Things i'm optimistic about

[R Howe]

On the Optimistic side:

Recent reports of Jefferson"s  condition and health. I think he is wanting to prove doubters wrong. As Kim said it is not his rebounding or offense its all about his defense which I think will improve with healthier wheels.

25 percent improvement rule of thumb for rookies or young players getting significant PT for the first time, going into the next season: Gomes, Allen, Perkins fit into this cat. as they all will be in the 7 man rotation.

Healthy Pierce and Wally both in their prime and having a full camp to blend their complimentary skills and provide Vet leadership.

Competition at the PG and SG positions with High BBall IQ and "wicked" athletes. (Telefair, Rhondo, West, Allen, Green). Should be fun to see how it all shakes out at the beginning and over the course of the season.

An emerging young front court of Perkins, Gomes, Jefferson backed up by Ratliff plus a dedicated coach should make this a strong point for this team much more than pundits are willing to predict.

A year more for key pieces to play together should yield better team defense and crunch time play (the C's Achilles heal from last year).

The wild cards to me are how Doc handles this team and young egos and any injury to Pierce.

Go C's, Lets get this started already.   

Mark Piotrowski <markp at pop3.coe.ufl.edu> 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?


-- Pierce stepping it up:  last year Pierce showed that he was "back" 
to a certain extent -- less ornery, exhibited more leadership.  I'm 
hoping that his new contract and just maturing and getting older will 
make him take on more of a role of demanding excellence from his 
teamates and helping them step up their play.  I was reminded 
watching YouTube today of some clips of the 2001-03 seasons, just how 
dominant a player Piece *can* be.


-- 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.


-- 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.


-- The Powe Show:  Ainge has shown a knack for finding true players 
in the 2nd round. This is more just from my thirst for big bruisers 
on this team, but everything about this guy seems to suggest he'll 
make Ryan Gomes like contributions.  He sounds like he could develop 
into a poor-man's Terry Cummings or Mo Lucas.  He's definitely a Gary 
Trent/Marcus Fizer (at their best) type now....  It sounded like the 
only reason he slipped in the draft were concerns about his knee -- 
which sounded pretty cleared up during the summer sessions.


-- 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.


What are you optimistic about?

(the other) mark

_______________________________________________
The Boston Celtics Mailing List
celtics at igtc.com
http://www.igtc.com/mailman/listinfo/celtics


 		
---------------------------------
How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger’s low  PC-to-Phone call rates.