Re: I'm ambivalent about Walta

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mark wrote:
Kedrick is a complete question mark and more of a fill-in-
the-blanks kind of athlete right now than a real 
contributor. Either Battie or Ewill will be on the bench.

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There's nothing inaccurate about what Mark wrote, I'll 
face that.

But if ever you asked for an ideal job description from 
Kedrick for this Celtics team at this moment, it would be 
a guy who isn't too eager to shoot much, who 
plays "hellacious" defense, can hit a high percentage on 
bombs like he did at Shaw, and raise the roof with 
explosive transition baskets. 

And of all those things, the first quality (doesn't try 
to create his own shot) is probably of paramount 
importance.

So he's a "good fit" for a team with three veteran 
scorers/ballhogs. And while he'll never be as vocal on 
defense as Eric Williams, but he can be a lot more 
effective. I hope he is a starter because he's already a 
tough and exciting player I think.

I do wish he rebounded the ball a little more 
consistently at Shaw. And his overall FG% was atrocious 
due to two awful shooting games. But its not like he'll 
be replacing a more efficient scorer. A lot of our 
support guys last season seemed to set their FG% 
benchmark at .400....and still failed to achieve that.

One thing with Kedrick. I felt he looked a good 10 pounds 
overweight at Shaw. And while the announcers were raving 
non-stop about his defensive impact, it seemed to be 
coming off a script. In the actual Wiz game, he showed 
very little consistent defensive intensity and often 
allowed his man to score. This kid doesn't show a whole 
lot of "game face". 

And being a better one-on-one shot creator may be a 
matter of confidence, but Kedrick at this stage seems 
very hesitant and uncomfortable taking guys on with the 
dribble. Even in peak shape this season, I doubt he'll 
ever show us true shooting guard abilities. But neither 
did Michael Cooper (although I might be underrating him 
as a passer). Cooper didn't try to dribble the ball too 
much or force difficult shots in the halfcourt set. 

As others may have already noted, that's the ideal job 
description for Kedrick. Catch, shoot, run hard and PLAY 
DEFENSE and he'll be an excellent chemistry player on 
this year's Celtics. If he tried to pull one-on-one stuff 
in games, even effectively, he'd probably end up going 
straight to Obie's bench. Get with the program, and the 
Celtics will make a lot of noise this coming season.

Joe






 
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