Half full, half empty ...

[douglas342 at aol.com]

I'm not the main proponent here, but I certainly don't think this team would be a lot better if Pierce had never gone down for precisely the reasons you state - the kids wouldn't have gotten the minutes and seasoning that they have had in this miserable stretch.  When Pierce comes back is another question.  We don't know.  Pierce has shown to be pretty adaptable at times, and may well be willing to subjugate his game so that others can do their things.  And the kids may well defer back to him.  I think this is really the big question, and I have absolutely no clue on which way it would go.  Have any of the kids reached the point of calling Pierce out if he plays "me'n'Paul" solo?  
 
Allen:  damn, I keep thinking of Danny Manning, who had a good solid career, but seemed headed for so much more. 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: pdelevett at yahoo.com
To: celtics at igtc.com
Sent: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 4:06 PM
Subject: Half full, half empty ...


Clearly, I find myself in the camp with Egg, Eric,
Sean et al. The reason I don't buy the "we'd be
winning if Pierce weren't hurt" line is that I'm not
convinced Al (or the pre-injury Tony Allen) would have
emerged if Pierce were in there. And I'm not at all
convinced that when Pierce returns, he won't fall back
into the have-ball, see-basket mentality, and that the
younger guys won't fall back into deferring to him.

And that's not to put all the blame for this on Pierce
(or the young guys): can Doc Rivers really come up
with a game plan to consistently pair Pierce's
offensive abilities with those of Jefferson? Can he
lay down the law with Pierce that his job has to be
sharing the ball and trusting his teammates as much as
filling the scoresheet?

And Patrick, you keep talking about our "tightwad
owners unwilling to truly invest in the basketball
product." I'm just curious: can you point to any
instances where Ainge wanted to make a big deal or
sign a splashy FA, and the owners wouldn't let him?
I'm not sure where you're coming from. Yes, Gaston's
refusal to shell out for Rodney Rogers forced Chris
Wallace into the all-time franchise-killing blunder of
trading for Vin Baker. But what moves have Ainge made
(or not made) because of owner-dictated financial
restraints? 



 
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