Re: Celts Spoilers, No Way

[opi@unesco.org]

Dan Forant wrote:

> So they can't get to the big dance and now their going to lay down? Doesn't
> look like their going to try to be spoilers. We could be making life
> miserble for Orlando, Philly, and the Bucks. This team sucks us in all year
> long with ups and downs. Presently their down, maybe down and out.

Losing three of our five most recent losses on last minute shots is
demoralizing. Still, the team hasn't exactly quit. If the Celtics keep playing
at this level of intensity, they will win enough to raise a lot of tantalizing
"what if?" questions in retrospect. It's tough to be this far back with so
little time left in the season. I was really counting on some "March Madness"
from the Celts over the weekend. My hope now is that they will somehow go the
distance in this race until the last whistle of the last game of the season.

The biggest stories so far this season IMO:
1) Potapenko is a better rebounder than I thought and may string together a
number of years ahead of him at the 8+ rpg level. Certainly he's better on the
boards than Geiger or other comparable players.
2) The Celts are now a good young rebounding team from the starters to the
bench, particularly if they re-sign Fortson.
3) Battie might not be able to step up to another level. That's a shame. The
failing McCarty experiment also makes me wonder about the wisdom of recruiting
tall, even super-athletic kids with long spindly legs. These guys aren't going
to fill-out and develop enough ballast through weight training. So in the end,
they both project as gangly small forward defenders (or power forward
benchwarmers), but without half the skills on offense of Nowitzki, much less
Kevin Garnett.
4) Adrian Griffin also probably won't step up to another level, although he can
at least be as good as he was in the first two months of the season before
injuries and burnout hit him. Right now he is a longshot to make second team
All Rookie (he doesn't even deserve that).
5) Pierce can become one of the best guard-forward swingmen in Celts history.
In his two seasons, he's already proven he is one of the top dozen or so NBA
players at either of two distinct positions. On a better and more veteran Celts
team, he'd be an ideal championship 6th man. He's also hit some clutch shots
lately, and that's exactly what he needed to do (even if it was to no avail).
6) Antoine can be an efficient as well as a dominant player if he continues his
development. That's a major revelation. In the past he could be even more
dominant as a scorer and rebounder, but rarely efficient about correcting his
shot selection etc. His glaring weaknesses were part of the overall package.
Now Toine needs to show he can play the way he has over a full month, and then
over a full season, so there is still a LONG way to go. Still, I can picture a
scenario where Walker could even make the Olympic team four years from now. He
is the only Boston Celtic with the potential to be a top-10 NBA player. When he
plays at that level, the Celts will consistently defeat (or even blowout)
playoff caliber rivals like they did earlier this month.

Joe