Re: Training camp notes

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Alexander Wang wrote:

> There are training camp notes covering the past week at celtics.com:
>
> -- Most of the time spent in camp will focus on defense. Makes sense given
> last year's defensive performance.
>
> -- Potapenko and Blount are in "tremendous shape." Tony Battie is the
> "unknown factor."
>
> -- A scrimmage pitted Vitaly, Walker, Eric Williams, McCarty, and Anderson
> against Battie, Moiso, Blount, Elliott, and Brown.

    I'm a bit dismayed to see Walker apparently slotted in already as the
power forward. I would hope Pitino experiments a little more during camp with
Walker, mainly because otherwise you create such a logjam at center and power
forward...and therefore a greater risk that Moiso will end up sitting behind
Battie/Blount/Potapenko/Walker and being viewed as the biggest bust from
France since Brigitte Bardot.

    Ideally, Moiso could get tested a bit during camp as a second combo
forward in the starting lineup alongside Walker, much like the Walker/McCarty
starting tandem that was effective in 1997-98. Maybe Pitino will swap McCarty
for Moiso in that unit, once Moiso gets up to speed. It's early, but I'm
surprised that Pitino doesn't put at least one shotblocker in his unit with
the gravity-challenged Walker, Vitaly and Anderson.

    On the subject of the logjam at center-forward, I was also hoping Blount
would show enough consistent play so that Pitino could consider trading
Potapenko (still my favorite Boston player in terms of character) for a
quality 15+ppg perimeter player or an improved shot at next year's number one
overall pick. The risk is you wait a year and get stuck with a possibly
disgruntled 15 minute per game benchwarmer like the Fortson situation last
year.

    But it looks like Potapenko is outplaying Blount in camp by a wide margin.
It's kind of surreal. Last week you had Pitino saying that Moiso looks lost
out there and shouldn't be expected to understand the game backwards and
forwards like Antoine. Hello? If you're holding up Antoine as your role-model
for basketball intelligence, then Moiso must be one hell of a clueless player.
And now this weekend Spintino keeps talking 100 miles per hour about what a
fantastic find Blount has been and practically  in the next sentence says:
``Vitaly beats the (expletive deleted) out of him every day, and that's
helping Mark get tougher and learn. He doesn't back down, he just keeps
getting up, fighting and getting his butt kicked again." Doh!

    It's still early Alex, but boy this is shaping up to be quite a year.

Joe