LeBron Comes To Town

Even more telling is the offhand comment by Ainge that “I think there does come a time when you have to adjust goals during the course of a season.” He continued to say that time is not now. But how far away is that time? Is it when the team is, say, 14-30 at the end of January, which is my projection? Is it after the month of February, when the Celtics would realistically only be favored in one of the twelve games?

And what adjustments would be made? Will Ainge try to dump salaries (Wally, Scalabrine) for picks and expiring contracts)? Will he trade away some younger players he does not want to extend (West, Allen, Telfair)? Will he entertain trading deadline offers for Pierce?

A lot will depend on the health of Pierce. Springer claims this morning that he will be eased back into the lineup whenever he is ready, and no one knows yet when that will be. If Pierce’s absence is longer than expected, will he be asked to take one for the team and sit out the rest of the year while the C’s collect extra ping pong balls?

I find it very interesting that when Danny states any status of Doc he says"to the end of this year".Why not just say Doc is my coach PERIOD?..Danny will not firing him now because he would have to take over,NOT something he wants to do but entering his last yr on contract this summer he’ll either get extended or a mutual parting/fireing will occur…as far as goals for the team?? Danny wants a high pick,healthy Pierce for playing and Wally for trading to go with young assets and Theo’s contract to WHEEL&DEAL this summer…Danny’s loving this

I think that Danny probably would love to ditch Doc, ASAP. Their differences in opinion as to how players should play leak through the cracks of Ainge’s “glass half full” approach. Danny has to be frustrated with Doc’s treatment of Gerald. The kid played three good games in a row, and Doc took the first opportunity presented to him to supplant Green with Wally, and an injured Wally at that.

I also find it interesting that DA mentioned Rondo. Ainge believes in statistical analysis and has people working for him whose job it is to crunch stats. Rondo is our best defensive point guard BY FAR, statistically, and his offensive stats are quite worthy too. When I say that Rondo’s defensive stats are good, I mean in the “you can put them up against anyone in the League” sense, not in the “just better than our other two PG’s” view. His opponent’s PER is very good and he is second in the league in steals per 48. I really got a kick out of Sergio Rodriguez “running the offense” from 7 feet in front of the half court stripe in the Portland game. The kid was obviously afraid to even put the ball on the court with Rondo on him. Danny traded a first round pick in the 2007 draft to get Rondo, so anyone who thinks that Danny doesn’t care that Rondo isn’t playing needs to have their head examined.

The commentary aout Bassy’s shooting says a lot. Doc doesn’t want him to shoot while Danny wants him to shot a lot of midrange jumpers. IMO, Danny is right. The kid needs to look for his offense more, and he is fully capable of hitting that 17 footer with consistency. Meanwhile Doc is filling his head full of garbage about NOT shooting. Instead of letting the kid do what he does best, he tells him vague things about knowing when to look for his offense. He wants the kid to go to the hole 6 times for every jumpshot he takes. Who, of our 3 point guards, is BEST at taking it into the paint at that ratio? Rajon Rondo, yet Doc doesn’t want to play him, but he wants Bassy to play that style. :-\

I think that Doc’s mentality HAS to be annoying the hell out of Danny. The thing is that Danny can’t come out and SAY it, at least in public. Doing so will expose him to censure from within the basketball community. People will claim that Danny is being “unfair” to Doc since he has to work with such a young roster. Danny has to appear to be supportive of Doc because if he appears to be badgering him, it will make getting a replacement A LOT harder. There aren’t a lot of coaches who will want to take over such a young team if they feel that the front office will hang them out to dry if things aren’t going well. People accuse Danny of that anyways even though he has been so vocal in his support of Doc. Danny, IMO, has to back Doc up for this reason, even though Doc has clearly not followed Ainge’s plan and has completely blown off the running style that Danny wanted for this team. Danny hired the guy, though, so he has to live with that decision for now. I think Doc said what Danny wanted to hear about the running game and did what he wanted after the ink dried on his contract. I’m hoping that our next coach is a proven adherent of uptempo/fastbreak basketball instead of someone who just TALKS about it, like Doc has for the last 2 and half seasons.

Danny always seems to see good things happening, while I just see misery.

Cross your fingers Danny doesn’t trade our top 5 lotto pick for a backup pg.

No team can have an uptempo game unless it controls the boards more often than not. We dont control the boards. Elementary, Dr. Watson. On top of that, I havent seen anybody as bad as Bassy going up for a layup. He gets so scared of having it blocked he just puts it up somewhere near the basket and pray for a miracle.

No team can have an uptempo game unless it controls the boards more often than not. We dont control the boards. Elementary, Dr. Watson

Well, there’s an absolutely unfounded statement. Teh Golden State Warriors lead the NBA in fastbreak points, and play an uptempo style, yet they are DEAD LAST in rebounding differential, being outrebounded by 5.84 boards per game, which means that every other team in the league controls the boards better than they do. The Suns are outrebounded by 3.3 per game, the Wizards are by 2.66 per game. The Celts? They are out rebounded by 0.20 per game. ZERO POINT TWO. The Celts rebound well enough to run, they just don’t do it.

P.S., it is “Elementary, my dear Watson.” How about that for a second opinion?

Yeah I really didn’t think Doc and Danny had such different opinions until hearing DA the past few days. Personally, I’d much prefer Danny’s style more… i.e. playing Rondo, Gerald, and encouraging certain shots over Doc’s indecisiveness.

That may very well be the first Shira non-fluff piece.

geez, if it is a choice of choosing between springer or ainge as far as doc’s future with the celtics…hmmm… i go with danny.

doc will stay, barring a team mutiny or some similar disaster. i think danny has decided that doc’s development of young players and consistency outweigh his obvious lack of in-game coaching.

so be it.

Mike, if you are correct, then definitely something stinks in the state of Denmark. Well, let me get out of that one. If we are among the best in rebounding and yet we dont have an uptempo game, then blame PP for it. Perks dishes out as soon ans he catches the ball so its not his fault that when he catches a rebound, there is no uptempo. TA loves the uptempo game so it not his fault either.

So who de we blame for lack of uptempo. Well, we can blame Doc for everything, so thats an option. PP nor wally are interested in playing uptempo so we cant count on them. Bassy cannot make a layup to save his life, so he wont be the one to make the layups. It will rest on Rondo – West? GG loves the dunk part of a streak away but I havent seen much of anything else. So, Mike. Tell me why we dont have an uptempo game – you creamed me there, amigo. lolol.

Injuries are a major factor in this team’s record. You can’t put it all on Doc. Rivers biggest fault in my opinion, is that he’s never taken a consistant approach to the line-up. West is a prime example of that. Yanking him around this summer & fall was probably a key mistake. Yes, injuries to West & the entire team are a major factor, but everyone outside of Pierce seems to know their role could change at any minute. That can’t be a good feeling if you’ve fought & won a position in the rotation.

I think Ainge keeps Doc until the summer for a couple of reasons. 1. Danny won’t be pushed into coaching.
2. Ownership won’t have to think about paying another coach & the coach they just fired this season.
3. Danny can’t be blamed for wishing for a high pick in this lottery.

I firmly believe this team needs to develop a consistant approach that EVERYONE buys into and some solid vet help to keep it on track. More Lottery picks (outside of Oden) aren’t necessarily going to help in the short term. But Ainge can always trade the pick for someone who can take the burden of controlling the floor off of Pierce’s shoulders.

If we are such a good rebounding team, as statistics apparently show, as MikeDfromNP claims, our record should be better than its, us floundering near the bottom in the worst division of the NBA. Statistics are what they are, but dont necessarily show all of the truth. We are just not a running team, Mike is right on that; we dont run cause its not PP’s nor Wally’s cup of tea. We are not a running team; so why insist on it? PP is not going to change. Wally is trade fodder, but are we going to have a running game w/o PP? We havent had one so far. What do we do, get players that will excel at the half court game or trade PP and geat players that will have the will and the physicasl abilities to get into a running game? I think we will stay with PP for the forseeable future, so thats not an option. Maybe Doc is not pushing it enough.How can we have such a lousy record with such good rebounding stats; is it cause we get a lot of rebounds after the game is out of reach? That wont show in the stat sheet. Like I said before; Something stinks in teh State of denmark, Dear Watson, (before Watson became a doctor). lolololol

We are near the bottom of the worst division in the NBA because the team defense sucks. The problems on the offensive side are secondary.

As for the lack of a running game, that style isn’t something that automatically materializes. It has to be installed by the coaches, just like any other offensive scheme. The players need to know where to be and what do do. Shouting “run, run run!” from the sidelines just won’t do it. As I’ve said repeatedly, Rivers simply does not know how to install a running game.

Rivers’ offense never changes. Now that Pierce is out, they run the same plays for Wally that they did for Pierce.

“Well, we can blame Doc for everything, so that’s an option.” Uhhh, no – it is VERY much an option. I was freaking out in the PRESEASON watching the style of play in the last three or four games when Doc brought the Celtic offense to a screeching halt. Doc’s “system” is to walk the ball down and deliberately work the ball around, with the wings actually running the point. Running doesn’t seem to have much to do with it at all, nor has it since he first came on-board. The team is playing the style that Doc WANTS them to play. Do you honestly think that Doc wants them to run but they are refusing?

I think that the biggest tip off is how they run the few fast breaks that they do get. They have no clue what they are doing out there, even the guys who are suited to that style, like Tony and Gerald. This team doesn’t space the break properly to begin with. You’ll have three guys running right next to each other on a three on one, instead of the two wing guys spreading the court and approaching the basket at the ideal 45 degrees from the baseline. They usually fail to get the ball to the middle guy in a 3 on 1, if that guy didn’t start off with the ball in his hands before they hit the halfcourt line. I have watched Tony Allen dribble the ball in from the wing IN FRONT OF the middle guy way too many times. If someone is running down the middle in front of the point guard, he won’t get out of the damn way. It just goes on and on. Why do they do this? Is isn’t practiced – AT ALL. Doc obviously spends almost all of his time on the halfcourt offense. These guys are making mistakes, by the way, that a couple of dedicated practices would clear up – I’m talking about the bare bones basics of fast break basketball here, not Phoenix Suns style artistry. cont.

Where does Telfair come to get the ball from the rebounder almost every time? He goes BEHIND the rebounder which means that the ball is passed away from ANY potential transition opportunity. Delonte usually does this too, even though he will sometimes find an open space up the court. Rondo is the only point guard who consistently looks to receive the ball up the court, and that is almost certainly because he was coached to do that at Kentucky. Even then, Rondo has to come back to get the ball far too often because most of our rebounders are conditioned to look back and not UP the court. That sort of approach is the surest way to waste most transition opportunities. That has Doc written all over it.

We have designated inbounders on made baskets. Watch the Suns and any other uptempo team. They get the ball in with whoever is nearest the basket when the shot goes in. Nash will flash across the court and the ball is quickly inbounded. The only guy on our team who ever just goes and gets the ball and inbounds it quickly like that, on his own, is Veal. Why? It is because he played his first 4 seasons with the Nets, a team that usually runs on every opportunity. Doc didn’t teach him that, Byron Scott and Lawrence Frank taught him to do that. Made baskets present some of the best opportunities to score an easy bucket as the defense can be caught napping going back. The Warriors KILLED us with those kinds of baskets in Cali.

I disagree that Paul and Wally are disinterested in uptempo ball. Wally is certainly slowed by injuries this season, but he is very adept at getting the ball up the court quickly via the pass, which is how you run the break. For a slow guy, he is also good at filling his lane. Paul isn’t used to it, but he is willing to go along with it as long as there is a team dedication to it. He even spent his offseason doing extra running just to get himself ready for this team to run more. According to the early reports out of training camp, he was running extremely well, but the “running game” turned out to be Doc’s spin and not a real plan. If Larry Bird could fill his lane on the break, Paul Pierce certainly can. They are easy buckets, and I’m sure that Paul wouldn’t mind getting some of those. There is also that fact that we recently went a stretch without both Paul AND Wally out there. Did we run? HELL NO!!!! It was walk the ball up the court as per usual.

I think the biggest problem is that Doc just loves to micromanage the game. He wants to call every play out, while in the running game the players are in sole control of the action. Doc wants every possession to be a set piece “execution” of his “system”. That running silliness has no place there. I knew that Doc was full of dookie in the preseason when he made the comment that he wanted us to score 25% of our points via the fastbreak and transition. What!?!? That is NOT the attitude that a real running team has. A team that is about running wants to score a fastbreak/transition basket on EVERY possession. Such a team aggressively explores every opportunity to get that easy bucket and only reverts into the halfcourt when that opportunity is shut off to them. Doc had no intention of really running and I suspect that he has no real idea how to. You wanted reasons, you got them. It is Doc all the way.

“Rivers biggest fault in my opinion, is that he’s never taken a consistant approach to the line-up.”

Agreed.

It seems you can have one of three mentalities with an NBA team:

1) We’re winning a championship
2) We’re rebuilding and building for the future
3) We don’t really know where we’re going or what we’ve got (e.g., Knicks, Wolves, Sixers) and/or we’re OK with where our ceiling is and with whatever happens (e.g., a perenial 8th seed Wizards team, or maybe the Warriors)

A case could be made that our roster itself shows some direction (building for the future, gathering assets, developing talent — save one Wally Sczerbiak). However, this has little to no correlation with our actual use of rotation minutes. If we are trying to build up the young guys, we are failing at that. If we are trying to win now, we are failing at that. We have fallen in #3, a huge grey area where everything is always wrong but there is no standard (maybe the banners in the rafters) to hold our performance and decisions up to.

1. and #2 are both good, healthy, necessary directions. We probably won’t see a 10-year dynasty in the NBA any time soon, so rebuilding is always necessary. But, the questions remain:

1) If we are trying to win now, can Doc Rivers take us there?
2) If we are trying to build for the future, can Doc Rivers bring this team to maturity?

It’s hard to make a case that NBA teams win championships without great coaches. It’s hard to make a case that the current situation our young talent (Al, Gerald, Rondo) finds itself in will make the best of them. For a moment, for fun (and tears), picture any of those three guys on the Suns.

Respectfully, I don’t think Doc is who we need to help us win now (Paul and Al being the keys, and moving Wally probably, if that were the case) or develop for the future.

MikefromNP, I hear you on the lack of adequate outlet passing to the point guards up the floor. Perkins doesn’t do much of anything better than Big AL, but he outlets better. Jefferson grabs the rebound and immediately looks down to the ground. Then, typically, Delonte runs back and gets the pass 5 feet from AL. Fast break over.

Brickowski, while a coach really has to teach a great fast break offense, I think just having a good defense and 1 outlet pass would bring the Celtics 80% closer to being a good fast break team. Whenever Tony Allen forces a turnover he usually ends up scoring on a fast break. I can’t wait for the day that a real coach comes in to teach defense & push b/c we have some players that really are suited for that (Rondo, Allen, Green, Delonte, Jefferson, etc.)

“If we are such a good rebounding team, as statistics apparently show, as MikeDfromNP claims, our record should be better than its, us floundering near the bottom in the worst division of the NBA.”

The Knicks are second in the NBA in rebounding differential, out rebounding their opponents by 4.67 per game, and wonders it has done for their record. I didn’t say that we are a good rebounding team (a strawman argument), by the way, I just said that we are a better rebounding team than some VERY good fastbreak/uptempo teams. Something which you claimed to be near impossible.

 By the way, those stats I listed are legitimate stats. I actually bothered to look them up, something I doubt that you “waste” your time on.

I’m sick and tired of the argument that “no one could win with this roster.” It’s pure BS.

Philly is 5-4 since trading away Iverson. (Denver is 2-4 since acquiring him, BTW.) Is Philly’s roster any better than the Celtics roster?

You don’t need highlight reel players to hold the other team to under 100 points. You just need guys willing to work and a coachintg staff that teaches and emphasizes defense.

Springer has written several pieces this year which subtly (or as in this case, not so subtly) clearly indicate she for one believes it is time for Doc to go. Usually in the off-day articles.

Frankly, given the free pass Doc gets from the rest of the Globe staff, I find her willingness to actually notice and write about what some (most?) of us can see clearly—that Doc is simply not a good coach—rather refreshing.

I haven’t been a big Doc supporter as the head coach but there are times I do understand why Gerald get yoked out of the game so quickly.
Gerald passes the ball like a junior high school kid, nearly everyone one of his passes are either picked off or nearly picked off. He shows to much apprehension in his offense, as though he’s scared to shoot or drive he usually ends up passing and getting the ball tipped, picked or nearly picked off.
Gerald needs to be more aggressive and he’s been told to by Doc to be more aggressive and ready to shoot on more than a few occassions.
His defense does seem to have improved a good deal, that alone should give him the starting edge over Wally, who can hardly move to guard anyone whether he’s healthy or not.
Our point guard situation is suffering mostly because Telfair has to be given more liberty with the ball. Doc doesn’t trust him with the ball so Doc is constraining him to make simple passes to Paul Pierce or perimeter players rather than drive and try to get the ball to Al Jefferson or to a cutter like Tony Allen, Paul Pierce hardly ever cut to the basket for a lay up or a catch and shoot shot.
Delonte isn’t the answer at point guard and I personally think that him playing that position is hurting his game as a shooting guard.
Rondo is the other point guard that I feel if Doc doesn’t want to start Telfair he should go with Rondo who is a much better penetrator than Delonte and Rondo’s defense is scary good against everyone on the floor. Rondo doesn’t have a good shot and the whole world knows that but all the other tangibles he brings to the floor is the reason he should be on the floor more often or possibly starting.
As for Doc as a coach; there are qualities he has that are very good and faults he has as a coach that are hampering the progress of his young players. For one it seems as though Doc coaches out the strength of the young players for more thinking and when a player has to think more than act instinctively it confuses most of them and slows them down which results in more turnovers and turnover leads to losses and benching !
I am for teaching players how to play better and in some instances there are times when players need to be broken out of bad habits or to be taught better technique, as in the case of Tony Allen’s shooting technique.
Well enough said for now

Frankly, given the free pass Doc gets from the rest of the Globe staff, I find her willingness to actually notice and write about what some (most?) of us can see clearly—that Doc is simply not a good coach—rather refreshing.

I wouldn’t mind it if she backed it up with any actual analysis. But too often recently I’ve noticed her just writing what someone else here mentioned: fluff. On Monday, before the Portland game, she wrote “it is likely Boston will finish its five-game trip west winless.” Leave that sort of speculative negativity to us fans, please: it’s what we’re good at. If you’re a beat writer, stick to the facts. Then today this comment that “it was the kind of trip that makes observers wonder whether Doc Rivers’s days are numbered.” Why, Shira? The kids played hard, for the most part, there was some growth to be seen, and we were in most of the games. Given that Danny had already said Doc wouldn’t be fired this season, why would “observers” (those nameless, faceless people) think the situation any different now than before the trip? Again, it’s just baseless fluff. Now, if she had pointed out some of the recent disparities in Doc and Danny’s comments, or any of the negatives of the trip, that might have made for a more grounded assessment. But instead of having the courage to take a firm stand, she just slips in these little zingers into her reports and then ducks behind generalities like “observers” to avoid having to back up her statements.

MattD

MikeDfromNp-

Add in the fact that Telfair will [and sometimes West] dribble down the side of the court in break opportunities. Assuming you get the ball and have guys running a sure fire way to ruin your fast break is to run the lanes wrong. Gotta have the ball handler running the center lanes and the two wings runnning right down the sideline. Otherwise a single defender can take away too much.

West also has shown no ability to get the ball to the wings. He aslways takes it to the bucket. This is okay – since he either finishes or gets fouled, but it’s better to get the bucket than a foul, and it discourages the other guys from running. (If Delonte takes it anyways, why run?)

Totally agreed that the C’s have done nothing to improve their fast break. They don’t need to be a Suns or Tommy Gun running offense. But at least capitalize on the easy break aways and also the chance to run your half court against a confused defense.

"Gerald passes the ball like a junior high school kid, nearly everyone one of his passes are either picked off or nearly picked off. He shows to much apprehension in his offense, as though he’s scared to shoot or drive he usually ends up passing and getting the ball tipped, picked or nearly picked off. "

Gerald averages under one turnover per game. In his four starts, where he averaged 31.5 minutes per game, he four TOTAL turnovers against 6 assists. He averages fewer turnovers per 48 than Paul, Wally, Delonte, and Tony – in other words, fewer than ALL of our other wing players. So what you said is completely without foundation. He makes some mistakes, which are to be expected from a young player, but he IS NOT a turnover machine.

jumping in on the uptempo vs rebound margin point…

the reason GST & phoenix are (statistically) out-rebounded is becasue the attempt more shots and miss more shots, thus providing more rebound opportunities for their opponents.

also, phoenix plays up-tempo even after made baskets.

statistics (in a vaccum) can be very misleading. important to watch a few games before you draw conclusions.

regarding celtics and uptempo style…they simply dont have the personnel. no nash. no bdavis. no athletic bigs. oh, and PP wont run. its that simple.

MattD:

I can’t really disagree with your point, it’s problematic, at best, when writers inject opinion, or claim facts, without any sources, or with the most vague of sources (all too common among our writers; see Ramirez, Manny).

However, given the dare-I-say-unprecedented free pass Doc gets in the Boston media, I guess I’ll take anything, even journalistic cheap-shots, that points out the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’.

I would like to see KP playing with AL more. I think AL will absolutly destroy most PF in the league as he is doing with Centers right now. RGomes can come and replace KP as the first big off the bench.

Gamble34, I guess I’m just tired of the journalistic cheap shots…they must be in the Boston Sportswriter Manual of Style or something. But I agree, given the unusual lack of criticism of Doc (compare with say, Terry Francona) it is notable and significant when a sportswriter does start taking those kind of shots.

I wonder how much Doc’s lying in the Telfair necklace incident harmed his reputation with the media.

MattD

this doesn’t really have anything to do with tonights game but i just read an article on espn.com by hollinger about the top 12 most imporved players this year and now i’m really really pissed off. for some reason al jefferson is not mentioned at all. even in the honorable mention tony allen gets mention and big al doesn’t. I mean are you freaking kidding me. Is the rest of the nba really this blind to what jefferson has been doing this year. ahhhg. celtics get zero respect nowadays.
keep the faith restore the pride.
lets get a big win tonight. go celts

Typo Police

Jeff:
…the team is still realing from a hard…
Should be reeling.

(Typo Police is filmed in front of a live studio audience.)

Honestly, I don’t know how you all can keep coming on here and complain about the same thing every day. I was hoping something new would be being discussed since Paul is hurt and the team seems to be coming together, even if the wins aren’t showing it. Jefferson and Allen have made HUGE strides, yet all I have seen written is what trades we can make and when Doc gets fired. I was hoping there would be debate about why Telfair had his starting job taken away from by Delonte West who is having an atrocious year shooting the ball, but there are endless comments about Gerald Green’s lack of minutes when he clearly is not ready to be given significant time given his huge lack of experience in the offense and his hesitancy to take the shot given to him and thus force a worse shot.

I took a few weeks off hoping that something new would come up to be discussed but its the same people arguing the same points. Why? Haven’t we beaten a dead horse long enough? Doc is our coach until the seaason is over. That’s clear isn’t it. The players all seem to like him and all have positive things to say about him. They are the ones that have to play for him and deal with him every day.

By the way, whoever brought up the rebounding and running relationship is completely wrong. The Celtics are actually a pretty decent rebounding team and are close to if not better than their opponents every night.

jumping in on the uptempo vs rebound margin point…

the reason GST & phoenix are (statistically) out-rebounded is because the attempt more shots and miss more shots, thus providing more rebound opportunities for their opponents. [/i]

You are forgetting that Golden State, and especially the Suns who lead the league in team FG%, HIT a high percentage of their shots, which means fewer defensive rebound opportunities for their opponents. Where, then, are the extra rebounds for their opponents coming from? On the DEFENSIVE glass of the Warriors and Suns. Giving up a lot of offensive rebounds is the essence of bad rebounding. In the case of the Celtic Phoenix game, the Suns had 4 offensive rebounds and the “poor rebounding” Celtics had 17!!! The Celtics took 98 shots in that game to the Suns 71, with both teams taking the same number of free throws. Both the Warriors and the Suns regularly get hammered on their own glass in this way. They are NOT good rebounding teams. They are BAD rebounding teams. If anything, they are WORSE than their numbers because of how they get manhandled on their own backboard.

, phoenix plays up-tempo even after made baskets. [/i]

Maybe you missed out on my invective against Rivers for using designated inbounders, and by doing so missing out on the opportunity to run on made baskets. Yep, I think that you did. It is clearly written in black and white above. That, of course, has nothing to do with rebounding, though.

It seems that you have been misleading yourself to this point.

They certainly have the personnel on board. The 80’s Celtics, with a lineup full of plodders, was a very effective running squad. Gomes is certainly faster than most of his opponents, and Al is faster than most opposing centers. More than that, Doc just loves to go small, and when we do we have the speed on the court to run like crazy, but instead he has our guys walking the ball up the court, which is insane. Has Paul been stopping us from running lately? He isn’t even on the court. We had a lineup out there with two stud athletes at the 2 and 3 spots and a quick 4, yet we were playing halfcourt basketball. Not to mention there is that Rondo fella, who is as fast as anyone in the league and thrives in the open court, riding the pine for us. We have the personnel to run, and we have had plenty of opportunities to run, but do we? Nope, because Doc has zero interest in doing so.

yeah its all doc’s fault…lazy analysis.

celts fans need to look around and open up to objective viewpoints from around the league.

if you dont have a legit PG, you cant do too much, especially play uptempo basketball. but go ahead analyze in a vaccum and then blame it all on doc.

stillaceltsfan said:
  Also, a question: Do other GM/Team President’s always make surprise appearances to sit in with the hometown commentators during games to spin the “progress” mantra when their teams are in the midst of five- or six-game losing streaks, or is it only Danny that does that?

he is preparing for his next job as a tnt analyst

well for me to hear Danny say this about TA, GG, Al and Tony is big as far as I am concerend because I saw those games in Sea and then Portland and I wrote hera that the speration is clear and anyone can see it. if they can’t, they are lying. Period. I think this team coached by Danny next year would win 50 games and be a blast to watch. I just will never understand the Bassy move.

Left12 said: “celts fans need to look around and open up to objective viewpoints from around the league.”

Funny you mention that because those perspectives are available to those of us who watch on NBA league pass. One good example was the Seattle announcer who said of Telfailure’s ability to run a game from the point: “You can tell just by looking at the way he passes the ball that he doesn’t have any idea what’s going on out there.”

What was he saying about Rondo?
 ;)

yeah its all doc’s fault…lazy analysis.

What I did to your post is what happens to a “lazy analysis”. Here’s an idea, the next time you attempt to share your “wisdom”, actually have something worthwhile to say, and have your facts straight. It saves a lot of time and embarrassment.

Another reason the media attacks Francona and not Rivers:

1)Baseball is slow, simple, and can be analyzed using only statistics. Anyone can claim to be an expert and second-guess the manager for every move (revlievers, pinch-hitters, etc.). Basketball is fast-paced and much more difficult to break down. Especially when the only Boston writer with a real handle on the sport (Bob Ryan) rarely watches or writes about the Celtics anymore. I disagree with a lot of things said on this board, but I’m pretty sure 95% of us know more about basketball than Shira Springer. Tough to take a controversial stance on a subject and back it up when you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Easier just to spit out everything you hear and keep it to vanilla and puff peices.

The Doc sucks mantra is a bit mind numbing. However, MikeDfromNP has me thoroughly depressed. The more I hear his game plan (or lack of one) broken down the more depressed I get. All I have been saying to myself this past month is – he can’t really be that bad. He must have some reason (and there always is one); but everything is so reactive. When is he really going to work the matchups in a proactive way rather than waiting for the 5th staight offensive rebound to make a sub. Will be interesting to see how he handles Ilgauskas and LeBron tonight (not to mention Hughes). Would like to see more of Leon; but prob not.

LeBron will spend the evening barging into people, pushing off with his forearm, etc. The refs will call blocking fouls on almost all of these plays.

I think you have to put Tony Allen on Hughes, so I have no idea who will cover LeBron. If it’s Wally, he’ll foul out in about 5 minutes.

Wally fouls out in 5 mins. We might have a chance! ;)

Well, I don’t know how many times in a row we’ve lost to Cleveland, but it’s been quite a few. The games have invariably deteriorated into Pierce trying to go mano a mano against LeBron and coming up second best. It will be interesting to see how the Celtics attempt to play the Cavs in Pierce’s absence.

If I were the coach, I would play zone. But the Celtics’ zone is so lousy that it’s unlikely to make a difference.

What were the 5 and 11, 2000 Patriots, Wildblue?

Telfair is now coming off the bench where he belongs. But I’d still like to see Rondo play more minutes. He can’t be worse than West and Telfair and he plays great defense! It seems like it’s a crime to score fast break points or something in Doc’s “static offense” system.

Brendan said: Add in the fact that Telfair will [and sometimes West] dribble down the side of the court in break opportunities. Assuming you get the ball and have guys running a sure fire way to ruin your fast break is to run the lanes wrong. Gotta have the ball handler running the center lanes and the two wings running right down the sideline. Otherwise a single defender can take away too much.

West also has shown no ability to get the ball to the wings. He always takes it to the bucket. This is okay – since he either finishes or gets fouled, but it’s better to get the bucket than a foul, and it discourages the other guys from running. (If Delonte takes it anyways, why run?)

Totally agreed that the C’s have done nothing to improve their fast break. They don’t need to be a Suns or Tommy Gun running offense. But at least capitalize on the easy break aways and also the chance to run your half court against a confused defense.

Very well said, Brendan. Sometimes it seems that Delonte thinks that a trailer is only something that rednecks live in. It is a rare occasion that he actually hits the trailer on the break. Once he hits the key, he usually goes into “layup only” mode. This tunnel vision is not a point guard attribute. Bassy seems to get confused as to what to do at times, though he does make same nice plays on occasion.

The only guy who really impresses me on the break is Rondo, as he seems to understand what needs to be done, but his teammates spacing themselves incorrectly is certainly no help.
 

The “Doc sucks” mantra is a bit mind numbing? LOL. I’ll tell you what’s mind numbing:

When Butch Hobson, Kevin Kennedy,Jimy Williams, Joe Kerrigan and Grady Little didn’t win, they all got fired.

When Rod Rust, Dick McPherson and Pete Carroll didn’t win, they all got fired.

When Steve Kasper, Pat Burns, Mike Keenan, Robbie Ftorek, Mike O’Connell and Mike Sullivan didn’t win, they all got fired.

When Rivers doesn’t win, they just let him keep losing, losing, losing, losing and losing. Is there any accountability in the Celtics organization?

The answer, I’m afraid, is no, and that’s truly mind-numbing.

wow good list Brick.

Wildblue, good point on at least being fair and giving Doc credit for the resurgence of Tony Allen. Most fans, including myself, weren’t really sticking by him.

I do find it funny how Doc perceives the fans’ basketball opinion as significantly lower than his. The reason it’s funny? B/c when an injury to one of “his” players happens and he’s forced to play the fan favorite, good things happen.

I give Tony Allen 100% of the credit for the resurgence of Tony Allen. Rivers played him because he had to.

Brickowski said: _
  I give Tony Allen 100% of the credit for the resurgence of Tony Allen. Rivers played him because he had to.
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TA’s been playing all along. He’s recently been made a starter. I think playing with PP gave him some confidence and that’s why he’s doing well. I also think Doc got him to better understand his role. He also credited Brian Doo and Vladimir Schulman for working on his knee and he is more confident that the knee is okay. I give credit to Doc for TA’s improvement as you do, but for a different reason. I also give credit to PP for his support and mostly to TA himself for working to overcome his problems.