CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: And a Couple More Things

October 23, 2006

After doing the Odds and Ends for today, I came across a couple more good articles.

First, ESPN has an article by Chris Sheridan on the Celtics in their Training Camp section. He begins with this premise:

With the exceptions of Paul Pierce, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West, Danny Ainge is willing to trade every single member of the Boston Celtics.

While Danny continually says that he likes our roster, he still repeats at regular intervals that he is listening to all calls and looking for the right deal.

"Right now it's just making proposals and listening to proposals. I've been proactive for four years, but one thing I learned from Red [Auerbach] is sometimes the best trades are ones you don't make. So it's activity in seeing what's out there and what's available, but not necessarily trying to move people. I want to see them develop and see them play.
"That doesn't mean that I wouldn't if the right deal comes along, but I'm not looking to trade anybody on my roster right now."

He also says that the owners are more inclined to want to be patient and let our young core of players mature and see what happens.

Every time I bring a deal to ownership they'll say I'm not sure I want to get rid of our young guys for that, that just give me another sign that they're really sticking to their guns. But I still listen to phone calls, and I still make proposals and run it by ownership.

I tend to agree with them. I would like to see how these players develop and not make a mistake of being impatient and give away a future all star for a veteran on the back of his career. I have been patient for 20 years and can be patient for a little while longer.
I agree with Danny when he says:

"I feel our talent is such that we can beat anybody, anywhere."

We have the talent, we have the depth, and now if our coach can only manage it to it's full potential, we should do very well.

Then, I came across a good article from JB over on CelticsStuff Live. He starts out with this statement:

The four best quarters the Celtics have played this exhibition season have been with Rajon Rondo at point guard and at least one, usually two, legitimate front court players.

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. This unit was responsible for the 23 point comeback win against the Nets and it was largely responsible for the drubbing we gave the Knicks on Saturday.

Yes m’am, Rondo can run and he has lead the team to it’s best defensive efforts, but he seemingly can’t do it without toughness, rebounding and interior defense.
The emergence of Leon Powe has given Doc Rivers another big man, who can run with that up tempo unit and pairing him with Jefferson seems like a great move.

This statement from JB is right on!! When Doc first started with his small ball lineups in the second and third games, there was one big piece missing. He didn't have any rebounders in there. He was using Scal as his big in the lineup and it just dien't work. We lost the rebounding battle and the team couldn't run without the ball. It wasn't until he added Powe to the mix that we saw small ball success. Powe and Jefferson played very well together and the unit with Powe, Jefferson, Rondo, Allen (or Green), and West was very, very good.

I love this from JB's article:

As for Powe; in the midst of a four minute in four games stretch, where his coach was decrying that he didn’t get off the bench because he couldn’t grasp the system, he was given a few minutes in that New Jersey game and learned the “system” to the tune of 15 rebounds in 28 minutes.
He backed that up with 16 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 blocks and 3 steals against the Knicks on Saturday.
Can you imagine what he could do if he could follow the game plan?

This just tells me that Doc really doesn't know his players. He also doesn't run practices the right way. If he can't recognize how a player is doing from practice, how is he going to know who deserves playing time and who doesn't? The explains all the minutes that Scal plays. With the emergence of Powe, Scal shouldn't leave the bench. But I just know in the back of my mind, Doc's track record tells me that he is going to end up giving Scal more minutes and Powe less and we are going to lose because we can't get the rebounds.

As Leon, “Grown Man” Powe has played himself into solid minutes, Rivers should let him play himself out of those minutes.
His contributions have been too important to leave his playing time decision to the whim of a coach who never met a novelty lineup that he didn’t love.

Powe can play. He has proved that. He needs to get regular minutes and if he doesn't, we definitely need a new coach.

source: ESPN and CelticsStuff Live

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Comments:

I'm all for going with Powe and Jefferson. They are two of our best post players and they are quick and athletic enough to be factors in our small ball lineup. Jefferson is starting to produce off the bench in short bursts and I think its only a matter of time before he he finds his rhythm and really starts to produce numbers. He's a plus rebounder and a plus scorer.

Doc likes to use big men who can score from the outside (which is one of the reasons Gomes is out there), but when he plays Jefferson and Powe together, even though they can't attack from the perimeter like Raef and Gomes, they hit the offensive boards and score off of putbacks, and that is proving to be just as valuable.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 3:46 PM

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