It's only one game...

[Mark Piotrowski <markp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A few longer term implications from last nights game -- i know, i know 
that's where the title of the email came from.

*  Blount -- wayray recently pointed out that one of Ainge's mistakes 
was not trading Blount since he's going to leave in the summer.  At the 
begining of the season i was more worried of losing him, now i can 
totally live with it -- esp if Hunter keeps it up.  In fact i found 
myself thinking about who we might be able to sign-and-trade Blount 
for.  He'll want more than we should pay him -- since on any good team 
he should be a solid backup, not starter.  And Ainge should really go 
with at LaFrentz/Mihm/Perkins rotation next year anyways.  Any ideas on 
who might be in the market for Blount?  Dallas, Golden St., Indiana?  
Could we sign-and-trade him back to denver for a signed-and-traded 
Rodney White?  I'd still like to see a hard push for Z. Randolph...


* Brent Barry -- I know its only one game but if Atkins is the real PG 
we've been looking for, where would Brent Barry play?  While I agree 
(again) with Mark B. that you still hve to look for upgrades, if Atkins 
can play close to this way every night why would we need to spend the 
MLE on Barry?  Given that Atkins is on for 2 more years and you want 
Banks to get at least 10-12 mins a game, would Barry end up taking 
minutes away from Welsch?  Davis?  More and more i'd like to stay away 
from Barry.  I'd much rather add depth at the 4 and 5 -- in fact at 
this point I'd rather take a gamble on McDyess (who when healthy can be 
a superstar) or Stro Swift, than a decent player like Barry.



* While some fans -- though few on this list, where we've been 
virtually chanting "Hunter, hunter" since the season began -- will ask 
"where did hunter come from?" it points to one of Obie's biggest 
weaknesses:  Rotations and not playing rookies.  O'Brien was great at 
getting the max out of his top 7 or 8 players, but he also didn't mind 
-- and was very explicit about preferring to -- sacrificing the long 
term (letting players like Hunter get 5-10 mins/game) for short term 
success (some supposed 2 or 3 more wins by having Walker and Pierce 
play 41 mins and playing McCarty, Ewill and Blount so much).

To this point, there is a TERRIFIC part of David Aldridge's latest 
column about Hubie Brown's 10-man rotations, especially, this quote 
from Hubie (see end for full article):

> "We win (recently), and a guy comes in and goes, 'Boy, you guys are 
> really deep. You have 10 guys,' " Brown said. "I said, 'You know why 
> we're deep? Because we play them.' Everybody's got them, but you've 
> got to play them. I mean, there are all kinds of kids sitting on 
> benches, eight (through) 12. And that's my thing when I do clinics for 
> coaches: What are you doing for players nine, 10, 11 and 12? What are 
> you doing for them?"

I hope Ainge understands this and will look for a coach who agrees.

(the other) Mark

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Hubie's 10 Commandments -- from D.A.'s article:


When Hubie Brown broke into the NBA in 1973, his first job was as an 
assistant in Milwaukee. The Bucks had a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and 
an old Oscar Robertson, and Bob Dandridge, and Lucious Allen, and Jon 
McGlocklin. They were loaded. And so, they didn't go very deep into 
their bench.

"Players nine, 10, 11 and 12 were (ticked) off every day," Brown 
recalled. "Every day. And so you'd come to practice. And Larry 
(Costello) would say -- Larry was a great coach -- he'd say 'All right, 
you take care of those four guys.' "

 From that came the roots of Brown's philosophy, which is to play just 
about everyone he has in uniform on a given night. And it's no 
different three decades later in Memphis, where Brown's Grizzlies go 10 
deep just about every night and wear down the opposition. Brown did it 
in Kentucky with the ABA Colonels, and in Atlanta with the Hawks, and 
in New York with the Knicks.

"Playing that amount of guys, what you're saying is, OK ,we might be 
young, we might be inexperienced, but we're going to give you more 
energy in that 48 minutes most nights," Brown said. "And if our style 
is forcing turnovers, blocking shots, and steals ... that takes energy 
on a nightly basis. So by playing guys and then letting them develop, 
you develop a talent base. So now when you call to make a trade, you 
know if those guys can play or not. Today, with the salary cap thing, 
you want to get into as many two for ones, three for twos (trades), 
because people know that the kids can play."

No one plays more than 32 minutes a game. Basically, you play up to 
eight minutes at a crack, and you come out. Seven players have played 
in 50 or more games this season, and it's really more than that; Bonzi 
Wells has been on the floor every night since he came from Portland, 
and only injuries have limited Jason Williams to 47 games.

But it wasn't an easy sell.

"It was tough at first," forward James Posey said. "You come in and 
you're right back out. But while you're in there you just have to be 
productive, do your job. If you do that, things will come. It's not 
going to change, so just accept it and do your job."

When Posey was signed by Memphis to an offer sheet in the summer, he 
figured he was going to get to hoist a lot of shots.

"Honestly, I did start out like that," he said. "I'm like, man, I'm 
going to be here so long. But I was still getting familiar with the 
system. Now I understand where my shot is going to be coming from and 
the flow of the offense. It's a lot easier. It's not necessarily about 
the shots, but just trying to be productive while you're in there."

The other players say pretty much the same. It's like they're the 
Stepford Grizzlies. But when you've already set a franchise record for 
wins, and the playoffs are in sight, you tend to drink the Kool-Aid. 
Brown has gotten them to accept his edict: Team success ultimately 
begats individual success. And if there's an injury in the playoffs, 
instead of throwing an unproven body out there, you can rely on someone 
that's played all season long.

"We win (recently), and a guy comes in and goes, 'Boy, you guys are 
really deep. You have 10 guys,' " Brown said. "I said, 'You know why 
we're deep? Because we play them.' Everybody's got them, but you've got 
to play them. I mean, there are all kinds of kids sitting on benches, 
eight (through) 12. And that's my thing when I do clinics for coaches: 
What are you doing for players nine, 10, 11 and 12? What are you doing 
for them?"

And the Logo would really like to get rookies Dahntay Jones and Troy 
Bell on the floor.