[no subject]

Patrick (Boston): Dr Jack, Love your work and don't want to put you on the 
spot, but I have to ask this question for all Celtic fans. What in God's 
name is Jim O'Brien doing? Let me explain. First, the defense that Jim 
O'Brien and Dick Harter implemented 3+ years ago relies on rotating and 
fronting. Ultimately, these two concepts make it much more difficult for the 
players to get defensive rebounds than straight up man-to-man defense. It's 
tougher to body up on a man when the shot goes up because they?re usually 
rotating and playing a space not a man and even when they are playing a man 
it become difficult to regain rebounding position since they always seem to 
be fronting. Put these two situations together and it's no wonder the 
Celtics give up a ton of offensive rebounds. After 3 years, teams have 
figured out how to exploit it (from the weakside) and the C's have yet to 
make a change to counter it. Second, the 3 point shooting has got to stop. 
Danny Ainge promised us an up tempo style yet Jim O'Brien is giving us 
exactly what he gave us last year. And, the fact that he continues to play 
Walter McCarty who over the last 4 games and 41 shots is shooting only 22% 
is beyond me. Finally, I think most of us are also sick of hearing his "We 
don't know what Chris Mihm and Ricky Davis can do yet " Here's a hint, Chris 
can run the floor, block shots and rebound while Ricky can flat out score. 
Now please work with your son in law and help him find a use for Ricky and 
Chris if he can't. I don't mean to sound angry, but I spend a lot of money 
on tickets and I am sick of seeing CYO basketball. Thanks for answering

Dr. Jack Ramsay: Long question, Patrick...and many repeats of it. But to 
answer: The Cs defense is 3rd best in the league in fg%D. They are weak 
rebounders as you state. Some of that is related to the defensive system, 
but a couple of strong boardmen would make it work. Fronting does not 
necessarily give offensive positioning if the fronter makes the effort to 
swing around and block his man...that's a fundamental that all teams 
observe. I expect Obie to use Mihm more because of his rebounding, althoug 
he has a limited offensive game.
The Cs need to find ways to score more and have no low post man now that Vin 
has reverted to his last season's form on the court. Their best chance of 
scoring is to run more, penetrate to the hoop more, then take the 3s that 
come from that. It's a tough team to coach...not the team that Obie 
preferred.
Hang in there with them...they'll get better. I expect Ricky to get more 
minutes and the points to get more chances to get to the hoop. Banks needs 
better control and James more consistency...

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