Re: Pierce is the Package

["Gregg Allen" <gr_allen@conknet.com>]

Agree with everything you say, Ellie.  Paul Pierce is a player, and he will
make nine teams regret the day they passed him up.  The Cs do indeed have
depth.  They can put a lot of different combinations on the floor without
too big of a drop off in effectiveness.  Although it's still true that we
don't have a front line center, we can still go with a center by committee
approach that is not too shabby.  With the additions of Pierce and Popeye,
we are clearly a better team than last year.  If any of the trio of
Schintzius, Riley, and Battie can contribute effectively, we will be
significantly better.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ellie Cutler <ellie@oreilly.com>
To: celtics@igtc.com <celtics@igtc.com>
Date: Saturday, January 30, 1999 10:27 AM
Subject: Pierce is the Package


>Is there someone already nicknamed "The Package"? If not, grab it for Paul
>Pierce.  Besides great shooting (including 3 pt!), rebounding, passing,
>steals, and stamina (played most of the game last night without looking too
>tired), he has great poise for a rookie. Looks totally comfortable and
>confident, and boy is he ever effective! Pencil him in for ROY. Battie,
>Eric Riley, and DeClerq combined for 17 personal fouls in their quest to
>guard the paint, though Kevin Willis still had a field day with 20+ points
>and a chunk of rebounds. Battie had 11pts, 6RB, and a block in 20+ minutes,
>and got whistled on everything by the refs (including of course some clean
>blocks and swipes at the ball). We are definitely out-weighed in the
>middle, and I was hoping to see Schintzius but he stayed on the bench while
>RP got a look at Riley, who seemed to have a clue and was very mobile. He
>faked Willis into a travel on one occasion where Willis was leaning into
>him and Riley just backed off and let him fall.  Barros looked great off
>the bench (Anderson was in early foul trouble), kept things very uptempo
>and had 20 or so points.  The kid Garnett looked like a shorter version of
>Bruce Bowen who can score.
>
>Two things are going to serve the Celts very well in this shortened season:
>youth and depth.  A big key will be how Antoine takes to sharing the
>limelight with Mercer and Pierce. That trio gives the C's a *hugely* potent
>offense. They look great, and this is without Popeye Jones, McCarty, or
Bowen.
>
>
>