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Re: D'ellasandro: Celtics 8th in east

At 02:21 PM 10/27/2003, Kestutis Kveraga wrote:
--- You wrote:
Kendrick not Kedrick and it's still wrong IMO since Kendrick is very young and
raw and will get eaten alive by more experienced starting centers most of the
time until he gets up to pace on the NBA game. He CAN'T reliably substitute for
Battie at this point in terms of what we need, but will quite likely bring more
as soon as a year from now. I like what I saw, but he is really really raw, if
quite talented with a surprisingly good idea of what an inside game should be.
He's also very very young and used to totally dominating and might not cope
psychologically well with too much apparent on court failure.
--- end of quote ---

I wouldn't worry about that with Kendrick. He seems very confident for an
18-year-old.

Yeah, I absolutely agree about that. With solid family grounding support as well. But as you say, it's 'FOR an 18 year old',. Also an 18 year old out in the world for the first time from a very protected small town background, where he's had personal tragedy but could always rely on the court for a comfort level in the face of whatever other problems there were through being a man playing with boys. That last comfort zone is gone for a bit.

As for Kendrick's PT, I didn't mean he'd be a member of the
regular rotation at C (although I wouldn't mind that at all). What I meant was
that, with LaFrentz, Baker, Blount, and Battie, he'd be on the IL all season
long. I dont' think that helps his development at all. With one of these
removed from the rotation, he might see spot minutes here and there (although,
knowing Obie, he'd probably call Grant Long out of retirement instead). From
what  I've seen, nothing indicates that Kendrick wouldn't be able to handle a
few minutes of action against second-line guys.

Cool, and again we mostly agree. That's exactly the role he should see and expect. But the apparent knee jerk Obie and rookies and Grant Long comment is more typical of people who would look on such limited PT very differently. Limited minutes aren't inherently for bad reasons, and don't mean he won't be developing regardless. While everyone who insists Obie would never play a rookie just because they are a rookie ignores that JJ started a significant proportion of the time he was here before actively playing himself out of the rotation - for reasons that have had the same effect at Phoenix. He probably would have played himself back into it here as he has there (although personally I thought at the time he might develop faster elsewhere because of his lack of aggressiveness in the shadow of our very aggressive co-caps), but Wallace traded him. I can go down the line - people ignore the effect of Kedrick's injuries, etc etc etc. But it's not going to change anyone's mind. Even though I also think the last few pre-season games should have given some hint that people's assumptions about Obie might be open to review. That won't happen in most cases either, of course -- and honestly that's a general comment, Kestas, not meant to target you. You're usually pretty reasonable.

Kim