Daily Links 7/22

If you want a dose of reality you self-proclaimed “Realists not Pessimists” take a look at Doc’s comments in the Herald about Big AL. There is a 100% correct statement of where AL sits. Great accurate statement by Doc.

Also in the Herald, Gomes’ clarification on his statements so many of you like to refer to as proof of intentional tanking. That is exactly what was happening. They were trying to get a closer look at the young guys which was a smart thing to do. They played hard with limited minutes. Why anyone can’t understand this being a smart thing is beyond me…

Like I said a Friday…. Gomes said mentioned that defense is the key…and that’s what he was trying to instill in the kids at Stonehill College….

It seems that Doc’s priority is defense going into the season…now if he can only implement it effectively to the players…. it would go a long way…

My views have slightly changed about this team and its future…but as I mentioned we still have a longs way to go…

Defense…Defense….Defense…. and then we will be sitting pretty….

In keeping with Doc’s statement. He also is no Red and we the fans can see that without any coach of the year trophies for Red. Do you realise he insukted your intelligence I certainly am aware? Ainge on the other hand said it more correctly short of injuries we do have a keeper.

Well, PLAYA, they only had what? 2-3 months to review Gomes’ statements and recant them? Their fate was sealed before those statements anyway. They and their fellow overt tankers didn’t (and rightfully so) get the desired result for putting out the least competitive a product as possible and screwing their paying fans.

—————————
“The players weren’t thinking about the lottery and all that, but reality is reality. Now that our position in the lottery is set, hopefully we can go out and win some games.
———————-
You can take years, let alone months, and there is no way to spin that statement. It is what it is. What you think is a great idea undermines the game as much as anything Donnahy did. Dress the healthy players and limit their minutes based on their injuries or “injuries”? Maybe. Sit them out?….Unless you’re going to charge your customer the going NBDL rate? No.
PLAYA, I’m certain that the part before the comma is 100% true. Those young players were busting their butts trying to win. The fact is that Doc would find a combination of them that would either catch them up for a deficit or go on a run. Only to see that combination benched until the game was out of reach time after time spoke to what was trying to be accomplished.

It may be a smart thing to you down south since you aren’t a paying customer beyond NBALP. But for those of us who use vacation time, spend our hard-earned dollars, and travel hundreds / thousands of miles to see the team we love, we’d sorta/kinda, Playa, like to see the best possible team put forth in a quest to be competitive. Not a lab experiment.

Rivers has been giving the same lip service to defense for the past 3 seasons. I don’t believe him any more now than I did then. I hope I’m wrong. Because I remember Rivers the player as being a solid defender. Rivers the coach has played and coached under some of the best NBA coaches ever. So I think he’s capable of putting out a solid NBA defense if he is so inclined.

EJ,
I couldn’t agree more about the second part of your post. If I was the GM/coach of a team that had a bunch of injuries and was obviously out of the playoffs, I’d concentrate on player development/assessment, too.

Plowboy – If you think the best thing for the franchise and increasing our championship opportunity is to worry about the fan experience in a single regular season game then you don’t understand winning at all. Based on your logic a coach would have to play their starting 5 the entire game in order to win that one specific game. Players have played entire games in game 7’s because there was nothing else to save them for. Players have played injured because it was the last game of the season. (McHale and Parrish come to mind) The obligation to the team is to build something, not necessarily win every game. I have coached a fair amount and know there are some times that when something isn’t working you have to shake up the lineup a bit. Sometimes those moves wouldn’t seem like the best way to win a game, but sure pay dividends down the road. As a fan, I appreciate the fact they are trying to figure out who belongs on this team and who doesn’t. I appreciate the fact that they are looking for more than just that one game. There are games that we lost last year that I felt much better about than some of the games where we won. The fact that you felt like you wasted your hard earned dollars doesn’t make me lose a whole lot of sleep. You are obviously more concerned about being entertained for that one game than trying to win it all. Sounds like buyers remorse to me. If you don’t want to spend your money on it then find another hobby. I have seen a few games up there even though I live down south, but if I was up there I would have season tickets. You aren’t better than any othe Celtic fan because you happen to live close enough to go to the games. Sure we all like to win, but it’s a lot better to win the war than the battle. Let me guess Plowboy…Liberal Democrat?!

Liberal? You might read some of my forum posts sometime.

Incidentally, you live a lot closer to your closest NBA team than I do.

As a business owner, I want my customer to have the best experience possible every time they come through my door, PLAYA. They tend to come back that way. I don’t give them a halfassed product today in the hopes that they’ll come back when I have something better to offer them. They tend not to.

There is a difference between seeing the bigger picture and building a franchise toward that end and cheating paying your fans and the game by sitting out your best available healthy players or manipulating the outcome in a quest for better draft position. You may see it as a fine line. I don’t. PLAYA, words mean things. Gomes’ words spoke volumes. Actions mean things. What Gomes said spoke to what they were doing. You may see it as a smart business practice in that you aren’t a paying customer. Maybe some paying fans saw it that way, too. But ethically what they were doing was no different than what Donnahy is alleged to have done. Both wanted and got, a pre-determined outcome. Clearly, the commissioner saw it my way….whether you want to believe that or not. The odds, under the current lottery system of the 3 worst teams getting the worst possible case scenario are astronmical.

You can find out who belongs in practice. You can find out who belongs in game situations you’re trying to win. Not by games you’re trying to lose but be competitive for most of it.

Liberal? No, I don’t expect my team to use my discretionary income with the same ineptitude my government uses the money they confiscate from me. Does that answer your question?

If I wanted to pay for a pre-determined result, there are all kinds of options for my entertainment dollar. There’s professional boxing, professional wrestling, or, if I don’t want to spend the money, I can watch replays of the last half of the Boston Celtics 2006-2007 season.
If I want to pay for a lab experiment, I can go to an NBDL game. At least both teams are trying to win. I don’t see compromising the integrity of your franchise or the game itself as trying to “win it all” long term. You’ve essentially sent the message to your players that losing is OK under the right circumstances. It undermines the player’s respect for their coaches and their organization…and it should.

Well Plowboy, I guess there is some good in everyone… LOL . I’m not saying there aren’t other options for your entertainment dollar. I’m saying you should use them if you aren’t happy. No one wants a customer that would rather be somewhere else. It isn’t good for either party. As a business owner you realize then that there are customers that you would be better off without. Those that come in and buy something and then complain forever about every little thing. They can’t be pleased no matter what you do for them. That is YOU Plowboy!

There is absolutely no way that a team that is at best pushing .500, and that has major injuries to its starters, is going to win a game against good teams and still be able to give big minutes to players that wouldn’t normally be in the rotation. We lost 8 of the last 10 games by less than 10 pts. A pessimist may say “See. If we had just played our starters more then we would have won those.” Maybe so, but we wouldn’t have seen those games where the rotation guys fought hard and almost came back. THAT is a positive thing that they would never get a chance at that will help us down the road. The ONLY players that get that experience usually are the starters. Pierce doesn’t need that experience. Powe, GG, Gomes, and others did. The next time we are in crunch time with foul trouble or injuries and Gomes has to go out there and play big, he can remember back when he was the man taking the shot and being in that spot. THAT is value. Not watching Pierce take it in a meaningless game and seeing the other players stand around watching him go 1-1.

Face it Plowboy. You’re living in the moment of the specific game. Sure you ought to have a good product out there, but I’ll sacrifice your one night good time for a winning ball club again in a heart beat. Be a team player Plowboy and realize there is more to the Celtics than your short-sightedness.

Strangely, PLAYA, my shortsightedness sees 3 YEARS of 45-33-24 wins as moving in the wrong direction. Like I said in an earlier post, your blind allegiance to the ineptitude presented you must do Wyc and Danny’s heart a lot of good. Unfortunately for them, I don’t believe all of us have the blind allegiance that you do. But for those of us who haven’t read and subscribed to the “Masochist’s guide to being a Celtics fan” or “Alcoholics Anonymous’ guide to being a Celtics Fan”…me being one of them, I’d like to see us moving forward…even one day at a time, PLAYA. The Allen acquisition will probably get us to the playoffs if everybody else is healthy. Therefore, it’ll be more tolerable to watch….on free TV. But I don’t trust current management and particularly the current coach to implement the type of defense that will make this team competitive beyond the regular season…no matter how many times Rivers spins it. But I believe they could have made the same trade for Allen with the 8th or 9th pick as the 5th. Without compromising the integrity of the franchise in a way so obvious that a prominent role player felt compelled to speak publicly. Strategizing crunch time for losses time after time. What do you learn about crunch time when the strategy is designed to fail?

The strategy is not designed to fail, rather be carried out by players with less ability/experience. The play is the same no matter who is executing it. You learn what this next level of players can do in that situation where it doesn’t really matter, rather than in a year or so at the end of an important playoff game. The fact that you can’t see that, or refuse to shows either your ineptitude or stubborness. Either one is telling.

Your complaining even when we have moved forward tells us the rest. It doesn’t matter what they do, you will never be happy. Once again…Why am I wallowing down here in the mud?! Choose to be happy or choose to find another way to spend your dollars. It’s as simple as that.