Thoughts on the game and this morning's news...

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don't know if everyone has seen it yet, but the Globe reports that the
unofficial word is Rogers is gone. Wow.

Also, Cook's "star has dimmed" and the team has signed Bremer to a deal
guaranteed to get him into training camp. That effectively makes Bremer the
developmental point guard and Cook out of a job, because he gets guaranteed
money if he's on the roster Aug. 1. He won't be, unless he turns into Magic
Johnson this week.

The game...

1.	Kedrick Brown... very encouraging. It was more of the same
early-drifting around the perimeter on offense. But he got into the flow of
the game and became a factor on both ends. I'm not sure he'll ever be
anything more than a deluxe third wheel, simply because he still has
terrible ball-handling and passing skills. He can defend, he can shoot, and
he can make athletic plays around the basket, but the area between the
basket and the three-point line is trouble for Kedrick at this point.

 
2.	Joseph Forte... again, encouraging. Like Josh said, stick him at
shooting guard and leave him there. He'll never be a point guard. Ever. I'm
still not convinced he'll be able to get his shot off against real NBA
competition consistently. And physically, he's still weak. He'd be abused by
some of the bigger shooting guards in the league. But he did what he should
do last night against that competition. At best, he's Tony Delk, and that
would be pretty good.

3.	The point guards... Indulge me, even though this decision has been
made. Neither of these guys is all that good. Bremer is the Celtics' choice,
which is not surprising considering the kind of point guard they like.
Bremer clearly is the better shooter (although he's not a great shooter by
any stretch). He's athletic and strong. He's a lot like Strickland, only not
the ball-handler or penetrator. Whoever mentioned Rick Brunson... good
comparison. As for Omar Cook, I'd say he's somewhere between Josh's opinion
and Ravi's. He's a good penetrator and can pass off of that penetration. But
he isn't as good at the rest of the game. He's more of a point guard than
Bremer, but he's not good enough to ignore his poor shooting. He's certainly
no Jamaal Tinsley. I'm more hopeful than ever in light of the Rogers news
and the extremely lackluster showing of the point guards that there's some
truth to the Tinsley/Croshere deal.

4.	Darius Songaila... There's a lot to like about Songaila. He has soft
hands, he's willing to bang, he has a soft touch. But the knocks on him were
strength and a tendency to get in foul trouble, and both of those are
accurate. You can have all the skills in the world, but if you can't stay on
the floor, it doesn't matter. And if you're struggling to hold position
against Etan Thomas, what will you do against Antonio McDyess or Derrick
Coleman or Jermaine O'Neal? I think Songaila can be an NBA player, but he
needs to get much stronger and play smarter on the defensive end. As it
sounds on Rogers, and since all those fabulous Europeans we heard about
appear to have gotten lost over the Atlantic, Songaila may stick anyway
because he's cheap. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but he's a guy who
needs to spend a year on the injured list and doing nothing but lifting
weight. But with a 12-man roster, it doesn't sound like the Celts will have
that luxury.

5.	Oliver Miller... Same old, same old. Tantalizing skills and feel for
the game, but you can't get past that weight issue. Plus, he has a
reputation as an attitude problem. Not worth the trouble, if you ask me.

6.	Derrick Alston... This guy looked like a pro. What I mean by that
is, he understands how to find open spots for shots he can make. He grabs
offensive rebounds and knows how to get a shot up or get fouled. He is what
he is... a backup big man, but considering the Celtics' current frontcourt,
he'd be a contributor. He's better than Blount. He knows how to play. I feel
like if you gave Alston regular minutes, he'd give you regular production.
You'd know what you were getting. 

7.	Terquin Mott... Nice body, nice energy, but no position and no game.
He's certainly not a power forward, but he'll never play small forward. He
may latch on somewhere as an energy/practice guy, but it won't be with the
Boston Pennypinchers... I mean, Celtics.

All and all, a thoroughly disappointing evening and morning. No Rogers.
Bremer over Cook, when both are just mediocre. Ugh. Get ready for a huge
letdown next season.

Mark