re: Simmons on the Celtics

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Of course its Westphal.

Charlotte is guaranteed the 4th pick, Mr. Bill.

Telfair in the top 7?  That's  probable, as the Clippers are rumoured to
be drafting him.  Right now, there's the possibility of maybe 6 high-schoolers
in the lottery:  Howard - Smith - Livingston - Telfair - Swift - Aldridge.

Should the Cetics draft Telfair? Oh yeah, he's got that Isiah thing going.
Small but deadly. But with Banks and Atkins around and Barry
signing and trading, Ainge ain't drafting a point guard.

Blount, they're very unlikely to overpay him, since he seems likely to go
elsewhere and they have Mihm, Perkins, and LaFrentz.   

Lonnie Baxter, not a bad bench guy.

If the Celtics end up with the 15th, 24th, and 26th picks, methinks Ainge's uses
Pick 15 on the best available high-schooler, regardless of position.

Tam keeps mentioning Ainge wanting to draft a certain European, but perhaps it
could be via free agency. Andres Nocioni of Tau Ceramica has star
potential. Even Peter May recognizes that.
Ray


> I copied this from the Sons of Sam Horn board. I hope he doesn't mind.
> His hint about the front-runner to be the next coach has to be Westphal,
> doesn't it? I'm torn on Westphal. I loved the way his Suns teams played.
> He's a veteran coach who has seen it all. He dealt with a zoo in
> Seattle. All that is good. But, by all accounts, he didn't handle that
> zoo in Seattle very well. Of course, we're talking about Vin Baker and
> Gary Payton (who only wants Phil Jackson to play him more, run more
> plays for him and scrap the triangle offense -- in other words, he's
> completely insane). Plus, Westphal wasn't the GM's guy in Seattle. He
> was bound to be the fall guy. If Danny hires him, I expect it's for the
> long haul -- in other words, if there's a dispute with the player, Ainge
> will side with the coach. That's important. My biggest concern is I'm
> not so sure Pierce can stay focused for a player-friendly coach like
> Westphal. We'll see. I'd be in favor of this hire, bottom line.
> 
> Mark
> 
> P.S. If there's one thing I hope Ainge will learn as he grows into this
> job, it's that discretion is a good thing. Honesty and frankness are
> great when you're an announcer. They're not so good when you're a GM. I
> actually believe him when he says the coaching staff (Obie) told him
> Songaila couldn't play. And while I think he should have checked
> Songaila out more himself, I also understand him taking their word for
> it. We're talking about a second-round pick that Ainge didn't make who
> was playing in Russia. At some point, you have to trust the people
> around you. Of course, if there's one person in the world, other than
> Chris Wallace or Rick Pitino, who I wouldn't trust for player
> evaluation, it's Obie. I still remember his quote after working out Joe
> Johnson before the 2001 draft (yes, finally and definitively, Obie was
> the head coach then), when he said "if we could draft Joe Johnson, it
> would be a dream come true." Uh huh. Anyway, on to Simmons...
> 
> 
> Blount was unbelievable last night - he looked like vintage Robert
> Parish. Although I'm not getting too excited since it was against
> Orlando, who might have the worst frontcourt in the history of the
> league right now. I just hope this isn't a contract run ala Pervis in
> '95 or '96, when he played well for the last 12-15 games of the season
> and ML overreacted by giving him a dumb contract. Bottom line is the
> guy's been around for awhile and he was traded straight-up for Shammond
> Williams 12 months ago. Recent NBA history is littered with big guys
> like Cal Booth, McIllvane, Jerome James, etc who put it all together for
> about 3 months during a contract year, then fell apart when they got the
> money. I'm nervous about this - hope this doesn't result in an ML-like
> move - we could potentially be shelling out $14-15 million a year for
> Blount and Raef.
> 
> On the other hand, Chucky Atkins has been a pleasure to watch. I still
> don't agree with the trade, but he's an upgrade from Mike James - at
> least he thinks like a point guard. I actually enjoyed watching him last
> night.
> 
> This team could make the playoffs, sadly - mainly because Toronto fell
> apart, Washington and Philly never got it together and the Knicks are
> freefalling. If Pierce suddenly wakes up from his two-month hibernation
> and goes on one of those "29 pts, 9 rebs, 8 asts" streaks for about 4
> weeks, we're probably getting the 6th spot and the right to get killed
> by Indy or Detroit.
> 
> I'm not sure how I feel about this.
> 
> I'm torn on the tanking issue... in '97, i hated watching that team and
> wanted them to lose, but this isn't an unlikable team. When PP, Blount,
> Hunter, Welsch and Atkins are out there, it's difficult to root against
> them. and I would always feel like they had a puncher's chance against
> Indy or Detroit in a series because we would have the best player (PP,
> assuming he decides to start playing hard again).
> 
> Here's the key: no matter how badly they tank from now on, they aren't
> getting worse than the 7th pick (and Charlotte is guaranteed one of the
> top-3 lottery spots). So I don't know. This sucks. I can't believe we're
> at this point again.
> 
> Hopefully this will turn out like '98 - that team could have packed it
> in, didn't, made a decent push for a playoff spot, then ended up with
> Pierce at No. 10. Things have a funny way of working out sometimes.
> 
> Couple more things...
> 
> 1. Sichting isn't the front-runner for next year. It's someone else.
> Former Celtic. Easy to figure out if you think like Danny for a second,
> consider the people that have passed through his life as a player, and
> consider the team he's trying to build.
> 
> 2. There is no way that Dwight Howard goes lower than first.
> 
> 3. The buzz is that Telfair is coming out, so that's another body for
> the top-7.
> 
> 4. I guess Isiah isn't a genius after all.

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