Good News - Cliff Ray At It Again

Great to have you back Jeff!!!..Not sure on Perk as on a list of best centers…..oh,what the heck….lol…just a beautiful boring summer after the parade & Posey deal…next year will be interesting,we got Ray’s ending deal …then in 2010 we’ve got CAPROOM…whatta country…look for Doc and the rookies to sign soon…look at the bright side,we got younger and more athletic…out-PJ,Sam,Posey,Pollard etc…in-Pruit,TA,House,O’B,Walker,Giddens etc…is that a good thing????Ha!!

JEEZ Jeff, you sure got an early start today eh? hah I love your passion for the celts, I hope you never lose it!

yes it is good news as old clifford knows how to teach. even if obryant is a poor learner, he will improve under clifford, who with thom t. are our savants. we need 15-20 mins. or less from this guy and defense and rebounding will do it.

nazzbo said:
  yes it is good news as old clifford knows how to teach. even if obryant is a poor learner, he will improve under clifford, who with thom t. are our savants. we need 15-20 mins. or less from this guy and defense and rebounding will do it.

He’ll also benefit by being around KG, Perk, Powe etc. Those guys will get him to work if that’s a real problem.

if they ever cure cancer, I’m sure some Celtics fan will credit Clifford Ray. Seriously, this cult-like obsession with an assistant coach whose impact on any player’s career is entirely subjective and un-calculable (as opposed to "incalculable") has become a bit much. Are we to believe that Al Jefferson and Dwight Howard were talent-less busts who somehow morphed into supermen once CR rolled up his sleeves and got to work? Does this not lead to an untenable kind of auterism so far as talent and performance are concerned? And what happens when CR turns Patrick O’Bryant into Patrick O’Bryant? Doesn’t your article basically invalidate any sort of “you can’t make chicken salad from chicken poop” argument?

Further, not to pick on you Jeff, as this cult is large and with many members, but crediting CR for “squeezing a few decent games out of (Mikey O)” is pretty absurd, even in the context of a fan-blog. Kandi is an idiot and a bust-as-number-one-pick, but the guy knows how to play and he gave the Celtics exactly what he gave every other team he played for – underwhelming play at the 5. Ditto objections to your comments on PJ Brown. CR “made him a key contributor”??? The guy has been in the NBA since 1993! And don’t lets even address the promotion of Kendrick Perkins into “one of the best centers in the league”… oy vay!

I’m sure Clifford Ray is a fine NBA assistant, and as neither I nor anyone here really knows what it is he does in his capacity as big man coach, I just think a marginal degree of restrain might be helpful when assessing his impact.

OTOH, cult, hero worship and rock star status aside. Some guys can just teach really well. This idea that Clifford Ray hasnt molded some lumpy clay into decent NBA bigmen is absurd IMO.

A few years back, there was a guy that used to teach a bigman camp for NBA players. Players like Shaq, Kareem, Walton just to name a few went to him for extra work even well into their All Star careers. I confess that his name escapes me, maybe Jeff or someone else remembers.

Clifford Ray is a talented bigman coach. End of Story. 8)

Pete Carroll (I think) was the name I was searching for. Not saying Clifford Ray is in his league, but he may be the best thing since. 8)

Pete Newell. Pete Carril’s the father of the Princeton offense.

(Pete Carroll’s the old Patriots (and current USC ;)) coach.)