Re: I'm thankful for this series...

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Absolutely, no deal is better than just a parallel move. If no deal is made
and we do draft or trade for a point Toines usefulness may improve. He does
have talent. He needs help bringing them out.

DanF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 10:29 AM
Subject: I'm thankful for this series...


> I think this series was necessary to highlight just how far this team is
> from title contention. Not only aren't the Celtics within earshot of the
top
> 6-9 teams in the West, they aren't that close to the top teams in the
East.
> That needed to be made obvious. Ainge knows it, hence his comments about
> getting things "turned around." In Wallace and Papile's twisted world,
> everything was on the upswing. Ainge sees the team for what it is and
isn't
> satisfied with that. These are good things.
>
> On the other topics of the weekend...
>
> 1. Game 3... Not at all surprising. The interesting thing about this
> series is the way the Nets have so completely frustrated Antoine. Remember
> last year, they did the same thing to Pierce. Anyway, the Nets may relax a
> little tonight, but if they push the pedal just a little, I think the
> Celtics will more than gladly let them run away.
>
> 2. Antoine's play... Not much to say. I will second Tammo's thoughts
> about Antoine's idea of playing hard and the reality of playing hard. You
> never see Antoine give a hard foul, even when it's necessary. He doesn't
> want to impact his minutes. It's another reason I shake my head when
people
> talk about what a "team" guy Antoine is. He's about Antoine. Always has
> been, always will be. Like Tammo said, he wants to win, but doesn't want
to
> do everything necessary to win. He wants it on his terms.
>
> 3. Antoine's incident... I can't believe how this has been shrugged off
> by the Boston media and, apparently, most on this list. The guy left the
> bench and assaulted a fan. So the guy was heckling. Like this was the
first
> time? No, this happened because Antoine is frustrated. Cliff Robinson
nailed
> Antoine when he said he's a front-runner. When things are going his way,
> everything is right with the world. When things aren't, that's when the
> trouble starts. You can't have players going after fans who are heckling
> them. Heckling happens all the time. Antoine has $11 million reasons to
> ignore it. He deserves to be suspended.
>
> 4. Trading Antoine... Well, the bandwagon is nearing maximum occupancy.
> While I agree, it's vitally important that Ainge not make a bad deal just
to
> get rid of him. You could live with a deal like that to get rid of a Vin
> Baker (unless you're Seattle, when you actually get the two best players
and
> all the best contracts). But Antoine isn't that kind of problem player.
You
> have to find the right deal. It won't be easy, but it can and probably
will
> be done. I'd say Antoine's value, despite this series, still far exceeds
the
> low-end suggestions (anything involving Dale Davis).
>
> 5. Did anyone else see Ainge talk to Alonzo Mourning during one of the
> TNT broadcasts? Apparently he said something like "you'd look great in
> green... " And Mourning responded with "Green is one of my favorite
> colors... " That's just chit chat, but does anyone think Ainge might have
> had Mourning in mind when he talked (joked?) about finding a $10 million
> player with that $4.5 million exception? It would be a risk, obviously,
but
> that would be interesting. Even if he's only as healthy as he was last
> season, Mourning would be a significant addition. It's definitely in the
> realm of longshot what-ifs, but what the heck?
>
> 6. Obie... I think Ainge is waiting to evaluate Obie because Ainge
> knows what needs to be done to this team and he's not going to reward Obie
> with an extension if Obie isn't on board. Is Obie a one-trick pony? In
other
> words, if you take Antoine away, can Obie change the way he coaches this
> team?
>
> Sorry so long. I'm just excited about the future of this team for the
first
> time since before the 2001 draft.
>
> Mark