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BSG'S Looks Into The Heart Of Celtics Darkness
Whoo this one cuts to the core. Il Duce, if he's still unfortunately
around, better get something out of the lottery pick...
Digital City - Boston - Boston's Sports Guy
WWW.BOSTONSPORTSGUY.COM -- 1ST POSTING, 3:45pm, 2/29
2/29 EDITION: Notes from a frustrated fan during another lost Celtics
season
Even though my old AOL site was demolished a few months ago, Digital City
graciously allowed me to keep up my message boards; amazingly, the Celtics
board has persevered and even prospered. There's a hardcore group of C's
fans who post there every day and we've almost become like a little
pseudo-family (although this season, it's been more of a support group).
Many people post their Celts thoughts on the board almost every day,
including me.
The point? Today I went on the board to post some quick thoughts about the
latest Celtics debacle -- they blew a 20-point lead last night at home
against the lowly Mavericks -- and the post took a life of its own. I
started venting and venting... 45 minutes later, I was still going.
Anyway, I decided to re-run it this morning's post here on this page,
without re-editing it or even fixing the typos. I think it's a good
example of just how frustrated the diehards are with this Celtics team and
everything that's happened in the Pitino Era.
If I could change one thing about the post, I would have added this: The
Celts don't have one player on the team who can definitely get them a hoop
when they need it (aka, a go-to guy). Paul Pierce was supposed to be that
guy, but he hasn't developed a reliable move or shot in two seasons --
other than those random three-pointers he heaves up -- to push him into
that "Allan Houston/Ray Allen" group of money 2-guard. Antoine Walker has
played much harder over the past two months, but teams are playing off him
now and daring him to shoot jumpers -- which he almost always misses -- so
Twan invariably starts bulling his way towards the basket and trying to
make something happen. Usually, he fails, especially at the end of games.
As for the rest of the team, only Kenny Anderson can create his own shot;
sometimes he's on (like in Utah and Vancouver recently) and sometimes he's
off (like against Dallas last night). It's a frustrating team to watch. So
be it.
Here's my post from this morning... I think it says it all, especially
because it all poured out of me in one felt swoop...
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
I'm venting...
Pierce has been the biggest disappointment of this season, at least for
me. It just doesn't seem like he's gotten any better and he's been openly
sulking during some games. When's the last time you've seen this kid
smile? The Sports Gal is convinced he's having girl problems or
something... seriously. She's been saying it all year. Pierce is her
favorite player and she's been on this from the get-go -- "He doesn't seem
happy anymore." Maybe he isn't.
I would make excuses for him, but the fact remains that he just doesn't
play hard every game. For instance, in LA last Friday -- in front of his
family and friends -- not only did he play as hard on defense as I've seen
him play all season, but he kept hustling even when the game was out of
reach. It's pretty sad that I noticed that and that it was an aberration,
not the norm.
And PP just hasn't improved at all as a basketball player. He hasn't
developed one go-to move other than the quick three point shot. Not one.
He also developed a healthy case of Ron Mercer-itis over the summer -- how
many times have we seen him standing outside the three-point line with his
hand up in transition rather than cutting to the basket and trying to make
something happen?
Was he better last year or this year? I honestly don't know.
Look at the stats - he's played one less game than last year and his stats
are roughly identical except he's taken about 100 more shots and 100 more
FT's, which means he'a averaging 3 pts more per game. His shooting
percentage is identical to last season. His offensive rebounds have been
cut in half (what does THAT tell you?).
Year by Year Totals
Yr G FG-FGA FT-FTA 3P-3PA ORB TRB AS ST BK PTS
99 48 284-647 139-195 84-204 117 309 115 82 50 791
00 47 320-730 224-278 65-179 55 280 147 106 38 929
Year by Year Averages
Yr G MIN FG% FT 3P ORB TRB AS STL BLK PTS
99 48 34.0 .439 .713 .412 2.4 6.4 2.4 1.7 1.0 16.5
00 47 35.8 .438 .806 .363 1.2 6.0 3.1 2.3 0.8 19.8
We all bash Antoine -- rightfully so, because he makes the same mistakes
every game and never learns from them, like he's a basketball retard (note
to Antoine: Upfake) -- but ever since my Dad put a bug in my ear about
Pierce six weeks ago and got me thinking about him, I've been watching him
every game and I think he's just not getting it done. Look at Vince, look
at Jamison, look at Nowitzki... good players usually improve in thier
second season. Pierce hasn't improved at all.
Last year at the time, I was really hoping we had something special with
this kid. Now I'm hoping he'll be as good as Ray Allen... and I'm dubious
at best.
We all need to re-evaluate our feelings about this team. The fact that we
think Antoine has any trade value is just plain ludicrous. Nobody wants
him or his contract -- the only way they could dump him is for another
sketchy guy with a huge contract like Juwan Howard or Bryant Reeves.
Antoine's here to stay, whether we like it or not. Remember, the rest of
the league hates him and thinks he's a cancer. Even the Bulls wouldn't
take him on unless we offered to pay part of his contract. So that's that.
As for free agents, Pitino and Wallace mismanaged the salary cap so poorly
that this team will never be under the cap unless they throw Pierce in any
deal. We're stuck with Kenny Anderson and Eric Williams for the next three
seasons after this one at almost $40 million combined. Dana Barros, Greg
Minor, Walter McCarty and Cal Cheaney will make a combined $12 million
next season, which makes me want to impale a pen in my forehead. They lost
out on Duncan and then had the 3rd and 6th picks in the draft... but it
was the wrong year (imagine if it was the '98 Draft?). And the aborted
Fortson-Williams trade was a cry for help that RP doesn't know what he's
doing.
As for the on-court product, this team was better defensively two years
ago (in Year One of the RP Era) than it is now (in Year Three). Go figure.
This team also played harder two years ago than it does now. Go figure.
There's no rhyme or reason to the substitution patterns -- as evidenced by
McCarty's minutes-per-game over the past 7 games (6, 7, 28, 4, 10, 14, 20)
-- and I'd need to use my fingers AND toes to count the number of times
I've seen Pitino get outcoached in a game this season (last night's game
against Dallas being a classic example -- they made up 20 points in about
five minutes). We have guys on the team who STILL "don't know the offense"
-- read the Providence Journal's notebook today about Fortson -- and guys
who aren't supposed to be taking three-pointers anymore are STILL
launching 4-to-5 a game (hi, Antoine). To make matters worse, we're a
young team and Vitaly is the only player who noticably improved this
season... a season that's 5/8th over.
And Pitino knows it. That's what kills me. We all know he'll weasel out of
this mess after the season and he's coaching like a guy who doesn't give a
crap whether he's here in 3 months. The rumor mill has been buzzing that
Gaston will intentionally make things difficult for him -- budget cuts,
breathing on Wallace's neck and so on -- in the hope that RP will get fed
up and leave. From what I hear, don't be surprised if Gaston does
something like fire Wallace or Leo Papile after the season OR bring in
"his own man" like ML Carr in a more visible role, just to piss Pitino off
and try to get him to resign. Hey, it might work, especially if University
X offers him $40 million over eight years this spring to clean house and
run the show.
You think Paul Gaston is happy about this? For instance, 24 months ago,
they had two cheap rookies (Mercer and Billups) and Dee Brown (whose big
contract expires at the end of the 2000 season). At the very worst, all of
them would have been gone after this season and we would have had some
much-needed cap room... instead, we're locked into $40 million over the
next three years for Anderson and Williams, not to mention Fortson if he
re-signs here. And look at the Walker contract... jeez, you think Gaston
would do that one over again? Who do you think pushed Gaston to sign on
that one? (Hint: he's Italian.) Hell, look at the Battie contract -- 4
years and $24 million for a guy who NEVER EVER EVER would have gotten that
on the open market, especially this year, when everyone's desperately
trying to cut cap room.
This is a mess. I thought it was bad three years ago, but at least we had
hope with the draft picks. With the current rules, we're locked into this
team for the next 3-4 years -- a young team with lots of weird pieces that
don't fit together, a team that will be heading in another direction if
and when Pitino bolts.
As for Coach P, the Pitino Era -- thus far -- has been one of the biggest
sports disappointments I can remember, at least for me. When they signed
this guy, I really thought he would be the savior of the franchise. Now,
we know for a fact that he's too rash and short-sighted to run the front
office end of an NBA franchise... and I'm not even sure he can coach at
the professional level. I can't believe I'm even writing that, but it's
true; I've just seen him get outcoached too many times. In the NBA you
need to stick with set rotations and play your best five as much as
possible -- this "11 guys can play at any time" crap doesn't work, as
we've pointed out time and time again on this board. When guys are looking
over their shoulder at all times, it doesn't make them competitive, it
makes them tentative. For further details, please check out the careers of
Rick Fox and Brian Shaw under Chris Ford.
Here's the sad thing: I really like Pitino. He seems like a good guy. When
I hear him spout his bulls**t, I want to believe it. But I have this
nagging feeling that this whole Celtics Era will be just another anecdote
for him when he's making those "personal appearances" at company functions
years from now, long after he's gone from here and back coaching college,
when he talks about "that time I coached in Boston and it just didn't work
out because I couldn't get motivate guys who were making more money than
me," and he's wearing a thin smile and the crowd's laughing -- ho-ho-ho,
just another case of a white guy not being able to get through to the rich
black guys!
But we all know that's bulls**t. Pitino failed here. He made rash
decisions and he's suffering the consequences for them now. This team is
CRIPPLED by the cap and by Walker (and his contract). And it didn't have
to be that way. After all his talk about 'the cap" and "getting under the
cap," the Celts won't be under the cap for years to come.
So we can get excited about lottery position in what everyone agrees is
the worst draft in the history of the planet, and we can make up fake
trades that will never happen and overvalue our own players -- hey, I did
it last week! -- or we can deal with the realities of the situation:
1. None of our players are improving, save for Vitaly.
2. Our players don't play well together.
3. Our $50 million coach routinely gets outcoached.
4. Nobody wants to trade for Antoine Walker.
5. Paul Pierce isn't any better than he was last season.
6. We will be unable to sign a marquee free agent for at least three
years.
7. Our coach is still whining about the '97 Lottery.
8. It's February and Danny Fortson still "doesn't know the offense," which
isn't that important in the big scheme of things, but it's pretty damned
interesting.
As Norman Dale said at the beginning of Hoosiers, "This is your team."
Hey, I love the Celts -- as most of you know -- and this has nothing to do
with being on or off the bandwagon. I'm just disappointed, that's all. And
this post wasn't provoked by the dreadful Dallas game last night but the
last 17 games -- the 4-13 stretch where the wheels came off and bounced
all over the place. I was laughing when people were sending me e-mails
this weekend asking if I thought the Celts could go 18-9 over the
homestretch and finish .500 and maybe make the playoffs. Were they not
WATCHING these guys? How could anyone think that an NBA team that just
lost 16 straight games on the second end of a back-to-back situation would
EVER go 18-9 over a 27-game stretch?
Bottom line: Things will get worse before they get better. I have a
nagging feeling that we haven't even hit rock-bottom yet.
Just wait until the players start griping about the coach... and it's
coming. Remember, our backup power forward called this team a "sinking
ship" two weeks ago when he thought he had just been traded. Then the deal
was nullified... now he says he didn't mean it.
I think we all know the answer to that one. <snips>
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