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Thoughts on the Holley article
> You hear him constantly say his team will
> begin the 21st century with a playoff
> appearance.
You mean we'll have to wait 2 more years?!?
He doesn't say ''maybe.'' He
> doesn't say ''if.'' He doesn't say ''one
> more year.''
>
> Nope. It will be next year. Playoffs. Call
> the Celtics' ticket offices right now. Get
> an early start. There will be playoff
> basketball on Causeway Street in 2000.
I don't get it. Which is it: next year, or in the 21st century?
He likes Battie so
> much that he has considered having him
> guard smaller, quicker players. He likes
(Translation: he's gone for Rodney Rogers or some like loser)
> Potapenko, too. He will get a chance to
> tinker with the center's game this summer,
Please, PLEASE don't "tinker" with Vitaly's game! He's way too promising for
that. Get yourself another one of these Schintzius- or Garnett-types whose
games you've been so successfully tinkering with.
> Although Pitino did not wish for an
> injured team, he said his players'
> ailments have helped him evaluate. Now he
> knows he likes Potapenko and Battie
> together on the court.
My Gawd, this guy needs injuries to half of his team to realize what anyone on
this list could've told him months ago.
>
> The scenario Tuesday was the 6-8 Hill
> rarely had to look up when posting up a
> Celtic. He had nearly two inches on Paul
> Pierce, an inch on Ron Mercer, and could
> go around Walter McCarty, who is 6-10.
OK, let's see: McCarty is here supposedly because of his defense, right?
Still, we knew he couldn't guard PFs because he's not strong enough, but now
it turns out he can't guard SFs either, because he's not quick enough?
According to his stats, he also can't shoot, score, pass, or rebound. So, what
is it that he CAN do, exactly, for his 2.5 mil/per?
> Pitino insists that Battie, who went
> through a growth spurt his first year of
> college (he had entered as a 6-7
> freshman), has the footwork to stay with
> Hill as well as the shot-blocking ability
> to discourage soft turnarounds.
Great! We had the experiment of Battie playing at center, now we're going to
experiment with him at SF? Oh, I get it: he's going to be a stand-in for
Rodney Rogers until the trade.
> If the Celtics are going to make the
> playoffs in 2000 they had better be ready
> to leap a few people.
One of the few things Holley got right in this article. The contending teams
are stacked 9-to-10-deep with *real* NBA talent. Their benches have
starter-quality players, not collections of clueless, talentless youngsters,
aging underachievers & perpetually injured has-beens.
Take Portland, for example: Sabonis, Brian Grant, Augmon, Rider & Stoudamire
backed up by the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Walt Williams, Jim Jackson & Greg
Anthony. (We have Barros, Mccarty, Minor, Bowen & Battie for now). For their
young projects, they have the likes of Kelvin Cato, Jermaine O'Neal, and Bonzi
Wells. (We have Garnett and Jones). Even the very end of the bench/IL is not
bad: Brian Shaw, Gary Grant and Carlos Rogers. (We have Schintzius, Riley, and
Ellison).
My question is, does the Portland front office not operate under the same
constraints as ours? Sure, we can blame some of our bad signings on M.L. (like
everything else), but how far are we going with *Pitino's* signees like Bowen,
McCarty, Garnett, Schintzius, Riley & Jones? They may be great to "tinker"
with, but how many of these players would crack a contending team's roster,
let alone the main rotation?