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Some thoughts and my prediction
The season is finally underway. The Celts played a great game last night,
handily beating the Cavaliers (at Cleveland). Admittedly, the Cavaliers
are not an upper echelon team; they're a team that we should beat, and we
did. Still, it's nice to open the season with a win. Winning on the road
is a bonus. Not surprisingly, Antoine and Paul Pierce led the team in
scoring. Antoine had a good all-around game. Paul Pierce, too. I thought
Kenny played well. If he stays healthy, I think he will contribute
Anyway, here's my take on the team. It's all been said before, but...
Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce - They are our big guns, the core of our
team. I know Antoine has his detractors, but I'm not one of them. I like
Antoine. He puts up good numbers, and he's a competitor. Many have spoken
about his propensity to (injudiciously) shoot the three. Last year Antoine
put it up 603 times from 3-point range, and made 221 (37%) of those shots.
This is the equivalent of shooting 55% from 2-point range, a decent
percentage, to say the least. (221 3-point FGs = 663 points. To score the
same number of points from 2-point range would require 332 FGs. 332/603
= .55). Bottom line, Antoine is a good 3-point shooter. Everyone on this
list knows that he was in the top 20 for points scored, rebounds, and
assists (steals too?), yet there are still some who seemingly would be
happy to get rid of him. Not me. I'll say it again, I like Antoine. As
for Paul Pierce, what's not to like? A very capable scorer and rebounder -
good all-around. One of the best players in the NBA.
There's Walker and Pierce, then there's everyone else. While the success
of the Celtics is largely dependent on the contributions of Walker and
Pierce, it is the contributions of the rest of the team that will largely
determine whether or not the Celtics make the play offs. There are a lot
of question marks associated with the other members of the Celtics.
The Centers - Okay, we don't have Shaq and we don't have Duncan. What we
do have is a "committee" of back up centers. While none of our centers are
legit starters, they are all decent back ups who each bring something to
the table.
Battie - Tony Battie is the quickest of the three centers. He's athletic,
he can jump, he can do the alley-oop. How good is he, though? I think the
jury's still out. If he can stay healthy he may be able to finally
convince everyone that he is not "Bat-girl."
Vitaly - On the plus side: A hard worker with a great attitude. A wide
body. Has a nice mid-range jump shot, and is a good free throw shooter.
Also has a pretty good hook shot. On the negative side: Can't jump.
Doesn't have good hands. Can't put the ball to the floor without losing
it.
Mark Blount - Mark has shown signs of improvement, which is very
encouraging. He seems to have a combination of the talents of Battie and
Potapenko.
I think all of our centers are capable of doing an adequate job. I think
we are better off at the center position than we were last year, however,
because of the development of Mark Blount. He began to get significant
minutes last year when Tony Battie was out with his ankle injury, and I
think he did a pretty decent job. From what I have seen of his play in the
summer league and the pre-season, It looks like his game has improved,
which has to be viewed as a plus. Also, I'm hopeful that Tony Battie will
be more productive, provided he stays healthy.
The rookies - I'm impressed with the play of the rookies, particularly Joe
Johnson and Joe Forte. Johnson seems to have a good all around game, and I
expect that he will be a contributor. I'm particularly impressed with his
ball handling abilities. Joe Forte could be the best of the three picks.
He seems to be a scorer, and rebounds well for his size. Although I can
understand why the Celtics would like to develop him as a point guard, and
he seems capable in that role, I think he would be more effective at the
two spot (even though he is a bit undersized for that position). He looks
like a scorer to me. Time will tell, but I can already sense they both are
feeling confident they can not only play at this level, but can contribute
meaningful minutes.
Kedrick Brown clearly has great athletic ability, and may yet prove that
the Celtics were not wrong to take him at #11. It's hard to say at this
point. I think it is fair to say, however, that the rookies all show
promise. They are young (all three would be in their junior year of
college if they had elected to stay in school), and should continue to
develop their skills. Even so, I'm hopeful that they will have an
immediate positive impact on the team.
Kenny Anderson - Kenny sure has his detractors on this list. If he stays
healthy, I believe that he still has the talent to be a decent player.
Clearly, he's no longer the star he once was, but I don't think he's as bad
as some have made him out to be. Right now Kenny is a big question mark.
If he brings it, though...
Milt Palacio - Milt, like Mark Blount, seems an improved player. His
shooting skills particularly seem improved, and he clearly has been hitting
the weights. As Tom Gorman said, he has the body of a linebacker. I don't
expect Milt to put up big numbers, but he has been a decent performer, and
I expect that he will continue to be.
Eric Williams - I'm curious to see how Obie's plan to give major minutes to
Eric will work out. I haven't seen anything yet to indicate that this is a
major mistake. Though hardly spectacular, Eric has played pretty well so
far. I'm hoping for the best.
Walter McCarty - I feel confident that Walter's performance will have
little or no impact on whether or not the Celtics make the play offs. He's
a marginal player that can sometimes come in and energize play with his
hustle. Too, he can sometimes get hot from 3-point land. I suppose he's
not worse than a lot of other teams' 11th or 12th players.
My prediction: The Celtics will finish at .500 and make the play offs.