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RE: I'm ambivalent about Walta
Completely agree, Joe. I didn't mean to knock Kedrick. I'm just pointing out
that there isn't much firepower off the bench. The Celts may very well get
60 ppg from the "big three" but still struggle to reach 90 points. That's
because there aren't many other natural scorers, and there isn't a creator
to help guys like Kedrick, Battie, etc. get a lot of easy baskets.
Personally, I don't think Kedrick is ready to start. I think he's still far
too underconfident on the offensive end. I'm still hoping they start with
the big lineup, but I'm not holding my breath.
Hopefully, Kedrick can be a factor as an athlete/defender/transition player
off the bench this season. And that would be great if it happens. But the
Celts still would be left with a pretty impotent bench in terms of offense.
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: hironaka@nomade.fr [mailto:hironaka@nomade.fr]
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 11:49 AM
To: berrym@BATTELLE.ORG
Cc: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: I'm ambivalent about Walta
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.
----
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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