RE: He's gone... thoughts and looking ahead

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

I don't doubt this. Ainge wants to see more of Hunter. He wants to see
more of Banks. He wants to see more of Mihm. He wants to see something
of Perkins. Is he wrong to want this? Is he wrong in believing that,
since this team isn't going to win a championship this season, the best
use of time is to prepare for next season, and the one after? 

The only shame in missing the playoffs this season would be doing it
while playing Walter McCarty huge minutes. How is that helping the
present or the future? If this team is going to meander along at a .500
clip, headed toward that great morass known as NBA mediocrity, isn't it
better to spend that time working toward being better than that next
season? 

And it's not as if Ainge is asking Obie to forfeit games to develop
players. Is McCarty that valuable to winning? Is Mike James that much
better than Marcus Banks? Are Brandon Hunter's rebounds really that
insignificant when compared to his inexperience in the defensive system?
Is Chris Mihm that much worse than Mark Blount? (who I'm not lumping in
with Walter... whoever chastised me a while ago for dismissing Blount's
improvement was right; he's part of the solution - albeit as a backup
center someday - not part of the problem) Is Kendrick Perkins that much
worse than Blount or Mihm or McCarty?

No one was asking Obie to bench Pierce in order to get Welsch more
minutes. Ainge wasn't asking him to sit all-stars for the sake of
development. Is it really such an affront to ask him to bench McCarty in
favor of a young guy? Am I missing something?

I guess what I'm saying is if Ainge wants to pull the strings through
John Carroll the rest of this season, I have no problem with that. This
offseason will be crucial. He needs to find his Flip Saunders. A guy who
is in lockstep with Danny's vision for the team. A guy who can work
together with Danny as Ainge continues to build toward the next
championship.

A few notes on Paul Westphal... He took the Suns to the NBA Finals and
pushed the Bulls to six games in his first season as head coach. He won
55 games each of his three seasons in Phoenix. His second and third
seasons, the Suns lost in seven games to the Rockets in the playoffs -
those were the same two seasons the Rockets went on to win the NBA
title. He managed a .500 record during his first season in Seattle,
which was the lockout season and the beginning of the end for Vin Baker
(remember, that was when he started the season by missing his first 20
free throws or something like that). The next season, he won 45 games
with the Sonics. Vin Baker drove him out of town. 

Anyway, I'm a fan of his. I loved the way those Phoenix teams played.
Put him at the top of my list.

Mark 


-----Original Message-----
From: Eggcentric@xxxxxxx [mailto:Eggcentric@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 9:53 AM
To: Berry, Mark S; celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: He's gone... thoughts and looking ahead

< 7.    Next coaches... I'm going to throw out a few names no one has
mentioned. A. Paul Westphal. He has the Celtic roots.  >  -Mark

Danny is the head coach for the remainder of this season ... albeit
through 
John Carroll.