Re: [Celtic_Pride] "To the point."

[Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
  Kenny anderson may be coming into shape. As I posted yesterday, that is
exactly what is needed now. Herren should also help. We need some offense
from the point guard position. The league will devise defenses to stop
Antoine from finding Pierce and we need another distributor who can burn
them if they back off. Remeber anderson has the handle. There are few points
in the league who dribble and keep control under pressure as well. When he
is running a bit, passing to open teamates and hitting the open jumper, he
is one of the best. We have all seen him play well below his level, but I
suspect it's left over animosity at Pitino that leaves so much negative
feeling towards Anderson. You hated Pitino, so you must hate his trades for
Anderson and Potapenko.
--- end of quote ---

Well, I *loved* Pitino's trade for Kenny, especially after that first game that
Kenny played for us. Remember  - keying the fast break , throwing incredible
passes with pinpoint accuracy, and generally running the team to perfection -
or at least it seemed so after the clueless Chauncey "Throw a mid-pair pass to
the expensive seats" Billups. Even Cooz was all excited. Little did we know
that it was a special treat that Kenny gave his new employer in his first game,
not to be seen again for the most part. After that he quickly reverted to his
plodding, walk-it-up, dribble-dribble-dribble, drive-on-three-defenders,
windmill-defense ways. 
The animosity, as you call it, has nothing to do with Pitino. It has to do with
Kenny. Even though Pitino traded for Pot and Stith and a million other people,
I feel no animosity towards them. In fact, while Pot has very little talent, I
appreciate his trying to extract the last ounce out of what he has to help the
team. And I really like Stith. 
But Kenny is a different matter. What's really exasperating about him is that
he has so much talent, yet he won't use it to help the team if it takes too
much  effort (e.g., actually  RUNNING the floor, or finding an open player in a
good scoring position).  Tommy last night was screaming at him, as he always
does, "RUN, RUN!!!!", when they had numbers advantage on the fast break and
badly needed a basket during the Sonics run in the second half. But he just
won't, unless he's in alone off a steal. Apparently, it takes too much mental
and physical effort to run and then make the right decision on the break as far
as he's concerned. So he just walks it up and gives to Walker. Much easier that
way. And his being out of shape and playing on a gimpy ankle has little to do
with it. While it doesn't help, he's done the same thing when he's perfectly
healthy and in shape. Now it's just a convenient, even if legit, excuse. And
defense? What did Bibby and Payton shoot against him (as opposed to Palacio or
Herren)? 80%? 90%? 
Anyway, good win last night, even if some troublesome signs have appeared.
Their defense in the 2nd half was a blast from the Pitino era - quite a few
uncontested layups, and 49% shooting for the Sonics overall, which must've
meant something like 60%+ shooting in the 2nd half, since they were in the low
40s or high 30s in the 1st. I kept telling myself in the second half that
they're gonna lose this game - the feeling, the signs were all there, just like
before and during the Vancouver meltdown. The difference was, they had a larger
safety margin, and Walker stepped up big time when it was most needed and then
the rest joined in. And the refs were worse than during the Vancouver game.
It's amazing that they beat the Sonics on the road, by 20, given all this....
Kestas