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

["j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

At 22:01 09/10/01 -0700, Jon Mc wrote:
>What's disturbing is that it doesn't even occur to Antoine that Jo Jo
>has won championships and Antoine has never even made it to the playoffs
>in 5 years of play, so if Jo Jo's telling you to change something, you'll
>very likely improve your team's chances by trying whatever he tells you.

Hi Jon:

I love Jo Jo White. I became a Celtics fan in the early 1970s and my dad 
used to call me "Jo Jo" etc.

But I don't necessarily think Jo Jo was giving a lesson on selflessness to 
Antoine. Its pretty accurate to say Jo Jo was always thinking of getting 
his 20 points in a game. He'd get to 20, and then he'd start thinking about 
playmaking. What Jo Jo brought to the table was a totally in-control, 
level-headed, fundamentally sound professionalism. That's what he needs to 
convey to Antoine.

It may accurate to say Antoine is unrepentedly out of control and beyond 
accountability in certain parts of his game, but it is another thing to say 
he doesn't look for teammates. Antoine has specific moments of extreme 
meatheadedness that repeat over and over, but Jo Jo isn't the only player 
who's in no position at all to lecture Antoine about his passing. Antoine 
is a fine passer. His turnovers rarely come from passing. His awareness and 
understanding of the game are nearly exceptional in that regard, except at 
the end of these mad, ugly drives to the basket. Toine's probably thrown up 
weak junk 1,000 times over his career at the tail end of these plays, and 
you'd think he'd sense by now through trial and error that he's not going 
to hear a whistle coming from the refs no matter how well he memorizes 
their first names etc.

It is specific times like those where you think this guy has no business in 
the world trying to force his offense above anything more than 18ppg. I'd 
wish Antoine would make his pass-shoot decision a further step or two away 
from the basket rather than after three defenders have converged to trap 
him out of options. He can probably learn to make a running bank shot from 
12 feet or so (has as much a chance as some of the junk he'll toss up), or 
else target an open green shirt in the lane and make that play, or even 
pull up for a traditional midrange floater in Reggie Lewis mode (but his 
release point may be too low). He can get past nearly every perimeter 
defender in the NBA, and do it with great style. I don't know why he has to 
end everything on such an ugly note.

I'd like to hope that in three years down the road Boston will have five 
guys that are good for between 12 and 19 ppg, just like our Celtics of 
yesteryear. Should that happen and it translates into winning, Antoine is 
precisely the type of person you'd want to have as part of that program. 
Its like the 1996 Kentucky team where Antoine was making slick back door 
passes galore. An unselfish triple threat player. You've got to first win 
games for Toine to be more selfless, OR vice versa. Not to use a poultry 
metaphor, but its kind of a "chicken or egg" thing.

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