Re: Doom and Gloom

[Francis Hsu <francis@ai.mit.edu>]

On Wed, Oct 24, 2001 at 01:50:02PM -0400, Berry, Mark  S wrote:
> The East is much deeper this year, and the Celtics will need significant
> improvement to make a move. I just don't think they've made that
> improvement. Maybe they'll surprise me and become one of those teams that
> gels and exceeds expectations, but I haven't seen any reason to believe that
> yet.

When you say "make a move", are you referring to moving from our 9th place
finish last season to 8th this season?

If you use the C's entire record last season of 36-46, I agree that it's
a stretch to imagine them being a playoff contender this year.  After
all, they replaced NBA veterans Stith, Carr and Griffin with three rookies.
Even if the rookies are more talented and likely to be better than
who they replaced in the long run, they haven't proven anything yet.

If you feel that the C's were really a .500 team, based on their performance
under O'Brien, then I would consider them as if they were tied with Indiana
at 8th place last season.  Under this more optimistic assumption, I look
at the teams who finished below us last year and question whether any of
them has improved enough to become a .500 team.  At the very least, I
believe the C's have a reasonable chance.  The Pacers essentially have the
same team as last year.  You can argue about O'Neal and Bender improving,
but you could say the same about Walker, Anderson, Palacio and Pierce.

Francis