CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Fiddlin' and Diddlin' on 4/27

by FLCeltsFan 10:27 AM

Well, it is that time of year. No articles on the Celtics in the Globe or the Herald. Just playoff news, which the Celtics are unfortunately not a part of. Thank goodness for the Blogs who give us something to read and talk about in this lull between the season and the lottery.

Sports Illustrated has a very eye opening piece on the Celtics and the fact that they don't have any pro-player scouts. Now wonder Danny gets the short end of the stick on so many trades but yet drafts very well.

VP Danny Ainge knows how to draft young players, and he's done an exceptional job at it. But the record shows that he doesn't apply the same investigatory work to scouting the more than 400 players in the NBA. The Celtics are vulnerable on trades for existing NBA players because they don't do their homework. While they are exceptional at seeking out the minute details of 19-year-old college sophomores, the Celtics -- unlike most of their rivals -- don't have a pro personnel scout traveling the league and collecting behind-the-scenes information on veterans who may be traded to Boston. Rival teams are fully aware that Boston is vulnerable on trades for NBA talent, but the Celtics have yet to address this weakness in their front office.

Wow! Rival teams know we are vulnerable? Is this why they can unload such great players on us as Raef Lafrentz, Dan Dickau, Chris Mills, Michael Stewart, and Telfair? If we don't get a top 2 pick, is there anyone who isn't afraid of what Danny will do with that 3rd or 4th pick?

If the Celtics want to express accountability in a meaningful way, they should spend less time worrying about a player at the end of the bench and invest more resources to improve their own administration.

Some tough words, but hopefully Danny will see them and take them to heart before making another trade that will set us back even further.

In the same article, there is a list of the available coaches:

The dismissal of Indiana coach Rick Carlisle has added to the flood of experienced candidates on the market: Rick Adelman, Larry Brown, Sam Mitchell, Jim O'Brien, Stan Van Gundy, Del Harris, Bob Hill, P.J. Carlesimo and Terry Porter have all had winning seasons.

Some good coaches there and I wouldn't mind several of them on the Celtics. But I am resigned to the fact that Doc will be back, unfortunately. But what could help both Doc and the Celtics is to bring in a good assistant who can help him with defense and with logistics in the game. I wonder if Danny can talk Rick Carlisle into coming in as an assistant to Doc. Carlisle admits that his people skills aren't that good. Doc has a ton of people skills but his coaching skills aren't that hot. It seems that they would make a great team and could learn from each other and in the meantime help the Celtics. I know it is very improbable but I can dream.

Celtics Blog has an article that sorts the team into Core Guys, Outer Core - Young Veterans, Veteran Contracts, Slam Dunk Champions (I had to smile at this one), Filling Out the Roster, and Let's Make a Deal. Good analysis from Jeff.

The Cowl has a very good article on Ryan Gomes.

But beyond the numbers, Gomes has done it the same way he did at Providence: By playing the proverbial right way. Never a high flier or an athletic freak, he has been forced to rely on other talents, like a knack for positioning and a high basketball IQ. He has constantly refined his game as his career has progressed; his range on his jumper continues to increase, but he has still not lost the inside toughness that defined his career at PC.

Gomes is a player who should be in the league a long time. Hard worker, good character, old school values, great BB IQ, and doesn't make many mistakes when he is on the court. While he may end up in a trade for a veteran, he would be a great player to keep around.

Boston Metro has suggestions for improving the Celtics.

“We need to make more of an effort at the defensive end. We need to become a better defensive team. I think the number one element of that is personnel. Doc [Rivers] had a really difficult job with the personnel we had, the inexperience, the lack of size in the backcourt. We’ve had a lot of games where Allan Ray’s been playing small forward. We need to get better defensively, it’s just that simple. Our defense just isn’t good enough.”

Danny obviously realizes that one of the team's biggest weaknesses is our defense. I don't believe that the number one element is personnel. The number one element was Doc. He doesn't take defense seriously enough and isn't a defensive minded coach. Any coach who expects a team to pick up defense while they are practicing offense because after all, half the team has to play defense while they are working on the offensive sets isn't going to get much out of a team defensively. Doc's number one priority has always been his offensive system. If Doc would follow Red's number 1 rule and keep it simple and work a little harder on defense, we would have a much better team.

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