Re: Charlotte

[opi@unesco.org]

Cecil Wright wrote:

> Hi Joe,
>
> Don't you feel it is very premature to be talking about players having to
> step it up for All Star consideration with a mere 2 games under our belts?
> IMHO Pierce needs to do nothing of the kind.  He needs to play consistently
> at the level he is capable of.  He shouldn't try to outdo Eddie Jones,
> Richmond or Carter.  What he/they need to concentrate on is playing Celtic
> basketball and let the rest take care of itself.
>
> All this All Star talk is a waste of time as of this moment.  We haven't
> even seen what kind of chemistry the rest of the league has.

Hi Cecil, you're right I shouldn't put it all in terms of the All Star game.
It's more that Eddie Jones is a good role model or measuring stick for Paul
Pierce. He's a guy who brings an intelligent game on both ends of the floor (9
steals last night), and it will test how much rapid progress Pierce has made
over the summer.

Over a long regular season it's fun to be aware of individual matchups and
challenges in each game. This is how Antoine used to play two years ago, going
head to head with an almost cruel vengeance against his best young rivals and
trying to whup em. Now that he plays on a much deeper team, it would be
counterproductive for the kid to be a one-man wrecking crew (except on the
boards), but it made an immeasurable difference on the win column of the time.

As for the question of whether an All Star game selection is meaningless (in
comparison to team success), I think two valid things pointed out by list
members are:

1) it would likely make the refs respect Paul and Antoine, so we'll all be
spared the booming "Oh, GIVE me a Buh-rake!" voice of Tommy Heinsohn during
telecasts. If those two eventually get All Star treatment from the refs, it
will be a major change.

2) it would "validate" Antoine's new, more unselfish approach to the game with
reward and not just rhetoric. Excuse my pessimism, but I don't think the local
media and fans alone will do enough to reassure Antoine and better guarantee
he'll stick to his new approach.

If it's not one thing, it will be another. IMO, a lot of these yokels will
merely switch from condemning Twoine's poor shot selection and free throws to
speculating incessantly about how Toine feels to finally be put in his place as
"the second best player on the team" and joking about how long it will take for
him to demand a trade or get fat again. To cite an admittedly trivial example,
I doubt any top scoring Celts player since McHale retired has shot 64% over two
straight regular season games (total fluke or not), yet the Globe wrote up
gushing postgame player features on every other key contributor except the
team's captain, and Peter May's game summaries only mentioned how many points
Walker scored, not adding in paranthesis his field goals made and attempted.
The Globe also ran a man-on-the-street story quoting the views of various local
fans, and it included the usual quotes that minced no words about Antoine as
street baller as well as how the Mercer trade will come back to haunt us.

I recall the Globe poll at the time of the Denver-Boston swap actually showed
more fans selected "we should have traded Antoine instead" than people who
supported the trade, as if the two players were even remotely comparable in
terms of value or talent. Give me a Break!!

Sorry, end of rant. Back to work. Time to make the donuts.

Joe

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