When I saw Darko tip that rebound out to Jet while sitting on the floor I knew it was the play of the game. And, I see NBA-TV agreed with me. Lex has a video showing that this kind of play is a Celtic tradition since Kevin McHale made a play from the seated position as well. Green's finish wasn't all that bad either. So much to be excited about on this team.
It's always good to check out what the bloggers are saying about their teams. Of special interest to Celtics fans should be the over-inflated expectations of the Lakers fans. Check them out and enjoy.
I wrote earlier about how I felt that much of Rondo's problem with his shot has been confidence and that this season he has confidence in his shot and people are noticing. It appears that confidence is key to another Celtic as well. Gary Washburn posted this on Sulia
Doc Rivers on working on Darko's confidence: "“He just needs a chance; he just needs a team that wants him to do his job without asking him to be the No. 2 pick in the draft. We’re just asking him to be part of a group and part of a team. We give him roles on the team. I think he likes the roles that we’ve given him and he didn’t feel any extra pressure. So far so good. We just have to keep him in that frame of mind that he’s in now.
"You can see that he gets frustrated easy. So we’re trying to eliminate those episodes. Our thing right now with Darko is to play forward. From being around for a short time, as a coach I can probably feel he’s played his career backwards. He lives in the past a lot and we’re trying to get him to live in the future. I told him (Friday), the only time I’ll take you out is if you make a mistake and make another mistake because you’re thinking about the last mistake. I won’t take you out for making a mistake. So hopefully that works.”
I think Darko's biggest problem in his career was being picked #2 in the draft in front of some players who have become stars. Darko was so young when he entered the NBA and he was raw and not ready to be thrust into the spotlight. If he had been drafted late in the first round and brought along slowly, we might be talking about what a dominant player Darko is.
But, at every stop, Darko was expected to come in and be a star. He was never given a chance to develop. And at every stop when he didn't produce like a #2 pick, he was shoved back on the end of the bench, which only served to further frustrate him and deteriorate any confidence he had left. He's tried to live up to the #2 pick billing so far in his career and it's been a disaster for him.
I think finally he is in the right place to succeed. The Celtics don't want him to be the #2 pick, they want him to be a team player and fill a role, which is the Celtic way. Reports from training camp is that he is embracing being "Celtic" instead of Darko. In his first game, we saw glimpses of what can be this season. He played well, made some great passes, and had the play of the game in my opinion when he tipped a rebound out to Jason Terry while sitting on the court. I have high hopes for Darko this season if Doc can succeed in building some confidence in him.
[Discuss on CG Forums!]
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Rajon Rondo told me he was more confident in his 3-point shot and had been working hard on it. Form on 3 he just hit looked best it ever had
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) October 5, 2012
How many times over the last few years have we said that if Rondo just had a jumper he would be scary. Well, I think we may just have a scary Rondo on our hands this season. I've said many times over the course of the last few years that I felt that a lot of Rondo's problems were confidence and when he didn't think about his shot, he usually made them but when he stopped to think, he'd miss them, which explained the poor free throw shooting as well.
After Rondo took that three pointer to end the first quarter, Marc Spears sent the above tweet. Having covered the Celtics as the beat writer for a couple of years, he is very familiar with Rondo's shot. The difference in his shot could very well just be that now he has confidence in it. He was just 3 of 9 from the floor yesterday, but most of his misses were on layups and tough scoop shots under the basket. He shot the ball with confidence and his jumpers looked very good. Perhaps the best indication that his confidence in his shot has improved is the fact that he went 6-6 from the free throw line.
Rondo's confidence has been showing in every area as we have seen him assume a leadership role on the team. He organized a week of practices in LA before Camp began. He has been very vocal and has been thoughtfully answering questions in interviews rather than the one word quips that we heard from him in previous years. He knows he's the leader on this team and he is stepping up to the task.
Rondo could very well have a shot at the MVP award if he truly has gained confidence in his shot. He will be a nightmare for the other teams who have been used to backing off of him and daring him to shoot. He also will not hesitate to drive to the basket because he will no longer be worried about missing the free throws when the inevitable foul comes. A confident Rondo is a scary Rondo because a confident Rondo is going to hit his jumpers and the other teams in the league should be very afraid.
Boston Celtics' Jason Terry (4) goes for a basket against Fenerbahce
Ulker's Bojan Bogdanovic (44) during an exhibition basketball game in
Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Oct. 5, 2012.(AP Photo/TURKPIX)
In their first game of the preseason, the Celtics showed some rust as they came up short to Fenerbache Ulker 97-91. There were plenty of things they need to work on, but plenty to be excited about as well. We got a chance to see a lot of the young guys as Doc kept his starters on the bench in the second half.
We saw some struggles from both veterans and young guns alike in this game. The fact that they are still getting used to playing together could best be seen in the 25 turnovers committed, with 14 of those being committed in the first half. That number will surely come down as they get used to playing with each other and once they get the rust out.
There were plenty of defensive breakdowns when players didn't quite rotate quickly enough. One thing I know Doc will be working on is pick and roll defense as the Celtics got beat on that play all game long. They allowed way too many easy buckets on cuts to the hoop. They also need to work on 3 point defense. The shooting was a bit rusty, which also could be expected for the first game of the season. But all those things are going to improve, even by the next game.
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Molly McGrath continues her great work in Turkey and interviews the Celtics at their shootaround before today's game.
Dionte Christmas is excited to be returning to Turkey as an NBA player after having played against most of the players on Fenerbache when he played for one of the lower ranked teams in Turkey. He's been giving his teammates some pointers on their opposition. He mentions how well the Celtics are gelling as a team.
Jeff Green said he needs 25 minutes today because the first 15 minutes will be just smiling and being happy being back and the last 10 he can have fun and play.
Kris Joseph is excited to put to use all that have been learning in practices. He stresses that the European teams play team ball and they have to be ready for that.
For Fenerbahce Ulker, this is a big game, not just an exhibition and so the Celtics are sure to get their best shot. It should be a fun game.
Boston Celtics at Fenerbahce Ulker Friday, October 5, 2012 2:00 PM ET 9:00 PM Istanbul Time TV: NBA-TV, CSNNE Pregame on CSNNE 1:30 PM ET Ulker Sports Arena Istanbul, Turkey
After 6 days of practice and very competitive scrimmaging between green
and white teams, the Celtics finally get to play against some new
blood. Fenerbahce is a tough team and should be a good first test for
this new look Celtic team.
Doc said he plans to play the
starters about half the game; he wants his players just to compete and
get accustomed to playing opponents again. They are still struggling a
bit from jet lag and time difference and travel but they are more than
ready to finally compete in an actual game.Preseason games are strange animals. Teams don't play to win as much as to evaluate players, set rotations, and prepare themselves for the real games when the season starts. I expect to see the starting lineup that we will see on opening night: Rajon Rondo, Courtney Lee, Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass, and Kevin Garnett. But Doc will sub in liberally and he will try to evaluate players 8-18 more than play his set rotation in these games.
Scal and Mike discuss which player will be backing up KG at the 5 this season. Darko is huge and can be an intimidating defender as long as he gets the system down.
Melo is learning but may spend some time in the D-League to learn and not be pushed to develop before he's ready.
Scal feels that Jason Collins is one of the smarter players in the league and won't make many mistakes.
It was interesting to me that Chris Wilcox, who was the back up center last season wasn't mentioned. This tells me that Chris may be spending more time at the 4 this season.
Always good to hear from Mike and Scal. Game time tomorrow!!! Whoo Hoo!!
Paul Pierce, Dionte Christmas and Jason Terry have been engaging in some impromptu three point shooting contests after practices. Word is that Dionte is holding his own against the two veteran gunners.
Rajon Rondo joined the press corps and decided to take a few photos at practice today. Paul Pierce tweeted the photo cautioning Rondo to get his good side. Does The Captain have a bad side?
KG loves Jared Sullinger's basketball IQ and shares that he is a very underrated passer. He also singles out Fab, Sully and Dionte for their work ethic but says they have all been working hard.
A Sherrod Blakely shared that KG is giving the rookies some experience with NBA trash talking and they couldn't get that lesson from a better trash talker.
At some point during the Boston Celtics' first practice in Turkey, Kevin Garnett and Dionte Christmas had some terse words for each other.
Christmas' play suffered afterward while Garnett stepped his game up.
On Thursday, another C's rookie, Jamar Smith, had a verbal spat with KG.
Smith's game got worse while Garnett once again, took over.
While some might view Garnett's treatment as picking on the young, he's actually preparing them for what's to come.
KG knows that when the games start for real, every team will be gunning for the Celtics and that he's not the only one who knows how to rattle a rookie with trash talk. Dionte Christmas, for one, learned the lesson.
"When he was talking smack to me, he came down and hit the game-winner," Christmas said. "Once somebody talks (back), that means they just pushed the button on him. And that got him going."
"Chalk that up as a lesson learned from the vets," Christmas said. "You don't talk, just play. Keep your mind on the task at hand."
Which Christmas has discovered, is a very Kevin Garnett-like way of doing things.
It's been a busy day and there's a lot of Celtics news to catch up on. The team had their last practice before their first preseason game tomorrow. After 5 days of installing new plays and defensive sets, Doc finally allowed the Celtics to have a practice that was mostly scrimmaging. Doc divided them into 2 teams with the first 8 players on one team including KG, Pierce, Rondo, Bass, Lee, Green, Terry and Darko. The second team was everyone else.
They played 4 games with the 1st/2nd team winning 2 games and the third team winning 2 games. It's exciting that the Celtics 3rd team can push the 1st/2nd team hard and make them work. This team is talented from top to bottom. Here is a recap of the 4 games from Celtics.com.
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Avery Bradley talks about his rehab and coming back strong. He's ahead of expectations. He's begun to shoot around but no contact yet. He's been able to do walk throughs and learn the plays. Wants to play it safe so that the injury doesn't re-occur.
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In the above video we find out that there were a couple of fiery exchanges at the end of a very good practice today. That tells me that they are really competing in practice and that it will be a relief when they finally get a chance to play against another team. We also learn that Jeff Green is playing very well and gives the team a lot of versatility. The point guard for the Turkish team they play on Friday is supposed to be one of the best in Europe and so it should be a great match-up.
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Earlier today I posted the NBA press release with their new flopping policy and the penalties to be imposed on the floppers. Now, the news comes out that the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has said that it will file a grievance and unfair labor practices charge against the NBA over their new policy to punish flopping.
Union president, Billy Hunter had this to say, "The NBA is not permitted to unilaterally impose new economic discipline against the players without first bargaining with the union." He also said that the new rules are "without precedent in our sport or any other sport," and characterized the penalties as "a vague and arbitrary overreaction and overreach by the commissioner's office."
The reactions I've read by the players were mostly positive in that the majority of players feel that there is no place for flopping in the game. I'm not sure if LeFlop would be for it as it would severely limit his game if they actually call him on it. And I don't imagine that Manu Ginobili would be all that much in favor of it. And Anderson Varejao and James Harden might not like it all that much. But the players who don't flop don't like it because they are the ones that get the fouls called on them because of the flopping and so stopping the flops seems like a good idea.
It may seem odd that the union is opposed to a rule that most of the players are in favor of. Flopping is frustrating for most players, coaches, and fans alike. The move to file the grievance by the NBPA was is mostly a procedural one. The union is not necessarily opposed to creating rules to stop flopping, but they aren't in favor of fines being levied for infractions that haven't been detailed in the collective bargaining agreement.
Celtics have uploaded a video of the team singing Happy Birthday to Courtney Lee. I can safely say that none of them should give up their day jobs. Celtics Green would like to join the Celtics in wishing Courtney a very Happy Birthday.
Well, the signing of Rasheed Wallace by the NY Knicks was made official today. As I think back to two years ago when Sheed played his last season with the Celtics and I'm wondering what in the world they are thinking. There were a few bright spots, but mostly I remember him jacking up ill advised threes and huffing and puffing up and down the court because he never got himself into shape.
But, that was then and this is now and I guess the Knicks feel he can help them. Maybe he will be their designated complainer so that they can yell at the refs and not lose one of their regular guys. I'm sure the beat reporters in New York are already sharpening their pencils and salivating at the thought of all those pithy Sheed interviews. "Both teams played hard."
I'm sure the Knicks are going for the record for the oldest team in league history. Before Knicks play their first preseason game, they will have 7 players 30 or over on their team, and come Nov 16, it will be 8 as Amare Stoudemire joins the club. As of Thursday, they will also have a 40 year old as Kurt Thomas reaches that milestone. In addition to 38 year old Sheed, the Knicks have 39-year-old Jason Kidd, 38-year-old Marcus Camby and 40-year-old Kurt Thomas on the roster. And people called the Celtics old last year?!?!
Sheed will make his return to Boston on January 24 when the Knicks make their first appearance at the Garden. Don't expect him to be in shape. Maybe that can be Geritol giveaway night in their honor. Rich Levine at CSNNE has a great idea for a tribute video.
The Celtics are planning a tribute video consisting solely of missed 3-pointers. Bud Light bottles will be half-price.
The NBA has released more information on how they plan to deal with flopping this season.
The NBA will adopt an anti-flopping rule beginning with the 2012-13 season, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson announced Wednesday.
"Flops have no place in our game -- they either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call," Jackson said. "Accordingly, both the Board of Governors and the Competition Committee felt strongly that any player who the league determines, following video review, to have committed a flop should -- after a warning -- be given an automatic penalty."
"Flopping" will be defined as any physical act that appears to have been intended to cause the referees to call a foul on another player. The primary factor in determining whether a player committed a flop is whether his physical reaction to contact with another player is inconsistent with what would reasonably be expected given the force or direction of the contact.
Physical acts that constitute legitimate basketball plays (such as moving to a spot in order to draw an offensive foul) and minor physical reactions to contact will not be treated as flops.
Any player who is determined to have committed a flop during the regular season will be subject to the following:
Ok, I know that's a cheesy headline. But Jessica Camerato has once again gotten to the person behind the player in an article about Darko. It seems that basketball isn't his only sport. It seems that he also is a professional fisherman. From Jessica's article:
“I am a simple guy,” Milicic told CSNNE.com. “I like to hunt, I like to fish, so that’s what my hobbies are.”
Milicic began fishing as a child and took up the sport professionally five years ago. He has competed in carp fishing tournaments with his team, Melezra, during the offseason where he lives 45 minutes outside of Belgrade.
“I fish carp professionally back home,” said Milicic. “I go to the World Cups, European Championships. I have a team so that’s what I enjoy the most. I’ve got an RV here from the US. We travel, we fish for four to seven days straight.”
When he’s not on the water, he likes to hunt, which he got involved in three years ago. Since the seasons alternate, he is able to participate in both sports while in Europe.
“I have a group of people and we hunt back home,” Milicic said. “When it’s hunting season, it’s not fishing season. Every time I have something to do. It’s good stuff.”
Darko joins such noted outdoorsmen in the NBA as Chris Kaman, Brad Miller, and Celtics' own Larry Bird and Dave Cowens. This has me thinking that maybe the bodies that Sheed was talking about are all buried at sea.
Antoine Walker, who started a promising career in Boston, ended up out of the NBA and broke. His story was shared on an ESPN 30 for 30 episode. He shares in a one on one interview with Stephen A Smith how things went wrong for him. He blames bad real estate deals and a lavish lifestyle for the losses. Although much was made of his gambling debts, of the $110 million that he went through, he said that less than $1 million was lost in gambling. I remember the Pierce/Walker tandem in the early years on the Celtics and it was exciting at first. I wish Antoine the best in his life. Like Red often said, once a Celtic, always a Celtic.
It seems as though Darko and KG are getting on just fine over in Turkey. No one has been killed yet and the mood is jovial. But then again, KG does have a devious look on his face, so who knows, maybe they are partners in crime. . (H/T Red's Army)
I miss Delonte. I always liked him as a player. He goes all out every time he's on the court, which may explain why he's hurt so much. But, more than Delonte the player, I miss Delonte's humor. You have to remember Delonte's infamous Valentine's Day interview, or his Wire Hanger Commercial.
You can search for Delonte on YouTube and find any number of hilarious videos like his KFC Freestyle or his comments on the new ball they put out there a few years back. Now that he has Twitter, there's no telling what you'll get from him on any given day. Between yesterday and today, he sent some pretty funny stuff.
Above is a photo of the Celtics arriving in Turkey and heading into their first practice upon arrival. You can find a video of their arrival here. A Sherrod Blakely is reporting that Doc put his Celtics right to work once they got to Turkey. When they arrived in Turkey after an 11 hour flight, Doc put his team through an hour long practice. He wanted to keep them awake because of the 7 hour time change between Boston and Turkey
"That's a rarity in the NBA where you try to make sure they don't go to bed early," Rivers said. "Usually it's the exact opposite. But because of the time change and all that, I thought if we went straight and did nothing they would fall asleep at 6 p.m. and sleep the rest of the night away."
Rondo mentioned on media day that his best friend on the team was KG. Today, KG sat down with CSNNE and shared some feelings about "Shorty." He talks about how smart Rondo is and that he feels for Doc having to coach him. He also feels that Rondo's potential on the court is limitless. The above video gives more of his thoughts on their relationship.
Jason Terry and Paul Pierce put on an impromptu 3-point shooting contest after practice on Sunday. Both players fancy themselves as clutch shooters and so it's only natural that they should go head to head in a contest. Joining them in the contest was rookie Dionte Christmas, who matched the veterans shot for shot. Terry won this contest but I'm sure there's going to be a rematch.
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While the Celtics had their Media Day on Friday, the rest of the league kicked off theirs today. Here are a few thoughts from around the league.
First, of much interest to the Celtics is some news out of Philly. It would seem that their brand new center is already broken. From a press release from the Sixers.
"The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that the team will take precautionary measures with center Andrew Bynum and will withhold him from basketball activities for the next three weeks in order to maximize the therapeutic effects of the Orthokine therapy he received earlier this month.
Bynum was examined by Dr. Jack McPhilemy of Main Line Health and was diagnosed with a bone bruise of the medial femoral chondyle of his right knee. During the aforementioned time frame, Bynum will continue participate in low impact conditioning drills."
And, the player that the Sixers signed as back up for the injured Bynum is of interest to the Celtics faithful as well. Former Celtic, Mikki Moore has been signed to a camp contract. Good luck with that, Sixers. He is still 7' tall, though.
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The Celtics squeezed a practice this morning and worked on some fun things. We've been talking about how versatile the Celtics roster is this season and Doc spent this morning's session working on small ball sets that will use that versatility to exploit matchups in their opponents.
"[Rondo] will be very happy. We put [the small lineups] in yesterday, but we didn’t work on it. Today, almost exclusively, we'll have small lineups on the floor," said Rivers. "We’re going to change them all around, so that will be fun. This is the first year that we’ve actually really worked on it. We’re going to work on it every day."
The combinations are fun to think about. How about Rondo, Terry, Lee, Green, and Bass. Or maybe Terry, Bradley, Lee Pierce and Wilcox. Or even Bradley, Lee, Green and Wilcox or Bass. Think small and fast. Doc must be like a kid in a candy shop with so many possibilities.
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I'm loving Jason Terry more and more every day. This guy is confident, he's a mentor, he's a leader and he's loving Boston and the Celtics. I only wonder what took him so long to join the Celtics.
And this kid is so awed to meet Jet that he's speechless. Great reaction.
Pierce on Rondo: "He's knocking down his shot. He's TAKING his shot. That's what we're going to expect from him. He's our leader."
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) September 29, 2012
I just wrote about how excited I'm getting for this season and this little tweet may have me excited as much as anything else I've seen or read. Rajon Rondo's jumper has been the subject of much speculation and the consensus is that Rondo is just a consistent jumper away from being a legitimate MVP candidate. Everything else in his game is far and above everyone else. It's that pesky jumper that has been holding him back.
He has been able to score, mostly by going to the hoop and he does hit jumpers, just not consistently. Who can forget those 2 huge 3 pointers that Rondo hit last year in the playoffs when Paul Pierce fouled out? Or remember that horse contest when Rondo matched Kevin Durant 3 for 3 for 3? Rondo could hit his shot and often did when he had to. I've said it several times over the years, but I think some of Rondo's problems with his jumper had gotten to be mental. Maybe he's been able to get past that hurdle finally.
Pierce said he's looking for his shot and taking it in practice so far. And what's better, he's hitting his shots. Now, whether that transfers to the games, we'll have to wait and see. It's exciting to think about Rondo with a consistent jumper though. And once again, Pierce confirms that Rondo is the leader of the team. And it appears that Rondo is going to take the reins of the team and run with them, hitting his jumpers on the way. How can you not be excited for this season to start???
I've always been a glass half full type of fan. Or maybe more like a glass three quarters full. I mean, I was even excited about that team the season before the big trade that brought KG to Boston. So, it's no surprise that I'm pretty much beside myself going into this season. And, the more I see, hear and read, I get even more excited.
A. Sherrod Blakely reported that KG was working with the young bigs after practice. And the best part is that the young bigs were listening and soaking up every bit of knowledge that KG imparted to them.
"For him to step out at the end of practice, knowing he's probably tired and just speaking upon us about things we can do better and work on means he's a great teammate," said Jared Sullinger, Boston's first-round pick out of Ohio State. "He's been great so far. I don't expect it to change. It means a lot to us young guys."
"Oh man, it's great," said Melo, who like Sullinger was was drafted in the first round last June. Melo came out of Syracuse. "Everyday, I watch him play and try to learn everything that he does. After practice, he come to us and explains the stuff we had problems
with. It's great."
KG is one of the best ever to play the game and the fact that he is willing to pass his knowledge of the game on to his younger teammates and to mentor them, is one thing that sets the Celtics apart from other teams in the league. The Celtics were able to bring in some talented young guys this season and they are only going to get better under KG's tutelage.
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Lex has been delving into all things Darko lately. In one post, he talked about how Darko got the nickname Serbian Gangster. It seems that the ubiquitous Rasheed Wallace made this comment after Darko was traded from the Pistons:
"Man, Darko is good," Wallace said. "We call him the Serbian Gangster because Darko ain't going to back down from nobody. When Mr. Hyde comes out, (you) don't want to mess with him."
"You better not dis Darko. I'm telling you, Darko is a Serbian gangster. Darko's got some bodies back there (in Serbia-Montenegro)."
Sheed played with Darko 3 seasons and saw him as an enforcer who very well could have some bodies hidden in the locker room. I've said several times that Darko's biggest problem was being drafted 2nd. He's never been given the chance to just be Darko. He's been expected at every stop to be the number 2 pick. I think he's finally found a place where he can just be Darko, and I think that is going to give him the freedom to finally realize some of that potential that has been dormant.
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It's that time of year again. NBA blogs join in to preview their teams's chances for the season. All of the previews for the Atlantic division have been posted now and here is a summary of them. Be sure to check them out to size up the Celtics' divisional competition from the bloggers who know them best.
Anyone who
has ever played a game of basketball, whether it’s a pick-up game or
competitive hoops, will know that not every person on the floor, at any given
time, can have the ball in his hands. This is true for most major sports like
baseball (the pinch runner), American football (the kicker and special teams),
even ice hockey (defenseman enforcers). In basketball, where there is only one
ball and ten players to share it with, the role player’s significance becomes
even more pronounced.
Yet we
cannot, and should never understate the value of the role player: after all, we
can’t all be superstars. For every LeBron James, there will be a Mike Miller;
for every Paul Pierce, there will be a Glen Davis; and for every Kevin Garnett,
there will be more than one Brian Scalabrine. (For the record, I love Scal as a
person; as a player, not so much.)
Considering
the glut of role players, or ‘specialists’ that the Celtics have had over the
years, we can honestly look at most of them and say with certainty if they did
the job they were supposed to do, exceeded expectations or utterly came up
short in their bid to contribute.
