Re: Inefficient scoring

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
A really interesting and important question.  I asked the same 
when I posted last week, "I wonder what O'Brien's coaching MO might 
have been if Toine had never been a Celt."  
--- end of quote ---

I guess I missed it, although I do try to read your every post. Anyway, we're
certainly not the only ones to ask that question. I'd love to listen in on
Obie's conversations with his father-in-law when they are talking about Toine
with their shoes off, so to speak.  

--- You wrote:
My feeling is Obie would not be coaching this way if removed from the 
influence of AW and his  "unique" skill set. His versatility has been a
direct cause of lulling the BT into thinking we did not need a  "real" 
PF or a  "real"  PG... just let Toine do it all. The problem is, he is not
doing any one thing very well this season.  
--- end of quote ---

...or most other seasons, although he did average double figures in rebounding
once and shot something like 47% from the 2-point land under Pitino. However,
extracting such performance from Toine is like trying to approach the speed of
light - it requires immense energy and effort from the coach. It only cost
Pitino his job, although - obviously - the other aspects of his personality and
coaching philosophy didn't exactly help. 

Obie's hands-off approach is apparently not working anymore either. On the face
of it, it rests on the assumption that Antoine is a veteran player and an adult
who should be trusted to make intelligent basketball decisions (hence Obie's 
constant references to Toine as a "very intelligent basketball player"). In
reality, Obie knows it's Toine's way or the highway. In the first year or so
with Obie,  Toine tried to show that he deserved not to be yelled at from the
sideline - the well-known "new coach boost". But this year he's grown tired of
the act and is sporting career lows or near-lows in  most categories, with the
notable exceptions of shots and threes taken. Some of it is attributable to his
injury, but most are a direct consequence of bad shot selection and
cherry-picking his duties on the court. 

Walker basically wants to be known as a PF who is so skilled that he can play
PG or the swing positions. However, he mostly chooses to perform only those
duties that he finds interesting or pleasurable - passing the ball, launching
threes, gambling for steals, taking difficult shots with the clock expiring.
The boring stuff that's also part of the job description for the positions he
tries to play  - bringing the ball up, playing honest defense, rebounding -  is
mostly left to the others: Bremer or Delk bring the ball up, Battie or Walter
get to guard the more difficult low post players, Eric chases the more mobile
forwards around, Delk, Eric and Pierce run out to the 3-point line to challenge
the shooters. While not soft like Baker, Toine is pretty much the opposite of
an 'intangibles' player like EWill or Grant Long - he's mostly into the
glamorous stuff. Maybe it's a necessity, given how many minutes he's playing
and the personnel we have, but then how did he end up having to juggle so many
duties? 

Like Mark and others have pointed out, the team is *deliberately structured*
this way, I suspect, to cater to Toine's whims. With the exception of Jackson's
Bulls and Lakers, I don't see other teams out there deciding that they don't
need a point guard because their swing guys can pass the ball a little. But
we're not playing the triangle offense, we're playing Walker and Pierce
offense.  And Toine's not exactly on the level of  Pippen and Kobe, never mind
MJ and Shaq.  

I know it sounds like I'm blaming Toine for everything, but I'm not. I'm
blaming the BDT for creating this situation and allowing it to continue. 

--- You wrote:
If we progress a couple of rounds into the playoffs, I am afraid we will
see status quo.  But if we only win 42-43 games and go down in the
first round, will the owners have any choice but to make some radical
changes in both management and player personnel?
--- end of quote ---

That's why my enthusiasm will be tempered if they do well this year in the
playoffs. It's a little hard to imagine them going 11-15 the rest of the way,
though, even if they lose every game to the better teams. It'll most likely be
the worst of both - not good enough to make a dent in the playoffs, not bad
enough for the ownership to take notice. 
Kestas