Josh's take from 4/8/00

["LadyNada" <ladynada@mediaone.net>]

http://www.bskball.com/josh.htm

(Posted 04/08/00)
Mopping Up
Admit it, Celtics fan. You're relieved. Aren't you? After the bipolar
binging and purging this season has brought us, it's good to know the team
has run up the white flag at last. The Celtics have been officially
eliminated from the playoffs. At the time of writing they have lost nine
games straight. They are giving up 110 points a game. What can we make of
this? That the team sucks? Probably. That next year is bound to be better?
Maybe. That we are glad the season is finally over? Definitely.
The Celtics tormented their supporters this year, and there really isn't any
end in sight. They can get good, get traded, whatever - we no longer have
any sense of what is going to happen. The magnitude of how they let us down
this year is still sinking in. Two years ago the problem was simple: we
needed more talent. "Banana Boy" Travis Knight was helpless against anyone
over six feet, and Andrew DeClerq was little more than a live body. We
needed a legitimate center, a shot blocker, a natural point guard, a scoring
small forward. We needed veteran help off the bench. We needed more scorers
and defenders: enter Vitaly Potapenko, Kenny Anderson, Calbert Cheany, Eric
Williams, Paul Pierce. Going into this season, how could any but the most
depraved and indifferent sportswriters suppose that this mix of talent and
experience, under the tutelage of Rick Pitino, wouldn't make the playoffs?
But as trainer Whitey Bimstein once said after an upset boxing match, "the
cow got loose and killed the butcher." Not only are we not going to make the
playoffs; it doesn't look like we're even going to win as many games as the
untrained upstarts of Pitino's first season.

To say this is baffling and disappointing would be an understatement.

But enough about us. What lies ahead for the team? The draft, which I will
treat in greater detail as it approaches, doesn't hold much of an answer. We
desperately need an uptempo point guard, but the ones that push faster than
kenny aren't nearly as talented or (obviously) experienced as he is. We
could use a shotblocker, but we already have one in Tony Battie, except that
he doesn't block shots. There's not enough minutes for him, Potapenko, and
Danny Fortson in the frontcourt - what would we even do with Loren Wood if
we lucked into him? This is a weak draft class; next year's is the great
one, and we will have two picks. But that doesn't help us now.

Do we make a major trade? That line of thought is appealing as offseason
therapy for fans, but it's not clear who we should trade, or for whom. Do we
give up on Antoine now that he's finally maturing? And if so, what kind of
marquee talent do we get for 3/4 of his 10 million dollar salary (thanks to
base year compensation, we can't even get contract value for him.) Kenny
Anderson is probably untradable as well, but even if we can unload him, who
will his replacement be? I could see getting a defensive dynamo like Greg
Anthony, or an uptempo stud like Mike Bibby, but neither of those players
are going anywhere. (How the Nets ever acquired Stephon Marbury for Sam
Cassell is still beyond me.) The other guys on the team are likewise easy to
give up on at this lowest of low points, but there is little to be gained
longterm, or even short term, in doing so. Tony Battie is overpaid, and only
shows up once every four games - but when he's on he's a Marcus Camby/Theo
Ratliff type player, which we desperately need. Danny Fortson gets a lot of
fouls, and can't play defense, strictly speaking - but who else is going to
go out and pull down 13 rebounds without asking for the ball or demanding to
start? Every player on this team with the exception of Paul Pierce and
Adrian Griffin has shortcomings that have earned them the wrath of boosters
and a one-way ticket out of town. The only problem is that we need them to
play well, not to disappear. This is the team, Celtics fans. These are the
guys. They have to play well. Barring a major trade for a shotblocker of
Dikembe Mutumbo's magnitude, I don't see anything happening on the trade
front.

And in fact, is it really that hard to see the direction this season might
well have taken? Say Adrian Griffin doesn't hit the wall; what then? Say we
don't lose buzzer beaters to Toronto, Washington, and Philadelphia; what
then? Say Paul Pierce had stayed healthy for the whole season, or that Danny
Fortson hadn't been hurt in the early going. What then? Too often, the
Celtics had all the manpower they needed and still couldn't get the job
done; but as often as not, they were within a key steal or stop or basket or
free throw of winning. Obviously, they have to get better. This season they
played like losers. They are bad defensively most nights, which is why they
can never stop the other team from making big plays down the stretch. They
don't hit free throws like Celtics teams are supposed to. They seem to have
finally gotten the idea of passing first into their heads, but mastering the
halfcourt set is not what this group, which is built for speed, is all
about. If they can do those things, and if the east is anything like it was
this year, we can cement a place in the playoffs by the allstar break and go
from there. But there is so much distance between now and then; and I don't
see how any major moves over the summer will change that.

IF Antoine Walker comes into camp in great shape, plays down low, passes
consistently, and otherwise banishes "Evil Twon" to the phantom zone; IF
Kenny Anderson finally takes the bug out of his ass and learns how to run an
uptempo team with an uptempo mentality; if Paul Pierce gets into the same
kind of shape as his rivals Ray Allen, Allen Houston, and Vince Carter, and
takes care of his body (the team should insist on every player taping up for
every game game and practice); if Tony Battie can somehow be more
consistent....etc. etc. etc. You've heard it all before. Why let me go on?
The one thing this team has going for them, however, is time. The old
Celtics did everything right, but each season they didn't win the
championship made success less likely. This bunch doesn't do much right, but
time, for once, does seem to be on our side.

Rest in Peace, 1999-2000 season. Let's hope we never see one like you again.
.