Re: Bremer makes his move

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Your assessment is correct. I've said this before. Enjoy this team for what
it is. This is a fun team to watch. The clock is ticking and we're seeing
the talents of Pierce and Walker without much help. The way we're locked in
financially the future looks like this: We make the playoffs yearly,
providing Pierce and Walker stay reasonably healthy. Absolutely no way are
we going to win a Conference Title, even in the diluted East. In fact
management has seen to it we struggle for years and wear Pierce and Walker
out.

DanF


----- Original Message -----
From: "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: Bremer makes his move


> At this point, I just don't see it with Bremer. He's just a rookie, and he
> could improve, but he has a loooong way to go to be a David Wesley, or
even
> an Eric Strickland-the guy I've seen him most compared to in the past.
Right
> now, I see a decent defensive player who doesn't have a clue on the
> offensive end. Not a clue. He can't shoot. He doesn't get the ball to the
> right people. Watching him shoot now, it's amazing he scored as many
points
> as he did in college. He's not a point guard-not that this team has (or
> needs, apparently) a point guard. But, he's an undrafted rookie. There's
no
> reason to expect anything from him.
>
> As for Shammond, I completely agree that he seems to have lost his
> confidence. He's hesitating too much, passing up shots he should take and
> taking shots he shouldn't. Have other teams scouted him well enough to
take
> away some of the things he likes to do? Are they making him uncomfortable
> out there? I don't know, but with Shammond playing this way, the team
really
> misses Delk.
>
> And Kedrick... poor, lost Kedrick. Like you said, Obie is in the business
of
> winning, and Kedrick isn't doing anything to help the team win. Most of
the
> time he's invisible out there. Occasionally, he fires up a brick from
> 3-point range. Offensively, if it isn't a spot-up 3-pointer (which he
> usually misses), he has no idea how to find a shot. For all the talk about
> how good he could be defensively, he really isn't that good. He makes a
few
> plays on pure athleticism-blocked shots, rebounds-but that's it. He's not
a
> lost cause, but he's much, much further away than I think any of us had
> hoped. He may blossom, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that it
isn't
> likely to happen here. Best case scenario for Kedrick, he develops like
> Ricky Davis did-a similar raw athlete who very slowly blended that
> athleticism with a little bit of basketball sense. But Davis was on his
> third or fourth team before it happened, and he's still far from a
polished
> product.
>
> The problem with trading Kedrick and the two draft picks is you're not
> likely to get much in return. Last season, he still was the mysterious
> junior college guy. Now he's an ineffective second-year player and
> borderline lottery bust. You might get a salary dump from someone, but do
we
> want to deal away one lottery pick and two draft picks in the upcoming
draft
> for a salary dump? The guy better be a solid contributor for a long
> time-probably someone who could take all those small forward minutes that
go
> to Eric Williams and Walter McCarty. Other than that, can you really see
> anyone coming in here and making an impact on the rotation? I can't.
>
> When Bremer, Kedrick and Bruno were in there last night, I thought it
really
> hit home just how poorly Chris Wallace has gone about filling in around
the
> edges of this team. All those draft picks and free-agent signings and not
a
> thing to show for it. Every time I see Bruno play, I shake my head at
> Wallace and Papile claiming this guy would have been a top-seven pick. I
> really think they have a problem identifying basketball players. They can
> find shooters. They can find athletes. But they haven't done a good job at
> all of finding basketball players. They look at Bruno and see a 7-2 guy
who
> can shoot the 3-pointer (in warm-ups) and say he'd be a lottery pick and
can
> replace Rodney Rogers as the backup center pulling opposing big men away
> from the basket. Like it's that simple. They see Kedrick run and jump and
> shoot stand-still 3-pointers (in warm-ups) and say he's another McGrady or
> Kobe. Again, like it's that simple.
>
> The sad truth is, the core of this team through Pierce and Walker's prime
> years is going to be Pierce, Walker, Battie, Eric Williams and Delk.
They've
> squandered their best chances to add any help. Now they're looking at late
> first-round picks and year-to-year forays into the NBA scrap heap to fill
> the roster around Baker's bloated contract. Even Shammond is likely to be
> gone after this season, when he's a free agent.
>
> Geez, I didn't mean this to turn into another downer of a post. THIS
SEASON
> still seems very promising. I think they're contenders in the East. But
the
> blown opportunities just seem so glaring and frustrating, that sometimes
> it's hard to ignore.
>
> Mark