Sorting through the Ainge/Walker/Obie stuff

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As I said yesterday, I don't think Ainge's carefully worded statements about
Antoine mean that Antoine won't be traded. Ainge will listen to offers and
if something good comes along, he'll do it. If not, Antoine will be back
(ugh). Either way, he doesn't want Antoine spending the summer dangling from
the store window. I also think the conditioning talk is a way of trying to
maximize Antoine's effectiveness should he return. Of course, Ainge will
learn just as Pitino did, that Antoine doesn't really care for improving his
body. He likes to play pickup hoops in the summer, but really committing
himself to changing his body type just isn't in Antoine's plans. So, we'll
see. Hopefully something good will come along (like I said yesterday, I'm
hoping for a Shareef-Gasol type deal; trading an established player for a
pick with the potential to be better and other players). 

On Obie, this really was the only option for Ainge. Would I have liked to
have seen him fire Obie? Yes, but that's a tough sell with the team coming
off back-to-back playoff appearances (even if the style of play is ugly as a
mud fence). But if you let him go into the season as a lame duck, you risk
losing the players and sabotaging the season-and Ainge would feel the heat
for that. So the extension was almost unavoidable. Still, I'd just about
guarantee that any extension Obie signs will have a manageable buyout for
the Celtics built in. Ainge's comments about not developing draft picks, "if
we're going to shoot so many threes... " etc., lead me to believe he remains
less than convinced that Obie is the guy for the job. But he'll see for
himself next season.

Ainge is saying all the right things about his vision for the team-starting
with his emphasis on bringing in a creative playmaker at point guard.
Picking up the tempo, adding a big man and a low-post presence-all that
sounds great. But saying it and getting it done are two different things,
and I think Ainge is smart enough to know you're not going to fill the holes
with late draft picks and minimum-wage free agents. I mean, does anyone
honestly think Luke Ridnour is going to be able to take the ball out of
Antoine's hands? No way. If they just come back with the same cast of
characters plus a point guard picked at No. 16, nothing is going to change.
I'm not discounting the possibility of finding a real gem with one or both
of these picks, but even a headstrong veteran playmaker like Kenny Anderson
was overwhelmed by Antoine and eventually became not much more than a
spot-up shooter (except when the Celts ran the pick-and-roll). Antoine will
eat a rookie alive.

The problems with the roster will require deep, fundamental changes to
really make a difference. For example, if you just stay the course with
Antoine and Battie at PF/C, then you are always going to be among the worst
rebounding teams in the league. That's not something you fix by just adding
rookies and building continuity. No, this team has gone as far as it can go
with minor tweaking. Major surgery is needed. I think Ainge knows that, but
he's being cautious so as not to spook everyone on the roster. Most of them
remember the Pitino merry-go-round, and would be wary of someone coming in
talking about tearing things apart.

Mark

P.S. Are these other playoff series great or what? I don't have a strong
feeling about the direction of any of them. I'm anti-Lakers, of course. In
the East, how do you root for either the Sixers or Pistons? I can't, so I'm
rooting for the Nets. But I'm hoping the Spurs win the whole thing.