The morning after the morning after's next morning

[Patrick.Ryan at westover.af.mil]

Or in simple terms...sorry I'm late for the party.

Ahhh, pre-season. Let thy dissection begin (the upcoming release of the
"highly-anticipated" Saw IV not withstanding). 

So this Garnett guy - he's pretty good huh? 

Okay, so Egg's right - the Cs won because they played their starters a
lot more then Toronto did. Does anyone really have a problem with that?
I don't. I've been down on Doc a lot lately for the opposite and in this
case he got the guys the playing time that need the playing time to get
ready for the season.  Better Ray Allen is so shocked by being that wide
open now. Better that Rondo is able to work through his shooting now.
Better that our still not so good defense gets worked out now. You know
- what the pre-season is meant to do - get your team ready for the
season.

The matchup was also a good one in that it played to our weaknesses - a
very good, and diverse, offensive team. A Euro-style motion offense that
in the past gave the Cs fits. A mobile, 3 pt shooting center. A
comparable PF to match w/ Garnett. In all a good test. 

On the positive side:

Garnett - well, guess we know who our best player is. Someone else
mentioned this, but there simply isn't a rebound near him he doesn't
get. If we were a running team (we're not - Rondo pulled the ball out a
NBA record 8 million times Sat.) I think that whole rebounding
differential thing would be taken care of.

Pierce - Hey, Paul plays D? Who knew? Carried the club offensively to
start the third quarter as well.

Posey - Needs a more defined role, but the guy simply knows how to play
on both ends - you want an impact "little things" guy - it's not Scal -
it's Posey.

House - Insta-offense like we haven't had in years.

On the negative side:

Defense - too much Walter McCarty style "look I'm hustling! I must be
playing D!" versus actually knowing where to be. This "sag off the
weakside into the paint" crap has GOT to end. Time after time the ball
came around to the weakside and the nearest defender was about SIX steps
away. That's too easy a shot for any NBA player. Help defense is
important, but not to the detriment of being within 1-2 steps of your
own man.

Rondo - I'm not going to apologize - him pushing the ball means nothing
if the rest of the team isn't running. If he doesn't shoot well he's the
wrong PG for the team which sucks, but that's the reality. Toronto left
him open for a reason.

Allen & Allen Attorneys at Law - I don't believe for a second Ray Allen
should be evaluated after just one game. If he's hitting his shots I
don't think he should be the sixth man because as much as he gives up
defensively we don't have anyone else that can provide that specific
need of shooter spreading the floor except Posey who's really being
counted on at the two forward positions versus the SG spot. Setting that
tone offensively for a half court team is crucial to allow Pierce and
Garnett space to operate. Which brings me to Tony Allen - he
looked...okay. My eyes saw someone much more hurt then the press and
team are saying. He didn't come back after that dunk (1 play and he was
on the bench again for the rest of the game). As above - one game does
not a course of action make, but I don't think he's quite ready yet.

On the neither good nor bad side:

Perk - Is it his fault Garnett swallows everything off the glass? No.
Should he come off the bench? I don't think so. Even with Bargnani (sp?)
giving him fits, it was much more beneficial having Garnett guarding
Bosh then having Scal or Posey try. I'll keep saying it - defensively is
where the Garnett at PF gets you the most. We MIGHT give up a little on
the offensive end and against those few 3 pt shooting bigs, but it's
easily off-set. Having Perk and Garnett together also opened quite a few
offensive rebound opportunities that were not there in previous years.
Yes, the kid is a backup center, but how many teams have the same thing
- most. Heck San Antonio keep rotating every back-up center in the
league through each year so Duncan can play his natural PF position.
Having the same so Garnett can play his natural position isn't going to
hurt us that badly.

The rest of the kids: Blink (which I did) and you missed em. Maybe Wed
night we'll see more, but if we have to rely on them to win us games
this year we'll be in the same boat as the last two years. The
eight/nine vets we have should see 90% of this year's minutes. That's
the proven way to win in the NBA. If B. Wallace is starting or playing
significant minutes...we're in trouble not because I don't like B.
Wallace, but because he's a rookie in a league designed for rookies to
have minimal impact.

I'm pretty happy - really, I am. Garnett alone makes us better
defensively and if we're better defensively everything else is gravy.
I'm not officially making my win prediction yet, but it's gonna be WAY
higher than the 29 I picked past year.