Re: Bremer's night

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good stuff, Joe.

Bremer has been an absolute revelation. I don't know if he's the long-term
answer at point guard, but he's definitely the short-term answer. He's far
more effective as a point guard than Delk or Shammond. Bremer constantly
attacks the defense, either with his penetration or through a willingness to
take the open jumper when it's there. He has taken the ball-handling
responsibilities away from Antoine, and allowed Antoine to receive the ball
in scoring position. Antoine looks like a different player when he isn't
trying to do everything. And when Antoine gets going, it opens things up for
Pierce.

Anyway, Chris Wallace absolutely should take credit for Bremer. He deserves
the credit. We're talking about an undrafted rookie who has earned the
starting spot on a playoff team. That doesn't happen often. He's a great
find. Of course, you could make the case that if Wallace hadn't built this
team WITHOUT a point guard, then Bremer wouldn't have had this opportunity.
Whatever. I'm probably Wallace's biggest critic on the list, but I'll give
credit where it's due with Bremer. Having said that, it's a blip on the
radar when you look at the big picture of Chris Wallace. He's still terrible
and deserves to be fired.

I hate to give all the credit for this turnaround to Bremer, but he deserves
a lot of it. Suddenly the Celtics look like a real basketball team on the
offensive end-at least at times. The first half last night, they looked as
bad as ever. But when Bremer is forcing the defense to react to him, the
rest of the players-especially Pierce and Walker-are exploiting the cracks
in the defense for easier looks. When was the last time Pierce and Walker
both shot over 50 percent in a game? They're getting better looks. Bremer
isn't Jason Kidd, and like I said, I'm not sure yet if he's a starting point
guard for the long haul, but he at least is bringing some of what Kenny
brought last year-a guy who can handle the ball, break down the defense and
make the easy pass to the open man. And that's huge for this team.

And Joe is also right about Shammond's trade value. He isn't going to be a
guy teams clamor for, but if you can find a team looking to clear cap
room-like Miami, Indiana and a number of other teams-they may overpay in
terms of talent as long as they're getting rid of a longer-term contract.
Mercer is a great example. Austin Croshere is another guy the Pacers are
looking to dump, although his contract probably rules him out for the Celts.
But if you package Shammond with Bruno and Ruben, you could free up $2-3
million for a team. For a team with cap room, that could be the difference
between being a player for the big-name free agents, or settling for the
mid-level guys. Remember, the Pierce, Walker and Baker contracts make those
expiring contracts useless for the Celts. They won't have any cap space for
years. If you can bring in a guy who is a rotation regular for the next few
years, you do it.

Things are good right now, and I think Bremer is a huge part of it. I don't
know how long it will last, but to be honest, it already has lasted longer
than I expected. 

Mark