Mark Berry's fears

[Josh Ozersky <igtcjosh@yahoo.com>]

I thought Mark's post was interesting and provactive,
as usual, but I can't go along with him on this one. 
I believe that the presence of these three guys will
pay immediate dividends.  Johnson and Brown are both
impact players on offense, and Bryant Stith isn't. 
Now, to be fair, Stith is a better shooter than he
showed last year, when his finger was horribly
injured.  I also think that the team will benefit
greatly from Tony Battie's presence.  Consider the
value of having a Mark Blount come in against other
backup centers!  It might statistically nullify the
damage that starters do against the admittedly
overmatched Potapenko/Battie.  Still, if those guys
play manfully (and both have improved greatly as
rebounders and defenders) than we have a good shot. 
Who knows what will happen with the PG situation? 
Both Kenny and Milt have offensive strengths, but
neither of them seems to be able to distribute the
ball -- even on the fast break.  Especially on the
fast break!  That, and not our weak center corps,
gives me the most worry.  I hate to see an offense
that grinds everything out via one-on-one moves.  On
the other hand, the presence of versatile, atheltic
X-factors such as Brown and Johnson (and Forte, to a
lesser extent) should help to alleviate that,
leavening the mechanistic offense.

Basically, my feeling is that the talent level has
taken a huge upturn.  But on the other hand, the
leaders of the team and the best defenders, Randy
Brown and Eric Williams, seem to be marginalized, and
that can't be good for chemistry.  I feel that, just
based on what we saw last year, we can win our share
of games against other good teams, and probably steal
a few games against elite teams, particularly late in
the season.  It's the games against the bad teams that
will determine whether the celtics break through.  We
need to beat Memphis two times, Chicago four times (or
whatever), Washington three or four times, the
Clippers twice, and etc.  If that happens, I think the
rest of the schedule will take care of itself.  You
can't expect to win a lot of must-win games against
seasoned, veteran playoff teams like Indiana; but with
all the talent we have, the least we can expect is
that we have a comparable record to the bottom four
teams of last year's playoffs.  I think we're already
better than New York and possibly Miami, two teams who
have been running on fumes for a couple of years now.

other thoughts:

If I were in the silly business of giving out grades
for how teams did in the draft, I would definitely
give Chicago and Atlanta the only A+s.  Atlanta added
a legit, established superstar talent without giving
up any of their so-called core players; and Chicago
really deserves credit for doing even better.  I hate
"Crumbs" Krause as much as the next man, but it looks
to me like he really has built the foundation for a
future champion.  Neither Curry nor Chander, by
themselves, deserve the laurels of a franchise savior:
 the players to which they are compared, Shaq and
Kareem respectively, are legendary talents who brook
no comparison.  But to get both on one team!  A
superstrong he-man, bursting with power and skill; and
ALSO, a super-fleet, hi-skying shot blocker -- I mean,
that's the making of an all-time twin towers.  Both
guys might be busts, but imagine that Curry only ends
up as good as (say) Artis Gilmore and Chandler ends up
as good as (say) Marcus Camby.  Isn't that a bitch to
match up against?  I assume that the Celtics will
punish Chicago this year, but I believe that Jerry
Krause deserves to keep his job.


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