RE: Player evaluations - PGs

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

interesting anaylsis, and of course I won't bleat on about my 
idee fixe re Kenny Anderson.  But I would point out that our "halfcourt
offense" is often the result of a missed opportunity for a fast break,
rather than a designed plan of attack.  We should be trying to fast break on
every rebound, blocked shot, or turnover; the halfcourt set should be a
fallback position.

I was just at the Y and I spoke to a guy I know who didn't know I was into
the Celtics.  He gave me his disinterested opinion, which was that a) Pitino
can't motivate professionals and b) that Pierce and Walker were both selfish
players who seemed to prefer shooting to passing.  I was struck by how hard
it is to argue with these two points.  I don't agree, but that really is how
it seems to most observers.  It really comes down to winning.  If Pierce had
been drafted by the Bird/McHale teams, he would be a young Havlicek now; he
is still impressionable, and there's no one to show him the way.  The old
Celtics always had continuity, and so guys got absorbed into our kind of
play.  If we drafted Kevin McHale or Len Bias now, I don't think they would
be the kind of players we might have expected a generation ago.  But if the
team can start winning, I think that Celtic basketball can be reborn.  Guys
will begin to trust each other, and start playing a little looser, and you
will see a better, more fluid and pass-oriented brand of basketball.
Failing this, there is nothing for it but to get Bird and the Billionaire.
Larry alone can bring back the Celtics if this campaign falls through.
Otherwise the best we can hope for is a basketball culture indistinguishable
from that of Minnesota, Washington, or Denver.  This raises the question:
how long will the most addicted, hardcore members of Celtics nation stick
with the team?  The Celtic mystique is currently in hibernation; but how
long can the nutrients in its cocoon 

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Alexander Wang [SMTP:awang@MIT.EDU]
> Sent:	Friday, September 15, 2000 12:15 PM
> To:	celtics@igtc.com
> Subject:	Player evaluations - PGs
> 
> I am going through each player and trying to foresee what their role for
> the Celtics would be, as well as what  kind of production I would hope
> from
> them.
> 
> Kenny Anderson is the starting point guard. In some respects, last season
> was his best as a Celtic. His shooting was quite good: 45.6% from 2 pt
> range, 38.6% from 3 pt range. He played some defense and had 1.70 steals,
> his high in a Celtics uniform. And he played all 82 games. On the other
> hand, his 5.1 apg were a career low as a starter in the league and he
> didn't seem to push the pace.
> 	I don't think that we are ever going to see Kenny average 8-9
> assists per
> game on this team for a couple reasons. First, he's not going to get much
> more than 30 minutes per game as opposed to someone like Kidd who gets 40
> minutes per game. Second, we run a set offense in the halfcourt that
> doesn't rely so much on point guard penetration. On the other hand, 5.1
> apg
> is subpar for someone with his abilities even taking these into account.
> I'm hoping that additional team athleticism and hopefully a higher tempo
> mindset from Kenny will boost that total into the 6-7 apg range.
> 
> Randy Brown was signed to be the backup point guard and a leadership
> presence. The addition of Pack clouds the picture. Brown was given starter
> minutes the last two seasons and averaged under 4 apg each season.
> However,
> the Bulls were running the triangle offense with a terrible group of
> players. In any case, I really doubt he's a threat to take over the
> starting job. He's not a great shooter and doesn't have three point range.
> On the plus side, his defense is well regarded and he has the size to
> match
> up with the bigger point guards in this league. He's got athleticism and
> fits in with the press. And he's got those championship rings which will
> hopefully give him some credibility in his leadership role.
> 	If Brown ends up being the primary backup (over Pack), I would hope
> that
> he would provide quality backup minutes at point - that the offense would
> not crash to a complete halt when Kenny came out. And that he would take
> up
> some minutes against tough, big point guards that Kenny had trouble with.
> Hopefully he can do some decent work on the full court press. 
> 
> Robert Pack's future with the Celtics is a mystery right now. There is the
> rumor of Pack for Herren which makes a lot of sense to me as I can't
> imagine both Pack and Brown staying past this season - you don't need two
> high paid 30-something backups. Gene's inside info seems to reflect that
> Pack would rather not be in this situation. 
> 	The first question about Pack, assuming he stays, is whether he will
> have
> a healthy season. I am also somewhat curious as to why Dallas was so eager
> to be rid of him. I have not seen him play but it sounds like he could be
> a
> good fit - uptempo, scoring ability. He had 7 double digit assist games
> last year out of the 29 he played. 
> 
> So it seems like we might have a minutes problem at backup PG if everyone
> comes in healthy. Of course it's nice to be talking about guys like Brown
> and Pack rather than Turner or Overton. Barring an incredible breakthrough
> by Pack in his contract year, Kenny is still the key to the offense.
> 
> I'll do centers at some later point.
> 
> Alex