Re: Bad News -- Bucks get Mason

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Josh O wrote: 

Milwaukee (see above) 
Miami (Alonzo, on a Riley team) 
Philadelphia (with Dikembe + lots of chemistry, and a
gamebreaking offensive player) 
Orlando (two-star combo like us, but better, with
better talent 3-12) 

These are the teams that we will be hard-pressed to
beat: 

Toronto (chemistry, role players, game-breaking
talent) 
Pacers (dominant young center we can't match up with
in Jermaine O'Neal, killer veterans in Jalen Rose, et
al.) 
Charlotte: (real tough backcourt, offensive machine,
tough-minded) 


These are teams I think we should beat this year: 
New York (will miss Larry Johnson badly) 

---end---

Josh, I just don't understand how you dismiss the Knicks so easily. The team
won 48 games and finished 12 games ahead of the Celtics last year. Allan
Houston and Latrell Sprewell are in their primes and Marcus Camby is a
difference-making big man. They have three point guards (Jackson, Ward and
Eisley) better than anyone on the Celts' roster. They have big men to
spare-Kurt Thomas, Othella Harrington, Clarence Weatherspoon. They lost
Rice, but he didn't fit at all there last year. They picked up a much better
fit-Shandon Anderson (because he's comfortable coming off the bench at
either swing position, replacing Sprewell or Houston). They also have one of
the best coaches in the business. They play great defense, they're a veteran
team. Are they a championship contender? No, but I think they remain well
ahead of the Celts. Larry Johnson? I don't think they're shedding any tears.

I don't disagree with the rest of your assessment, other than I consider
Toronto in that upper echelon with Milwaukee, Philly, Miami (that Strickland
signing could send them either way) and Orlando. Barring injury, the
Celtics' best hope for slippage comes from Indiana (the Isiah factor) or
Charlotte (the Coleman chemistry factor). But Indy could just as easily make
a leap into 50-win territory, and Charlotte seemed to settle into a pretty
solid group late last season and in the playoffs.

I also think you dismiss some of the other teams too easily. Atlanta will be
tough if Ratliff stays healthy. Jersey, with Kidd, will be improved.
Washington, with Jordan, will be in the mix (Jordan and Hamilton could
approach Pierce-Walker scoring numbers... look at the rest of the rosters).
Detroit made some nice additions (Rebraca is a player), and will be in the
mix in that 8-12 group.

The Celtics just didn't make the necessary improvements to jump over anyone,
and the teams behind them all improved. They added three nice prospects, but
that's what they are. Obie basically has admitted that Kedrick and Forte
aren't going to see big minutes yet. Joe Johnson has tremendous upside, but
he won't contribute as much as Stith did last season. The PGs remain
terrible, the centers are awful. The bench is lousy. And the new rules seem
destined to hurt this team that relies so much on isolation to accomplish
anything offensively. The Celts have other questions... can Pierce
consistently be the March Player of the Month guy, or will he go back to
being a solid, 20-ppg guy? Huge factor. Can the team rebound at all? Can
Obie really coach, or was last year's finish more a function of the players'
release from Stalag Pitino? Antoine is a question all his own...

I'm hoping for the best, but this team is going to need a lot of things to
go right (and many to go wrong for others) to make the playoffs.

Mark