Who you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes?

[Patrick.Ryan at westover.af.mil]

Only what I've read in the Boston papers.

Batista, Pruitt and Powe have got some little pub in this morning's
paper with the 2nd and 3rd teams beating the 1st (white) team.

So what does that mean? Who knows - it could mean anything.

It could mean the three amigos are over-passing or they could be not
passing at all. Rondo could be left open to shoot and not hitting or
hitting everything. Or maybe the 2nd and 3rd team are simply better
(HA!) - We have no idea.

One of the drawbacks to today's reporting style is we don't get real
"analysis" out of practices anymore. One reason is practices are closed
until the last ten minutes when all they're doing is shooting free
throws and stuff most days. Makes it hard to form an opinion. 

Second, reporters trade access for being able to really report how folks
are doing. The days of beat reporters saying "player x is having trouble
getting by his man or hitting the jumper or guarding a fencepost" are
over unless it's part of a "pile on" (usually started by an "outside"
media presence) - like what happened to Randy Moss when the Pats made
their trade this off-season (He'd lost a setp. He was surly. Etc). We
bloggers will have to wait until we form our "own opinion" based on
seeing the players play, reporters usually just don't do the opinion
part unless it's an opinion piece (Bob Ryan article anyone?). We have
that freedom of not having to try and get a quote before deadline from
Paul Pierce after theoretically throwing Rondo under the bus in a piece
the day before.

Third, because access is so limited the reporters notes pages come not
from seeing the players themselves, but what Doc and Danny tell them. "X
looks great." And other pablum, spin, what have you that is repeated to
generate ticket sales and positive buzz. The stuff about Pruitt et al -
didn't come from the reporter seeing it - it came from what Doc told
him.

Soooooooo, long story short 2pm Saturday we'll have some answers as
we'll get to see things with our own lying eyes. Comcast Sportsnet - Ch.
52 on Comcast cable (don't know if it'll be on HD ch.881, but I doubt
it.)

--------------------------
anyone have any info on how pruitt, wallace, davis and
powe are doing in practices? 

how rondo looks? 

how tony looks? 

our young guys are going to be important this year, if
for no other reason that to push the older guys.