CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Like Thoroughbreds Harnessed to a Plow

January 5, 2007

I have been reading about the Grizzlies since Barone took over. Oh my! These aren't the same Grizzlies that they were under Mike Fratello. They are a running team and a high scoring team. He has unleashed them and in a win against the Warriors on Wed, they scored 144 points in regulation!!!! They are 2-1 since Fratello was fired.

What a difference a coach can make. Gasol, Miller and Swift are on a tear and will be a handful to guard being that they run and run and run and by running, they get easy baskets. I got this quote from an article on CSL by JB:

Quote:We will have our hands full tonight, against a team that is unleashed from the chains of a controlling ego maniacal, defensively obsessed coach

Doc is a controlling ego maniacal obsessed coach, but he isn't defensively obsessed so he is even worse. He just micromanages and holds these players back from letting loose. I have realized this since he mentioned adding 3 defensive sets 2 days before the end of training camp and they already had 5 of them in place. He has a plethora of offensive sets as well and at one point mentioned that he was going to make it simple and use only 2... but I am sure he is back to a full playbook as he can't stand not micromanaging the team.

This is from a Celtics/Grizzlies preview :

Quote:``We got tired halfway through the third quarter,'' said Barone, a former NBA assistant who will finish the season as coach, then return to his original post as director of player personnel.

``I saw some eyes starting to cross in the huddle. So I asked them: 'OK, would you like me to start calling plays from here on in?' They said no, so I said: 'OK, start running again.' There's no magic in coaching.''

This is a coach that Red would have loved. Don't call plays every time down the floor. Don't have 8 or 9 defensive sets. Don't have a ton of plays that the players have to memorize and then execute. No wonder our guys get lost on offense and defense at times... they forget whether they are running play number 10 or play number 20.

Over the past 3 years, Danny has built this team to run. We have a team full of ultra athletic players and 2 of the fastest PG's in the league along with some very tough big men capable of playing in the post. If Doc would do like Red did, or like Barone is doing, and turn the PG's loose to run and create, we would be so much better. Even though we have a team built to run, and Doc promised to have the team run, we are stuck in the half court most of the time. On the brief occasions that Rondo comes in and brings his energy off the bench, we do run and see a glimpse of what this team could do if allowed to run. I just hate the thought that we are stuck with Doc the rest of the season and that he may be ruining 2 good pass first running PG's in the process.

This is also from JB's article

Quote:But that is what is killing me right now, the obvious need we have to play a rebounder/shot tblocker with Jefferson and Doc is hung up on playing Gomes, who is undersized and Rosen correctly saw get pushed around by the other power forwards…..

This has been the knock on Doc for years. He doesn’t seem to appreciate big man skills.

Doc doesn't know how to play big men and doesn't use them correctly. He loved Raef because Raef camped out on the 3 point line to "stretch the defenses" and he never crashed the boards. Doc also loves Scal. Now Scal plays hard and is a good 11th or 12th man to bring in energy at times, but he, like Raef, often camps out on the 3 point line. Raef and Scal were not post players and neither was Blount and Doc loved them, playing them big minutes at the expense of our true post players. Doc never gives minutes to the players who play in the post unless he is forced to by injuries and trades. Just look at all the minutes Scal plays and Powe sitting on the bench. I am surprised that Clifford Ray doesn't pitch a fit about the way Doc uses big men. If we would play Jefferson and Perk together and Powe and Gomes together to have an offensive and defensive big on the floor at the same time, and allow the big men to play in the paint, it would make us a much better team. But Doc doesn't like his big men to play with their backs to the basket. Even Al plays too far out and should be encouraged to play in the post more. The few times we see Al and Perk on the floor together, we see that they play well together and have great chemistry and make good things happen. When Powe plays, he hasn't been ruined by all of Doc's plays and goes on instinct and also makes good things happen.

What I am becoming afraid of is that Danny will make trades based on what Doc is doing with the kids and not what they are capable of. Turn Telfair and Rondo loose to run and create. Play Perk and Al together and Powe and Gomes together and we would be a much better team. We need a coach who will unleash the horses and let them run. Don't call plays but tell them to run. Instead, they are like thoroughbreds being harnessed to a plow.

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