Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V10 #496

[RickDHome@xxxxxxx]

Kim wrote:

>>Regardless, I'm with you that I think it is going to be a good team in a 
year or so and increasingly fun to watch. The question is how good and how 
much fun they gel into. And you know what, I'm tired of the idea that only 
the most negative are being realists and saying things like that means 
having to be called an optimist. Seems to me the people who see nothing but 
doom and gloom and refuse to admit the possibility of anything else are at 
least as unrealistic as the sort of mildly positive thoughts they put down 
as silly optimism.<<

I guess I've been in both camps so far.  I think my thoughts on the team had 
everything to do with the product on the floor at that time.

I, like many others (including Ainge) felt that we'd gone about as far as we 
could with the cast that got to the eastern conference finals.  That was a 
decent team, and no doubt a shot in the fans arm after a near decade of being on 
the outside of the playoffs looking in.  But I did not, and do not think that 
team had the stuff to realistically contend for a championship.  I hated 
Antoine's game, in spite of the fact that he was really good on occasion; but too 
often he played knucklehead ball.  We all have our opinions on Antoine, and no 
post is gonna change anybody's mind at this point.  I'll just add that I 
really hated the style that they'd played the last few years.  Just brutal to 
watch.  Seemed so un-Celtic like.  They were a hard team for me to like.  Whether 
you want to call that pessimistic, realistic, whatever label you choose, that's 
what I felt.

Now, to sing a different tune... I'm more optimistic about this teams future 
than I have been for years.  I really like what Ainge has done so far.  It's 
still a work in progress, but I think next year we'll better be able to gauge 
the impact of the trades, draft picks, etc.  LaFrentz should be back and 
contributing better than this year.  We should know what shakes out with all our 
draft picks, and what, if anything is done with Mills expiring contract.  
Regardless, we're younger, and I think, more talented... with more draft choices, and 
a better balanced club (though still front court heavy... at least not 23 
swings anymore).

I even have some new found respect for Obie... not as an in-game coach mind 
you, but as a guy who gets guys on the same page.  I'm not particularly a fan 
of his, but he's been the proverbial good soldier through all these trades, and 
to give him his due, the team keeps winning in spite of the turnover.  I 
gotta respect that.

Anyway, it was just hard to like the team when Antoine was its leader.  For 
me anyway.

I really think we're on the right track, and that Ainge has done a remarkable 
job so far.