One more thing

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

Something I completely forgot in my "first things I'd do as new coach"
item in my first post:



Get the ball out of Pierce's hands. Tell him to roam the baseline and
wings. Run him off picks. Have him setting picks. Put him in position to
make two-dribble drives to the basket. Let him think about scoring, not
about creating for the rest of the team. This goes hand in hand with
more time for Marcus Banks at point. He's not there yet, but Banks is a
better bet to run the team and penetrate in the halfcourt than James.
We've also seen Banks do a good job (in summer league) of penetrating
and finding Hunter along the baseline.



Anyway, I feel very strongly about a change in Pierce's role with the
team. He's playing terrible. The one thing I thought was dead-on in
Ryan's column this morning was his statement that Pierce doesn't belong
in the All-Star Game. He doesn't. He's playing terrible this season. 40
percent shooting and leading the league in turnovers aren't all-star
stats. But we know he can be better than that. Like Antoine, he'll be
better when he limits his game. But Obie wouldn't do that. He didn't
with Antoine and he wasn't with Pierce. Obie is a "give it to your best
player as soon as possible and let him create" kind of coach. That's not
what Pierce needs. He needs to let someone else create, while he finds
openings and angles. I just hope it's not too late to teach him that.



Mark