Re: Monday Box

[opi@unesco.org]

Jim Meninno wrote:

> >From: Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>
> >
> >You would think the coach would catch this during the game, and say like,
> >what's with the 3's Paul? How bout some creativity and defense while your
> >at it.
>
> One of the good things about Pitino being so loud is you get to hear some
> funny things.  Late in one of the recent wins, Overton took a quick jumper,
> which he missed.  On the way back up court, Pitino says to him, extremely
> sarcastically, "Could you reverse the ball, please?".  Well, I guess you had
> to hear the exasperation in his voice to find it amusing.  You could just
> hear him thinking, "how many times have I got to remind these guys to do
> this?".

    Sometimes I think the Celtics really are one unselfish passer away from
changing the team chemistry overnight. As much as I dislike Jason Williams both
offensively and defensively, at least he added chemistry to team of inherently
gifted but selfish passers by suddenly making passing the ball seem like the
coolest thing you can do on a basketball court.

    The butt-ugly 13 assist total against Phoenix completely negated what was
arguably the best team rebounding effort (54 total, 21 offensive) and free throw
shooting (30-34) of the Pitino era.

    I think the Celts will have the first choice of pointguards even if they
make the playoffs. Pepe Sanchez is probably first team All Defensive and one of
the most valuable players in the game. He is "El Perfecto" for the Pitino system
at least defensively.  Matt Santangelo this season broke not only John
Stockton's career assist record but also his season assist record at Gonzaga. Ed
Cota, Mateen Cleaves, Scoonie Penn and even Shaheen Holloway all had spectacular
big-man-on-campus careers. I'm sure Erick Barkley will be available in the
top-15. Florida's Mike Miller could be a great passing/shooting small forward in
the Detlef Shrempf mold. He'll probably move up 5 places for each additional
year he decides to stay in school, all the way up to top-three range. Quentin
Richardson should also stay in school one more year until he has completed his
transition to shooting guard. I actually think he can succeed at power forward
in an Adrian Dantley mold.  In this year's draft, two picks in the top 18 are
probably more valuable than one pick in the top 3. We're supposed to get excited
about Marcus Fizer and Kenyon Martin at the top of the draft. That's hard to do.

p.s. Thanks for the game report, Dan Parker.

****