Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 12, 2006 9:15:21 GMT -5
Jon Duke with some good thoughts on Celtics season so far:
www.bostonsportsmedia.com/celtics/
January 11, 2006
The Year in Review: 2006
Howdy Celtics fans… long time no see. It has been a few weeks since we last had an update to the Full Court Press, but what an update it was. Hats off to Mr. Boston Sports Media Watch himself, Bruce Allen, for putting together a systematic and comprehensive argument as to why Glenn Ordway knows as much about the Boston Celtics as Frank from Gloucester, Angry Bill, or Dakota from Braintree.
In the weeks since Ordway’s epiphany on Ricky Davis, we’ve seen the Celtics rack up head scratching loss after gut punching loss. The various Celtics message boards and mailing lists have buzzed about with Artest trade rumors, Peter Vecsey trade rumors that are DOA, and of course some heavy duty second, third and fourth guessing of the strategy and coaching maneuvers of one Glenn “Doc” Rivers. Oh, and did I mention that Pierce wants to be traded, or maybe he doesn’t.
Or maybe he does…
Or, maybe we can send someone down to Healthpoint to finally get this figured out. After reading Tuesday’s Boston Herald, I’d say Lenny Megliola is the ”RIGHT?!” man for the job, but until Lenny gets back to us, here are some relatively coherent thoughts on the guys in green.
•With apologies to Art and Paul, Where have you gone, Mark Blount?
Yeah, I know the guy has given new meaning to the term “contract year”, but how can a player who was once only used as a defensive stopper and rebounder can completely and utterly reject offering any effort in above stated categories only 4 years later? That must have been some crazy Jedi mind $@#% Jim O’Brien was working with because this guy isn’t even a shell of the guy who backed up Tony Battie during the 2002 playoff run. Celtics faithful are lucky, at this point, if #30 doesn’t embarrass himself and the team with his efforts on the glass. Hell, I think Len Bias out rebounded Blount against Atlanta.
The ab-so-lute-ly only way I can accept any playing time for Blount is if he is being showcased to be traded. Under that scenario, I would expect that should Ainge be unable to find some unsuspecting GM to take this massive turd off his hands, Blount is placed on the Inactive list to allow players who deserve minutes to play and contribute.
•Regardless of Blount’s situation, I’d be curious to know what Kendrick Perkins has done to deserve the treatment he is currently receiving. Foul trouble is a red herring, folks. In fact, Perkins’ fouls per game are a rather pedestrian 2.4… not exactly Kite-like, is it? Meanwhile, Doc Rivers insists on playing a pair of guys who have allowed NBA all time greats like Zaza Pachulia, Dan Gadzuric, and Melvin Ely to be reasonably compared to Bill Russell. And Perkins still sits… I don’t know if Doc is doing a Reverend Dimmesdale at home over this, but it certainly is painful to watch without Perkins in there. Doc needs to get over himself, take off the metaphorical scarlet “A” on Perk’s chest, and get his Lone Star !!!GREENIAC!!! in the game at crunch time.
•The Full Court Press is very excited with the return of Tony Allen to the hardwood, but I would remiss if I did not mention that the man I see wearing #42 on the court barely resembles the same guy I saw flying through the air all last season. Knee surgery is serious business, and I question whether Allen will ever be able to return to the athletic heights he reached in the past. Apparently, Ricky Davis had a similar surgery as a young player, and he seemed to recover nicely. But, I can’t help but wonder if the “Old Tony” will ever be able to return. Allen’s basketball instincts are tremendous and he is a tenacious defender, but seeing his attempted dunk blocked by Josh Smith in Atlanta last week was painful to say the least. Perhaps, the off-season will give Allen time to rest and rehab his knee, though given how badly this team needs his perimeter defense, one hopes Allen isn’t rehabbing at the Cook County Jail with Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues.
•And how ‘bout that Delonte West? After more than 14 months of Celtics fans asking “I thought this kid could shoot?” West pulled out the Bop Gun and has been absolutely lethal from the field. Today’s Boston Globe noted that since mid December, West leads the NBA in field goal percentage… taking a good number of his shots from 19+ feet from the basket. Apparently, West thought he supposed to penetrate rather than shoot jumpers because, in Delonte’s words, “that’s what point guards are supposed to do.” Maybe someone can ask Doc where the second year point guard would get such an idea…
•Lastly, let’s talk trades. Ron Artest is on the block and seemingly the Celtics stand an excellent chance to acquire the mercurial forward, but at what price? Certainly Ricky Davis would be at the center of any deal with the Pacers, but the question remains how much more Larry and Donnie Walsh would want. If the Celtics could get away with only giving away a small combination of draft picks and young players not named Jefferson, Perkins, West, or Green. There may be a deal to be had there. Ricky, while an ever improving team player, duplicates too much of the same skill set Pierce brings to the table. Meanwhile, Artest becomes the defensive stopper to play opposite Pierce that Boston has pined for since rigor mortis set in for Eric Williams in the Winter of 2003. The character concerns for Artest are considerable, but the level of talent he possesses would still be attractive to other NBA GM’s should Ainge need to flip him to another team. That is unless Artest kills someone, and I suppose that possibility shouldn’t be immediately dismissed.
As for the Captain, he’s never played better and his trade value has never been higher, which makes this a win-win for the Celtics. If they keep him, his solid, team centered play becomes a daily point of reference for the younger players to point towards. If he’s moved a package of younger players who better fit with the club’s needs and age bracket come in to attempt to build a cohesive aimed 100% toward the future. In the past, I was solidly in the camp that Pierce should be moved, but that was before we saw the 2006 edition of Paul Pierce. Unlike years past, it seems The Truth is truly ready to accept the mantle of being captain and embrace what it means to be a Celtic. However, it would be difficult for anyone to say that the current group, as currently constituted, will ever have enough talent to compete for a championship. Jefferson and Green may become perennial All Stars, but so were Pierce and Walker. If moving Pierce meant the Celtics had an excellent opportunity to draft Greg Oden or acquire a potentially elite NBA post player or point guard (like Shaun Livingston) then Ainge would have to think hard and be as certain as he can be that said deal will bring the Celtics to the next level. When Danny was brought in to head the Celtics basketball operations staff, the key theme of his introductory press conference was to avoid becoming a middling franchise with enough talent to make the playoffs, but not enough to win championships (see the Jim O’Brien Eastern Conference runners up). As BSMW’s favorite football columnist says, “time will tell”, but the goal has not changed in three years. The young talent on the Celtics roster could be very special, but Ainge would be nuts to turn down the chance to draft a potentially top 5 NBA (and likely acquire other top young NBA talents like Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, or Corey Maggette) in favor of holding on to a guy who is Top 15 on his best day.
I love Paul Pierce, but Chris Paul, Travis Outlaw, and the ability to sign a free agent (Ray Allen or Michael Redd) to a max contract last summer would have been pretty nice additions had Boston and Portland pulled the trigger on the much rumored Pierce to Portland deal from last spring. That train may have already left the station, but chances are Ainge will have more opportunities to make similar deals. The question all Celtics are asking is what he will do when that time comes.
Time will tell.
www.bostonsportsmedia.com/celtics/
January 11, 2006
The Year in Review: 2006
Howdy Celtics fans… long time no see. It has been a few weeks since we last had an update to the Full Court Press, but what an update it was. Hats off to Mr. Boston Sports Media Watch himself, Bruce Allen, for putting together a systematic and comprehensive argument as to why Glenn Ordway knows as much about the Boston Celtics as Frank from Gloucester, Angry Bill, or Dakota from Braintree.
In the weeks since Ordway’s epiphany on Ricky Davis, we’ve seen the Celtics rack up head scratching loss after gut punching loss. The various Celtics message boards and mailing lists have buzzed about with Artest trade rumors, Peter Vecsey trade rumors that are DOA, and of course some heavy duty second, third and fourth guessing of the strategy and coaching maneuvers of one Glenn “Doc” Rivers. Oh, and did I mention that Pierce wants to be traded, or maybe he doesn’t.
Or maybe he does…
Or, maybe we can send someone down to Healthpoint to finally get this figured out. After reading Tuesday’s Boston Herald, I’d say Lenny Megliola is the ”RIGHT?!” man for the job, but until Lenny gets back to us, here are some relatively coherent thoughts on the guys in green.
•With apologies to Art and Paul, Where have you gone, Mark Blount?
Yeah, I know the guy has given new meaning to the term “contract year”, but how can a player who was once only used as a defensive stopper and rebounder can completely and utterly reject offering any effort in above stated categories only 4 years later? That must have been some crazy Jedi mind $@#% Jim O’Brien was working with because this guy isn’t even a shell of the guy who backed up Tony Battie during the 2002 playoff run. Celtics faithful are lucky, at this point, if #30 doesn’t embarrass himself and the team with his efforts on the glass. Hell, I think Len Bias out rebounded Blount against Atlanta.
The ab-so-lute-ly only way I can accept any playing time for Blount is if he is being showcased to be traded. Under that scenario, I would expect that should Ainge be unable to find some unsuspecting GM to take this massive turd off his hands, Blount is placed on the Inactive list to allow players who deserve minutes to play and contribute.
•Regardless of Blount’s situation, I’d be curious to know what Kendrick Perkins has done to deserve the treatment he is currently receiving. Foul trouble is a red herring, folks. In fact, Perkins’ fouls per game are a rather pedestrian 2.4… not exactly Kite-like, is it? Meanwhile, Doc Rivers insists on playing a pair of guys who have allowed NBA all time greats like Zaza Pachulia, Dan Gadzuric, and Melvin Ely to be reasonably compared to Bill Russell. And Perkins still sits… I don’t know if Doc is doing a Reverend Dimmesdale at home over this, but it certainly is painful to watch without Perkins in there. Doc needs to get over himself, take off the metaphorical scarlet “A” on Perk’s chest, and get his Lone Star !!!GREENIAC!!! in the game at crunch time.
•The Full Court Press is very excited with the return of Tony Allen to the hardwood, but I would remiss if I did not mention that the man I see wearing #42 on the court barely resembles the same guy I saw flying through the air all last season. Knee surgery is serious business, and I question whether Allen will ever be able to return to the athletic heights he reached in the past. Apparently, Ricky Davis had a similar surgery as a young player, and he seemed to recover nicely. But, I can’t help but wonder if the “Old Tony” will ever be able to return. Allen’s basketball instincts are tremendous and he is a tenacious defender, but seeing his attempted dunk blocked by Josh Smith in Atlanta last week was painful to say the least. Perhaps, the off-season will give Allen time to rest and rehab his knee, though given how badly this team needs his perimeter defense, one hopes Allen isn’t rehabbing at the Cook County Jail with Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues.
•And how ‘bout that Delonte West? After more than 14 months of Celtics fans asking “I thought this kid could shoot?” West pulled out the Bop Gun and has been absolutely lethal from the field. Today’s Boston Globe noted that since mid December, West leads the NBA in field goal percentage… taking a good number of his shots from 19+ feet from the basket. Apparently, West thought he supposed to penetrate rather than shoot jumpers because, in Delonte’s words, “that’s what point guards are supposed to do.” Maybe someone can ask Doc where the second year point guard would get such an idea…
•Lastly, let’s talk trades. Ron Artest is on the block and seemingly the Celtics stand an excellent chance to acquire the mercurial forward, but at what price? Certainly Ricky Davis would be at the center of any deal with the Pacers, but the question remains how much more Larry and Donnie Walsh would want. If the Celtics could get away with only giving away a small combination of draft picks and young players not named Jefferson, Perkins, West, or Green. There may be a deal to be had there. Ricky, while an ever improving team player, duplicates too much of the same skill set Pierce brings to the table. Meanwhile, Artest becomes the defensive stopper to play opposite Pierce that Boston has pined for since rigor mortis set in for Eric Williams in the Winter of 2003. The character concerns for Artest are considerable, but the level of talent he possesses would still be attractive to other NBA GM’s should Ainge need to flip him to another team. That is unless Artest kills someone, and I suppose that possibility shouldn’t be immediately dismissed.
As for the Captain, he’s never played better and his trade value has never been higher, which makes this a win-win for the Celtics. If they keep him, his solid, team centered play becomes a daily point of reference for the younger players to point towards. If he’s moved a package of younger players who better fit with the club’s needs and age bracket come in to attempt to build a cohesive aimed 100% toward the future. In the past, I was solidly in the camp that Pierce should be moved, but that was before we saw the 2006 edition of Paul Pierce. Unlike years past, it seems The Truth is truly ready to accept the mantle of being captain and embrace what it means to be a Celtic. However, it would be difficult for anyone to say that the current group, as currently constituted, will ever have enough talent to compete for a championship. Jefferson and Green may become perennial All Stars, but so were Pierce and Walker. If moving Pierce meant the Celtics had an excellent opportunity to draft Greg Oden or acquire a potentially elite NBA post player or point guard (like Shaun Livingston) then Ainge would have to think hard and be as certain as he can be that said deal will bring the Celtics to the next level. When Danny was brought in to head the Celtics basketball operations staff, the key theme of his introductory press conference was to avoid becoming a middling franchise with enough talent to make the playoffs, but not enough to win championships (see the Jim O’Brien Eastern Conference runners up). As BSMW’s favorite football columnist says, “time will tell”, but the goal has not changed in three years. The young talent on the Celtics roster could be very special, but Ainge would be nuts to turn down the chance to draft a potentially top 5 NBA (and likely acquire other top young NBA talents like Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, or Corey Maggette) in favor of holding on to a guy who is Top 15 on his best day.
I love Paul Pierce, but Chris Paul, Travis Outlaw, and the ability to sign a free agent (Ray Allen or Michael Redd) to a max contract last summer would have been pretty nice additions had Boston and Portland pulled the trigger on the much rumored Pierce to Portland deal from last spring. That train may have already left the station, but chances are Ainge will have more opportunities to make similar deals. The question all Celtics are asking is what he will do when that time comes.
Time will tell.
