Misc.

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

I think the Walter McCarty situation was a one-game 
start, based on the matchups. After very hot shooting in 
the first part of the year, largely because Walter 
focused on nothing but 3-point shooting, that part of the 
game has completely abandoned him. I dont think he's put 
a single shot on a straight trajectory from that range, 
in the past two weeks or so. 

He's developed a terrible hitch in his shot (Pierce too) 
that causes him to overcompensate at times by leaning off 
to the side. You know that type of shot is not going in, 
no matter how wide open he is in the corner.

As Walter tries to be more well-rounded, his speciality 
skills diminish. Last night, he actually posted up 6-0 
Jacques Vaughn and luckily got a free throw out of it. I 
have to say that Doc Rivers showed smarts in sticking 
with that unconventional matchup. The truth is he can 
actually get away with it against Walter. With Kedrick 
coming back at some point, McCarty will need to rebuild 
his shot mechanics or he'll be back to where he was last 
year at this time (end of bench). What made Walter 
serviceable at all this year was that he limited himself 
to one skill on offense, while playing high intensity 
defense. He's a great athlete, but the court sense isnt 
there that would allow him to multi-task. As the years 
have passed, I think this has become fairly obvious.

Tony Delk consistently makes bad decisions on 3-on-2 
breaks. By the time he's picked up his dribble, there is 
no open man. While Delk no doubt rates among the worst 
starting point guards in transition and fast break 
management, he's only in that situation once or twice per 
game. Otherwise, he's had a magnificent season. I've 
started writing him onto the All Star ballot, since 
they've added that feature. But I'd probably do that even 
if he sucked.

If salaries were not at issue, then both "Shammond for 
Kenny" and "Delk for Joe Johnson" look like redeemed 
trades. By any statistical criteria, Shammond and Delk 
have emerged by far as the principals in both deals. That 
kind of thing happens fairly regularly in baseball 
trades, but rarely in basketball. That's not to give Chis 
Wallace an out. He probably remains the most vulnerable 
among the Celtics employees. 

But both Shammond and Delk are having outstanding years, 
and have given Boston a third in the bank 20ppg position. 
Combined, they have no discernible weaknesses. Shammond's 
scrappy defense has been one of the biggest revelations. 
He's in the right place at the right time a lot back 
there. And he's one of the few players that can hesitate 
and still nail a three-pointer.

Its hard to find much nice to say, but I don't think Vin 
Baker is truly hurting the team defensively on the court. 
And the rare baskets he makes are nice ones, from an 
aesthetic standpoint. But Tony Battie is emerging as a 40 
minute player. When he's out there, Boston is close an 
amazing defensive team, particularly in terms of 
intensity. 

Walker's defensive consistency has been nearly the best 
part of his game, and he's also making plays back there- 
he's fourth in steals. As the season progresses, I think 
we'll hear this confirmed more and more about Walker. 

This surprising knee-bend, kung-fu fighting effort is 
behind the winning, but its got to be affecting his 
overall game. Antoine's 2nd in the NBA in playing time. 
Now he's way back down to .408 on his 2-point field goals 
and averaging less than half of his career offensive 
rebounds per game. He's fifth on the team, which is 
something worse than atrocious given his minutes and 
position. 

I don't want to just blame him, but Antoine's on his way 
to a terrible season offensively. His numbers don't add 
up to anything close to All Star level, nor should they. 
He needs more rest without question, but there also has 
been some minor deterioration over the past week in his 
shot selection. 

Worse than that, he's still got elements of his old "peek 
and chuck" style of shooting around the basket, as if 
he's trying to get rid of the shot before anyone playing 
defense notices. Some of it, he's gotten it down to 
enough of an art that it actually has a reasonable chance 
to go in (like his 15-foot half hook turnaround).

And there are people out there who will say his offense 
isn't as out-of-control as it seems, compared to past, 
statistically-better seasons. To his credit, he's 
averaging just one turnover every 14.2 minutes. I think 
we've noticed that. Also, Walker takes over 2 minutes 
between each shot attempt, which seems reasonable. He 
touches the ball a lot, and is the only guy attempting 
difficult entry passes into the post. 

But he needs to get his 2-point FG% up to .450 at least. 
Then I could live with his near certain career low in 
rebounding, due entirely to a drop in his offensive role 
there.

Meanwhile Pierce is emulating from the 3-point line what 
Walker did two seasons ago (.260). He needs to get 
better, or stop taking that shot. 

Its not the case that Paul's misses are close: a lot of 
them are off by a wide margin. It might just be a 
physical characteristic, but I don't like the look of 
those bags under his eyes. Its ridiculous to read 
something into that, but his closest friends need to see 
where he's at. 

Please tell me its from being the last guy to leave the 
gym at night. In any case, shooting is his only weakness. 
He's having a great, great year among 2-guards. Last 
night was the second time he missed a triple double this 
season by one or two assists or boards.

Pierce has a hitch in his jump shot this year that wasn't 
there this summer. He's off balance on the release. 
There's no shame in Pierce limiting himself to driving to 
the hoop, it's been the secret to our success in getting 
open threes for other guys this year. 

But the beating he and Walker are taking can't be 
sustained over this season. And opponents know what they 
can get away with.
 
Last night there were again some awful calls, but for 
once followed immediately by make-up calls. Hopefully the 
whistles will start to even out, but I get the impression 
the refs have it out for all three of our max contract 
players. Its hard to explain what the deal is with Baker 
(Sean Deveney has an article on Baker's foul woes in 
TSN). 

Joe H.


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