Re: Celts Spoilers, No Way

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

Hi Joe,

Very good post!  I agree that they have been playing very hard lately, with
the exception of the Bucks game in which I think that they succumbed to the
pressure of it all.  They are finding out that it takes 48 minutes of
consistent effort.  Playing well in spurts is not good enough.  Though it
seems to work for Michigan State, but that is not the NBA.

I find the discussion about possibly signing Derek Anderson intriguing.
There are a couple of questions that should be clarified about him though,
such as is he willing to play 3rd fiddle to Toine and Pierce?  How's his
health?  Could he possibly make a switch to PG?

I don't put much into the mention of Jalen Rose for I think he may be
looking at Detroit so he can play close to home.

It is disappointing to see the C's lose the last few but IMHO they still
merit watching the rest of the year.  I will be thoroughly pissed if the
tank it and I don't believe they will.  They know they'll hear it from the
boobirds again if they fail to continue putting out their best effort.

Cecil


> 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
>
>
>