NESN.com Celtics Preview - O'Brien's Celtics eye postseason

[kevin <bostonceltics17@yahoo.com>]

now, this is what i'd call a review, this guy knows his stuff, unlike
those sports reviewers from ap, cnnsi, tsn, etc etc.

http://www.nesn.com/article/0,9676,2323,00.html
O'Brien's Celtics eye postseason
 Deeper team ready to make noise in East 

By Peter Stringer
NESN.com staff

October 29, 2001 

While it may have officially began after Rick Pitino finally stepped
down mid-season, The Jim O'Brien era truly begins Tuesday night in
Cleveland as the Boston Celtics start the NBA anew on the heels of an
encouraging preseason campaign. 

While the regular season is solely about wins and losses, the
preseason serves a different purpose for each team. For championship
contenders like the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee
Bucks and San Antonio Spurs, the games are nothing but a brief tune-up
for the season. 

On the other end of the spectrum, the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland
Cavaliers of the world are more interested in finding out what they
have on their rosters as they try to rebuild. For the Boston Celtics,
the preseason was O'Brien's chance to reshape the team around its
talents (shooting, running and youth) and find out what his rookies
have to offer. 


The C's already know what the core of their team is. Antoine Walker
and Paul Pierce have already proven themselves as one of the elite tag
teams in the NBA, second only to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in
terms of scoring prowess. Unfortunately, as far as championships go,
Walker and Pierce can put up 50-plus points a night, but they have a
better chance at the World Wrestling Federation tag team titles,
precisely because it takes more than two guys to win a belt in the
NBA. And before you can be King of the Ring, you've got to be invited
to the tournament, the main objective for this up-and-coming squad. 

The Rookies 

Since training camp opened in the beginning of October, the Celtics
have learned that they are deeper this season than they've been in
some time. While it was unclear at first what they could expect from
their troika of rookie draft picks and when they could expect it, the
Celtics now see all signs pointing to solid -- and immediate --
contributions from a couple of above-average Joes, Joseph Forte and
Joe Johnson. 

Even the casual observer could tell that Johnson has all of the
required tools for the NBA. The kid can knock down shots, blow past
you with a decievingly-quick first step, and then finish once he gets
to the basket. The phrase "Total Package" has been thrown around, and
it seems fairly accurate. As far as motivation, Johnson made it clear
at the outset of camp that he thinks he should have been drafted
higher than tenth overall. The last time we heard that, it was Paul
Pierce calling out the names of the nine teams that passed on him as
he took shooting drills. If Johnson is similarly motivated, the
Celtics may have the third option they've missed since Ron Mercer left
town. And seeing as he'll only be third on the scoring totem pole,
Johnson won't face the kind of pressure that Walker and Pierce contend
withon a nightly basis. 

As for Forte, he's got the ACC pedigree and big-time skills to match.
He also seems to be the most confident of the bunch, a trait that goes
a long way toward finding success in this league. Solid on both sides
of the ball, with quick hands reminiscent of Rick Fox on the defensive
end, Forte may prove to be the cream of this rookie harvest. 

Kedrick Brown is what he is, an amazing athletic specimen who'll bring
you out of your seat when he gets the chance with a flashy dunk on a
breakaway or a swatted shot out of nowhere on defense. The team also
thinks he's the best pure shooter of the lot, but nerves have a way of
interfering with such things. The question is, how much of a chance
will he get to show his skills at the bottom of the depth chart? It
may take Brown some time before he gets a chance to establish himself
this season. Then again, compared to Jerome Moiso, traded twice this
offseason, Brown looks seasoned. 

The Celtics were a young team before the draft, and it was thought
that the last thing this team needed was more youth. They'll certainly
miss the veteran presence of Bryant Stith, but a team can only carry
so many swingmen on one roster. Departed for the Cavs, Stith will
provide the opposition when the C's kick off their season at the Gund
Arena Tuesday. But the Celtics team that takes the floor in the season
opener is one of the most athletic squads that Boston has ever
fielded. 

Centers 

The Celtics continue their search for consistency at the center
position. O'Brien liked what he saw out of his trio of pivots in
training camp and waited until the end to name Tony Battie his
starting center. But you can expect more of a platoon than Battie
getting major minutes. And if that's the case, does it really matter
who performs the jump ball? 

Battie emerged as the top dog among the fives, but can he stay on the
floor? A devastating ankle injury from last season that limited him to
just 40 games is still bothering him, but at least he's playing.
Battie has always been streaky, and he still needs to prove that the
"El Busto" tag Denver Nuggets GM Dan Issel saddled him with after a
disappointing rookie year is a misnomer. His statistics haven't
changed really improved, but he's shown flashes of brilliance over the
past two years. More work on the boards, a consistent baseline jumper
and limited visits to the MASH unit would go a long way toward proving
himself. 

Potapenko's toughness is known around the league, and his best talents
don't even show up on the box score. He's best suited to battle the
bigger centers of the league and keep them as far from the hoop as
possible, a simple but largely successful ploy. While he's not an
incredible rebounder, he has developed a nice mid-range jumper that
should force opponents to cover him outside of the paint. His post
moves still need work and his hands have never been accused of being
soft, but Vitaly manages to get things done down low. 

Mark Blount continues to develop into a serviceable NBA center who
knows how to block shots. He learned on the job in the second half of
last year, starting 50 of the final 51 games, and he's spent plenty of
time in the offseason working on his offense. Reliable with the
baseline jumper, he'll be using it more now that some teams are
playing zone defense. He still looks lost from time to time and gets
surprised by the ball around the paint too often, but his size and
potential makes these issues forgivable. 

Point Guards 

Kenny Anderson has once again been anointed as the starter, but one
has to wonder how long that will last. The frail and smallish point
guard is several seasons removed from his best basketball, and
injuries have slowed him considerably. At full speed, Anderson still
knows how to run a break, and that can't be overlooked. But too often,
Anderson seems to be more concerned with finding his own offense and
then getting his s aix-seven assists to fill out the stat sheet. His
jumper is usually reliable, but he's been known to pass up wide open
teammates in favor of lower percentage 16-foot stop-and-pops. 

Anderson's chief competition comes from Milt Palacio, who worked hard
in the offseason to expand his game and become a dependable shooter.
Palacio's education as an NBA point guard continues every day, and by
almost all accounts he appears to be the most improved player on the
roster since last season. The Celtics have talked about being up-tempo
for the last four years, but they seem to be serious about it now, and
Palacio seems to be able to get things moving down the floor. And his
teammates are responding by looking up court immediately. Anderson may
be the starter for now, but Palacio will press him to hold on to that
job. Milt could be starting by December, perhaps earlier. 

Chris Herren had an early season cup of coffee with the Celtics last
year and things looked promising until he went down with an ankle
injury. With Randy Brown out indefinitely with a troublesome and
chronic groin problem, Herren returned from across the pond to round
out the Boston roster as the third point guard. Herren is still
learning the NBA, but he is confident in his shooting ability and has
a bit of flair with the ball. He didn't see much PT in the preseason
and probably won't get much in the regular season until Anderson comes
up lame. 

Forwards 

We said earlier that this is a deeper team, and that hasn't changed
over the last few paragraphs. Eric Williams will be a starter at the
outset, but he'll likely end up sharing time with Johnson as the
rookie comes along. Williams has carved out a nice role as a defensive
specialist which suits him to the role of sixth man, and with the
departure of Stith and Adrian Griffin, the C's will look to him to be
their stopper. 

They say football players need two years to truly get over a major
knee surgery, and Williams finally looks like the player of old who
went to the basket hard and the foul line often. Seeing as the Celtics
don't pound the ball in the paint, Williams will be the guy they look
to when its time to go to the line. And that baseline three is a nice
compliment to his inside game. 

While Williams will start at the three-spot, O'Brien now plans to use
him as Walker's backup at power forward. He is nicked up after a
exhibition collision with Tim Thomas, but is expected to be ready
Tuesday night. 

As for Walker and Pierce, we already know what these guys bring to the
table. And you know what? We're expecting even more out of these two
this year. 

Walker's a proven 20-10 guy (points-rebounds) who bulked up over the
offseason and spent his summer interning with Michael Jordan. Walker
looks stronger and faster, and his jumpshot seems smoother. Meanwhile,
Pierce led the C's in scoring last year and he should challenge Walker
for the top scoring spot. One of these two could go off for 26-27 PPG.
While Pierce will be playing two guard and relies more on his jumpshot
for the bulk of his scoring, Walker racks up points with driving,
spinning lay-ups and putbacks when he's concentrating on staying down
low. Of course, Walker launches threes with a reckless abandon that
Danny Ainge would be proud of, leading the NBA in attempts last
season. He needs to be more selective from the arch and stay at home
on the block where he does his best work. 

League observers tend to think that Pierce is the better player of the
two, but we think the edge goes to Walker, who has an all-around
offensive game, complete with passing and rebounding abilities. Both
players need to make become better halfcourt defenders, and Pierce has
enough size to become a rebounding force if he sets his mind to it. 

Bench 

Given O'Brien's preference for a short rotation that goes about 7-8
players deep, Walter McCarty and his preposterous $3 million salary
could become a forgotten man. It's not that he was a cog in the
offense before, but with Pitino gone McCarty will have a hard time
finding minutes. Roshown McLeod will start the season on the IR with
nerve damage in his left leg, but considering that he replaced Jerome
Moiso, he's not expected to contribute much. 

Outlook 

As has been the case for the last few years, this team will go as the
Walker-Pierce tag team will take them. And while they're not quite
ready for a cage match with Shaq and Kobe, they seem primed to win 47
games and take a crack at the NBA Playoffs for the first time since
1995. A first round series with the Milwaukee Bucks would be an
offensive tour de force, wouldn't it? Stay tuned. 


Peter F. Stringer is a NESN.com staff writer. Material from wires and
other sources may have been used in this report. Questions and
Comments are welcome through Feedback