Re: Fortson

[opi@unesco.org]

Thomas Murphy wrote:

> No one is more sad about this situation than I am. . . How can we just give
> up on a guy who is going to be the equivalent of Charles Oakley for the
> next decade and a half? Pitino can't, with all his basketball knowledge,
> figure out how to keep Fortson and Twon on the floor at the same time?!?
> This question drives me crazy. And when was the experiment with Twon at the
> 3 conducted? I must have missed it going for a beer. . .

    I honestly admit to appreciating how forthright Rick Pitino has been with
regard to Danny Fortson and the need to accommodate a trade for him if at all
possible. The only mildly "Spintino" element of all this is the part about how
much money Fort's agent is supposedly demanding, but all that goes with the
territory. In general Pitino has been candid and fair.

    As far as the playing time goes, I certainly don't fault Pitino for
sticking with Antoine and Griffin receiving the minutes they do. What surprises
me is why Fortson can't accumulate useful backup minutes given the makeup of
this team (or better yet the classic
"Celts-starter-who-gives-way-to-a-35-minute-per-game-6th-man" like our teams of
old).

    Pitino can say all he wants about a lack of available minutes for Fortson,
but in the end I wish one of our local journalists would finally raise his hand
and ask:

1) Why is Eric Williams averaging 18.8 minutes on .416 shooting? Is it the 2.5
boards and 1.3 assists? Or is EW that much better than Fortson (or Walker
shifting to small forward) in some other aspect of the game? I mean the guy
actually even averages fewer steals than Battie despite more minutes.

2) While we're on the subject, does Fortson get 12.4 shrinking minutes so that
Walter McCarty can continue averaging 16.0 per game? Is is to reward Waltah's
impressive .360FG%? Or is it the 2.0 rebounds and 0.46 steals we know we can
count on him for?

3) Oh did I even mention Calbert Cheaney? He is actually this year's "sixth
man" in terms of minutes played. That's scary. I assume his main contribution
to our bench is as a designated scorer, but with just 4.0 ppg on .416 shooting
in 20.4 minutes how could it hurt to upgrade those guard-forward minutes (say
with Griffin in the 6th man role).

    When all is said and done, what should be surprising to Celts fans is not
that Fortson is averaging around 19 rebounds per 48 minutes and hitting .606
from the field with a decent array of moves that all our big guys could learn
from. What's most surprising IMHO is that he plays backup to a certifiably
crappy bench that would benefit from having him or Griffin getting more minutes
there.

    But none of the media in Boston ever call Pitino on this particular issue,
do they? They take at face value that Walker and Griffin have squeezed all the
available minutes out of Fortson.  That's not the case at all.

    Nor is it the case that Battie and Potapenko have eaten up serious minutes
in our system. Combined (42.7 minutes) they don't even fill up the center
position's allotment of minutes per game.

    So in other words, Danny Fortson can still be getting close to 17 minutes
per night just by backing up the leftover center and power forward minutes on
the team without Antoine playing even a nanosecond per game at small forward.

    But shift Toine to small forward for just a few minutes per game at the
expense of our proven deadly Williams/McCarty/Cheaney rotation (bear in mind
that Griffin only averages 32.1 mpg total after all) and there should be
sufficient minutes to get significantly more total rebounds per game out of the
power slot than we presently do.

    I'm sure Pitino has his good reasons for avoiding this. I just wish someone
would ask him.

    Would better controlling the defensive boards lead to more outlet passes
and fastbreak points? Would hitting the offensive glass hard every night
(Fortson was the king of the NBA last season) give us a few more points per
game?

    Maybe Danny Fortson should wear a headless rubber chicken outfit to
practice one of these days. Who knows, maybe the light will finally turn on in
Pitino's at times seemingly 25-watt brain. The man coaches a team that gives up
a freaking .469FG% on defense and employs a bunch of certifiable stiffs on
offense off the bench.

    How much worse could it be to give Fortson one more legitimate chance?


Joe


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