Re: Larry Hughes

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Jaime Salud Castillo, Jr. <jaims@philonline.com>
To: <Georgek27@aol.com>; <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 1999 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: Larry Hughes


 >We already have scorers in
> Pierce and Walker who occupies the shooting guard and small forward
> positions.  I've heard someone posted that Hughes is a small version of
our
> own Antoine Walker(I think it's true)..."when he's hot, he's hot and
> praisable...but when he couldn't get the ball to drop, he still shoots it
> and he's boo-able."
>

I think that lost in the shuffle is what should be an issue about Pierce.
Someone please correct me if I am mistaken, but if PP shot 9/22 in field
goals last night, and if 3 of those were dunks off of steals, doesn't that
mean that other than the dunks, he shot 6/19?  He has been having problems
shooting the basketball, but he doesn't appear to warrant any of the
negativity that is heaped upon Toine, and I'm not saying he should, but I am
sure it will surface should his shooting woes continue.

I recall when this list showered Mercer with praise for coming to camp and
being a leader last year.  Haven't seen much respect for him lately though.
I guess my point, as I continue to believe, is that it takes time for things
to mesh together and we can't expect this team to play like they do against
Miami every night.  Some teams just have the number of others.  And our guys
just are not mature enough to handle that yet.  As time passes, they will
not suffer lapses against the Chicago's.  They will not allow veteran teams
to creep back into the game like the Atlanta's and the Milwaukee's.  They
will refrain from shooting strictly jumpers in those situations and will
begin to drive to the hoop with a sense of purpose.

But in the meantime .......

Cecil

>
> Maybe, if we stick it out with Mr. Walker, be patient even for one whole
> season, and then BAM...if he still doesn't improve or correct his perenial
> bad habits then we decide to move him.  And God willing, if ever, next
> season's catches are Grant Hill and Duncan...if and only if we get lucky
or
> some team would like to gamble on our prodigal son that is.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Georgek27@aol.com>
> To: <celtics@igtc.com>
> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 1999 12:31 AM
> Subject: Re: Larry Hughes
>
>
> > In a message dated 12/4/99 9:11:29 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> > cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca writes:
> >
> > << Not according to Bill's report, which I am much more inclined to
> believe
> >  than a large % of the reactionary comments I read on this list.  From
> Bill,
> >  I get the sense that Toine played a very good game, a very smart game
by
> >  driving, waiting for the defense to collapse on him and kicking the
ball
> out
> >  to the open man.  That is team basketball, which, at a previous time,
was
> >  the essence of Celtic basketball.
> >   >>
> > Good post Cecil.  While the fashionable thing is to bash AW if you look
> > beyond the shots you can appreciate him more.  Last night nothing would
> drop
> > for him and he didn't take a lot of bad shots.  He was working under the
> > boards and looked to have more rebounds than he got credit for, he was
> > attracting double teams and opening things up for others, and he did a
lot
> of
> > other stuff like the steal/layup in he 4th quarter that seemed to seal
> > Miami's fate.  Some of the 3's he put up were the very same shot that
Bird
> > would take (leading by 10-12 and looking for that extra dagger in the
> > opponents heart) and even tho they didn't drop we got some of the
> offensive
> > rebounds on them.  The difference is that Bird would go out and shoot a
> few
> > hundred in practice before every game and Antoine does not.  The team
> > collectively had trouble with the 3's but did seem to get a lot of the
> long
> > rebounds.
> >
> > How anyone can compare Larry Hughes performance last night to any game
> > Antoine EVER had is beyond me.  In only 12 minutes Hughes managed to
miss
> all
> > 6 shots he took and turn the ball over 6 times.  IN 12 MINUTES!  The
only
> > "positive" he had was ONE rebound.
> >
> > Last night's game was similar to VP's first Celtic/Heat game.  Our trio
of
> > centers made life miserable for Mourning even tho he came away with
stats.
> I
> > think our trio of centers put up something like 25 pts and 23 rebounds
> > against him tho (and I realize we sometimes had 2 of them in the game at
> > once).  To credit the win to Pitino getting tossed is as accurate as
> writing
> > off the season after losing our first exhibition game.  But then after
AW,
> > Pitino is the #2 whipping boy for the fans with Barros, McCarty & Battie
> not
> > too far behind.  Some criticism is deserved on all fronts but in most
> cases
> > some credit is deserved as well.
> >
> > George
> >
> >
>