General Impressions

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

Vin Baker: He made several accurate interior passes off 
the dribble. Showed outstanding hands and good footwork. 
Basically error-free decision-making and situation 
recognition last night.  Not a standout defensive weapon 
at all, but knows how to position down there. Probably 
just taking it slow, but jumping wasnt a big part of his 
game last night. But he more than amply demonstrated All 
Star level coordination, flawless finishing and passing 
skills for his size. Flat belly. But he has matured into 
a solid body frame. Vin's mannerisms kind of resemble the 
actor who plays the gentle giant on death row in "The 
Green Mile".  

Bruno Sundov also showed good hands and coordination. But 
I was more relieved to see he has a solid build, even if 
he doesnt apply it to much effect. He made one excellent 
pass. Ticky-tack fouls. I barely noticed, but he got in 
foul trouble very quickly.


Ruben W. has the "V" hairstyle and look of Potapenko. 
Both Sundov and Ruben look rugged enough (Ruben 
especially), and IMO have reason to be confident in their 
finesse skills. Its possible that all three of our new 
center-forwards will turn out to be wusses and soft 
rebounders, but I dont recall the Celtics ever being 
this stocked at the position with high coordination and 
skill level. These guys seem uncommonly skilled for their 
size. 

Shammond was disappointingly tinier than I expected. He 
has very narrow shoulders. No wonder he's had to be 
a "gym rat" all his life...more like a "gym mouse". He 
failed to get his shot off when closely defended. He 
drilled a three when he was open though. Fine dribbler. 
Put some English on the dribble that even Kenny would be 
proud of. He looks the part of a point guard when he's 
merely fiddling and diddling, compared to Delk. Reaches 
and pokes a lot on defense for some reason, without 
achieving anything. Bottom line is that his size is a 
handicap. Kidd is going to have him for breakfast, or 
make him a non-factor.

Delk was tremendously unimpressive for three quarters. It 
looked to me like he lost the starting job. But in the 4Q 
he lit up like a microwave. Shot great. One or the other 
guy, Shammond or Delk, is going to get the 4Q PG minutes 
depending on who is hot that night. But I hope not to see 
them playing in tandem in the backcourt. It could happen, 
of course. I believe Tony Delk was out there with JR 
Bremer a lot. 

To me, Bremer looked like a guy on the bubble. It could 
be first game nerves, but his shot mechanics were awful 
on at least two occasions, and his dribbling was prosaic 
and lacked any plan. He is built like a tank (this is 
only relatively speaking). Nice broad shoulders. Others 
may have come away with a better overall impression of 
Bremer. I'm struggling to find something nice to say. 
It's still early I know. 

Kedrick looked a bit thinner than at Shaw. He didn't have 
many opportunities, other than that two-handed jam. He's 
going to have to move better without the ball, in order 
to be a consistent contributor to the box-score. Its 
another reminder of how underrated Rodney Rogers was. For 
the most part, the ball didn't find its way into Eric's 
hands either.

The win was great, it played out like it was never in 
doubt. 

Based on last night, I'd say that Boston's three max-
contrast players might also be our three best passers 
(whenever they feel like passing). Pierce showed a lot in 
the 1Q. He at times had the same passing touch as Walker 
at his best. It seemed like Paul wasn't locked in on just 
scoring last night. Did you see how all five defenders 
swarmed him on his first drive to the hoop? Wow. Unlike 
Walker, Pierce can draw a foul out of even the worst 
scenarios. Obviously, once the season starts he's going 
to be our scorer.

Both Walker and Pierce started the offense from the top 
of the key a few times in Q1 and did an outstanding job 
of playmaking. His ballhandling wasnt a source of 
turnovers or carelessness last night. Walker clanked a 
few threes, but his ball handling was outstanding. When 
it comes to his dribbling its impossible to say that any 
player his size or position is even a close second. 

As for scoring, he did put a nice "twinkle toes" spin 
move on McDyess later in the game. That's when the MSG 
announcers really started praising Walker's ballhandling.

But we can't have McDyess getting 17 freaking boards, 
especially once Houston comes back. The Celtics need to 
toughen up on the boards. McDyess was flying around in 
there. Walker still seems to be the only Celtic with both 
the coach's green light and the internal compass to move 
to where the caroms will land. Just like Fortson, he's 
allowed to roam more often than he boxes out.

But I thought Vin Baker put together a flawless (albeit 
not dominant) all around performance. This was a 
perfectly auspicious start. The story of the game. He 
looks really fit and skilled.

Joe H.

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