Re: This clash act couldn't go on - Ryan (Globe)

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
''Doesn't he understand? O'Brien was the only source of stability in the 
organization, and now he is gone.<''  - Ryan
--- end of quote ---

Egg,
I don't understand your sudden turning hard right to the Obie camp. Do you
really hate Ainge that much? (I guess that's a dumb question.)  Why are you all
of a sudden accepting these same tired arguments, predictably coming from P-May
and, somewhat more surprisingly, from Bob Ryan? I expected more vision out of
Ryan, but here he is, repeating the same "stability" mantra and bemoaning the
apparently forever-lost opportunity to be "within 2 games of the NBA Finals"
now that Obie is gone. Is that what it's come down to? A sure loss in the EC
Finals is viewed as something this franchise should be striving for? Stability
is good when it's at a high point, not so good when the team is mired in
mediocrity. 

I am also shocked that Bob Ryan (who I though was a basketball purist?)
unquestioningly accepts Obie's dogma that if you don't have outstanding
low-post players, the only other thing to do is to shoot lots of threes. I'd
expect it out of Shira, but not him:

"<...>I never doubted that he had arrived at the decision to play that way only
after 
a great deal of thought. He simply concluded that going over to the 3 gave
 his team the best chance to win. In a better world, he'd have a guy he could 
give the basketball to on the low box and ask him to score, but until that 
day came . . ."

So, I guess the great majority of the teams who don't have a Shaq or a Duncan
in the middle should just start chucking threes? I guess their coaches are not
as smart as Obie was to have figured out that the 3-point chuck-o-rama is the
only way to go.

One more thing: Ricky Davis. Is Bob Ryan watching the games? The kid hustles
like no one else on the Celtics. I haven't seen any stupid antics or pouting a
la Walker (whom, lest we forget, Ryan himself termed a "punk"). Granted, he
hasn't played the Obie/Harter defense to perfection, but then again, it's now
akin to being able to operate a typewriter - not a career-enhancing skill in
what is surely not a growth market. Tommy, Cooz, and, judging from his comments
on "New England Sports Tonight", Cedric Maxwell, have been increasingly
critical of the Obie/Harter defense, as evidently have been Ainge and many fans
on this list. It's like a cheap cologne - though not as cheap as Rick Pitino's
brand - overpowering at first, but wears off fairly quickly once you get used
to it, and really does a job on your skin. According to Maxwell last night, it
was the DEFENSE that Obie absolutely refused to change, not the offense (though
that, very apparently, too).

So the team may flounder this year with an interim coach and all the changes,
and people like Paul M. will periodically remind us of that with their
whiny-sarcastic posts on how much this is "better" than going to the EC Finals
2 years ago (people, will you ever get over that momentous achievement in
franchise history?). But so what? I'd rather watch the youngsters play, get a
lottery pick and a coach that won't stagnate the team than settle for the
immensely boring half-measure that was Coach O'Brien. I feel very strongly that
Ainge's vision is correct, and that he will not be stopped by any coach or star
player from implementing it. Virtually every change that we pined for has come
sooner than we expected. I guess Danny isn't so indecisive after all. And the
owners aren't as stupid as you make them out to be. They may desperately want
to fill seats and win, but they realize that this an entertainment business and
the best way to fill the seats is to play an entertaining style of basketball.
Obieball was anything but and that's why Obie is buh-bye. Way to go, Wyc, Steve
and Danny!
Kestas


Kestas