Hoopsworld column

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here's the current Hoopsworld column, which includes
some thoughts on the draft.  I have a slightly
different take than Ray.

Josh

Saturday's win against Detroit was a perfect
illustration of the karmic wheel represented by the
NBA schedule. The Celtics caught the Pistons on the
second night of a back-to-back, causing them to falter
horribly against a key rival. A similar embarassment
had of course been the Celtics' fate just a couple of
days earlier, and on national television no less.
Still, can any victory where you score 81 points in
four quarters ever really be satisfying? The Celtics
would of course tell you that defense did the trick,
but Detroit isn't going to be putting out any 71 point
efforts in the playoffs. You can count on that.

Still, the game was illuminating in a number of ways.

The devolution of J.R. Bremer, for instance, continues
unabated. Jim O'Brien's inability to develop players
couldn't be better demonstrated than in this odd case.
(That is, in case you're not convinced by his handling
of Kedrick Brown, who has actually managed to regress
from the junior-college level under Obie's tutelage.)
Bremer was a desperately-needed penetrating guard who
fell out of the sky. The Celtics were one of the least
physical teams in the league, with an offense so
perimeter-oriented that it has become a running joke
in league circles. Enter the burly young Bremer, who
could not only shoot the rock, but more importantly,
hurl his boulderlike body through the lane, knocking
bigger players out of the way like bowling pins.
People don't realize just how strong this guy is; he's
like a pint-sized Anthony Mason or J.R. Rider. He has
that kind of body strength. I don't think too many
people could keep him from getting a shot off, if he
has a clear path to the hoop -- which, due to the
attention paid Pierce and Walker, he often does. 

So here's Bremer's line from the Piston win: 9 shots,
eight from three-point land; no foul shots; 4 rebounds
and no assists. Obie would no doubt approve, adding
only that he would have liked more makes (Bremer went
an uncharacteristic 2-8 from the arc.)

On the other hand, Obie does seem to be getting
maximal use out of Mark Blount and Grant Long. Long is
as old as dirt, but he hasn't gotten any smaller, and
the guy knows how to play basketball. He also seems to
have the ability to make a Horace Grant-style
18-footer, which might just come in handy during the
playoffs. Blount seems to be the real find, though.
Last year, I wrote of the stone-faced Blount that "he
never did anything for the Celtics except look good
getting off the bus." Chris Wallace was so incensed
that he called me up to ask if I was on crack when I
wrote it. I was, but does that change anything? (Just
kidding.) Actually, Wallace has to feel pretty good
about the way Blount is justifying his and Leo
Papile's faith. Always a shot-blocking threat, he's
become much more active and aggressive, and makes a
definite impact on the defensive end. He's even
getting some cheap points on offense, as Antoine has
been hitting him with that same backdoor play he runs
with Eric Williams. Blount's next good rebounding game
will be his first, though, which is why Tony Battie is
still so key to the Celtics' hopes.

Earlier this year, I wrote that the Celtics ought to
just write off this year; I now realize that I spoke
prematurely. But the news that Battie was so injured
that he wasn't going to practice at all seemed the
darkest of omens. Now that Antoine has refined his
inside-out game and is doing heavy ball-handling duty
as well, I think we've seen the last of him as a
doube-digit rebounder. That leaves exactly one guy on
the whole roster who can rebound with the good Eastern
conference big men, the Brad Millers and Kenyon
Martins that stand between us and the Finals. Battie
is that guy, and his defense is even more key than his
rebounding. You know, between taking Drew Gooden ahead
of Amare Stoudamire, and trading Battie for Travis
Knight, I'm beginning to think that Jerry West might
not the next Red Auerbach after all. 

Call me crazy.

Draft Notes

Doesn't it strike you as telling that so many Celtics
castoffs are flourishing under other (i.e. better)
coaching elsewhere? Adrian Griffin, that pro's pro, is
bringing all his superb decisionmaking, toughness, and
all-around play to a Dallas team that is stocked with
superstars, but still somehow has found minutes for
him. Bruce Bowen is, irony of ironies, one of the
leading three-point shooters in the league. And of
course, the less said about Chauncey Billups the
better. Kedrick Brown, of course, will have to wait
until next year to succeed. 

Why? Because I have a hunch that Wallace is planning
to package him, along with our two picks, to move up
in the draft. As I watched Mehmet Okur play his usual
brilliant game against us, it occured to me how
immensely valuable this new strain of euro is. I'm not
talking about the superstars, like Nowitski and Gasol.
We're never going to get near one of them until the
current team is blown to smithereens. But there's a
middle class of euros, guys like Okur, Andrei
Kirilenko, and Hidoyet Turkoglu. They're long, bony,
great shooters, leave everything on the floor, and
know the game all the way down to their kishkas. I
don't know much about who's out there, but I bet
there's one to be had in the middle of the first round
or the late lottery. The problem, of course, is that
any of the above players, once imprisoned in Boston's
offense, will cease to exist as basketball players and
just become spot-up shooters, as Bremer has. But who
knows? With the way the Celtics have been moving the
ball, maybe there's hope yet. If only Obie would
delegate the offense to an assistant of Dick Harter's
caliber! That would be the best money the new
ownership could possibly spend.

Josh Ozersky writes on the Celtics weekly for
HOOPSWORLD. Visit his website at
www.joshozersky.cjb.net. 
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com