Such a waste in talent

[DJessen33@aol.com]

I don't know if I have ever been as frustrated with the Celtics as I am right 
now. I have to still blame Pitino. Why? We have above average players in 
Walker,  Anderson and Griffen. We have an average center in VP. We have an 
all-star caliber player in Paul Pierce. We have an outstanding rebounder in 
Fortson and an outstanding shotblocker in Battie. You can't get players of 
this caliber to win any more games?...First play of the game defensively, we 
trap C. Richardson on the perimeter. C. Richardson? Why are we trapping him 
again? During the game, other conditions could be blamed for trapping him out 
on the perimeter. But if it is the first play, I have to say it was by 
design. I don't know why and we pay the price...We trap on every pick and 
roll. We attempt to trap the dribbler. Why don't we just switch? I don't 
think switch is in Pitino's vocabulary. In some cases I know the mismatches 
would be too great but man...Anybody remember the last time the Celts had 
more than one fast break?...How can you have a lineup with Walker at the 4 
and Fortson at the 5 spot???? Pitino finds a way...Pitino again went with the 
dead lineup of  Cheaney, Barros, Williams, Fortson and Battie at the end of 
the first quarter. The Kings widen the spread, of course. You hear talk of 
the conventional 8 man rotation but Pitino stills finds a way to play 11 
people...Why can't we just try to be the best rebounding team in the game and 
start a lineup of Anderson, Pierce, Walker, Battie and VP with Barros, 
Griffen and Fortson as our reserves?....Also, I don't see what Rick is 
talking about in the paper about getting stronger in the 4 and 5 spots with 
their man to man defense. We trapped Weber every time he had the ball in the 
post. We trapped Divac also quite often. If he means that if we somehow got 
better, we won't have to trap, then he thinks he is choosing the worst of the 
two evils. I say just play them straight up. If we get burned a few times, 
that's basketball. His choice right now of trapping the post obviously isn't 
working....Another thing is when we take a shot, we have absolutely no chance 
of getting an offensive rebound. This is because Walker, who is supposed to 
be our power forward, is out at the 3 point line, by offensive 
design....Hubie Brown kept going on about how Pierce was getting no respect 
from the refs and was fouled many times going to the basket. Wow. It looked 
like the same no calls that Pierce and Walker have been getting all season. 
But it was nice to hear it from a unbiased observer....Brown also pointed out 
that the Celts don't have that many assists because most of their offensive 
plays are one-on-one breakdowns. This is true. It is also true because the 
Celts rarely fastbreak... I could go on forever. I am so ticked off at 
Pitino. Please Rick, just do these two simple things:

1) Cut your rotation down to 8 players, with Walker playing the small forward.
2) Don't trap anyone in the halfcourt unless a player is getting unmerciably 
burned.

DJessen33