Re: Why???

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

Paul, I know where you're coming from on O'Brien and you're right--he did a
great job. You've even convinced me that he at least deserves the chance to
see what he can do over a full season. But you'll never convince me that
Antoine Walker should be leading the league in three-point attempts while
this team gets brutalized on the boards. Only Tim Hardaway even approached
Antoine in terms of 3-point attempts--he averaged 6.7  per game, Toine
7.4--and Hardaway is playing with two bad knees and has been reduced to
being just a 3-point shooter at this point in his career. Should Toine be
taking two more 3-pointers per game than Reggie Miller or Ray Allen? Or Dirk
Nowitzki?

Are there other players and aspects of this team who deserve more criticism
than Antoine? Certainly, but those guys are fringe players. If we're talking
about building around Antoine and Pierce, then those guys are going to be
under the microscope. One of the emerging problems in Antoine's game, in my
opinion, is his increasing reliance on 3-pointers, his utter reluctance to
attack the basket and get to the free throw line, his declining rebounding
(down to 8.9 per game; due to all the time spent on the perimeter) and his
continued woeful shooting percentage (41 percent). Does he do a lot of good
things? Sure, but I'm far from convinced he's a building block. I'm willing
to see what happens if they switch him to PG or SF, but I wouldn't object to
a trade that brought this team some legitimate big men or a draft pick to
acquire that big man.

Like I said, I'm willing to concede your points on O'Brien and give him a
chance. But he does worry me if, as he claims, he is encouraging Antoine to
shoot eight threes a game. And when he finally tries Toine somewhere other
than power forward, it's at point guard, so he can surround Toine and Pierce
with more 3-point shooters. He was 3-point crazy at Dayton, too, and I know
where that got him. So I remain concerned, but you're right that he deserves
a chance because he accomplished more down the stretch this season than I
imagined anyone could. But there have been a lot of mirages over the years
in the NBA when changes like Pitino-O'Brien happen. I don't think the
Celtics are as bad as they looked the first part of the season under Pitino,
but I don't think they're as good as they looked the second half under
O'Brien. That's why I remain more open to major changes than most on the
list.

Mark