Daily Links 2/17

Brickowski’s Mid Term Grades:

Tony Allen: B So why did he have to wait for Pierce to get hurt before starting to play so well?

Ryan Gomes: C Overrated, struggles on defense at either forward position. Inconsistent jump shooter, has trouble getting his shot off in the paint.

Gerald Green: B- Defense has improved. Needs more minutes and another Summer with John Lucas.

Al Jefferson: A- He rebounds. You don’t see teams beating the C’s on the offensive glass anymore (but they do beat the C’s in other ways).

Michael Olowokandi C- He’s a perpetual C-
 
Kendrick Perkins: C- Sympathy grade, because he’s obviously playing in pain.

Paul Pierce: A- Great scorer, but still too many turnovers and doesn’t fill a lane.
          
Leon Powe: A- Has been an impact player every time he has played more than 45 seconds. What more can you ask?

Theo Ratliff F He packed it in. He should have had the back operation over the summer instead of lounging around the Bahamas. He knew he had a problem.

Allan Ray: C- yawn

Rajon Rondo: B- Gets an A on defense, C on offense. Throws away too many passes.

Brian Scalabrine: C Well, he tries.

Wally Szczerbiak: F No D.

Sebastian Telfair: D 3rd string performance. He avoided an F by playing that one good half against Milwaukee early in the year.

Delonte West: C Inconsistent. The grade would be lower but I blame alot of his inconsistency on Rivers, who has jerked him around all year. He’s still the best passer on the team.

Doc Rivers: F Worst coach in the league. Franchise record losing streak. He was a terrible coach before the injuries. Doesn’t understand how to coach defense or up tempo basketball.

Danny Ainge: C- He avoids a lower grade by walking away from the Iverson deal.

Team: F Under Rivers, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The team’s league-worst won-loss record says it all.

DWest the best passer on the team? LOL He can’t hold Rondo’s jock when it comes to passing.

Oh please, Bankshot. Your constant and predictable West bashing is just silly.

I gave Rondo a higher grade, in large measure because I expect less out of him than I do from West. So be happy.

Brick

Good job in handing out the grades. It’s too bad there is no lower grade than F for Doc, he got off easy with an F .

C for Gomes? The only time his jumpshot wasn’t consistant was when he came back too early from the calf strain.

No, I think an ordinary F is about right for Rivers. At least he shows up for the games and yells at the players.

I went to a school where a failing grade was an “E” not an “F”. I have no idea why, except perhaps that “E” comes after “D” in the alphabet, and they didn’t want to skip a letter. An “E” was commonly known as an “Eagle” (as in, “if you dont watch out you will Eagle that course”) and came in three flavors. An E1 meant you tried buy you failed. An E2 meant you pretended to try but failed. An E3 was “flagrant neglect” and landed a student on probation no matter what his other grades were.

In fairness, Rivers deserves an E1. He simply doesn’t have the talent or in-depth knowledge of the game to be an NBA coach. He’s one of those guys who has a system (that he mostly learned from Mike Fratello) and can’t go beyond it.

Scottie Pippen will land on the Spurs…perfect Popovich guy. Watch for a trade of Udrich for someone’s second rounder to open the roster spot.

I thinkPippin will go to Lala land to play for the zen master. The endorsement opportunites are much greater there. SA is a lilliputian market by comparison.

Brick I have to say you’re a strict grader, but fair.

I might cut Wally a little bit of slack though. When healthy, and with the full team around him, he is a legit offensive force. He’s been hurt. And he’s not the type of player who makes players around him better, never was, so the expectation factor shouldn’t be so high that an injury-caused (a term?) subpar performance drops him to F land.

Brick; I liked your attempt at grading but like some bloggers think that Gomes was at least a B- . Gomes does fill passing lanes well on defense and he’s got to be considered one of our best shooters from 16’. I’m apt to cut him even more slack (as the 50th pick in the draft), much as you did for Powe. At his size he’s a valuable bench player who can be relied upon to make few mistakes. He has an excellent basketball I. Q. which contributes to team effort. He too is being “jerked” around by being shifted from PF to SF which has detracted from his performance at either PF and SF.

Delonte West’s grade is about right but my negative take on his game is poor decision-making in looking for his offense. He should look for his shot whenever his defender plays below the pick. We need his offense and he needs to keep his defender honest by not allowing his defender to sag inside..