Re: Celtics preseason stats to date

[Celtic4Hire@xxxxxxx]

Mark, 
I have actually agree with a couple of your comments here. I am scaling back 
my expectations of the Cs this year from  2nd place in the East to fourth or 
fifth. This is for two reasons. One is the lack of firepower off the bench. 
We have some guys who have potential (SWill,Kedrick, Sundov) but I haven't 
seen them really click. They also haven't picked up the defensive scheme yet. 
I also severely disappointed in the difficulty in working in Baker into the 
offensive scheme. Baker and Walker/Pierce have no idea what the other is 
going to do. Baker gets his man sealed off 20 times but get the ball once and 
usually way too late. Honestly, the refs could have called three seconds on 
Baker the few times he did get the ball in the post. I guess the brain trust 
didn't figure out how we were going to get Baker the ball without a point 
guard. If we had Stockton to go with Baker and his post ability, we would be 
.500 with just those two players. But it is going to take awhile for these 
guys and the coach to figure out when and where is the right time to get the 
ball to Vin. So I am knocking them down on my predictions.

One other note on Vin. I am already sick of the eye rolling and the head 
shaking 10 minutes after he has fouled out of the game. I mean, he didn't 
play that bad. He got 7 points and 6 boards.  The guy really has to lower his 
goals and expectations. 7 and 6 is fine for right now.

Also, I came to the same conclusion on the Wallace comments. It seems to me 
that Wallace thinks Josh is either a  goof or a mouthpiece with some of 
Wallace's responses. But if Josh doesn't call him on it... I know Josh 
doesn't want to "bite the hand that feeds him" but any "reporter" has to ask 
the obvious followup questions...


> <I'm still pessimistic about the future because of the Baker trade, and I
> believe this team will regress this year because of it. But I have to think
> the defense will improve and with Pierce and Walker, they still have enough
> to be a middle-of-the-pack playoff team. Unfortunately, that's all they have
> for the next four years with Baker's contract dragging them down.
> 
> Mark
> 
> P.S. I've been away, so I didn't get to comment on Wallace's comments to Joe
> and Josh. "Would you rather have Vin Baker or Rodney Rogers?" First of all,
> the implied simplicity of his question is insulting, but that's typical of
> Wallace. He thinks we're all idiots. Secondly, my answer would be Rodney
> Rogers. Forget the salaries (although you can't!), I'd still take Rogers.
> He's just a better fit. And if it's Kenny and Rogers, then it's a
> no-brainer. And if it's Kenny and Rogers and cap relief after the season,
> then you'd have to be a fool to even consider Baker at all. And the "Joe
> Johnson is not a point guard..." line. Wow. Coming from a GM trotting out
> Tony Delk as a starting point guard and who passed on Tony Parker and Jamaal
> Tinsley in favor of Joe Forte... Are we supposed to take his word for it?>