RE: Thoughts after the game (long)

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Joe, 

Great points on Herren. You're right, we should keep his performance in
perspective. It's just easy to get caught up in a pass-first point guard
after what we've seen the last three years.

I'd say the point about Herren being a "guess hitter" is pretty close. He
doesn't have natural point guard instincts just yet (remember, he's only
been playing the point for two seasons). There was one occasion when he came
off a pick and roll and had a wide open 18-footer, but he drove the lane
instead and committed an offensive foul. It was the kind of decision I think
he'll make differently given a little experience.

I'm not suggesting the guy is ready to take over and play 40 mpg at the
point. I am saying that, in concert with Randy Brown, he is an improvement
over Kenny Anderson, if not in numbers, at least in impact on the
unselfishness of this team.

You're going to enjoy watching him.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Hironaka [mailto:j.hironaka@unesco.org]
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 11:38 AM
To: Berry, Mark S; celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: Thoughts after the game (long)



"Berry, Mark S" wrote:

> Chris Herren. OK, the numbers aren't pretty (1 point, 5 turnovers), but a
> few of those TOs weren't his fault. He drove the lane twice on
> pick-and-rolls with Battie and twice laid the ball back for a rolling
Battie
> and Tony was still standing at the foul line. Tommy H. made the point that
> the Celtics big men aren't used to getting the ball on those plays (zing
> Kenny) and once they realize Herren will make that pass, you'll see them
> rolling hard to the hoop. Of course, that implies active brain waves in
Tony
> Battie's noggin... Anyway, even with a so-so debut last night, Herren
> convinced me he's good enough to make Kenny expendable. I believe I heard
> Mike Gorman say a knowledgeable basketball source told him that Herren has
> the best point guard instincts on the team, and that's true. The guy
pushes
> the ball hard, passes upcourt and thinks pass first every time. He had a
> beautiful touch lob pass to Battie from the top of the key that Tony
fumbled
> (surprise) before retrieving and laying it in. I'm sold on Herren. Let the
> guy learn his teammates and he could be a legit starting point guard.

Thanks for that great game summary, Mark. I would love a Jason Williams
style
point guard on a team like the Celtics. I hope we don't expect too much of
Herren right away though. He's here as a third point guard and anything
better
than that should be treated as a bonus (as with Blount).

Last summer before Herren's rookie year, one of the Denver papers printed a
roundup of the Nuggets summer league play and in essence described Herren as
the
pointguard equivalent of a "guess hitter" in baseball. You all know the
type. A
guy who would be thinking dish from the moment he started a drive to the
hoop,
but if the defense took it away he'd blow the easy layup or turn the ball
over.
The other extreme is someone who is looking to make an acrobatic layup all
the
way to the hoop and won't even notice you if you are wide open under the
basket.

On either of the two extremes, if you guess right you always look pretty
damn
cool. But I've seen Jason Williams blow open layups for this reason (he's
preprogrammed to make the slick "he must have eyes in the back of his head"
highlight pass even if the opportunity just doesn't develop). I don't know
if
Herren has improved or if the report was unfair (I think Herren himself
acknowledged it).

In any case, I think you can count on one hand the number of  NBA basketball
players who weren't some sort of guesser when driving to the hoop at full
speed.
It is like the number of baseball hitters who can actually read the rotation
of
the pitched ball. I truly believe Magic, Bird and Isiah could make
instantaneous
"pass, shoot or continue dribbling" decisions every split-second they were
moving on the court. I wasn't around to watch any others (like Cousy or
Oscar
Robertson).

It sounds absolutely logical, however, that once teammates learn that Herren
will drive-and-dish 90% of the time, they will roll to an open spot by
instinct
and have their hands ready for the catch. It will be nice to see that style
of
playmaking in Boston, but again let's not put extra expectations and
pressure on
him to spark the rebirth of the Cousy era. Herren already gets a lot more of
the
praise and spotlight than any 25-year-old, second round pick coming off a
3.1
ppg season and a history of drug/alcohol abuse and college flunkout grades
could
possibly have earned (my point is not that he was or is a bad guy but rather
that we wouldn't pay much attention to other NBA journeymen who fit a
similar
profile). I think it will just cause resentment on the team if the Boston
media
and fans try to anoint him before he's actually accomplished anything.

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