The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest, V15, #207

[E.H. Munro]

On May 31, 2007, at 11:06 AM, Ryan, Patrick S Maj RES USAFR 439 MSG  
wrote:
> Are the correlations directly the same - no, of course not,  
> because, for
> example, basketball players play both offense and defense while  
> football
> players (not named Troy Brown) play only one aspect. However, the  
> basic
> issue - what needs to happen to get Pierce's team to the next level  
> versus
> what needed to happen to get Bledsoe's Patriots to the next level  
> are, to me
> at least, virtually identical.
>
> Are/were not Pierce and Bledsoe portrayed essentially the same type  
> player -
> borderline great, all-star/pros, tremendous talents, and with great  
> heart?
> Are/were they not also often described by the following: good, but  
> just
> flawed enough to never garner a ring without having a very specific  
> set of
> circumstances (teammates specifically) in place? ...
>
> So even in THAT example the Celtics still would need to entirely  
> reshape
> their roster to fit Pierce's abilities (meaning, again, we're more  
> then one
> player away).
>
> The Celtics, like the Patriots, tried to fit the star player's  
> abilities. Do
> we really have to wait for the Celtics Tom Brady to emerge before  
> they admit
> Pierce is not the franchise player, but merely a good player who could
> contribute to a championship, but won't get you there himself?
>
> -------------------------------------------

This is simply absurd. The Celtics have two players that need  
specific teammates, Wally Szczerbiak & Al Jefferson. Pierce has been  
able to get the job done with a shifting cast of crap. He's succedded  
with point guards like Kenny Anderson, Tony Delk, J.R. fucking  
Bremer, Mike James, Marcus Banks, Gary Payton, Delonte West, Dan  
Dickau, Orien Greene, Sebastian Telfair and Rajon Rondo. All in the  
last six years. How much more versatile do you want him to be? He's  
played off the ball, on the ball, and done whatever's necessary to  
mask the weaknesses of his less than quality teammates. He doesn't  
need a "specific set of circumstances" to succeed, he needs teammates  
that can do a little better than 4-31 when he's not in the lineup.  
This "amazing" cast of young talent won games at a pace only equaled  
by the worst team in NBA history (the '73 76ers). He carried that  
cavalcade of crap to a 20-27 record. He carried a .114 team to a .426  
record. He was worth 312 winning percentage points to the Celtics  
last year. What more do you want? Pierce isn't the problem with the  
Celtics, it's the owners that lose their wallets every offseason when  
they have the chance to make talent upgrades and the incompetent boob  
running the team into the ground. The Celtics were a 9 win team (.114  
x 82) without Pierce last year, a 35 win team with him. What that  
tells me is that Pierce doesn't need  a "specific set of  
circumstances" to succeed, he needs an NBA team to succeed.  
Unfortunately for Pierce, Wyc forgot to tell Danny that the Celtics  
were still in the NBA, and not the USBL.

You want the team to improve? Fine, find someone, *anyone*, willing  
to take Wally off the Celtics hands (there aren't going to be a lot  
of takers). Wally, when healthy, was a biblically bad defender. And  
he hasn't been healthy in years. Wally's presence on the court has  
always required the other wing on the court to do the defensive heavy  
lifting because he gets lit up like a Christmas tree by the Ira  
Newbles of the NBA. So Szcerbiak has traditionally had to be on teams  
where the offense is generated from the 1 and 4 because to make best  
use of him the other wing man has to be a defender. And all that for  
a guy that delivers 17 p/g as a starter, while melting down under  
pressure. The Celtics could probably survive that if not for the fact  
that they have a second player without a real position in their  
starting lineup, Big Al. Jefferson lacks the speed & quickness to  
defend the perimeter 4s that are all the rage, and struggles with the  
power players. Plus, as he's primarily a low post scorer, they could  
really use a running mate that can stick a jumper in the 16'-18'  
range to open space for him. How many players that fit Jefferson's  
needs do you think there are in the NBA? Having to juggle two players  
like that in a starting five would drive Phil Jackson to substance  
abuse. We don't have a coach quite that good. It's no coincidence  
that the Celtics started to turn their season around (albeit briefly)  
after Szczerbiak went down injured. Once Szczerbiak was reduced to  
spot duty (and Big Al no longer had to steal the ball from him to get  
a shot), and Tony Allen was on the court with Pierce, suddenly Paul  
stopped running out of gas down the stretch. If the Celtics could  
turn #5 & Wally into a merely bad defender like Rashard Lewis &  
{insert something to balance the scales here} they'd be a far better  
team. If they could get an actual impact vet for that, even better.


E.H. Munro

"I have never been comfortable with people comparing politicians to  
whores. After all, whores are hard working, rarely think that they're  
better than you, never call the cops on you, and never force you to  
hire their cousin Bernie. All in all I think the world might be a  
better place if politicians were more like whores."