RE: The Golden State win

["John Lyell" <jlyell@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

One disconcerting fact is if you look at the box scores it is frequently
Pierce leading the team in rebounds. We should have Mihm, Hunter and maybe
even Perkins or Stewart in the game.  Walter has always been an enigma. A
6'10" guy that can run with anyone, dribble the ball better than most 6'10"
guys, but just can seem to put it together consistently.
With his height and athletic ability playing him at the 3 spot would seem to
cause real challenges for teams that is if we had a low  threat like a
McHale that they couldn't switch defensively. Can Baker or Hunter be this
type of player?

John




-----Original Message-----
From: owner-celtics@xxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-celtics@xxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Berry, Mark S
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 12:07 PM
To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: The Golden State win


Thank goodness. I was beginning to think I was missing something obvious
that Obie and everyone else was seeing. I'm glad I'm not the only one
baffled by what's going on.

The frustrating thing on Mihm is I don't think there's a single team in the
NBA that would have that guy on the roster and yet give him a DNP-CD. Not
one. He'd be in anyone's rotation. Yet the Celtics, with their stellar big
man corps of Blount, Baker, McCarty and Jones (combined 15 rebounds in 95
minutes-and that's with a career night of 7 for Walter), have no room for
him. He's only sixth in the league in rebounds per minute. Meanwhile,
Welsch, Pierce and Davis combine for 23 rebounds and the guards get blamed
for the rebounding problems. It's madness... Madness, I say!

The crazy thing is, as much of a stat freak as Obie is, you'd think he'd
notice the obvious problem here. The Celts' offense is top-10 across the
board. Scoring, field goal percentage, points per shot, adjusted field goal
percentage, three-point percentage. Really, the transformation from last
year to this has been amazing, even with the occasional relapses. And make
no mistake about it - that's Ainge's doing. Great job in reshaping this
team's offensive personnel. PLUS, the defense is top-10 across the board as
well. Scoring, opponent's field goal percentage... Those numbers continue to
be good. So why the 15-15 record? Because the Celts are among the five worst
teams in the league in terms of rebounding. It's the one glaring team
statistic that explains everything.

Think about all the close games they've lost. I'd love to go back and watch
those games and see what three or four key defensive rebounds might have
meant to the outcome. I bet we'd all be surprised at how significantly
different the record might be.

I think it's one of those things with Obie where he can't see the forest for
the trees. It must be. He's so close to it, and so tied to the Harter
system - which is the single biggest reason this team turned things around
two years ago - that he's overlooking what's obvious to everyone else. And
maybe - MAYBE - I can see that with Blount. He's a solid defensive player
(but TERRIBLE rebounder). But Walter? He's just as bad defensively as he is
offensively and on the boards. When he enters the game, the team's
collective basketball IQ drops 10 points. Even some of the shots he makes
are bad shots. The Celtics at their best look like a team in synch and on
the same page. Walter never gives me that impression. He's like Stephen
Jackson was with the Spurs last year. And Baker? I'm to the point that I
agree with Ray... Vin's best role probably is as a low-post specialist. Sort
of like the Pistons used to use James Edwards. Pick his spots, find good
matchups, and exploit him for po!
 st-ups and high-percentage offense. He's not a defender or rebounder. Never
was, never will be. Hell, they ignore him half the time he's out there
anyway, so why not have a bruiser who rebounds in there? If you're not going
to go to Vin in the post, he offers nothing.

OK... now I'm ranting. It's just that Obie's complete refusal to adapt to
this rebounding problem is infuriating. It's one of the most fundamental
rules of basketball - you have to rebound to win. But Obie seems to have no
appreciation for fundamentals. Ainge had to force an actual offense on the
guy - one with passing and occasional movement without the ball. Really wild
concepts. Now it seems he's going to have to force Obie to think about
rebounding by trading away more of his pets.

Of course, every time I get really down on something with this team, they
reel off five wins in a row. Hopefully that happens. Maybe Blount and
McCarty will turn into rebounding machines and our idiot savant coach will
come out smelling like a rose again.

Mark

P.S. I really should say one thing... I'm hard on Obie. He drives me nuts
most of the time. I think he's a terrible in-game coach and stubborn to the
point that he'll cut off his nose to spite his face. I think if everyone
stepped back and looked at this team's roster, they'd marvel at what Ainge
has accomplished in forcing Obie to change. BUT... I do believe Obie is good
at building team chemistry and insisting on a disciplined system (most of
the time). He doesn't get too high or too low, and the team follows suit.
All of that is important.

But so is rebounding.


--- --- ---

TAM wrote:

Offense?  How about the defense?  O'Brien can't be blind to how horribly
Walter has played on man defense, outside of his schemes.  He looked
absolutely
foolish out there at times.

Did I say he can't be blind?  I take that back.  After his comments about
Mihm after the Laker game, and his failure to put him in at all against
Golden
State, maybe he is blind.  Blinded by loyalty.
Baker has been almost as bad as Water on defense, yet the ultimate preacher
of defense starts a frontcourt of Baker and McCarty?  Then we wonder why the
Warriors shot 60% in the first half.
It's beyond my comprehension.
Then we see Danny Ainge once again blaming the guards for our problems on
the
boards.
Sometimes I wonder if these guys are watching the same games I am.
Once a game, it never fails, Walter will be under the boards all alone only
to have a ball hit him in the hands and go out of bounds.  Never fails.  Of
course, things like that never show up in the box scores.  If not for
Blounts two
offensive rebounds late in the game- which were huge,no doubt about that-he
would have finished with 2 rebounds in 28 minutes.
Three of Bakers 4 rebounds in 18 minutes were offensive.  That means between
them they had three defensive rebounds in 46 minutes.  We've given up 51
offensive rebounds in the last 3 games. Yeah, the rebounding is our guards
fault.
What a bunch of bull.

I caught O'Briens post game comments the last two nights.
The first question he was asked after the Laker game was about rebounding
and
whether he thought about putting some better rebounders on the floor.  He
answered "we aren't a good rebounding team" in one of his patented gruff,
don't
even ask me such a stupid question and don't bring it up again like
responses.
That was a couple of questions before the one about Mihm's play.
Of course, this is the same guy who railed against the teams defense a few
weeks back only to do an about face after reviewing film of the same games
saying the defense was pretty darn good.  Maybe he needs a few film sessions
to
figure out that Mihm deserves some playing time and McCarty isn't the answer
at
center.