Post by FLCeltsFan on Dec 22, 2005 23:37:08 GMT -5
WEEI: For the first time in over 500 games, the Celtics did not
score even one 3-point field goal. Antoine really is gone.
Rivers (chuckling): I didn't even know that stat until after the
game. It just goes to show what can happen when you play good
basketball. You don't need 3's to score a lot of points…I'm glad
we didn't score a 3. I like to get threes the old-fashioned
way…rush to the basket and get to the line…Utah doesn't take a
lot of threes either and look at how well they're doing.
WEEI: Another interesting stat was no fouls for Al Jefferson.
Rivers: 26 minutes no fouls…that's a good stat. He needs to
stop leaving his feet whenever someone gives him a bump. He
needs a balance, though. Jefferson told me he had games of
40+ points, 60+ points in high school. I told him I want to know
how many fouls you had…how hard you played.
WEEI: Delonte West played great last night. Are you happy with
his development?
Rivers: Delonte is not the prototypical point guard. He does so
many other things…he gets so many energy points. The block at
the end of the game last night was typical Delonte West. We won
the game because of Delonte's effort down the stretch…diving
on the floor, blocking shots, keeping the ball alive.
WEEI: Some people see that the Celtics are losing and just
wonder why you don't sit the young players and let them go
through their growing pains.
Rivers: We can't play Banks and Perk too much and sit the
veterans. We need to try to win games and that means you go
with the people who have been there before and know what to
do in crunch time.
WEEI: Are you surprised by this region's obsession with the Red
Sox? Do you feel the Celtics do not receive enough attention?
Rivers: I am surprised by the love for the Red Sox but I think it's
awesome. From being here for just a year, I can unequivocally
say that this is the best sports town in America. I really mean
that. It's different than New York. Here, we live it. When we (the
Celtics) went on a winning streak last year, this town was on a
buzz. This is an amazing town. I've been in grocery stores where
80 year old women tell me, "Hey, you gotta play Jefferson!"
People give me opinions on what I need to do…a lot of coaches
are saying I'm nuts to give these fans the time of day. I didn't
know people cared this deeply, I think it's great.
Yeah, everyone is talking about the Red Sox, but I think people
still care about the Celtics. Even when we travel and play on the
road, we see people dressed in green everywhere in the stands.
Last year against the Clippers in OT, we felt like half the crowd
was chanting "Go Celtics."
WEEI: Johnny Damon says he left Boston, in part, because he
did not feel wanted by the front office. Have you made Ricky
Davis feel wanted in light of the rumors about a Davis/Artest
trade?
Rivers: We are in-season and we see Ricky Davis every day.
We've been telling him that none of this Artest stuff is true. And
it's not true…You have to call Damon and tell him you want him,
and the Red Sox did that with a $10 million offer. Bottomline,
Johnny decided to go somewhere else. It wasn't because the
Red Sox didn't make the effort…Ricky Davis loves being a part of
the Boston community.
WEEI: How do you keep things inside? How do you keep stories
from being released to the press?
Rivers: It's difficult…the first thing I ask my players is to stay
quiet. I read articles from the past and saw all these "unnamed
sources." I told our players that if they can't put their names
behind a quote, then they shouldn't say anything at all because
it's probably not something they should be commenting on.
WEEI: Were you ever scared of a story getting out and it didn't?
Rivers: Since I've been here, it's been pretty good. When I was a
player in New York, I thought something huge was going to get
out and that it would really cripple our team…It never got out.
WEEI: How did Scalabrine take the reception last night?
Rivers: We're going to keep that in-house. Seriously.
WEEI: Any developments with Tony Allen and Gerald Green?
Rivers: Tony Allen is frustrated. He had surgery and we thought
he'd be back 4 weeks ago. I don't think he's coming back any
time soon. Every time he tries, we end up with a setback. He
needs rest.
Gerald Green…I love this kid. He's only dressed for one game
so far…He's going to be a good player. Will he play this year? I
can't answer that. We're looking for knowledge defensively. He's
literally not strong enough to hold his own in practice but he's
gifted offensively. He needs to work on his ball-handling. He
struggles when he steps out to set a pick but he can create a
shot off the dribble…If there were 6 seconds left on the clock and
you needed a shot, Gerald is a guy who would make it…Gerald
is not at the point where he can step into a game. That's been
discussed amongst the coaches…Jefferson was different
because we knew he would struggle but we also knew he'd
have great games…Gerald would be lost right now.
WEEI: Marcus Banks doesn't shoot well from the outside -- do
you need him to? How do you get him as a pro athlete to
become a better shooter?
Rivers: By practice…the monotonous work of doing it every day.
Banks needs to work on his jumpshot. He's not working hard
enough on his jumpshot to take his game to the next level. It's
getting a little better, but it's not good enough…He needs to
shoot off the dribble. He has great speed and the game
changes with speed. You can see what speed does for our
team…He needs to learn how to run pick and rolls. When he
throws the ball to Pierce and they double off him, he needs the
ability for us to swing the ball to him and have him take the shot.
He's getting better at it, he's not there yet…Shooting is a little bit
about technique and a lot about confidence. You need a short
memory. Great scorers need a short memory. Pierce, Bryant,
Iverson, Dominique…they have short memories. Banks has a
long memory.
WEEI: Speaking of scorers, would you have taken Kobe out after
three quarters? Is he scoring too much? It must be frustrating for
his teammates.
Rivers: I would have taken Kobe out of the game after the 3rd
quarter. I watched that guy and he's awesome. It brought back
memories from my games when I was 6. If Kobe does what
Iverson does and they compete every night on both ends, then
it's livable for them to take all the shots. It's when a guy shoots
all night and plays no defense that you have a problem…It's not
difficult to play with Kobe. He'll hit the open man most of the
time.
WEEI: How are the young Celtics progressing?
Rivers: Individually, I see a lot of progress with Perkins and
Jefferson. Delonte has been up and down. Marcus needs work.
A guy who hasn't played a lot is Orien Greene. He's looked good
in stretches. Ryan Gomes too. Gomes dominates in
practice…They're all starting to play better."
score even one 3-point field goal. Antoine really is gone.
Rivers (chuckling): I didn't even know that stat until after the
game. It just goes to show what can happen when you play good
basketball. You don't need 3's to score a lot of points…I'm glad
we didn't score a 3. I like to get threes the old-fashioned
way…rush to the basket and get to the line…Utah doesn't take a
lot of threes either and look at how well they're doing.
WEEI: Another interesting stat was no fouls for Al Jefferson.
Rivers: 26 minutes no fouls…that's a good stat. He needs to
stop leaving his feet whenever someone gives him a bump. He
needs a balance, though. Jefferson told me he had games of
40+ points, 60+ points in high school. I told him I want to know
how many fouls you had…how hard you played.
WEEI: Delonte West played great last night. Are you happy with
his development?
Rivers: Delonte is not the prototypical point guard. He does so
many other things…he gets so many energy points. The block at
the end of the game last night was typical Delonte West. We won
the game because of Delonte's effort down the stretch…diving
on the floor, blocking shots, keeping the ball alive.
WEEI: Some people see that the Celtics are losing and just
wonder why you don't sit the young players and let them go
through their growing pains.
Rivers: We can't play Banks and Perk too much and sit the
veterans. We need to try to win games and that means you go
with the people who have been there before and know what to
do in crunch time.
WEEI: Are you surprised by this region's obsession with the Red
Sox? Do you feel the Celtics do not receive enough attention?
Rivers: I am surprised by the love for the Red Sox but I think it's
awesome. From being here for just a year, I can unequivocally
say that this is the best sports town in America. I really mean
that. It's different than New York. Here, we live it. When we (the
Celtics) went on a winning streak last year, this town was on a
buzz. This is an amazing town. I've been in grocery stores where
80 year old women tell me, "Hey, you gotta play Jefferson!"
People give me opinions on what I need to do…a lot of coaches
are saying I'm nuts to give these fans the time of day. I didn't
know people cared this deeply, I think it's great.
Yeah, everyone is talking about the Red Sox, but I think people
still care about the Celtics. Even when we travel and play on the
road, we see people dressed in green everywhere in the stands.
Last year against the Clippers in OT, we felt like half the crowd
was chanting "Go Celtics."
WEEI: Johnny Damon says he left Boston, in part, because he
did not feel wanted by the front office. Have you made Ricky
Davis feel wanted in light of the rumors about a Davis/Artest
trade?
Rivers: We are in-season and we see Ricky Davis every day.
We've been telling him that none of this Artest stuff is true. And
it's not true…You have to call Damon and tell him you want him,
and the Red Sox did that with a $10 million offer. Bottomline,
Johnny decided to go somewhere else. It wasn't because the
Red Sox didn't make the effort…Ricky Davis loves being a part of
the Boston community.
WEEI: How do you keep things inside? How do you keep stories
from being released to the press?
Rivers: It's difficult…the first thing I ask my players is to stay
quiet. I read articles from the past and saw all these "unnamed
sources." I told our players that if they can't put their names
behind a quote, then they shouldn't say anything at all because
it's probably not something they should be commenting on.
WEEI: Were you ever scared of a story getting out and it didn't?
Rivers: Since I've been here, it's been pretty good. When I was a
player in New York, I thought something huge was going to get
out and that it would really cripple our team…It never got out.
WEEI: How did Scalabrine take the reception last night?
Rivers: We're going to keep that in-house. Seriously.
WEEI: Any developments with Tony Allen and Gerald Green?
Rivers: Tony Allen is frustrated. He had surgery and we thought
he'd be back 4 weeks ago. I don't think he's coming back any
time soon. Every time he tries, we end up with a setback. He
needs rest.
Gerald Green…I love this kid. He's only dressed for one game
so far…He's going to be a good player. Will he play this year? I
can't answer that. We're looking for knowledge defensively. He's
literally not strong enough to hold his own in practice but he's
gifted offensively. He needs to work on his ball-handling. He
struggles when he steps out to set a pick but he can create a
shot off the dribble…If there were 6 seconds left on the clock and
you needed a shot, Gerald is a guy who would make it…Gerald
is not at the point where he can step into a game. That's been
discussed amongst the coaches…Jefferson was different
because we knew he would struggle but we also knew he'd
have great games…Gerald would be lost right now.
WEEI: Marcus Banks doesn't shoot well from the outside -- do
you need him to? How do you get him as a pro athlete to
become a better shooter?
Rivers: By practice…the monotonous work of doing it every day.
Banks needs to work on his jumpshot. He's not working hard
enough on his jumpshot to take his game to the next level. It's
getting a little better, but it's not good enough…He needs to
shoot off the dribble. He has great speed and the game
changes with speed. You can see what speed does for our
team…He needs to learn how to run pick and rolls. When he
throws the ball to Pierce and they double off him, he needs the
ability for us to swing the ball to him and have him take the shot.
He's getting better at it, he's not there yet…Shooting is a little bit
about technique and a lot about confidence. You need a short
memory. Great scorers need a short memory. Pierce, Bryant,
Iverson, Dominique…they have short memories. Banks has a
long memory.
WEEI: Speaking of scorers, would you have taken Kobe out after
three quarters? Is he scoring too much? It must be frustrating for
his teammates.
Rivers: I would have taken Kobe out of the game after the 3rd
quarter. I watched that guy and he's awesome. It brought back
memories from my games when I was 6. If Kobe does what
Iverson does and they compete every night on both ends, then
it's livable for them to take all the shots. It's when a guy shoots
all night and plays no defense that you have a problem…It's not
difficult to play with Kobe. He'll hit the open man most of the
time.
WEEI: How are the young Celtics progressing?
Rivers: Individually, I see a lot of progress with Perkins and
Jefferson. Delonte has been up and down. Marcus needs work.
A guy who hasn't played a lot is Orien Greene. He's looked good
in stretches. Ryan Gomes too. Gomes dominates in
practice…They're all starting to play better."