Re: Celtics Need To Trade Mark Blount Before The Deadline

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

This is possible, Ray, but I don't see it happening. Blount has value
around the league because he's a cheap, passable center. He has value to
the Celtics also. They're incredibly thin up front, even when Lafrentz
comes back. Maybe some team will drastically overpay and the Celtics
will lose him without compensation. But I think I'd play it out and see,
unless an unbelievable deal came along. I'm not the biggest Blount fan
in the world, but he's improving. You can do a lot worse. It would have
to be a clear win for the Celts to justify trading him.



Some other thoughts on the weekend...



1.	John Carroll is in WAAAYYYY over his head. I was apoplectic
Friday night. Just a terrible showing and horrendous bench coaching.
Burying Mihm was unbelievable. And Tommy actually said something
critical when he went on and on about how Obie had responded to every
problem by focusing on defense. He said the object of the game isn't to
hold the team under 90 points. The object is to score more than the
other team. He said margin is the key. He didn't say this, but I'll
expound for him... Sometimes, those 80-point games can be really
misleading. You play that grind-it-out style and neither team gets that
many shots up. Maybe you call that great defense, but I don't. Anyway,
Tommy was right. He also was stupefied by Mihm's benching. Aren't we
all? Then we had Saturday...



2.	I'm not sure where Carroll's decision to reinsert Mihm, with two
fouls, for the final 60 seconds of the first half ranks in all-time
boneheaded coaching moves, but it's up there. Never mind the apparent
refusal to play Brandon Hunter (does he do anything other than grab
rebounds and make baskets when he's in there?)... can't you throw
Michael Stewart out there just to get through the half without that
third foul? Just dumb.



3.	Carroll has a disturbing tendency to forget about guys on the
bench. Jiri went there early in the third quarter and never came back.
The guy had a pretty darn good first half when Pierce was out. By the
way... does anyone else think it wasn't a coincidence that the team
functioned so well without Pierce for that long stretch of the first
half?



4.	Mike James is killing them. Marcus Banks isn't great, but things
function better with him in there than they do with James. I'm
officially begging John Carroll for some Jiri at point guard minutes.
I'm begging.



5.	Like I said before, what does Brandon Hunter have to do? How bad
does Walter have to be?



6.	Finally, does anyone else think Obie, Carroll and their ilk make
things way too complicated? I mean, for 60 years, this has been a pretty
simple game. Rebounds matter. If a guy is out there making baskets and
grabbing rebounds, that was considered a good thing. Now it's like
they're thinking "Yes, he's scoring points and grabbing rebounds, but he
was a half-second late on that defensive rotation on his third trip down
the floor and his man had an open 18-footer... " This isn't rocket
science. The team plays better with two rebounders in there (and I'm
counting Blount as a rebounder). I was ready to give up Friday night. I
wasn't feeling much better Saturday, but at least the players played
through the Carroll Effect.



That's it. Congrats Pats fans. Great game. As for the Celtics, a coach
and a point guard will solve a lot of problems.



Mark