Re: STOP THE MADNESS

[Ryan W <ubiquitous_am_i@xxxxxxxxx>]

Right on!  Do we or don't we "have the players?" I
would argue we do, with or without LaFrentz (so Danny
as much admitted today that he knew Raef was injured,
and would either need a scope or 5 months of
rehab...yet he still accepts him as the centerpiece of
a lopsided, 50 cent on the dollar trade for
Antoine....another first rounder could have easily
been garnered, or Edwardo Najera, or M. Daniels--the
rookie 6'5" point, or Josh Howard--rookie 6'5" shooter
guard, who reminds me a lot of Paul Pierce....or hell
we could have NOT TRADED ANTOINE...good negotiations,
Danny...of course, a damaged LaFrentz (along with
miscast 3-man Jiri, mystery first rounder next year
and even more mysterious free agent signing that may
or may not come--since when was signing a free agent
ever something you could count on?  I'm betting next
offseason rolls around, no body wants to sign with
us--cause we suck--and poor Danny puts his hands up
and says, "I tried") was all you could get for
Antoine), that we do have plenty of talent.  Of
course, it only counts as talent if the coach can get
it to come out.  

Next point (aimed at O'Brien):  You don't like
non-shooters on the floor, O'Brien?  Well, then it
looks like you're going to have to play Pierce v. the
other teams five guys, cause he's the only one that
can shoot.  Your cookie cutter offense, which demands
that the other wing opposite Pierce be able to shoot
the corner three, seems to be ill-suited to the cast
of non-shooters you attempt to play at small forward
(lets not even get into the whole Jumaine Jones
situation--the only player on the roster who actually
has the skills necessary to play the 3 how you want
the three to be played).  But why would you put
players in positions in which they are unable to
fulfill your needs?  Are you stupid?  Either you have
shooters or non-shooters (we'll let you decide). 
After deciding what you have, make it work (that's
what coaches do...they take what they have and make it
work) and don't come crying about having to put
non-shooters on the court...

Regarding settling on a plan and making it work:  We
are at the crossroads.  If LaFrentz goes on the IL for
an extended period of time, then we're fried,
especially since O'Brien doesn't have the requisite
intelligence to reconstruct the offense (which only
works when LaFrentz is playing).  If this were to
happen, we need to reconsider everything.  Perkins and
Hunter need to come off the IL.  Walter, E Williams,
Battie, James, and even Baker need to play less or be
traded/released.  Why?  They're in the way.  Only
Banks and Jiri should be playing point.  Jumaine and
Kedrick should be given the 3 spot.  Hunter should be
given some 4 time, with Baker starting but playing on
30 minutes a game (Hunter, at this point, still isn't
that good...but 20 minutes a night would be good
developmental time).  And start Perkins at
center...Blount has been playing good, but he's a
backup with his rebounding problems.

So there it is...we've completely retooled a team that
has been to the playoffs the last two years after
missing them for the previous 10.  Are you happy
Danny?  Of course, we couldn't have kept Antoine,
played him at the 3 (or even as a backup 1), with
Baker at the four and seen what would happen.  God
forbid that might have ever happened....we might be
running away with the Atlantic Division right now. 
But that's not good enough, we want to win the whole
thing.  And of course, Antoine would be a malcontent
cause he didn't get his extension.  Of course, he's
not a free agent next year, but instead the year after
that.  It's good getting the dirty work done first,
right Danny, so it was best to get rid of him before
he was in his walk year (don't give me bullshit about
him opting out after this year, HE NEVER WOULD HAVE). 


Yet, we would be WAY ahead in the Atlantic if Antoine
had stayed.  Hell, Kedrick and Jumaine might even have
been playing well (as much as I love Jiri, his
emergence has conveniently allowed O'Brien to forget
about two more "talented" players).  And you know
what?  If Antoine did turn out the be a distraction,
we could have always waited and traded him for another
teams distraction...instead of an injured, soft Raef
LaFrentz.  But, nope, we're doing it the right way,
even if it ends up taking a couple of trips through
the lottery to make it happen.   

Ryan
--- Celtic4Hire@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Pretty depressing fishwrap articles today: Red
> saying it's not Obie's fault, 
> Peter May's callout for a slow point guard that
> nobody else wants, a high 
> probability that LaFrentz needs surgury, pressure
> building on Ainge,  Red saying 
> we need some big, nasty guys but we know that Obie
> would never play our own 
> Kendrick or Hunter, Ainge admitting that we may be a
> year farther away than he 
> thought because of youth, Battie having knee
> troubles again, a fanatic look by 
> the beatwriters for any kind of scoring help, the
> Blazer GM dissing the 
> proposed 5 for 3 swap that I didn't even like, Obie
> admitting that he hates to play a 
> player that can't shoot (see Kedrick) because teams
> don't guard them and the 
> trial ballons of perhaps our fate is sealed and
> we're lottery headed. 
> 
> If this is a throw away year, then why can't we use
> it to develop our youth? 
> We have heard a couple of quotes out of the Logo's
> camp on their strategy: 
> West is into acquiring talent to have players to
> trade for a superstar and Hubie 
> is into playing 10 players to develop them for the
> same strategy. Shouldn't we 
> use that strategy? Yeah, we already have a superstar
> in PP and I would say 
> that Baker is every bit as good as the Griz's best
> player in Gasol. So maybe we 
> are closer than they and we need to go for it.  But
> they got a better record 
> than us in the tougher Western conference. So maybe
> it is the coaching? Nah, 
> can't be. And we don't even think that Obie could
> develop the rookies if we did 
> employ that strategy. (I will throw Obie a bone and
> agree that Juri and Banks 
> are getting time. However, I would argue that they
> are better players than the 
> other guys ahead of them). 
> 
> That is what is so depressing. We are hearing we are
> bad not because of the 
> coach, it is because we don't have the players. Yet,
> we know that Obie 
> can't/won't develop players so the only way we can
> get them is trade for them or trade 
> our drafts (Billups, Mercer, Fortson, Joe Johnson)
> for someone else's players 
> that they have development. It is a never ending
> circle. STOP THE 
> MADNESS!.....
> 
> DJessen33


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