RE: Ask and you shall receive....

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

The major questions I have for the Celtics
going in to next year revolve around three issues:
low-post play, motion offense, and play against
lesser teams.  It's clear that Antoine likes to play
where he does.  Nobody's demands that he "get down
low and stay down there, damn you!" matter at all.
We really need someone who is comfortable living down
there, and keep defenses semi-honest, even in the zone
era, by keeping opposing big men from collapsing on
Antoine when he makes his dribble-drive into the paint.
That's why someone like Zach Randolph appeals to me a 
lot.   Motion offense is a necessity if we are going
to pick up another 8-10 wins.  Too much of the Celtics'
game plan last year consisted of moving the ball on the
perimeter to open jump shooters.  These guys aren't bad
shooters for the most part, but the odds are against 
long jump-shooters who aren't specialists, and the lack
of motion toward the rim gave us major deficiencies at
the line.  (A true penetrating point guard should help 
in this respect a lot.)It also exacerbated our rebounding problems,since
Antoine and Vitaly were the only ones who
 did anything for us on the boards, or were in any 
position  too.  Tony Battie's return 
should help in this regard, as will the addition of 
either Joe Johnson, Rodney White, Zach Randolph, or
(knock, knock) Eddie Curry. Pau Gasol, with his Shawn
Bradley wingspan, should be plucking rebounds high off
the rim and blocking the shots of the sancho panzas he
plays against right and left; the fact that he doesn't
really gives me pause, I'm sorry.  Lastly, I think that
the major failing this team has is it's inability to 
execute against lousy teams.  Many of us were blinded
to the team's shortcomings by focusing on wins against
Seattle, Portland, Milwaukee, etc.; but when Atlanta,
Chicago, or Vancouver is on our schedule, any
 knowledgeable Celtics fan knows it's a coin flip if we
win.  That has to change, and I think that the addition
of some offensive talent, we might become a much more
dangerous team.  Paul and Antoine played out of their
minds for most of the 2nd half last year; we can't 
depend on that even for our .500 aspiration.  That's
why -- between the hole in the post, the distended strong
side, and the need for a will to power vs. lesser teams -- we need a couple
of cocky, talented young players
badly.  A stratospheric swing man who creates havoc
with his shot and drive would fit that bill, as would
a he-man in the post.  No pure perimeter players need
apply.



-----Original Message-----
From: Alexander Wang [mailto:awang@MIT.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 4:58 PM
To: Mark Piotrowski; Celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: Ask and you shall receive....


Mark Piotrowski wrote:

>Last year 5 teams made double-digit jumps in wins last year (only 1 
>team made 14 win jump, but consider San Antonio only made a 16 game 
>jump when they added Duncan and got Robinson back healthy (they did 
>add 36 wins when they added Robinson and Sean Elliott as rookies), 
>and i think the list will surprise you (it did me).

Actually, San Antonio jumped from 20-62 to 56-26 in 97-98 after they
drafted Duncan and Robinson returned from injury. You're not going to see a
team add two All-NBA centers in a season too often though.

A nice analysis in general, Mark. I would discount the Clippers'
improvement in comparison with some of the other teams because it's much
easier to improve when you start at the very bottom. That's one of the
reasons the Celtics made the leap from 15 to 36 (+21!) in Pitino's first
year but have been going sideways every since.

So what's in store for the Celtics? I agree with the idea that one of the
biggest sources of potential improvement is from our maturing stars. The
news that Walker is working out is very good, but it's only been 2.5 weeks
according to that article. Hopefully he has the discipline to see it
through. Pierce's performances in the post-Pitino era really opened my
eyes. He's developed into one of the premier offensive players in the
league. Randy Brown suggested that once he's fully recovered from his
injury, he can develop his upper body strength through weight training to
become even more dominant. On the other hand, zone defenses may take away
some of his opportunities on the inside, if we don't have the shooters to
prevent it (Eric Williams and Randy Brown are not what I have in mind here).


Alex