Re: Josh... thoughts, insights from yesterday?

[jason david jones <jdjones1@midway.uchicago.edu>]

Wow, that got me pumped!  Can't wait for the article!

Jason David Jones


On Mon, 8 Oct 2001, Josh O. wrote:

> Just got back from Boston.  What an experience!  It
> will take me a couple of days to get my column ready,
> so here are some quick impressions.
> 
> I got to sit at the media table next to Jo Jo White,
> and he analyzed the celtics during the entire
> practice.  Jo Jo is very high on all three rookies,
> and believes in the team as a whole; he really
> underlined team unity.  Antoine, he feels, is doing
> the right things and is on his way, although he still
> has a few bad habits he needs to break.  I'm going to
> transcribe the whole conversation, but it will take me
> a while.  I talked to Chris Wallace for a long time,
> and he said a lot of stuff, the most significant of
> which for Mark was that he definitely doesn't see the
> Celtics getting a franchise center at any point.  He
> clearly plans on building the team without one, and
> part of that concept was what he calls "talent
> inventory," which would make trades possible down the
> line.  (Jo Jo also weighed in on this, pointing out
> that his teams won two championships without a center,
> and one of them was against Kareem Abdul Jabbar.) 
> Another nice thing to see was Dr. Jack Ramsay walking
> around in a white shamrock sweatshirt, giving advice
> the coaching staff after the game.  
> 
> Players:
> 
> Antoine:  Twon is in the same shape he was in at the
> end of the season, or slightly better.  He still puts
> up a lot of weak looking shit around the rim that goes
> in (or doesn't).  He takes too many three pointers,
> and his game is still ugly.  He does dominate the
> opposition, though, and if begins to look to drop the
> ball off more off penetrations, things could really
> heat up.  (On the play, much commented on, in which
> Kedrick blocked his shot, Jo Jo called Antoine's
> attention to his mistake on the way back downcourt. 
> "Twon!  Drop it down.  Drop it down."  Twon looked
> back, and said "it was a foul."  But he seems to be
> learning.
> 
> Paul:  Played at half speed, still dominated.  Would
> you believe I actually got to briefly interview Paul
> at the end of practice?  His hands are huge.  What a
> laid-back guy though.  Oh yes, the game.  Well, Paul
> took some three pointers, made a few layups, played
> some D.  I don't know how people arrive at his scoring
> 33 points.  
> 
> Forte:  Looked great.  Made a beautiful lookaway pass
> on the break.  Paul D'd him up on the perimeter, and
> he sank a long jumper right over him which barely
> stirred the net.  Gorgeous game.  I got to talk to him
> as well.
> 
> Johnson.  Jo Jo was really impressed with this guy. 
> You can really see the kind of talent he has, and how
> he can score from nearly anywhere on the court. 
> Didn't notice him much on D.
> 
> Kenny:  Seems slower than he used to be, but probably
> was just dogging it.  Made a few nice passes, lofted
> in a few layups, but didn't control the tempo in any
> meaningful sense.  Has his jump shot back.  
> 
> Brown:  Kedrick is so fast you can hardly believe it. 
> This guy is a star waiting to happen.  He burned
> somebody so fast on a drive to the basket that I
> turned to Jo Jo and asked who was defending him.  (I
> figured it must be Chris Herren or Kenny Anderson.) 
> "Didn't matter," said Jo Jo.  "No, but who was it?" 
> "Didn't matter." Jo Jo replied.  "Didn't matter," he
> added again, for emphasis.  It's true.  It was one of
> the those moves that almost nobody can stop.  I didn't
> get to talk to Kedrick but he looks like a teenager. 
> Forte is only a year or two older but really seems
> like a man.  They're both really good guys, though.  
> 
> There genuinely seems to be chemistry and cameraderie
> among the team.  That made me feel good, much more so
> than this ragged scrimmage.  Jo Jo and I were talking
> about vitaly at one point, and I asked why the team
> didn't take advantage of Vitaly's ability to hit the
> 16 footer, particularly off pick and rolls.  He said
> that that was something they worked on in practice,
> but that you wouldn't see it in this scrimmage, which
> was more like an all-star game, with guys trying to
> impress the fans.  BTW, I hate to say it, but Vitaly
> looked lousy.  He was fumbling the ball all over the
> place.  After the scrimmage, I saw him sitting by
> himself and he looked really unhappy.  So that might
> have been a bad day for him.  
> 
> anyway, I feel psyched about the team, but make no
> mistake -- this is the same Antoine from last year. 
> But the overall talent level is like night and day.
> --- "Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG> wrote:
> > Just wondering what you thought of the practice and
> > if you were able to talk
> > to Wallace. Thanks for the info.
> > 
> > Mark
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