

Tim

>Part of me is inclined to agree, but how far should this philosophy be
>taken?  Should a team always simply focus on the present?  If so, then a
>team should never trade a proven, but aging veteran for youthful prospects
>or get rid of decent contributors to clear cap space for a FA star down
>the road, yet teams do such "reloading" all the time. Also, a team should
>never give rookies or even second year players any playing time if it
>means hurting their chances of winning the game.  But then how do you
>develop your young talent?  Some say that if Reggie Lewis had played 25
>minutes a game his rookie year (87-88), the Celtics would have won the
>championship (preventing the Lakers from repeating) that year (they lost
>to the Pistons in 6 games in the semis).  The very next year, Lewis
>averaged over 30 minutes a game because Bird missed all but 6 games after
>getting ankle surgery, and he averaged close to 17 pts, 5 rebs, 2.5
>assists per game while shooting close to 47% from the field.  He would
>have made a great sixth man behind Bird and Ainge on that 87-88 team.
>
>
>What should ML have done?  Should he have encouraged Radja to come back as
>soon as possible and then give Walker's minutes to Radja?  We might have
>won more games that way, but I think it is perfectly ok to develop your
>young talent instead.
>
>
>The strongest objection one can make is that ML did not teach the kids how
>to play defense.  The Celtics were by far the worst defensive team in the
>league.  Granted they had no shot blocking center and the Center position
>is the key to a good defense, but the Cs were still worse than they should
>have been.  Why?  In part because of who their coach was, but then ML was
>picked in part to take the blame for this horrible season --  they stunk
>b/c they had a bad coach not b/c they were tanking sort of thing.
>
>Does all this detract from the Celtics Mystique?  Maybe, or maybe it adds
>to it.  Just another one of those crafty Celtic plans to get to the top.
>If Duncan turns out to be the star people say he will be and if Walker
>continues to pan out, then people won't look back at this past year as a
>disgrace, it will be considered another example of "shrewd, Celtic
>maneuvering".
>
>As long as nobody is telling the players to let the other team win, to
>miss shots intentionally, etc., I don't have a problem.  I think that
>generally, the players on the floor tried their best to win each game; any
>tanking was done at the managerial level.  Better this than to be the
>Cleveland Cavaliers forever.
>
>
>Caleb


Nault
rnault@ptialaska.net

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