Misc Obie quotes

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

In  today's Herald, Obie goes further than ever in his mysterious love 
affair with Eric Williams.

``I really think Eric is the key to our ballclub,'' O'Brien said. ``I would 
hate to lose Eric for any period of time because he is such an aware and 
tenacious player at both ends of the court. To a large extent, I think he 
anchors our defense.''

and offers high praise to Tony Battie...

``Tony gives us tremendous speed in transition defense. It's very difficult 
for the other team's point guard to penetrate if your center has already 
sprinted back down in transition and is waiting there. Tony is very fast 
for somebody 6-11. And he had a very good camp. I expect he's going to have 
an excellent season and he's going to end up our best rebounder.''

Tony Battie's lingering ankle injury is a concern. I wonder how many 
minutes he can play per game, or if he can stay healthy for the 82 games. 
Can he still block shots?

Also Obie comments on the defensive learning curve for the three rookies.

``I think they got a chance to get a lot of playing time and against some 
excellent opponents. As an example, all three of our rookies had to guard 
great shooters like (David) Wesley and (Wesley) Person coming off 
downscreens. They had a chance to see that you can't give them an inch or 
they're going to bury you. We work on downscreens and how to defend them. 
You have to go full speed to get the job done. I think our rookies learned 
a little about how much effort it takes to take an opponent's best options 
away from them.''


Here's the full article: 
http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/basketball/cs10232001.htm