Thoughts on the two televised games....

[Ryan W <ubiquitous_am_i@xxxxxxxxx>]

Banks:

Banks is a beast with the ball.  Quick as all hell. 
Can take his man off-the-dribble whenever he feels
like it.  A good passer off-the-dribble as
well....Hunter and Kedrick have dunked off his great
penetration moves at least twice in the two games. 
His shot, at least in the first televised game, seemed
problematic.  By the second televised game, however,
he had found his rhythm, shaking and baking to get
wide open.  His dribbling at times can be reckless,
but more often than not he weaves his way out of
trouble and positions himself for a bucket or the
assist.  Watching the half-time interview, I can tell
you that Banks is a star.  He is (finally) the needed
3rd
scorer/player-that-the-other-team-fears-and-must-game-plan-for.
 He's a least as good as Tony Parker RIGHT NOW, and he
may end up being as good as Tim Hardaway or Kevin
Johnson in the long run.  It's going to be fun seeing
him work with Walker and Pierce next season.

Brown:

Yes, Mark Berry, I will admit that it looks as if
Kedrick isn't playing hard.  What I would argue is
that even though it looks like he isn't playing hard,
in REALITY he is....  Some players, by the way their
bodies move, sometimes appear to be doing more or less
than they actually are (Walter was an expert at
running around with his head cut off, but never
accomplishing much while Kedrick is good at appearing
to be loofing between high-flying rebounds and other
high energy plays).  This difference could be
attributed to how the player expends his
energy...maybe Kedrick expends energy in spurts--a
giant rebound here, great dunk there, blocked shot out
of nowhere--and these spurts, being so substantially
greater (due to his substantially greater talent) than
his "normal" speed on the court, fool the viewer into
thinking that Kedrick loofs.  Furthermore, knowledge
of the appropriate expenditure of energy is something
that ONLY comes with playing time....something Kedrick
hasn't recieved.  

As for Kedrick's game, he is shooting the jumper
better than last year, and making his three pointers. 
He looks more confident on his dribble drive and his
outlet passes were pretty good in the Spur game.  On
defense, he is (as always) doing a great job getting
his hands on the ball, creating deflections and
tipping rebounds.  One on one, however, he has gotten
burnt here and there, but once again, I believe that
has something to do with his energy expediture...
i.e., he misjudges the amount of energy needed to get
to point A at so-and-so instant.  And, on his only
opportunity in the Spurs game to create on-the-break
off-the-dribble, Kedrick performed flawlessly, taking
the ball into the middle, leaning around his defender,
and laying in a silky 6 foot tweener shot.  Kedrick
will amount to something...with development time and
patience.  

The above was written before the Knicks' game.  The
one thing more that needs to be mentioned is that I
noticed in tonight's game that Kedrick showed a little
more emotion and appeared to want it more.  He got
visibly mad on at least three occasions and resembled
Jordan in some of the faces he was making--those faces
that say "yeah, I fucked up, but it was because I made
the mistake, not because the other player is better
than me."  It was a confident anger.  And that's a
good sign....Kedrick needs to development an on-court
demeanor that is angry.

Kedrick also appears to be competing very well.  In
one exchange, Andy "I have a nice beard, but the acne
on my back reveals my rampant steroid use" Panko beat
Kedrick around a screen for an open jumper...Brown
came back down the floor the very next play and took
it at Panko and scored the lay-up.  Again later in
that quarter, Panko beat Kedrick off the dribble
(because of a late rotation in the zone defense) for
the layup....very next time down, Kedrick takes Panko
off the dribble and draws the foul....there were about
3 other similar exchanges.  I'm not saying that it's
necessarily good that the instances that facilitated
these moments of competition occured, but more along
the lines that Kedrick was confident enough to get up
his dander and retaliate.  That is a good sign.

ANd finally, I haven't even mentioned the 9 straight
shots that he made (including 2 three-pointers) in the
Knicks game, nor the brilliant finishes at the basket
(3 different left handed layups of varying difficulty
and one gigantic alley-opp dunk).  

Hunter:

Hunter needs to be on this team.  First of all, he has
a body that would make anyone (man or woman) salivate.
 Secondly, he knows how to use it to work on the
basketball court.  Very nifty around the basket and he
favors taking the ball to the precipice of the rim and
then softy dropping it down....it rolled out a couple
times, but overall it was very effective against the
seven-footers-plus that New York was using.  He
rebounds well (but not great) and has nice long arms. 
I didn't see much of an outside game, though his free
throws looked good.  I will say this though, if he can
shoot it from beyond 15 feet, he will be Charles
Barkley born again hard.  If Hunter is not on this
team next fall, it will be a disgrace.

Bruno:

As everyone has already commented, Bruno needs to
leave in a big way.  Didn't even play against the
Knicks, and I didn't even see him on the bench.  He
either needs to be traded or released, especially with
Hunter and Perkins in the fold.  

Bremer:

I love Bremer as much as anyone, but his option should
not be picked up.  It's not that he isn't good, it's
just that we don't need him.  What we need is a backup
point guard.  I say release or trade Bremer, signing a
backup point guard or swing (2-guard or small forward)
man.  Banks makes Bremer redundent.  

Opposition players of note:

Lampe:  Yeah, he'll be a player.  Has surprisingly
good low post moves.  Didn't see much of an outside
touch, though pre-draft scuttlebut had him having a
good long distance shot.  Sucks on defense, though.

Sweetney: Another player...though too bad Brandon
Hunter is better, faster, wider, more athletic, and
cuter ;)

Diaw:  I watched him in one of the earlier games.  He
is going to be a good player.  The Scottie Pippen
comparision is right on.  And Joe Johnson he is
not...multiple times he drove the length and scored an
easy layup.  The Hawks did good.

Obligatory Rant Against the Local Papers:

The Globe and the Herald suck.  Each had an article
within a day of each other on Chris Ford and Chris
Herren.  NEWSFLASH:  Neither have anything to do with
the Celtics.  You only do a story on these two if
nothing else is happening...well, something is
happening...Marcus Fucking Banks...not to mention
Kedrick, Hunter and the rest of players.  Wake up you
stupid bastards who write on the Celtic beat.

Weekly Idea to Help Antoine:

I was thinking that if I was Antoine's agent I would
tell Antoine to organize a player's only workout in
mid August for two weeks.  It would show Antoine's
great leadership and would be a great PR move to build
support for a long term deal.  And most importantly it
would help the Celtic's prepare for the season (much
like the Pacer's did in their last championship
season).  I really think this team is going to surpise
a lot of people.  We've got the veterans (Pierce,
Walker, Williams, Battie, Delk) and the rookies (if
Ainge and O'Brien have enough balls to put and play
three rookies on the roster).  It's a great mixture
(ask the Spurs...or remember the 91 Celtics, with that
great mix of young--Dee, Reggie, Shaw, Gamble--and
old--Bird, McHale, Parish, ect...).

Ryan 

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