Re: Last night

["Lance Jacobson" <lancejacob@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'll be there as well, Shawn.   Was looking forward to seeing Baker show a
little more fire, but he may just be showing a new suit.

Is Sundov working out on the weights or are we looking at the next Shawn
Bradley?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shawn Niles" <shizzjr@hotmail.com>
To: <hironaka@nomade.fr>; <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: Last night


> Nice job covering the game Joe. I'm going to the game tonight in
Manchester.
> Anyone else going to be there?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: "hironaka@nomade.fr"<hironaka@nomade.fr>
> >To: celtics@igtc.com
> >Subject: Last night
> >Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 00:03:16 +0200
> >
> >As noted, Josh Ozersky, Michael Gooen and I had great
> >seats for last night's game, courtesy of Michael's firm.
> >
> >And much to my surprise, Chris Wallace spent a lot of
> >time talking to us, right up until the opening buzzer for
> >teams to break the huddle.
> >
> >I won't report on what he said to Josh (I'll leave that
> >to him). Josh asked a lot of good questions and has a
> >good rapport with CW. But here's what Wallace said in
> >response to some of our other questions, this to the best
> >of my recollection.
> >
> >I asked if the Sonics had specifically asked for Joe
> >Forte to close the Baker trade, or if it was done to save
> >the million off next year's payroll. He replied that it
> >was a "financial decision".
> >
> >He added that the Shaw League standout would NOT have
> >gotten playing time this season in Boston behind Bremer.
> >He said Bremer had "way more experience" playing the
> >point. So that tells you what he thinks.
> >
> >I asked him if his opinion of Forte and Joe Johnson had
> >changed since draft day (when he had lots of good things
> >to say about their future).
> >
> >He replied that there was a misperception in the media.
> >He said that sometimes you draft a player to build team
> >depth in talent, which can be used in trades that improve
> >the team's competitiveness.
> >
> >Well we've more or less heard that before. But he also
> >added at one point that Joe Johnson "isn't a point guard"
> >or "isn't going to be a point guard". I was kind of
> >caught off-guard by that one, but I think that's what he
> >said. Maybe Josh or Michael can confirm?
> >
> >He posed to us the rhetorical question: "tell me this,
> >who would you guys rather have, Vin Baker or Rodney
> >Rogers?". Thankfully, none of us retorted with "but who's
> >contract would you rather have?!"
> >
> >I was starting to wonder if our questions were a bit too
> >aggressive, although we were all polite and cordial.
> >Whatever the case, Wallace was engaging and stuck with us
> >until the tipoff. I believe he trusts Josh a lot. He said
> >he was looking forward to reading his next column etc.
> >
> >But yeah, he cares about fans and was candid to a
> >surprising extent. It probably didn't hurt that Michael
> >was wearing his Bill Russell #6 jersey (which as he noted
> >in his post, Rodney Rogers also seemed to appreciate).
> >
> >Michael asked about our rights to overseas players,
> >specifically Ben Pepper. That gave Wallace an opening to
> >remind us that we have Ben "safely salted away."
> >
> >Wallace said that the Celtics still own the rights to
> >Josip Sesar as well, and that he'll monitor how he
> >develops.
> >
> >He said that of all our overseas players, the guy with
> >the best chance to make it in the NBA is Darius Songaila,
> >who's been looking good in Russia.
> >
> >Wallace confirmed that we own these player's rights "in
> >perpetuity", but that they could force the issue by
> >coming to training camp (and getting cut).
> >
> >There were other interesting comments, but I'll leave
> >that for Josh's column.
> >
> >We all had a lot of fun whooping it up during the game,
> >with Michael's dad also there. Josh got in a chat with
> >Mike Gorman as well. It was a very relaxed environment.
> >It didn't take any special effort to get these guy's
> >attention. They were standing right there.
> >
> >Continental Arena is a strange place to watch exhibition
> >basketball. There was complete silence between highlight
> >moments, like we were watching the Amish Basketball
> >Association.
> >
> >Oddly, the arena even set up an artificial "sold out"
> >cheering section of around thirty people, including
> >hidden cue cards that read "make noise". The section was
> >flashed up on the jumbotron and presumably out to TV Land
> >during time outs. I've never seen something like that
> >before.
> >
> >But there was one very audible "ooh" from the crowd when
> >Shammond put a cross-over ankle breaker on someone (Tamar
> >Slay I think).
> >
> >(Mr Gooen aptly suggested the Michael Jackson-inspired
> >nickname "I'm bad, I'm bad, shammond...")
> >
> >I felt Shammond and Delk again managed to "look the part"
> >of point guard tonight. Delk seemed at ease with his job
> >and was a weapon from the top of the key. Shammond had a
> >high number of shots that rimmed in and out, but still
> >shows a lot of flash and self-confidence.
> >
> >But neither guy or Bremer is at all methodical in hunting
> >down assists or moving the ball to the hot hand. Again,
> >I'm not sure that's even there role on this team. The few
> >times the Celtics saw sufficient daylight on the break,
> >it was off a direct defensive rebound and dribble by the
> >captains. As inept as the Celtics were on offense, the
> >Nets were also doing a good job of transition defense I
> >thought.
> >
> >Bremer finally impressed me a great deal, with his
> >defense and those two strong slashes to the hoop in the
> >fourth. Nice. He'd be a great two guard if he were 6-6.
> >His funny jumpshot is a turnoff.
> >
> >I know Josh might disagree here, but I'm actually
> >starting to believe Obie when he courted ridicule by
> >saying point guard is a team strength.
> >
> >Obie's one proven ability is relating to NBA players,
> >bringing out the creative strengths of the captains and
> >getting maximum team-based contributions from the other
> >guys. Everyone's happy.
> >
> >This being the case, Obie really needs to figure
> >something out with Baker and his 50 million contract.
> >
> >They say you can't be seriously disillusioned unless you
> >had illusions in the first place, and Baker's "illusion"
> >is that he'll finally be happy in Boston and be allowed
> >to succeed.
> >
> >Last night, no one gave Baker the ball and he very much
> >looked like a spare part. He seemed like a guy who won't
> >fit in at all with the team as a sixth man. The scrubs
> >either won't look to pass to Baker, or they are too short
> >to look over defenses and find him.
> >
> >I frankly don't care if Battie isn't REALLY hurt (he
> >looked it for awhile), Obie needs to seize this excuse
> >and give Baker some starting minutes with Walker and
> >Pierce. Baker's injury just looked like a mild kick in
> >the shins, whereas Battie was seriously limping off the
> >court.
> >
> >And, yes, there STILL seem to be no plays run for Baker.
> >Obie had four days since Thursday to work on something,
> >and nothing has happened. Vin subs in and appears to run
> >through the same high post plays of the starting center
> >(Battie), or a bit of Walker's point forward role. He's
> >miscast in either role.
> >
> >Obie needs to get over the fact that he wanted the same
> >roster as last year, and opposed the trade. He's stuck
> >with Baker now and he needs to make the most of a still
> >in-shape and reasonably talented player.
> >
> >Right now, Baker is getting half the touches he got in
> >the darkest days with Gary Payton and the Sonics.
> >
> >Sooner or later this is going to come to a head. How the
> >Fleet Center treats an underperforming Vinnie might
> >trigger all kinds of things.
> >
> >Obie's main coaching challenge this year will be to
> >address this. It should be a night and day obsession. If
> >Baker is unhappy and underutilized right off the bat,
> >this team is going nowhere for four years.
> >
> >I'd hope Obie is thinking hard about this after last
> >night's game. And like Josh I hope that he fully consults
> >his father-in-law on this subject, rather the Dayton
> >playbook.
> >
> >Joe H.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >-------------------
> >L'e-mail gratuit pas comme les autres.
> >NOMADE.FR, pourquoi chercher ailleurs ?
>
>
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