Re: Tommy is getting critical

[opi@unesco.org]

DJessen33@aol.com wrote:

> Has anyone noticed that Tommy is most negative on the Celtics that he has
> every been? He has always been a defender while Coz was critical. Yet,
> against the Lakers, he was leading the critical charge and Coz was agreeing.
> Plus, he exploded at Walker on his third foul and called it "Walker's dumbest
> play to date".  Does anybody have an idea why there is this change in heart?
> I think it might be because he thinks the talent on the team and with the new
> rules that the Celtics should fast break more. Years past, he used to preach
> on how they were working on it and learning it under ML and Pitino. You don't
> hear that this year. Tommy sees the game one way and that is with "old time
> fast-break Celtic" style eyes and maybe he has concluded that it just isn't
> going to happen now under Pitino or these set of players. That maybe the same
> thing with Pitino except he see everything with those "outbreak, monkey
> defense" style eyes...<g>

Yeah, I noticed too. I think it is because of Antoine's rebounding, something a
player like Tommy would really admire having had his share of big rebounding
games as a youngster and having coached Paul Silas into becoming arguably the
archetype pure "power forward" in NBA history (I'm not sure the word "power
forward" even existed before that, though I could be mistaken). When you lead
your team in rebounding 65 times in a season from the forward spot (as Antoine
did), Tommy probably couldn't care less if he shot nothing but bricks every night
(Paul Silas had the ugliest, stiffest shot I've ever seen)

It's true that Antoine is averaging only 34 minutes per game this season compared
to 39.9 in his "great" 20-10 year, but that fails to explain everything.
Projected over 39.9 minutes this year, Antoine would be averaging only 8.1
rebounds per game this season (a full 20% drop in productivity off his second pro
season). In general I'd think that fewer minutes should translate into more
energy and better productivity on the boards, which incidentally is one reason
why Travis Knight's respectable per minute rebounding and shotblocking numbers in
Boston really meant squat.

Take away his rebounding and Antoine is just another player. Like I think DJessen
said in an earlier post, he's a great dribbler who is pretty much average (or
below average) at every other aspect of the game. How can anyone really challenge
that statement right now?

Antoine can almost surely help a winning team once he learns to better finish his
otherwise eye-opening driving ability AND starts rebounding again like he did
from 96-98. But both those things are easier said than done (the first takes
instincts, the second takes instincts and effort). Still, I do think he has
improved in other areas including team play (if his shooting weren't so poor this
year, this would be a bit more obvious), so he's not a complete basket case.

If he improves at finishing and rebounding, Antoine's open court talent will seem
all the more outstanding (unique, even), and no question he will be a great
player. But that could very well be years from now and on another team. A lot of
players become "complete" between ages 25 and 28, but in some cases they've had a
change of address(es) in the interim that wasn't forced necessarily by salary
considerations (say a Chris Webber or Jason Kidd or Tim Hardaway).

Happy holidays,

Joe

p.s. There is NO way Ike Rider and the Atlanta Hawks deserve to win the last game
of the century on the Celtics' original parquet floor tonight. Enough is enough.
Celtics Pride.

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