Re: THE CELTICS STINK

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

Man relax, it's only the 1st exhibition game. They did look really ragged.
I watched with futility the Celts trying to get an inside game going, it
was awful. Bad shooting, shot selection, rebounding, defense, you name it,
it sucked. With so many new players the home court advantage early may not
be of help. I can't say one Celtic stood out to nite. I'm not an Anderson
fan, but I don't think Magic Johnson could have helped this squad to nite.
In defense of the Celts the Hornets looked ready to go. This is a team we
will lose the series to this season. I hope Pitino has broad shoulders,
this may be a long season. 

At 08:47 PM 10/13/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I hope the Red Sox beat the Yankees, as what I've seen from the
>Celtics so far, does not offer me a lot of hope. Here are the
>problem areas and other thoughts:
>
>- Kenny still can't defend opposing point guards and concentrates
>too much on scoring.
> 
>- Antoine still can't guard opposing power forwards. 
>
>- The C's interior defense is woeful. They keep having to double team, 
>because there are no shot-blockers, and that leaves them vulnerable
>to three-pointers.
>
>- Fortson can rebound, but until he learns how to ball fake,
>he's near useless offensively.
>
>- Turner plays out of control, but at least he pushes the ball up the
>court.
>
>- I'm thinking, that Tony Battie is one of those players who has to
>start to be effective. 
>
>- Pierce looks okay.
>
>- The C's are really small upfront.
>
>- The Celtics really need a shot-blocking center or some defensive
>presence
>in the frontcourt.
>
>- Pervis is useless - waive him or trade him as cap fodder.
>
>- Walter McCarty is the world's highest priced twelth man. He should
>kiss Pitino's pinkie ring every day for the contract Il Duce gave
>him.
>
>- Eric Williams can take it to the hoop and his rebounding is improved,
>but he can't defend anyone or hit an outside shot.
>
>- Vitaly is the same as last season.
>
>- Charlotte looks good but until they face a legitimate quality NBA
>club,
>it's hard to judge how good they are.
>
>- Sadly, it looks like the Pitino critics are right. He has a bunch of 
>players -- Anderson, Pot, Walker, Cheaney, Fortson, Pervis -- that don't
>fit
>his system.
>
>- Calbert Cheaney looks useless, which shouldn't come as a shock,
>because 
>that's the way he's played for the last five years.
>
>- I should have known it was going to be bad, when Jersey Dead
>proclaimed
>that the Celtics had changed.
>
>- Pitino's going to have to make some sort of massive deal to get this
>team
>into the playoffs. 
>
>- Or, he must bench Kenny, keep Walker away from the power forward
>position,
> and start Battie.
>
>Ray
>
>