Re: this team sucks/but will change

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Hart,

The nine-man rotation that you give wouldn't be a bad direction
for the Celtics. In fact, in another three years when the young
players mature, it could be pretty impressive. I see a couple of
potential problems though:

First, the salary structure. The Walker/Mercer/Pierce rotation at
2 and 3 is probably going to end up being a $200M rotation. 
You have another $11M/year invested at point guard. 

Second, a lack of inside scoring. I think Oakley is best suited to
be a complementary forward to a scoring center (like he has been
to Willis and Ewing). He doesn't have much of an inside offensive
game; he gets most of his points from open midrange jumpers off
double teams. I don't know if I feel comfortable having Vitaly 
carrying so much of an inside scoring load. While Walker 
could post up at the small forward position to some degree, using
him exclusively inside would be a misuse of his talents.

Third, I doubt we can obtain a quality veteran power forward for the
middle class exemption, because we are obviously a young developing
team with no contending chances. My guess is that the exemption is
spent on a veteran scorer at 2 or 3.

My preference is to see Mercer and Battie traded for a power forward 
that can rebound, defend, and draw double teams. Both of these guys
are in their contract extension years which is trouble for the Celtics
because the Celtics don't have infinitely deep pockets. Trading Mercer
for an inside player would turn the whole offense from a mostly jump
shooting one into an inside oriented one. 

Alex

> Hi Peter
> 
> The way I see it and for arguments sake, say that Popeye recovers, and
> we sign an Oakley.  
> 
> Starting team: 	C: Vitaly  PF: Oakley  SF: Walker  PG: KA    SG:Mercer
> Off the bench: 	C/SF/PF: Battie (I really like this kid-multi 	
 *			
> positional player)
> 	      	SF/SG: Pierce (Would be great taking smaller forwards 	
 *	      
> and guards to the basket or posting them up)
> 		PG/SG: Barros (Unless someone better is available)
> 		PF: Popeye (IF healthy)
> This could be one hell of a competetive team both offensively and
> defensively. You know for sure with Oakley and a healthy Popeye, there
> will be hard fouls and no lay-ups, it just gives us mental toughness,
> something we sorely lack.
> 		Remainder of bench if all things remain status quo: Minor, McCa
 *rty and
> Riley would all play small minutes. 
> Here is how I see the minutes divided up for our 9 man rotation:
> 			C: Vitaly 30/Battie 18
> 			PF:Oakley 24/ Popeye 24
> 			SF:Walker 36/Pierce 12
> 			PG:KA 36/Barros 12
> 			SG:Mercer 30/Pierce 18
> Pierce should develop into a Havilcek type swing player, and could
> really be something. Walker will average 23 PPg/10 RPG player, Mercer
> and Pierce combined will give us 35 + PPg per game. KA 12PPG, Vitaly 10
> PPG, Battie/Barros/Oakley and Popeye and the rest of the bench should
> give us 25-30 PPg. In essence we should be able to score 100 points a
> game next year and with the defensive presence hopefully of an Oakley
> type, a healthy Popeye a more mature Battie and Walker and a Vitaly,
> rebounding will be less of a problem. For Christ sakes Popeye, Battie
> and Oakley would score 12-14 cleanup points just from offensive rebounds
> and putbacks. We don't have this right now. 
> I do believe that Pitino will most likely try to trade Minor somewhere
> for almost anything if he can. I also think that if he could get a
> defensive minded point guard for KA, he would do it in a heartbeat. I
> think that the big 3 are pretty secure and Vitaly is here for the long
> term.
> Anyway just some thoughts , I didn't mean to bore you all.
> 
> Regards,
> Hart
> 
> peter delevett wrote:
> > 
> > How do you think PT will be parsed out when Pitino acquries those wide bodi
 *es?
> > Let's say we add a healthy Popeye, or an Oakley, or some other veteran PF.
> > Does he get most of his minutes backing up Antoine, and does this mean Batt
 *ie
> > gets most of his minutes backing up Vitaly? Or does the PF play alonsgide
> > Antoine, moving either Pierce or Mercer to the bench for spells? Or does
> > Battie get traded and we add both a veteran backup PF and a veteran backup 
 *center?
> > 
> > Sherry & Hart wrote:
> > >
> > 
> > > I know one thing for sure it is
> > > that Walker. Mercer and Pierce are a good start, but they need help from
> > > some big wide bodies, at least 2, for them to win with any consistentcy.
> > > They are just not big enough to play physically every game. If we can
> > > get a couple of big wide bodies it will let Walker and Pierce have their
> > > way with smaller forwards just as Larry did against smaller  people.
> > >
>