Things i'm optimistic about

[Kim Malo]

At 10:23 PM 9/17/2006, Mark Piotrowski wrote:
>after getting past some stuff that i've been really busy with, and
>getting through the lull of the non-basketball months of
>August/September i finally thought a bit about our favorite good guys.
>
>These are a few things i'm looking forward to this season (besides
>Gomes, Perkins, Delonte, Wally, Rondo, Allen, and Ray):
>
>-- Making the playoffs:  anything less will be a disappointment IMO.
>we've got the talent, the question is do we play like a team and play
>hard every night?

Smart. I'm not concerned about our playing hard. With a few notable 
exceptions that was really not the issue. But we don't play very 
smart on the whole.

>-- Veteran help up front:  I think the sleeper addition to this team
>will be Ratliff's defensive presence.  Look up shotblocker in the
>dictionary and you see this guy.  He won't score as much as Raef did
>-- slack that can easily be picked up by any number of guys (Allen,
>Green, Jefferson, etc) -- but will add some defensive toughness to
>our team that we've been lacking.

I agree that if he can stay remotely healthy - and that's a big if - 
that Ratliffe could be a real asset and not just the balance the 
books throw in one tends to look at him as.

>-- Jefferson:  I didn't watch any of the summer league, but I think
>that like Perkins we'll see a larger step forward from Jefferson in
>his 3rd season.  I think he'll have an easier time of it w/ the new
>point guards who will get him the ball where he can score easily with
>it.

Well just being healthy should help. Last season wasn't necessarily a 
problem with where he was getting the ball but that his mechanics 
were changed by not being able to jump and push off without pain, 
leaving his shots short.

>-- Telfair-to-Green:  ...and I don't just mean in garbage time.  I'm
>hoping for great things from Telfair, eventually as a starter, and
>solid improvement from Green.

I've been saying since we brought Ricky in that I wish we would use 
more alley oops and fewer long range jumpers since we had athleticism 
to burn but players who were scorers rather than pure shooters. One 
of the things I liked in summer league was seeing Telfair looking for 
occasions to use it, and of course Green is a natural target...

>What are you optimistic about?

That we should be even more entertaining to watch and may finally 
even live up to the promised for the past few years emphasis on the 
running game that is what our talent calls for vs half court. I'm 
optimistic about what one of our biggest off season acquisitions - 
Clifford Ray - may mean to player development and may say about 
management's approach to improving us.
Kim