Re: Clanks (I Mean Banks) Nigh Useless Against New Jersey

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 02:10 PM 8/8/03 -0400, Way Of The Ray & howiecarrfan wrote:

>While it looks like ol' Marcus Garvey Banks will be a solid NBA point
>guard, in the mode of a huskier Mookie Blaylock or a shorter,
>poorer-shooting Baron Davis, his upcoming play against the Nets will not
>
>be anything to write home about or even email.
>
>He simply doesn't match up well against the Nets.
>
>Where do I begin.

Well, I'd begin by not making prognostications like they were etched on 
stone tablets....  :>)


>Well, right to the point with Jason Kidd.  Banks is simply too small to
>have much of
>a defensive impact against Kidd. We  had a preview of this defeciency
>during the Summer League, where Banks was outplayed (severely at times)
>by the three big PGs he faced: James, Salmons, and Planinic. If the
>immortal
>John Salmans can light you up, we can only shudder at what Kidd is going
>to
>do to Banks.

Summer League, as you should already know, is a showcase for offense, not 
defense.  Everyone frankly expects the D to be unlovable.  And Kidd 
wouldn't necessarily do any better against Banks than he did against the 
rest of the C's last Spring.

>The next case of the Banks' nasties deals with New Jersey's ability to
>prevent his
>penetration (a word we're hearing a lot these days due to the Kobe's
>contretemps).
>New Jersey will simply zone him out to the perimeter, play off him, clog
>the paint, stop
>his penetration, and force Banks to his weakest link: hitting outside
>shots. And
>that is not a good Walkeresque thing!

As I understand it, the whole idea of the running game is to beat the 
defense in the first place.  And if the Nets want to play zone with Walker 
and Pierce sharing the floor with Banks, they're welcome to do so.

>Lastly, Banks ability to transform the Celtics into a running team, will
>be severely
>curtailed against the Nets. You can't run, if you can't rebound, and the
>Nets are
>far superior to the Celtics in that regard, and should even be better
>this season
>with the additions of Mourning and Euro-Kidd Planinic, who has terrific
>rebounding
>ability. For the Celtics, their rebounding hopes center on a
>healthy-for-the-first-time-
>in-a-long-while Battie, a fully recovered Baker, and  Brandon Hunter,
>who will have to
>either be liberated from the IR or the bench, his home for the near
>future, until the
>Walke/Baker situation is settled.


As opposed to the bastion of good health that is Zo Mourning, I suppose.

Objectivity is all well and good, but predicting total failure before we 
even know how the team will play together?  Sometimes I wonder why "you 
two" are even on Celtics fan lists.  I rarely, if ever, see posts 
emphasizing the positive aspects of the C's.  Maybe it's leeriness from too 
many years of ML Carr and Rick Pitino.

I'll freely admit I sometimes am too optimistic for most people's tastes, 
but even I realize the team has it's problems.  Why can't you seem to at 
least occasionally point out the team's strengths??

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the celebration for Banner 17!!!!

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website