Re: Simmons on the Celtics

["A. K." <karadag1@xxxxxxxxx>]

How about John Stockton? He could be a terrific coach for a long time. More importantly, he could
teach our young guys the basic fundementals of the game. He was with a great coach throughout his
career. He was a running guard. I certainly will go with him although the others should be
considered carefully too.

Abdullah


--- "Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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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