RE: My case against Obie and Chris Wallace

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

Antoine can rebound with almost any 4 in the league, if he stays down
low.  The new PG can feed Pierce on the left side.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Berry, Mark  S [SMTP:berrym@BATTELLE.ORG]
> Sent:	Wednesday, April 11, 2001 1:31 PM
> To:	'celtics@igtc.com'
> Subject:	My case against Obie and Chris Wallace
> 
> 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