C's Report Card

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

As posted in Celts Newsgroup.

Digital City - Boston - Boston's Sports Guy 
http://home.digitalcity.com/boston/sportsguy/main.dci?page=lists
       

       
      20-GAME CELTS REPORT CARD" (12/14)
      Quick gradings of the C's and their coach, in alphabetical order:

      KENNY ANDERSON -- B-minus
      Started off great, hurt his hip in the fifth game of the season
(against 
      Detroit), and hasn't shown the same effort defensively since ...
shooting 
      45% and averaging 30 minutes a game, which is pretty good ... his
assists 
      are down, but it's not totally his fault because the half-court offense 
      runs through Walker ... has played selfishly at times, including the 
      8-for-21 effort against the Knicks on Sunday (21 shots, 3 assists?) ... 
      only topped the 7-assist mark ince this season, which speaks for itself 
      considering how much this team runs ... on the bright side, he's been 
      regularly beating guys off the dribble and he has lift on his jumper
again 
      ... starting to get comfortable running the pick-and-roll with Walker
... 
      he's still better than more than half of the PG's in the league right
now, 
      which wasn't the case last year.

      DANA BARROS -- F-minus
      Reader jmf2n@virginia.edu said it best: "Just who is in Dana Barros's 
      grandmother's casket -- her, or Dana?" ... he's been dreadful all
season, 
      a genuine liability ... in 19 games, he's only had one good one (the 
      Indiana game) ... a career 46% shooter (41% from the 3-point line),
Dana's 
      shooting just 40% this season (34% from the 3-point line) ... and if
he's 
      not making jumpers, there simply isn't any reason to have him on the
floor 
      ... can you believe he has another year on his contract after this one? 

      TONY BATTIE -- B-plus
      Always works hard and he's getting better every week ... the Celts
might 
      really have something here, especially if they start giving him more 
      minutes ... still not putting good numbers up every night, but he's
been 
      batting over .500 since his breakout game against New Jersey last month 
      ... emerging as a genuine defensive presence in the middle, which is
nice 
      ... still settles for jumpers too often ... take it to the hoop,
Battman! 
      ... and sometimes he doesn't realize when he can beat the other
team's big 
      man down the floor, like in the Hosuton game with Thomas Hamilton last 
      week ... still, these are all correctable things ... he's emerging into 
      everything we ever wanted Ed Pinckney to be ... on a personal note,
he's 
      my favorite player on the team.

      CAL CHEANEY -- C
      Much better defensive player than I gave him credit for ... did a great 
      job on Reggie Miller in the Indiana game ... still gets whistled for
too 
      many cheap fouls because the refs don't respect him ... plays hard,
very 
      coachable, great athlete, good guy to have on a team ... well-coached
-- 
      he's the kind of player who knows when to throw a bounce pass and
take a 
      charge and that kinda stuff ... every time he shoots a jumper from more 
      than 10 feet, I'm angry ... horrible body language -- no
self-confidence 
      ... still, he's an upgrade over Bruce Bowen ... should be interesting
to 
      see if he can seize some of Pierce's minutes over the next two weeks.

      PERVIS ELLISON -- F
      A joke and an embarrassment.

      DANNY FORTSON -- Inc.
      Sorely missed, especially against teams like New York (with LJ),
Charlotte 
      (Coleman and Mason), Cleveland (Kemp) and San Antonio (Duncan) ... it
will 
      be VERY interesting to see what happens to Antoine's minutes when the
Fort 
      returns ... part of me isn't expecting much because it's tough for
players 
      to get themselves into shape after they injure a foot (because there's 
      only so much conditioning an exercise bike can give you) ... I'd still 
      rather have him than Mercer.
      ADRIAN GRIFFIN -- A-minus
      For some reason he was losing minutes before the Pierce injury, which
made 
      no sense because he's the most reliable guy on the team ... fills in
the 
      blanks everywhere with his defense, passing and rebounding ... 
      surprisingly steady jumper from 18 feet and in (51% shooter) ... as 
      amazing as this sounds, he gets most of the clutch rebounds for this
team 
      ... has trouble matching up against physical small forwards -- Jamal 
      Mashburn, Larry Johnson, Anthony Mason and so on ... eats up the
finesse 
      small forwards for lunch ... does so many more things for this team
than 
      Ron Mercer did that it's not even worth discussing ... he should be 
      playing 35-40 minutes a game, period.

      WALTER MCCARTY -- D-minus
      When he's jumping around and doing his energy/pogo stick thing, he's a 
      nice 10th man ... when he's taking ill-advised three-pointers and bad 
      jumpers, he's on a one-way collision course with the CBA ... shooting a 
      stunning 36% from the field ... he's 21-for-68 since his 6-for-7 in
Game 
      One ... his name should be changed to "NO WALTER!" because that's
what I 
      mutter every time he shoots ... when he and Cheaney have been on the
floor 
      at the same time, the ballboys have to wear hard hats.

      PAUL PIERCE -- A-minus
      The ankle sprain that just knocked him out for 2 weeks was a double
whammy 
      because he had finally made the adjustment to 2-guard and was headed 
      towards the All-Star team ... does it all ... absolutely INHALED Ron 
      Mercer last week ... devastating three-point shooter (44%), underrated 
      rebounder (6.1 a game, which leads all the guards in the league) ... 
      terrific defensive player when properly motivated ... needs some sort
of 
      set move before he can enter the NBA elite, whether it's a post-up 
      turnaround, a fallaway, a jumphook or something (he tends to struggle
at 
      the end of games because he doesn't have a money shot, and I don't
mean in 
      the Peter North sense) ... he'll really benefit from Fortson's return 
      because Antoine sets the worst picks in the league ... always plays
hard, 
      always positive, exudes good energy ... one of the 12 or 13 
      completely/utterly untradeable players in the league, along with Shaq, 
      Iverson, Hill, KG, J-Kidd, CWebb, Vince, Duncan, Alonzo, Kobe, Lamar
Odom 
      and maybe Michael Finley ... he's been gone 2 days and I already miss
him.

      VITALY POTAPENKO -- B
      People still don't understand what he does for this team: 1) He's the
only 
      guy on the team who sets good picks; 2) he gives them some muscle and
some 
      attitude (I loved when he didn't back down to Mourning at the Fleet two 
      weeks ago); 3) he provides a defensive presence inside ... doesn't
match 
      up well against certain teams (like Denver or the pre-Ewing Knicks, for 
      instance) ... always plays hard ... when the refs are letting him bang 
      bodies, he's really effective ... please note that only two inside
players 
      have scored more than 22 points against the C's this year -- Shawn Kemp 
      and Tim Duncan -- and only one player has grabbed more than 11 rebounds 
      against them (Dikember Mutombo's 17 last month) ... that just wasn't
the 
      case last year.

      ANTOINE WALKER -- C-minus
      We went over this territory in detail last week with the "Antoine
Dilemna" 
      column ... when Pierce went out this weekend, I predicted to my Dad
that 
      Antoine would go 38-for-110 from the field this week in the 5 games/7 
      nights stretch ... he went 7-for-21 on Sunday, so he's right on pace
... 
      but will be be here in March?

      ERIC WILLIAMS -- B-plus
      Positive energy, great teammate, always produces when he gets the
minutes, 
      underrated defender ... basically took McCarty's job as the 8th man ... 
      never makes bad decisions with the ball ... lousy outside shooter,
which 
      makes it tough for him to be on the floor with McCarty and Cheaney
... I'd 
      like to see them post him up more ... a pleasant surprise.

      RICK PITINO (coach) -- B-minus
      The Rick-tator still insists on doing this "first unit/second unit"
thing, 
      which drives me nuts ... play your best five guys 35-40 minutes a game, 
      make sure Battman gets 25 minutes a game, and fill in the blanks with 
      Williams, Cheaney and Barros ... it's not rocket science ... there's no 
      reason Pervis Ellison should EVER play ... Coach P has been outcoached 
      badly in a couple of games, especially the Knicks game last week (why
not 
      put Potapenko on LJ and have Walker or Battie guard Ewing?), the Spurs 
      game and the Milwaukee game after Thanksgiving ... seems to have 
      brainwashed Antoine into believing that Pierce is the best player on
the 
      team, which is encouraging ... needs to find more minutes for the
Battman 
      ... usually good at determining the situations in which Potapenko can
be 
      effective ... deserves credit for Griffin and for getting Williams 
      incouded in the Fortson/Mercer trade ... it's difficult to judge him or 
      this team until Fortson comes back ... this week should be
verrrrrrrrrrrry 
      interesting without Pierce, the one guy this team couldn't afford to
lose.