Sports Guy on the Celtics

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Some more stuff from the Sports Guy newsletter. Again, agree or not, the guy
is a Celtic nut like the rest of us. I happen to agree on the Joe Johnson
thing. I'm not giving up on him, but his disappearing act and college
reputation are cause for concern. And it's not like you're dealing from a
position of weakness. Johnson is just the kind of big-time potential young
talent that could be packaged for a Lafrentz, Clark or Jackson (as SG
suggests). A Lafrentz deal won't happen because the Celts will never take on
the kind of salary it will take to sign him long-term. But Clark or Jackson
might be doable.

Also, SG doesn't mention Antoine, but another great game last night. Notice
the way his best shooting games AND best assist games coincide with his
lowest 3-point attempt games? He attacks the basket and either the defense
reacts, opening other players, or he gets an easy shot. It's not rocket
science, even though Toine makes it seem that way most of the time.

Anyway, here's the stuff from SG:

One other thing about travelling: It was absolutely, positively KILLING me
to miss all those Celts games, especially last week-I missed three of the
four games on the road trip. And it's not like you can follow the team
through the local newspapers because they won't tell you anything that's
going on-it's just a regurgitation of stats and quotes. I loved the coverage
of yesterday's game, as both papers praised Boston's defense and neglected
to even mention how Orlando slapped a big, fat stamp on that game. They
never showed up. I lost a lot of respect for Tracy McGrady-he didn't even
break a sweat last night. How can you cover a basketball team and not notice
this stuff? Dumbfounding. 
(The funny thing was, my Dad and I were sitting there last night saying, "I
bet the Globe writes how the Celts's defense held McGrady to however many
points he ends up scoring." And that's exactly what happened. Check out
today's Globe recap.)
As for the Celts, the Eastern Conference is breaking perfectly for them.
Miami and New York are D-U-N done. Orlando looks lost (almost seems like
they're quitting on Doc Rivers). Toronto has a lot of talent but doesn't
play well together (and they look like they're quitting on their coach,
too). Detroit is fading. Indiana won't ever be a threat as long as Isiah is
around. Milwaukee's a little banged up (they'll be there in April though).
Philly is one more Iverson injury away from being a 35-win team (and don't
forget, Boston has their draft pick courtesy of the Moiso trade). New Jersey
has been the only team other than Boston that's played well all season.
My point? You could make a serious case that the Celts could sneak out a #1
or #2 seed if PP and AW stay healthy.
And with that said, they still have a lot of work to do. Nobody has emerged
as that third scorer (hey, it's another season of Eric Williams hoisting up
bad threes!), although Kenny Anderson's play has been inspiring and
downright stunning (he's actually half-decent again). Joe Johnson is a shell
right now-no confidence and he's officially afraid to shoot his jumper.
Kedrick Brown looks about a month away from making an impact (but they're
gonna have to figure out a way to get him on the court soon). Somebody needs
to emerge from the Battie/Vitaly tandem as a reliable 10/10 guy (Year Three
for that hope). And yet they're one of the best three teams in the East,
solely because of the Pierce/Walker combo. 
I think they need to make a trade-I'd deal Johnson right now (he and Kedrick
are never going to get enough minutes for both of them with PP around,
anyway). The window is open this year. They need to get Raef Lafrentz, Keon
Clark, Marc Jackson or whomever - this team will never be a major threat as
long as Tony Battie is prominently involved. He's a nice 9th man and that's
about it.
One other thing: It's been a joy to watch Pierce play hoops this season, on
both sides of the ball. Best Celtic since Reggie. Maybe even better than
Reggie