[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Pondering Antoine

At 07:15 AM 6/27/2003 -0400, Frederick Hurley wrote: 
I wonder if part of the problem with Walker's game was the team's reliance
on him to run the offense like a point.

Chicken or egg situation. I know what was said publicly, but really, how much of that was the team in any way forcing him to do that vs how much was that putting the best face on Walker doing what he's going to do anyway, particularly once we failed to get a PG willing and able to stand up to him. I know where my vote goes, which means the problem with Walker's game was Walker's head. Mind you, I agree with the underlying thought that he's a much better player when not the primary one running the offense.

However, I wonder if in an offense that uses the
fast break more than the Celts did last season, Walker might get more of
those angles through the lane on which he looks so damn good.

It's even simpler than that. He, Paul and everyone get a lot more ***easy hoops*** and don't have to work as hard for any vestige of an offense because they haven't even begun to run one until the defense has had time to set. In tempered concrete. This makes things much better for people who are more scorers than pure shooters in the first place, and makes for A LOT more second chances and easy offensive boards when we inevitably miss- one of our biggest weaknesses. It also has a wide ranging ripple effect in increasing confidence (look Ma, we can score), demoralizing opponents, saving wear and tear on the stars (running is just energy, fighting defenses is physical abuse), etc etc

On a related note, several people have mentioned that we might want to watch
Kedrick Brown for sign of a breakout season, now that he's been in the
league for a couple of years.  Would a running offense perhaps help him work
his way into serious minutes more quickly, since young legs with athletic
ability can help a player with otherwise less impressive pure basketball
skills?

Not just quick legs. He actually handles the ball fairly well on the dribble and has major hops. His whole offensive game works better in a fast paced, less structured environment where athleticism matters. People talk about Baker being badly misused on offense, but having Kedrick taking 3 pointers is an even worse misuse of someone on offense - ignores his strength and plays to his weaknesses.

Overall, I feel fairly happpy.  I'm also wondering if maybe we will still go
and look at some mid-tier free agents - particularly someone who can add
some scoring punch to complement Walker and Pierce.  Any thoughts on who
might fit with our team and our budget?

Ahhhh, until you mentioned that nasty word, budget.... probably not this season, more likely next season.

P.S.  Yeah, I know it'll all collapse in the end, since this all rests on a
rookie and a virtual rookie.  But let me dream for today, OK?  :-)

I don't think it will though, because it doesn't all rest on them. It rests on finally having someone completely in charge with a brain, some good ideas and not a lot of outside income, errr, I mean interests taking up too much of his time. The past 2 years since Pitino left have been management by committee, with no one on top and no one to manage staff disagreements about how to run things. Whether of not the individual players work out as well as we hope, the draft showed that Danny clearly recognized our real needs and set out to address them specifically, which should mean good things for other of our needs that we know he recognizes, like the need to do something about Walker and his effect, the need to run more fast break and diversified offense, regardless of personnel, etc etc I think he honestly thinks these guys did overachieve the past few years, given the talent and problems at hand, but I think he agrees with me that overachieving does not inherently mean that was necessarily the best or right way to do things.

Kim