thougths on the Celtics of the last few weeks (very long)

["Kestas" <Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu>]

Let me first say that I've been generally pretty happy with their play,
especially on the offensive end.  But what's disturbing is that theCeltics
are not winning a lot of games despite mostly good, intelligent effort on
offense and even occasional burts of good defense...They may appear to some
to be pretty close to reaching the 'next level', but I'm not so sure. As I
see it, this team needs (at least) 2 of 3 things to take the next step, two
of which are not likely to happen very soon.
The three needs are:
1) having two able  NBA point guards on the roster - by far the easiest
problem to solve assuming Kenny can get right back into things, and Randy
Brown is able to play decent backup minutes despite the injury. Obviously,
Herren's situation does not look good right now;
2) Another athletic big body, besides Battie, who can help the team
defensively and on the boards. Such a player is, of course, very difficult
to obtain without giving up our major assets, otherwise Pitino would've done
it a long time ago;
3) A new coach. I'm not saying this in a talk radio-ish "Pitino's gotta go"
wishful/vicious kind of way, but more on that later. This third need,
assuming no change in ownership,  is pretty much up to Pitino for the next
few years, which may or may not be bad.

Let me explain these points a bit more, starting with the last. Larry Bird
once said  that no one should (or could effectively) coach an NBA team for
more than 3 years, unless he's Jerry Sloan or Pat Riley. Pitino is neither
of these; that should be obvious. Something Dee Brown said about him last
week could be dismissed as badmouthing by a disgruntled former player, or
taken more seriously: namely, that Pitino has trouble communicating
with/understanding the mentality of NBA players. It shouldn't be surprising,
really: there must be a reason why an overwhelming majority of NBA coaches
are former NBA players. (Yes, Red never played in the NBA, but we're talking
about a different era.) Add to this Pitino's rather shrill communication
style and the fact that he's been coaching the Celtics for over 3 years, and
one might make an argument that it's time for a new coach, even leaving
aside his basketball philosophy and its applicability to the NBA.

While consumate pros like Stith and Brown might be still be with him just
because of their professionalism, others are showing various degrees of
"tuning out" Pitino. After the infamous post-Philly-loss blowup, Kenny
plainly admitted that the players tune him in or out selectively, depending
on the topic. BSG has noted that Pierce mostly ignores Pitino after
repeatedly observing it from a few rows back from the bench, and during the
Indiana game, a close up of Pitino talking to Battie on the bench had me
momentarily confused about whom he was talking to: he seemed to be
explaining something to Battie, but Tony was completely ignoring him!
Heinsohn and Cousy were openly saying during last night's game that the
players have to be questioning the defensive strategy that gives layup after
layup to the opposition. A half-assed commitment to a defensive scheme, even
if it were a scheme that actually works, results in a mess like we have on
the defensive end. When these players get serious on D, it is apparent that
even alleged defensive liabilities like Antoine can play great D when they
choose to.

Thus, the solutions to this problem could be: 1) getting a bunch of solid
defensive pros a la Ratliff, Hill, Lynch, Snow et al. who'll play defense as
they know how and play it for 48 minutes (the question is how we get them
without giving up our stars); 2) getting a coach whom the players can relate
to and whose opinion of what works in the NBA they can respect because he's
done it himself and it actually makes sense. I don't think we'd even need a
great coach like Riley, Sloan, or Jackson (not that we could get them) -
maybe it's me, but I think a guy like Chris Ford would get more out of this
group, especially defensively. I believe our core is ready to play some
serious basketball - they just need a coach they can believe in completely.
Whether Pitino is man enough to step down as he promised remains to be seen.

This is not to say that all of our problems would be solved with a new
coach. I've decided, after years of defending Pot, that he simply lacks the
length, athleticism, motor coordination and basketball smarts to be anything
more than a backup - if used properly (which he's not, IMO). It's
discouraging, but it reminds me of what McHale's said about hard work and
basketball - if hard work was all it took, you could put five plumbers on
the floor and win the champoinship. (For some reason, I'm full of player
quotes today). I've realized that Vitaly will never amount to much no matter
how hard he works on his game or athleticism. It's not his fault. He just
can't do it physically. He could still be effective, if he were a smart
player like other athletically challenged "short" big men like Oakley or
Laimbeer. But he's not. I know, I know, some of you told us so a long time
ago...

So, where do we get an athletic big man that can play D without giving up
Walker, Pierce, or a chance at those highly touted 'shmen and highshoolers?
I don't know, that's what Wallace, Pitino, Papile et al. are paid to do. I
had hoped that either Moiso or Blount could be of help, but they're
floundering on the bench or IL, totally forgotten. Why aren't they playing
at all? Is it because they really can't play? Then why did we get them? Just
because of their athleticism?

I still harbor hope that Moiso is the next Jermaine O'Neal rather than the
next McCarty. I mean, what's so complicated about giving 10 decent minutes
at backup PF, if you're an athletic wunderkind like Moiso? You try to play
defense all out,  go for every rebound, and challenge shots in the paint. If
you foul out in 10 minutes, so be it.  But a 6-11 superathlete with
incredible quickness and agility should be able to accomplish something in
the vertical game of basketball, even if he doesn't know what he's doing,
no? Oh never mind, I just thought of  a counterexample who sits next to
Moiso on the Celtics bench and has a sideways release on his shot.

Finally, the PG situation. Obviously, we're better off with Kenny than
without; that much should be clear from this natural experiment. What I
don't understand is why we're cycling through all these hapless people
trying to play the point. If they're all equally bad, just pick one and
stick with him, at least he'll get used to the team and the plays. I thought
Brunson was doing an adequate job as an NBA fourth string PG. So he couldn't
shoot, but who among these people can? But at least he could bring the ball
up and play decent D. But no, Pitino had to cut him, get Overton who we knew
sucked, and than cut him, too, and get a guy who sucks even worse. And I'm
not even sure this circus is over with Kenny's coming back. When Brown goes
back on the IL with a 'restrained' groin, and Herren is recuperating from a
shoulder surgery, who are we going to bring in next, Willie Maye? That
lineup with Palacio, McCarty et al. last night basically lost the game for
us, because coming from a 20 point hole took a tremendous amount of energy
out of our first unit players, and they couldn't get over the hump after
tying the game at 72. Pitino reacts faster than he used to to these drops in
cabin pressure, but the damage proved to be irrepairable.

On the positive side, Walker and Pierce are playing excellent offensive
basketball (although Pierce sometimes seems to be gunning for personal
stats), Battie comes to play more often than not and is fairly impressive
when he does, and Stith continues to shine. They're passing the ball more,
for which you have to give credit to Pitino. But until we get at least 2 of
those 3 things straightened out, I don't anticipate much change in the
positive direction.
Kestas