Re: Why???

["Jim Meninno" <Jim_Meninno@hotmail.com>]

----- Original Message ----- From: Berry, Mark S <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>

> 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.

Of all the complaints Mark has raised, this is the only one that truly
concerns me.  If O'Brien's ultimate goal is to build a team that shoots more
three's than the rest of the league, then I'm not in favor of it.  I've been
willing to go along with it from Antoine because, frankly he's been more
productive that way and it was giving the team its best chance of winning
games.  This is why I have said that it is so important to get that DOBO in
place.  Someone in charge needs to interview O'Brien and get him to
elaborate on what his basketball philosophy is.  If it's nothing but
chucking up three's, we have a problem.  I didn't realize until yesterday
that they are actually considering making Antoine a bona fide point guard,
and I applaud OB for thinking of such a daring move, but I'd still rather
see a real power forward and center out there with him (or, failing that,
Vitaly and Battie).

I've been advocating giving O'Brien a chance based on the principle that
he's playing an outside game because he doesn't have the players to play
inside.  If the truth is that he prefers it that way, and the team would
acquire players to suit that preference, then that changes everything.

Jim