The Truth About "Good Tony"

Buying into his role of perimeter defender

not seaching for his offense, but letting it come to him, still effective at slashing, and jump shooting less

turning the ball over less, making less boneheaded plays both on and off the court, overcoming the local stigma/his history and the shoves to the end of the bench waiting for his turn and showing up to play when he gets it

He`s aggressive, he`s always looking to run, and he`s very “destructive” weapon defensively.

For years now it seemed everyone had given up on TA, everyone except that lone wolf, Brickowski. I kept thinking, if this guy really knows his stuff, why is he so enamored with TA? Turns out he was right about TA’s potential, consistent with much of the rest of his posts.

Nice analysis, Roy. I always enjoy your front page work. Very well thought out, and presented without bias. A rare skill.

No question about it. #3 and #4 are the main reasons for the change in attitude towards TA. He is also healthier this year.

Just hope Sheed will may a similar turnaround next season.

Ive always backed Tony, from day one, and my dear friends know this. It makes me sick, the way a lot of fans here pick on him year after year. He has his flaws – which celtic player doesnt have flaws. Ill how he played back in 07, or whichever which year it was- when PP went down and he took over the team, offensively and defensively until he himself got hurt. He was the best player in that team. Many times I have wished, even today, that he would quit on us, go elsewhere and score a bunch of points against us every time he played against these ungrateful fans. he has always played with his heart out- He doesnt deserve to be spoken about – he doesnt need any of these detractors. he is one good player Larry Bid would have no problem playing with. Leave him alone

don’t necessarily show up in the boxscore or stats. Neither does improved shot selection and improved understanding of one’s role. While these traits might not be able to be defined by statistics, it does not mean they are based solely on perception.

In fact, Tony has understood his role better this year than at any time since he has been with the team. He realizes that the way he gets playing time is by being a defense first guy, not a scorer. He gives the ball up on the break to Rondo more than at any time in the past. Doc has commented on these exact things a few times this year. Tony has matured, putting team first, not trying to establish himself as a star in the league, mostly done by accumulating gaudy stats, but doing what the team needs on a given night.

Despite what the #s say, it is clear Tony has made a marked improvement in his play this year.

We all know this must have been a hard one for you to write. But I think you failed to identify what’s different.

See, the so-called ‘bad’ TA was just a product of perception and TA’s propensity for injury. The perception issues stem from the fact that TA’s mistakes (and his reaction to his mistakes) just stick out more readily than other players, giving people a mistaken impression of how much he actually screws up. As the #s have shown, this year’s TA is hardly any different than previous seasons (other than the specific categories you highlighted, like offensive fouls). TA’s always produced like this, when healthy and given consistent minutes. But the high impact nature of his mistakes (and his reaction to those mistakes), coupled with many injuries and the lack of confidence in both his game and body that those injuries engender, it’s no wonder that most people wrote him off…except those in the Celtics front office.

So, bad/good TA was just a product of perception and a multitude of injuries which exposed people to a higher than usual percentage of gimpy play (TA was playing on torn ankle ligaments from Dec. 2008 onwards last season, for example). What’s really going on with TA this season is that he’s finally ‘got it’—he’s 100% dedicated himself to the game and everything that entails. He’s reading scouting reports every game, studying game tape and opponent tendencies, getting in his strength/conditioning/stretching work each day to stay healthy, and buying in completely to his role. THIS is what the fans (and Doc Rivers) have noticed. Before, he was just ‘playing’—this season, he’s thinking the game.

So, yeah, you really can’t quantify what’s changed—the change came from within. Everyone matures at a different rate, and TA’s finally found a good place in his life where he’s focused intently on being the best basketball player he can be, working tirelessly on his body, his game, and his head. This is his TIME and he’s earned every minute of it.

There is actually one place where you can see a difference, if you’re looking for it: on the defensive end. Whereas before he was always a great individual defender, he never really ‘fit’ in the team defense, and so while he could man-up with the best of him, he would still miss rotations or loss focus away when he wasn’t guarding the ball. Those days are over. He’s fitting seamlessly into the team defense, and playing fantastic man and help defense, something which comes from knowing the game plan and knowing your role.

TOny is our best defensive player whereas in prior years we had other guys like Posey. the other difference is the 3 pickups we had this year still don’t know our system so by default Tony is getting those minutes. People praise our D but it’s a hard system to learn so I wonder if we wouldn’t be better off having a second defense we could use for nate, sheed and daniels. we have essentially rendered them helpless and useless because they can’t play our D. Does it really have to be so complicated??

Tony has always been great.

He’s just been the scapegoat of a bunch of ignorant fans.

Tony CAN shoot – in two years in the Big 12, he scored over 1,000 points.

Tony CAN guard (better than anybody on the Celtics, for sure) – he was trained by Coach Sutton, the defensive guru.

Tony HAS more hustle in his little finger than anybody else o the team.

Tony was the Big 12 player of the year in both years that he was in the Big 12….newcomer one year – player of the year the second…..the Big 12 was overflowing with talent at his time there.

The ONLY reasons why Tony had been inconsistent is because of his numerous injuries – and his were SERIOUS injuries – not fake ones.

Tony has low self-esteem issues and makes more of his mistakes than most players – so the UNINFORMED fans notice that….

Tony over the last few weeks of this season has been better utilized in 5-man units that work with his strengths and hide his weaknesses on offense.

One of Tony’s ‘weaknesses’ for this team both last year and through much of this year has simply been the lack of ANY body other than Eddie (and then Nate) off the bench who had an outside shot. So when Tony was on the floor with the bench, teams would crowd the one outside shooter and sag off Tony and the rest of the slashers. That hurt TA’s ability to slash.

Adding Michael Finley has meant that Doc is always able to have 2 perimeter shooters (without having to keep Ray or Paul out there all the time) on the floor, which opens up the paint for Tony to slash. This positive effect doesn’t just show up in TA’s stats (the slight increase in his layup % and FG%) but also in the general effectiveness of the second-team offense. They end up with more efficient possessions, which helps in turn on the defensive end because the other team is unable to get transitions.

Otherwise, I do think that pretty much all the reasons you cite have some validity.

When Doc stayed with Tony in game one against the Miami, he changed the game and deflated the Heat with his work on D. Wade. His part was key in the comeback.

His newly found success seems relatively simple to me. He’s more experienced and healthly, fully recovered from the major knee injury and other lesser injuries that kept knocking him off the court. Once he was back this season, he stayed pretty healthy the rest of the way to this point, an infrequent occurence in his Celtic’s career.

The experience shows in his defense which is aggressive, but more controlled and his court awareness has grown. On offense he plays within himself more, knows his role and goes away from his strengths far less frequently. His moves are more patient and his passing more consistent. He seems to understand much more of what’s coming at him on both offense and defense and he’s more consistently in the right place at the right time on both offense and defense.

And it has been in the last part of the season that we’ve been able to see this qualitative advancement in his game with more consistent minutes and a more consistent role for him when Doc decide to go to him as a key bench player in his roatation.