Re: An opposing scout on the Celtics

["Lance Jacobson" <lancejacob@xxxxxxxxx>]

Careful, Mark, all those folks wearing the #34 jerseys will be all over you
for this "anonymous" scout's report.

It's true that Baker's soft as a center.  He'll toughen up as the 5 with the
second string, getting 10-15 min max when Battie sits, or he can be playing
alongside Wookie or Sundov and see how the defense rotates.  Rodney made our
second string last year, and that's just because he was scoring from
outside, not working inside or defending.  I think we lose less ground with
the second unit this year, definitely on offense, and possibly on defense
once they get the hang of it, with essentially FIVE new guys.  How can you
expect the Harter defense to click with Vin, Sundov, SWill, Baker and only
Walter/Kedrick back from the last season only 3 wks into preseason?  The
jury's still out (except on the Pierce stabbing).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 8:52 AM
Subject: An opposing scout on the Celtics


> A pretty good analysis, I think:
>
> "They are going to be weaker. Kenny Anderson gave his best performance in
> four or five years, and he's gone. His backup, Erick Strickland, is gone,
> sixth man Rodney Rogers is gone, and I have doubts about the replacements.
> ... Anderson gave them veteran leadership, he was able to blend in and be
> unselfish, he could run the offense under pressure, and he rebounded well
> for a point guard. Their only true point guard is J.R. Bremer, an
undrafted
> rookie from St. Bonaventure, and you can't ask him to run a playoff team.
> Tony Delk and Shammond Williams are going to struggle at that position,
even
> if all they're asked to do is bring the ball up. Strickland would have
been
> better than any of the guys they have now. ... This season I'm telling our
> guys to deny the ball to Antoine Walker, make him work hard bringing it up
> and push him out whenever you can. If he isn't handling the ball then who
> is?... I even think they're going to miss Vitaly Potapenko, a big, strong
> guy who could bang and hold the fort. Vin Baker is going to have to play
> mainly at center, and he's not strong enough. Baker's problem is that he
> thinks he's working hard when he really isn't. He's going to have to
adjust
> his game offensively; Paul Pierce is more effective in the post than Baker
> is. ... They're looking at a weaker bench, which means their defensive
> intensity is likely to suffer. They'll struggle on back-to-backs, and
Walker
> and Pierce aren't going to want to practice because they'll be working so
> hard during the games. They need something from Kedrick Brown, but he was
in
> junior college two seasons ago, and he's a year away. ... Pierce is one of
> the top five scorers in the league, but he's an arm-waver on defense.
Let's
> give it to assistant coach Dick Harter, who turned a bunch of average or
> poor defenders into a good defensive team last year. He has a much tougher
> job this time."