Virtue Rewarded; or, Ozersky Inside!

[Josh Ozersky <igtcjosh@yahoo.com>]

You guys aren't going to believe this, and in fact I
had a hard time believing it myself, but it's true:

Chris Wallace called me on the phone yesterday.

Apparently, he reads my bskball.com column, or at
least his assistant does (Chris doesn't get on the
internet much, I gather; he thought that I worked for
ESPN.)  Anyway, they read all my predraft stuff, and
looked for my comments after the draft.  Can you
imagine the rush hearing that gave me?  I guess all
those columns written for free paid off at
last!Anyway, he gave me his phone numbers and invited
me to call him whenever I had a question.  Talking to
Wallace was an amazing experience; after five or ten
minutes, you forgot that you were conversing with the
main decision-maker in the Celtics organization, and
felt that you were talking with another fan.  Of
course, he's more coolly analytical than most fans --
more Alex Wang than Way of the Ray, but of course you
knew that.

Anyway, I got to talk to him for a good half hour, and
among the points that came out were:

1)  He knows that none of our point guards get anybody
easy shots, and is concerned about it.  But he
considers that our point guard of the future is still
in high school or college, and is definitely thinking
of next year's draft class as one that is deep in
gifted playmakers.  Not that he will draft on
position, but it's something to bear in mind.

2)  I asked him if there was anything to kenny's
claims that his role requires him to give up the ball
at the top of the key and then stand around waiting
for a spot up jumper, or otherwise gumming up the
works.  Wallace differed on that assesment.

3)  Re Antoine and his role as power forward, Wallace
said that Antoine was always going to be an unorthodox
power forward, whose greatest strength offensively was
his ability to face the basket and take other fours
off the dribble.  He would mix it up, but he said that
even if Twon's physical conditioning was superb, he's
not the kind of athlete who could catch turn and dunk
a la Antonio McDyess.  He wants to get a big man down
the road to complement him that way.  He said also
that you can get by with what he called "4 1/2s" like
Battie in the pivot, as long as you don't have to play
a dominating center like Mutumbo -- and Mutumbo is the
only such center in the conference right now.  He
knows about all the shortcomings of our guys, but sees
them as complementing each other like a pitching
staff.  Chris uses a lot of baseball and football
metaphors -- he's obviously a lifelong sports fan.

4) As far as the Moiso trade goes, he said that the
team was looking at the luxury tax situation, and that
the main appeal of the trade was having McLeod signed
for a one year deal.  He's not concerned with having a
million small forwards on the team; he thinks McLeod
might contribte, seems to be a good guy, and if he
doesn't work out they're OK too.  The pick gives them
value and flexibility down the road.  He didn't say
anything bad about Jerome; it was more like, something
had to go, given that Blount and Palacio will both be
up for contracts next year.

5) He says the Celts were a .500 team last year,
without Battie, Anderson (who he thinks can still give
you, minimally, 15-18 productive minutes a game),
Johnson, Brown, and Forte.  I said that Paul and
Antoine had to both play out of their minds to get us
those wins, and he said that with the five additions,
they wouldn't have to do that every night.  He also
said that he really would like to see us put together
some wins out of the gate, particularly at home. 
(This is what I mean about talking to a fan; a lot of
what Wallace said is stuff we have already talked
about here.)

6) I asked him if Joe Johnson could be the point guard
of the future.  He said that Johnson would definitely
get some minutes there in training camp to show what
he could do.  I don't think they are thinking of JJ
that way yet, but I'm hoping they come around.  He
also said that Johnson was at a disadvantage at
Arkansas, where he wasn't featured, but rather part of
a ten man "democracy" under Nolan Richardson.  He said
that in college, it's all about the system and the
coach, as opposed to just letting the players play.  I
said "we learned that the hard way," and he let out a
big laugh.  He didn't say or suggest anything remotely
negative about Pitino at any time, though.

7) I think I'm going to get to go to training camp, so
I'll definitely report there.  

Anyway, you all now have a pipeline to the top,
through me.  If there's a major pressing question, I
can call Wallace and ask him about it.  We no longer
have to depend what the Peter May and Shira Springer
feel like asking him about.

How's that for good news?
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