herald article

[Josh Ozersky <joshozersky@xxxxxxxxx>]

A side effect to living in NY...I often stay out all night and come home

at 5 or later, in time to check tomorrow's (today's) celtics news.  Finally,

a story!  The Herald ran a by-the-numbers piece about Jim O'Brien

saying they have added depth, but stressing defense in his stolid, stupid

way, and never, ever, mentioning Brandon Hunter.  Every new guy was mentioned

but hunter.  Is Mark Murphy another spoonfed shira springer, to pass along

unmediated O'Brien's flat-line nostrums?  I guess so, judging by this piece:

http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/celtics/cs09102003.htm

My post-parse conclusion:  O'Brien must go if the Cs are ever to run.  Ray and 

Mark Berry are right.

 

Josh

 

 

O'Brien pushes to keep C's on run 

by Mark Murphy 
Wednesday, September 10, 2003








Like the offensive attack he hopes to improve this season, the pace in Jim O'Brien's office kicked into fast-break mode this week.

. As difficult as it may be to fathom, in 24 days O'Brien will usher in his third training camp as Celtics coach, with the goal of changing the style - if not the personnel - of the team that reached last season's conference semifinals. 
Like basketball operations chief Danny Ainge, O'Brien wants the team to run more. 
Then again, so does every other NBA team at this time of year. 
``I don't think there's been a year I've coached when you don't want to run more,'' O'Brien said yesterday. ``The object is to get as many clean looks at the basket before the defense sets as you can. 
``The fact that we have guys who can fill the lane better now helps,'' added O'Brien, before heading off in a familiar, basic direction. 
``You have to get stops to be a great running team,'' he said. ``Everything on our team starts from our halfcourt defense on out.'' 
Unlike divisional rivals New Jersey and Philadelphia, the Celtics have not bolstered themselves with glitzy offseason moves. 
But free agent newcomers Jumaine Jones and Mike James should mark upgrades in the speed/athleticism department - especially with Jones' reputation as a wing scorer. 
Rookie point guard Marcus Banks is obviously the Celtics' investment in a new, improved ``push game.'' 
Now, if they could only rebound - a need that depends, in large part, on an improbable return to form by last year's problem child, Vin Baker. 
O'Brien went to Miami to assess the center's conditioning and game this summer, and though he declined to discuss what he saw, Celtics types are abuzz with talk of a revitalized and better-conditioned Baker. 
All of which points to a particularly competitive training camp, with Jones pressing Eric Williams and Walter McCarty at small forward, and James in the point guard mix with Banks. 
The differences between now and last year may seem subtle at first. But O'Brien believes the changes will show themselves in terms of depth, often a sore point last year. 
The Celtics have 14 players under contract, a far cry from the threadbare 12 that former owner Paul Gaston allowed the team to carry over the first half of last season. 
``A couple of years ago I remember Chris Wallace saying that you might not be able from year to year to improve your top seven greatly, but you can always improve your next five,'' said O'Brien. ``We have a couple of guys right now who can compete for starting jobs. 
``We certainly have more depth, and I think practices will become tremendously more competitive.'' 
Though none of the newcomers - Jones, James, Banks and fellow rookie Kendrick Perkins - are marquee material, that hasn't stepped in the way of O'Brien's enthusiasm. 
``Our talent level is really dramatically better, when you look at the total of our roster,'' he said. ``We didn't add another All-Star to our team, but I think we added a great deal of depth and speed. 
``On paper, we should be a better team,'' O'Brien added. ``We have new guys, and better athleticism at the center spot because this time we have Mark Blount from the start of the season, in addition to Vin. We have a very fast rookie point guard. We have improved on our speed and physicalness.'' 
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