my observations

[Celtic4Hire@AOL.com]

My observations:
I felt the game was vey anticlimatic. We had waited all summer to see what 
the improvements, short-term and long term might be and the three rookies got 
limited playing time. It was just a replay of last year. However, there were 
still some nuggets.

Battie showed that he was going to be the starting center. It will really 
nice to see a Celtic player who could get some offensive rebounds. Battie 
looked a little stiff but was probably 75% of where he was when he was 
injured. That is still better than Vitaly or Blount. Vitaly showed some solid 
low post defense when they gave up some unnecessary overaggressive fouls 
after playing some pretty good defense. Man, if we could just combine Battie 
and VP together. We would have some kind of center. Blount didn't have much 
opportunity. 

Walker looked slightly improved, IMO. Seemed very confident in the midrange 
jumper(that's the improvement). Passed well to start the game. Later, he got 
into his normal drive into a crowd and getting stuffed. I will say that the 
team looked lost when Walker was out of the game. I like Battie playing as 
Walker''s reserve but he seems to be playing the center spot along with 
whoever else is playing center.

Pierce wasn't involved in the offense unless he brought the ball down  
himself except for the end of the game. The Cs played some real nice defense 
and Kenny was making the early pass up the court. This allowed the team to 
run up an early lead. However, they and Kenny changed all that in the second 
half and then it was a contest. Walker went into his personal duel against 
the Hornets scrubs when the game was on the line. Surprisingly, Obie took him 
out with 4 minutes to go. He returned a minute later with his head together 
and the game plan of getting the ball to the go-to-guy, Pierce. Pierce showed 
his almost invincibility by schooling a  good defender, Augmon, taking the 
game over and caring the team to the win.

At the 6 minutes mark, I said we had the most unathletic team we could on the 
floor--Kenny, Williams, VP, Pierce and Walker. That team wasn't going to stop 
anybody. 

Kenny passed early but reverted to his old self. As a sign of things to come, 
Obie took out Kenny and put in Palacio at the 2 minute mark. Kenny didn't 
seem to like it. Kenny had done some good things during the game but couldn't 
shut down some white boy scrub at point guard. Although was put in for his 
defense, he hit two key jumpers as the Celts put it away. His midrange 
shooting looked like it had improved, at least for this game. At the 2 minute 
mark, the best players were in the game--Battie, Walker, Palacio, Pierce and 
Williams. Hopefully, Johnson will surplant Williams soon.

Another surprise was that Forte actually looked like he might be able to 
eventually play point guard. Not in the classic Cousy sense but perhaps the 
Sam Cassell style. He was able to reasonably bring up the ball in the dogged 
Baron Davis muscle defense. The big test will be how he reacts when they 
throw the press at him. This is where I believe the Celts gave up on Herron 
last year. Herron does look up the floor, is gritty and can shoot a little 
from the three. However his left hand dribble is a little weak. When a team 
is pressing, the team looks to the point guard to lead them. A NBA point 
guard should be able to break down one man and most of the time two men. Last 
year, Herren would allow himself to be trapped and then look and beg for 
someone else to pass to. Flipping it over to Walker to bring it up was the 
ultimate surrender. He still has a chance in this league but I believe his 
weakness to his left and lack of superior quickness will finish him this year.

Johnson showed some excellent ball handling skills in transition. He looked 
unselfish to a fault however. We will see if it was just rookie-ites. He made 
a bunch of turnovers. It seemed to this well-trained eye that he wasn't aware 
of the quickness of the game at the NBA level as guys were jumping and 
sniping at him and he was kind of falling all over the place. This may be 
exhibition but it isn't summer league.

McCarty was McCarty. See last year.

Erik Williams did well but he always looks good at the start of the season. 
When the regular season starts, the refs don't call the fouls on his junk and 
he is just left with some wild shots at the rim. He did make a three and made 
some great steals. Obie seems to like him so if he can keep that up, maybe 
that will give the rookies some time to mature.

Talk about a lost offense. We had Forte at PG with Brown at the 2. Blount was 
at center with Battie at the four and Erik Williams at the three. These guys 
looked like they had never played together. They all just looked at each 
other and ran around at the 3 point line. In defense of the rookies, Blount 
and Battie have no offense at all. Erik took a couple of the opportunities to 
make his wild dash to the rim with mixed results. Now, Obie should know 
better to throw in the rookies without a Walker or Pierce for them to play 
off of. Forte also got a good taste of toast on defense as Baron Davis took 
him hard to the rack. 

Hopefully, the rookies will get more playing time on the road.

As for the ratings,  I do like to see the herd finally come to my way of 
thinking and downgrading the Heat and Knicks. However, I may change my mind 
on the Knicks if they get Mason. I feel that the Hawks are way overrated. If 
SAR was so good, why weren't the Grizzlies better? Kukuc is  getting creaky 
and Ratlif overachieved last year. Jason Terry is a liability on defense. I 
think they will be better but they are in the Celts league, IMO (right with 
the Knicks, Pacers and Heat)....

DJessen33