Re: Mihm

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

As usual, I agree with everything Kestas says here, bit I would like to add a couple of things to this discussion. 

--On Mihm's power dunking... One important factor that allows him to do it so well is his great hands. He catches the ball extremely well. He gathers in even low passes effortlessly, on the move, allowing him to make a quick jump. So many big guys have bad hands. Not Mihm.

--Also, he's very athletic. I forget where I read it, but he has a phenomenal vertical jump number. And he's fast from end to end for a big guy. Anyway, he's not your typical big, slow white stiff. He moves and leaps well.

--If I have a disappointment with Mihm so far, it's that he left his shooting stroke in Cleveland. Kim, you say he's offensively limited, but this guy has a nice stroke out to 15-18 feet. We haven't seen it yet, but I'm hoping that's just because he's still getting comfortable and finding out where his shots are in the offense. Sort of like Jiri early on, and Ricky to an extent right now. Mihm is a pretty good face-up jump shooter, and I'm betting we see that as he gains more playing time (or should I say "if"... ) 

--Even after Mihm sparked the first-quarter explosion and finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, Obie only grudgingly gave him credit. "Fouled too much... " and some other so-so comments. What does Obie have against this guy? 

--On the fouls... You ask your 7-foot, 270-pound center to blitz a point guard on a pick-and-roll 25 feet from the basket, then you lose the right to complain when he picks up a couple of cheap blocking fouls doing just that. And on that note... I completely understand the blitzing concept when you're dealing with a Mike Bibby or Steve Nash, who come off those picks looking for jump shots and capable of making those shots. But Tyronn Lue???? I'd tell my point guard to go under every pick out there and beg Tyronn Lue to take that shot. Am I missing something? And can't we make an exception to this blitzing strategy when Tracy McGrady is the guy setting the pick. So we have two guys swarming Tyronn Lue, who then passes to McGrady - whose man is blitzing Tyronn Lue - and McGrady hits a wide-open jump shot. I mean, aren't we missing the obvious if we double team ANYONE using McGrady's defender? Anyway, I got off topic a little. Mihm had some ticky-tackers last night.

--After the opening stretch of the game, when things looked wonderful, did we see Mihm and Blount in there together again? Seemed to me it was either Mihm or Blount with McCarty most of the time. There may have been a brief stretch in the second half, but it wasn't long. With Baker and Lafrentz out, Mihm and Blount is as good as it gets in a PF/C combination. 

--Along with Walter, the point guards are emerging as a real problem again. They're both looking for their shot too much. Mike James has been especially guilty. 

--I remember back in the 1980s when Mike Holmgren was the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers (stay with me) and Joe Montana was his quarterback. Montana was a great player already. But during one offseason, Holmgren and Montan sat down and watched film of every interception Montana threw the previous season. A really high percentage came on a certain type of pass play, so they eliminated those plays. Montana followed with his best season and reduced his interceptions drastically. Why am I bringing this up? Paul Pierce had nine turnovers last night. I bet everyone on this list could see at least seven of them coming. Can't someone sit down with Pierce and look at film of his turnovers and show him how he's getting in trouble, over and over? There are simple things he could do to eliminate those plays. If he saw it happening again and again, on film, maybe he'd recognize it in the games. I don't know. That comparison just came to me last night as I was screaming "Pass the ball!" 

--Ricky Davis is getting comfortable. It was nice to see them run a few plays for him in the first half. Of course, they were far too successful and made Ainge look a little too good (just like Mihm's first half), so Obie nixed that in the second half.

--Quickly on Bill Simmons' take on the Celts... It's easy for people to say "he could have gotten more" for Antoine. From who? By all accounts, Dallas is shopping him around the league right now and can't find a taker. Is letting him walk a better option? It's easy to be critical this season when LaFrentz is out, but next season, with a healthy LaFrentz, Jiri (do people even remember he came in the Antoine deal? Do you want to give him up?), a mid-level free agent and Dallas' draft pick, how do things look? And, the biggest thing is Antoine isn't here dominating the team. Like Simmons said when the trade was made, it was time for him to go. Everyone says "he could have gotten more... " but I think it's clear that he COULDN'T. I'd do the trade again today in a heartbeat.

Mark


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Kestas (and Kim) wrote:

Kim wrote:
> Perception is a wierd thing. Pierce, Ewill, Blount, Battie have 
> all accomplished it this season alone, with some doing it more 
> than once. Even Baker did once, and maybe some others. 

I think John's point was that Mihm did it in 23 minutes (and in 18 min. on Monday). 

> I'm being 
> lazy about details because I haven't fed all the boxscores into 
> my database (I can give you more specifics in a day or so if you 
> really want them) Pierce leads the team in double digit rebound 
> games with at least 5 this season - I keep saying that for all 
> his other faults that drive me crazy, he is a very underrated 
> rebounder. 

Underrated by whom? I think the whole league knows that Pierce's an excellent rebounder. 

> That and his ballhandling weaknesses are why IMO he 
> really is a SF not a SG.

Of course he's an SF. I don't know why they list him as a SG. 

> Mihm - fairly mobile but otherwise offensively very limited 

Compared to whom? Blount? McCarty? Stewart? Battie? The only big guys who are better offensively on the Celtics are Baker and LaFrentz. Which effectively means that he's our best big man offensive option. 

> although one HUGE virtue: understands the idea of taking 
> advantage of his size to power dunk whenever possible, something 
> I wish he would get through to our other big men. No pitty pat 
> open hoops for Chris. 

Well, I understand the virtue of it as well, but that doesn't mean I can execute it. Blount, Baker, and, to some extent, McCarty (for all his supposed athleticism) are not very good leapers, at least not from fairly stationary, two-footed position. That's part of the reason they're not great rebounders. That's also why they rarely power slam it the way Chris does, with the ball coming from way above the rim. Their dunks are more of the get-it-over-the-rim variety. Blount always crouches to get the most out of his jump, which is why he gets stripped and blocked more than he should. Mihm just goes straight up and flushes with great power. It's really unusual that our big man with the best hops is a white guy.   

> Don't forget the foul problems though, 
> which weren't totally unexpected and will continue to be an issue 
> with more minutes. That being said, I agree he should start at 
> 4/5 and suspect that he will for a bit. He and Blount as a 
> starting tandem up front to some degree offset each other's 
> limitations, since Blount has a jump shot on offense and Mihm 
> adds toughness.


Yeah, Mihm was one of the main reasons for our great start and strong first half. Then, of course, Obie applied a generous dose of McCarthy and our offensive game and rebounding went south. Partly, he had to, because of Mihm's foul trouble, but something tells me he wasn't terriblly upset to play McCarty. 

Speaking Obie, it's like he's playing a game with Ainge, openly daring Ainge to fire him, then pulling back a little by using a more sensible lineup and style, then going back to pure Obieball, over and over. 
Kestas