O'Brien Defends His Three-Point Philosophy

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

NOTES

O'Brien has faith in his long shots


By Peter May, Globe Staff, 4/6/2003

You watch the Celtics play these days and you wonder: Can Jim O'Brien
actually enjoy what he's seeing? I'm not talking about the wins or
losses or the good nights or the bad nights. I'm talking about the style
they play, mainly on offense, which has them jacking up 3-pointers at a
record clip.



Isn't this the same Jim O'Brien who came out of ultra-traditional
Philadelphia, like so many of his NBA predecessors and colleagues? Isn't
this the same man who calls his father-in-law, Hall of Famer Jack
Ramsay, for coaching advice? The answers are yes and yes.

But this is also the same Jim O'Brien who sat next to Rick Pitino for so
many years. It's the same Jim O'Brien who took over a downtrodden
University of Dayton team in 1989 and promised he would run, press, and
shoot threes. People scratched their heads. Dayton did just that and won
22 games.

Yes, it can be an aesthetic challenge for purists to watch the Celtics
these days. Despite what the coach says, they do take too many
3-pointers. Far too many 3-pointers. When you are on a pace to shatter
the league record for threes in a season - as the Celtics are - there
had better be a good reason. As in, you make them a lot. The Celtics are
22d in the league in 3-point-shooting accuracy.

But the ''3-ball'' has become as much a part of the Celtics' game plan
as rebounding or trapping or the pick and roll. It is the way O'Brien
sees - the only way, really - for his size-challenged team to have any
chance to win. But did he ever envision himself coaching in this
fashion?

''My offensive philosophy is always based on who would I have as
players, who would I inherit, and then try to make an analysis as to
what's the best way that that team could win,'' O'Brien said. ''What's
the best strategy that I could teach and develop that would give that
particular group the best chance to go as far as it could go? Through
studying and through my observations, I believed that the best way to
grow this franchise was to be, for the East, an unconventional type of
offensive team. Because that was what I thought our strengths were.

''I'm comfortable with the 3-ball,'' O'Brien went on. ''But it's largely
determined by how often you can get the ball inside, or penetrate to get
the most inside-outside shots. You come down, you make one pass and take
a challenged three? That's a bad shot. We want stand-still open threes
by guys that have proven they can make the shot.''

The Celtics, according to O'Brien, have two reliable post-up players:
Paul Pierce and Eric Williams. But both also like to play on the
perimeter, and the Celtics' 3-point shooting is now largely due to
penetration by someone and then a quick pass to an open teammate on the
outside.

It's not O'Brien's fault he hasn't had an inside presence on offense,
although some would argue that Antoine Walker might be that guy. O'Brien
doesn't see it that way. He likes the fact that Walker has the ability
to take his man away from the basket. His centers since he has been here
have been Vitaly Potapenko, Tony Battie, Mark Blount, and, for a while,
Vin Baker. Of the four, Baker could have been a low-post presence; that
was the hope and expectation when the Celtics traded for him.

''I understand [the 3-pointer] comes from the inside out,'' O'Brien
said. ''You can't just be a 3-point-shooting team and have nothing in
the paint. However, when you do an analysis of your team, and the
production of people on the inside, you can want to be a power coach all
you want. But if it's not getting done at a high enough level, you've
got to look elsewhere.''

And as much as the Celtics seem to be inextricably linked to the three,
O'Brien said the biggest difference in the team since he took over is
its ability to defend in the halfcourt.

''My whole emphasis once I got the job was to build a tough-minded,
halfcourt defensive team,'' he said, ''because I did not think that we
were in good position to extend the court. So whoever we had, or however
long my tenure was going to be, whether it was three months, three
years, or 13 years, the main emphasis was going to be on halfcourt
defense. On getting stops. On building a disciplined defensive
structure. We started that with the very first practice and it continues
to this day.''

So feel free to cringe at all the threes. As long as O'Brien is in
charge, and as long as he has a team relatively bereft of inside
threats, that is how it's going to be. Viscerally, he may not like it,
either. But he likes to win more than he likes to lose, and the way he
sees it, the current Celtics system and style is the one he thinks gives
the team the best chance to succeed.