Re: Leave Obie alone!!

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:24 PM 5/27/03 -0400, Kestas wrote:
>Wow, Snoopy . . . You have a wild imagination, which is great in your 
>chosen profession, but not so good dealing with the harsh realities of 
>professional sports. The Celtics had to start relying on the three after 
>the new owners took over, because Gaston didn't make Rogers and Kenny a 
>serious offer?! The Celtics were the best defensive team in the NBA?! 
>Battie would've had his surgery, if not for Gaston's stinginess?!  Gaston 
>sent Obie to Rogers "with an offer so insulting that in any other 
>neighborhood would have been cause to challenge a duel". I haven't seen 
>such demagoguery since I last read a "Pravda" editorial.

Guess you don't watch Fox news...

>What offer was the BT supposed to make to Kenny? He was already under 
>contract for whose expiration the Celtic Nation had been waiting for years.

In the last year of his contract many people felt that Kenny was finally 
coming to terms with the notion that his job was to distribute the ball, 
not shoot it himself.  Was he a GREAT PG?  No.  But he was quite literally 
better than no PG at all, which is what the C's ended up with.

>  And since when does Obie conduct contract negotiations? I thought it was 
> Wallace's job.

I recall comments from back then indicating that O'Brien was one of the 
people who tried to get Rogers to stay for the piddling amount that Gaston 
was willing to part with.

>The Celtics were a pretty good defensive team in the '01-'02 season, but 
>the "best defensive team in the NBA"? That's pretty lofty praise for a 
>team without a center, as you say,  a team that was near-last in blocks 
>and rebounding. They weren't even the best in opponent FG% or points 
>allowed. So, how were they the best?

Look at their record--not just the stats, but the games themselves.  They 
almost never won a game because they outscored their opponent.  It was 
almost inevitably because they outdefended their opponent.  To achieve what 
they did without a solid offensive capability and relying on the three 
point shot was directly due to their superior defense.

>As for Battie, the reason he didn't go for surgery earlier was that they 
>hoped the knee would improve without it. If you know anything about 
>medicine, surgery is always the last option, because it has its own risks 
>associated with it.

As it happens, I know a great deal about medicine, on an up close and 
personal basis--including surgery.  The other options had run out long 
before the season ended, and Battie stopped practicing because his knee 
wouldn't take the strain.  They took a reasonable chance that he wouldn't 
do permanent damage to the knee if he waited.  But as I said, 
personnel-wise, they had few options left.  Even an injured Battie was 
essential to the C's game plan on many nights.

>  And this is the one that really cracks me up: "A running game was 
> pointless because they had no one to dominate the inside at either end.". 
> Of course, it's so obvious (slapping my forehead) - if you have no one to 
> dominate the low post, you shouldn't run either. What are the Mavs, the 
> Bucks, the Nets thinking? You should walk it up, give it to a 32% 3PT 
> shooter, and let him chuck threes early in the shot clock.

I imagine the Mavs are thinking "Gee, we really need Dirk Nowitzki to come 
back and play or our butts are toast in the playoffs."; and the Nets are 
thinking "Mutombo's looking better nowadays."  I don't think anyone knows 
what the Bucks think, including the Bucks.

>Lastly, who are the people on the list are trying to "shove Obie and his 
>best two players out the door"?  Unless you count Walker and Baker as the 
>Celtics' best two players, I don't see how you came up with that one (I 
>guess the same way you did with the others - vivid imagination). I haven't 
>seen anyone, save for some troll months ago, say that we should dump Pierce.

I refer you to the recent post by Stephen Beauregard, entitled "Bad timing 
once again...why did we re-up OB?" , in reply to the news that Larry Brown 
had resigned as Sixers coach.

Walker has been a common suggestion as trade bait, with the occasional 
comment to the effect that teams would likely want Pierce instead of 
Walker.  I'm not going to review every post for the last few months just to 
reinforce a point.

By the way, I'm not sure why you felt impelled to make a few cracks at me 
directly, or maybe you just got overwhelmed by a bout of sarcasm.  Happens 
to most of us at one time or another.  All I'm doing--when you come down to 
it--is offering my point of view.  That it happens to contrast with yours 
is a potential for some interesting discussion--preferably without making 
it personal.  That leads to "suff-er-ing", as Yoda said; because sooner or 
later, I'd have to dazzle you with my command of English and my sterling 
wit.  That's a fate worse than death, according to several friends of mine 
who know I'm not as clever as I'd like to think I am.  :>)))

Let's roll with it and have fun while we get ready for next season.  Life's 
too short to spend all of it arguing.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website