Walker, Minutes, Kedrick, Ainge, Spurs Backcourt

[Mark Piotrowski <markp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Some thoughts after last nights games....

1.  Walker -- Like everyone else its just killing me (and the C's) 
how poorly Walker is playing.  It was really irritating listening to 
John Thompson say there was something physically wrong with Walker. 
It's so obvious that Martin just has Walker psyched out.

I can usually handle Walker's shooting b/c he always seems to balance 
it out with hustle, a key rebound, passing, and overall leadership 
(his most overlooked quality) -- but the thing I found most 
disturbing was that just after the Nets stopped our 14-0 run and 
pushed the lead back up to 5-7 pts, Walker seemed to just give up. 
While the rest of the team was still scraping and clawing Walker 
seemed absolutely deflated.  2 times he gave the ball to Pierce and 
just stood at the 3pt line.  That in-and-of itself is not out of 
character, but his shoulders were slumped, he stood there 
flat-footed, not ready to receive a pass.  His defender -- i think -- 
saw it and just slipped off him.

I've seen Walker pissed, frustrated, out-of-sync and just play poorly 
-- but don't remember ever seeing him appear to give up (Remember, 
while Pierce shot us back during that record-setting comeback last 
year, it was Walker's fire on the bench during the quarter-break that 
ignited the comeback).  I really wish O'Brien would have just pulled 
him and told him not to worry about it.  I can't help but think that 
if I saw/felt this from my couch in Florida the rest of the team 
saw/felt it and it hurt the comeback.

The problem of course is who are you gonna put in?  Long?  At that 
point even Long's hustle would have been more than we were getting 
from Walker.

2.  Minutes -- Of course I would have liked to see Kedrick put in, 
but this is where we're suffering from his getting almost zero 
playing time during the season.  The kernel of truth in what Thompson 
was saying is that Walker might just be exhausted from playing so 
many minutes over the past 2-3 seasons.  This is one of the very few 
things that just drives me crazy about O'Brien -- his seeming 
absolute refusal to develop players or distribute minutes more 
evenly.  This hurts us in 2 ways:  (1) Pierce/Walker play an insane # 
of minutes and (b) the bench is so much shorter when something goes 
wrong -- like Walker's play in game 2 (I think he just had a 
forgiveable down game in Game 1, but played poorly in Game 2).

Over the past 3 years Pierce and Walker have averaged 38/40/39 and 
41/42/41 minutes a game each.  Imagine if you could shave 3-5 minutes 
off each player's average and give those combined 6-10 minutes to 
Kedrick, sink-or-swim.  Yes the short term loss is Walker/Pierce 
being on the floor for so long, but there were a handful of games I 
watched this year where the C's were up or down 15 late in the 4th 
quarter and Walker and Pierce were still out there.  Why?

3.  Kedrick -- The first few games next year will tell us if Kedrick 
will be allowed to contribute.  Notice I'm not saying if he "can" but 
if he'll be allowed.  There's no denying Kedrick's physical talents 
-- even on garbage time rebounds (in the IND series) you can see his 
hops.  But how is he going to be able to contribute when O'Brien 
barely plays him.  Going up against Pierce in practice is fine, but 
I'd much rather him go up against A. Harrington, Kittles or the like 
in the 3rd period of an actual NBA game.

What troubles me the most is (again) his body language when he's on 
the court (and to a lesser degree on the bench).

Have you ever noticed that when O'Brien does actually put Brown in 
he, on offense, goes right to the 3pt line and just stands there -- 
no movement, no cutting, no nothing.  What's worse, he stands there 
like Walker did in game 2:  flat-footed, shoulders slumped.  You can 
almost hear his body saying "God, why the @#$! does the coach make me 
just stand out here?".  You can FEEL the resignation coming from his 
shoulders.

I do believe O'Brien when he says he's playing with the hand dealt 
him.  The C's *DO* have good spot up 3pt shooters and little post 
talent.  Why then can't Obie see what he's been dealt with Kedrick 
and try and play to his strengths?  Let him cut through the lane, 
take his man off the dribble, set a couple of pick and rolls for 
dunks, let him roam the baseline for offensive boards.  He's not 
fooling anyone 24 feet away from the basket.

And that body language tells me Kedrick is getting discouraged.  That 
he's frustrated.  Last year during the playoffs I remember him and 
Rodney Rogers being close on the bench.  You could see RR pointing 
things out to him, see them laughing and smiling when the C's were 
winning and giving players 5 when they came out.  This year, even 
when things are going well whenever the camera shows him on the bench 
he seems expressionless.  Maybe I'm reading too much into this but I 
imagine his 22-year old psyche is taking a major beating.

4.  Ainge & Wallace -- I'm all for Ainge coming in and steering the 
ship.  But I really hope Wallace will stay on as director of scouting 
or something like that.  While Wallace obviously doesn't have the 
overall skills to run a team, I think he's not given credit for 
finding talent on the fringes -- his problem has been holding onto it.

While watching the playoffs I've taken to pointing out former Celtics 
to my roomate.  Last night as Bruce Bowen was lightign things up I 
remembered that Wallace was the one who first signed Bowen (with the 
Heat) then convinced the C's to sign him.

Erick Strickland.  J.R. Bremer.  Adrian Griffin.  Even Mark Blount.

Imagine how much better the C's would be if we had a GM who knew how 
to build a team (spots #1-6), working with Wallace filling out spots 
#7-12.

5.  Spurs Backcourt -- does it pain anyone else to watch the Spurs 
and think that we should have their backcourt (I won't talk about how 
we really should have their PF....stupid ping-pong balls).

Which is worse?  The Baker trade or the 2001 draft?  I won't pretend 
I knew squat about Tony Parker during the 2001 draft, but then again 
I'm not paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to scout talent. 
Wasnt' there some suggestion that part of the C's BDT wanted Parker? 
Ugh.  Can you imagine how good the C's would be if we had Parker at 
the point?  He is a beautifully pure point guard.  Imagine how much 
easier the game would be for Pierce & Walker if they had someone 
getting them the ball where they want it.  This 21-year old made a 
one-handed cross-court jump-pass to Bowen last night.  Bowen was 
wide-open on the weak-side and the pass was spot-on.  Double Ugh.

And Bowen.  44% from 3pt.  Excellent defender.  Low money guy.  All 
heart and class.  Why did we let him go again?