OK, my thoughts on last night's game

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

I'll chime in...

The rookies:

Joe Johnson is as advertised. He's smooth, versatile and should have no
problem fitting in with Toine and Pierce.

I'm really excited about Kedrick Brown. He needs work on his ball-handling,
but what an athlete! He also has a nose for the ball and a natural
aggressiveness that you can't teach.

Joseph Forte... Not much to say yet. He's not a point guard and never will
be, and I'm still not convinced he's big enough to be a starting shooting
guard. He'll look better when he's feeding off of Pierce and Walker.

The others:

Mark Blount looked good. He made more of an effort to rebound and was
challenging shots. Of course, he was playing against a high school kid and
A.J. Bramlett. Still, he's probably the best of our terrible crop of
centers-as long as you're not looking for offense.

Moiso... Huge, huge disappointment. I didn't really care about numbers, I
just wanted to see a hint of aggression. Nothing. He just doesn't want it
badly enough. I considered him an X-factor. Based on last night, he's a
non-factor.

Palacio... Another lousy game. Don't want to overreact, because he's proven
to be effective at times against actual NBA competition. But he was terrible
last night. It wasn't just his shooting... he just always seemed to do the
wrong thing. Shoot when he should have passed, drive when he should have
stopped... that sort of thing. Again, I don't want to overreact based on one
game, but I wonder if the reality of Milt isn't that he's just a shooting
guard who can't shoot and is trying to learn the point guard spot. He's been
compared to Eric Snow, but Snow always was a point guard. Consider me
concerned. Which brings me to...

El-Amin... I know he's 5-10, and I know he's built more like a basketball
than a basketball player, but that guy can play point guard. The whole tempo
of the game changed when he was in there. He can push the ball, pass it,
create his own shot (and make it), and makes great decisions. Plus, he has
an enthusiasm that seems infectious. He's one of those guys who looks like
he's having the time of his life out there. It sounds like O'Brien and
Wallace aren't considering him at all, and that's a shame. We're going to
enter the season with Kenny Anderson and Randy Brown eating up roster spots,
and El-Amin would be a better fit than either. The questions about him-his
size, specifically-seem lessened because the Celtics will be playing big
guards (Johnson, Pierce and Brown), and El-Amin is really strong for a short
(not small) guy. When you also consider the absence of defensive
restrictions, it just seems like there should be a place for him.

General observations: I loved the on-the-ball defensive pressure from the
Celts. Granted, it was summer league, but the rookies and El-Amin really
seemed like ball-hawks. That's a good sign. The team seemed to build a lead
whenever El-Amin was in there and gave some of it away when Palacio was in
the game. Hate to pick on Milt, but it's true.

Finally, I came away convinced that the Celtics got great talent in Johnson
and Brown in the draft, but really haven't improved the team much at all
THIS YEAR. Those guys are rookies, and you only have to look around at the
other summer league box scores to see what these rookies and assorted
castoffs are doing and know that you can't judge by these performances. I
see these guys and I don't think any of them will give the Celtics much more
THIS YEAR than what Stith did last year. The rebounding and point guard
problems are still there, and the talent infusion, while wonderful, is a
year away from making a significant difference.

Mark