Re: Bremer's night

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I will give all the credit to Bremer for the recent success. Witness the
games prior to his starting, we were collapsing. No direction. We're wild
enough, but without Bremer guiding some of the way it was a disaster. He had
I believe 10 pts in the 3rd. SWill can't do it. Is Bremer the ideal point?
No. But much better than Swill. The lite in the tunnel is getting brighter.
Bremer has stepped up. Now it's Kedrick's turn. So far so good.

DanF


----- Original Message -----
From: "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: Bremer's night


> 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