My case against Obie and Chris Wallace

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

The players and almost everyone on the list seem to be in favor of retaining
O'Brien and Wallace. I'm not, and here's why:

This is a terrible, terrible rebounding team, and yet every time these two
discuss the roster it begins and ends with Walker at PF and "our three
centers hold their own..." They seem to have zeroed in on PG as the team's
biggest need. Obviously, PG is a problem, but in my mind the biggest
weakness for this team has been and continues to be the soft middle. You
might be able to survive with the mediocre centers if you had a stud
rebounder/defender at PF. You might be able to survive with Antoine at PF if
you had a stud rebounder/defender at center. But you can't continue to run
out a lineup of Walker at PF with Vitaly/Battie/Blount at center, get
outrebounded by the margins the Celts are getting outrebounded (the numbers
in the last month are startling), and still expect to win. You have to
rebound and defend the post to win consistently in the NBA.

I have to think someone coming in with a fresh perspective on this roster
would see that. O'Brien seems as stubborn as Pitino in his outright refusal
to play Antoine at SF alongside another big body at PF. Some might argue
he'd change his approach if given time in training camp, and maybe that's
true. But he has given no indication at all that he has even considered such
a change in philosophy.

This team clearly needs a legit PG, as well as a third scoring option (Mike
Bibby would solve both), and I'd never dispute that, but the most glaring
need is up front. That seems lost on the current Celtic braintrust. And
that's why I strongly believe we need someone with vision and a plan to take
over this franchise. O'Brien and Wallace are so focused on the here and now
and making the playoffs, that they can't see the forest for the trees. I see
them using draft picks and free agent signings to plug holes in an effort to
get that last playoff spot, but we need someone thinking long-term. The
final playoff spot in a bad conference shouldn't be our goal--it's just one
step along the way. And we need someone who always keeps that in mind.

Mark