rwmcches@uiuc.edu (elrod

To win an NBA championship requires, at a minimum, that a team have
one of the top three-five players in the game. That has been the case
in at least 50 of the last 54 NBA seasons. The most recent exceptions:
the 89-90 Pistons, the 79 Sonics, the 78 Bullets. If you have two of
the top five players in the game -- the Lakers with Shaq and Kobe, the
Bulls with MJ and Pippen -- you tend to win multiple championships.

Understanding that, the Cs best hope for such a player is Paul Pierce,
and, while I do love his game, he will have to raise his game a notch
or two to enter the top five. It can be done -- if he had a better
supporting cast his numbers would likely improve -- but we shouldn't
bank on it.

The NBA is a cruel and undemocratic place, far more so than baseball
or the NFL. Teams that carefully build quality veteran teams but that
lack a Duncan or an Olajuwon or a Shaq can win 50 games year in and
year out, but they never win titles.

As far as building a quality team goes, the rule in the NBA is the
same as elsewhere-- you need talented players, a good coach and
experience. The Cs have not really had good teams since the early
1990s, with the exception of the nice run the 2002 team made in the
playoffs. But that team only looks good because the team history has
been so bleak for so long. It was not an especially good team, and by
the end of 2003 the Cs were a shambles. One knee injury or motorcycle
accident to Paul Pierce, and the Cs, unquestionably, have the worst
talent in the NBA. It is a 20-62 team.

And thanks to some of the stupidest GM word in the league -- Vin
Baker, anyone? -- they have no capacity to sign free agents. The Cs do
have a very good coach, who absolutely gets the most out of the
talent, but that has been a mixed blessing. He is so obsessed with
going 43-39 instead of 40-42 that he has no pateince to think about
building a team that might eventually go 61-21.

Much of the current predicament of the Cs come from impatience. Pitino
wanted to win immediately, so he traded away lottery picks for
deadbeats like Vitaly Potapenko and Kenny Anderson. These were
dreadful deals, the stuff of fools. All they meant was that the Cs
were only delaying that much longer their move to becoming a quality
team.

It appeared for awhile that Chris Wallace understood what it meant to
build a team. He drafted the best player, regardless of short term
need. (Now his scouting may have been lame, but the philosophy was
absolutely correct.)But two years ago he accepted, either due to
Thanksdad Gaston or O'Brien or some other twist of fate -- the moronic
notion that the Cs were one quick fix trade or two away from becoming
a contender. So off goes Joe Johnson and a no. 1 pick, for two months
of Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk. Vin Baker is brought in -- a player no
other team in the league would bid for -- and the Cs did not even get
as much a s single no. 1 pick for taking that monstrosity off of
Seattle's payroll. Chris Wallace simply lost all rights to be an NBA
GM.

Now along comes Ainge. Everything so far looks good. Don't re-sign any
of these deadbeat players. I love your hustle Eric Williams, but you
are not a very good player, and definitely not a starter on a good
team. You are a minimum wage player. And Antoine Walker, are you
kidding? An extension? We have got to get this guy off our roster as
soon as humanly possible. It will be a real test of Ainge's talents to
see what he can get for Walker. If he somehow gets a future no. 1, in
addition to the salary trash he will have to accept to make a deal
work, that will be a major victory. At any rate, under no
cir***stances can Walker be on this team in two years.

All one needs to know about how lame Walker is, can be learned by
witnessing how utterly uncritical he is of his own game. To read
Walker's comments, his game is just great, and the team is doing fine.
Just give him a seven year $100 million extension and we will be
lining up flags for the rafters.

What has this guy been smoking? He takes more stupid uncontested shots
than any player in NBA history; he never gets to the line; he stopped
rebounding -- hey, that's no fun; and his assist totals have fallen
when it is statisitically established that when Walker gets 7 or more
assists, the team almost always wins.

Ainge seems to understand that there are no shortcuts. We will need at
least two years to collect young players and clear off cap space.
Maybe three. And that is if things go well. We will probably need to
go back into the lottery, though the East is so weak at present and
O'Brien is such a good coach we may not fall that low. But we have
many years of accruing talent before we can go toe to toe with the
really good teams.

I urge everyon pateince. There are no shortcuts.

And let's hope Ainge keeps heading in the direction he is going so
far. If Walker is off the roster by September, I think it will be a
very good sign that he gets it.

Elrod

ggreene@unh.edu (gregory g

Strategically O'Brien is horrible. Almost never develops any of his
younger players. Takes a fragile Baker (with a large long term contract)
and totally alienates him for the rest of the season by ignoring him in
pre-season. Yeah, I'm sure those minutes to Bruno really helped the team,
Jimbo. Needed Harter and a rule change in order to come up with a defensive
scheme. Still hasn't got an offensive scheme other then to have PP and AW
jack 3's.

Tactically O'Brien is horrible. For 2 1/2 years his teams have made
the same mistakes, game in and game out. Poor shots, no plays, don't take
advantage of mismatches, don't block out, AW still can't fake, PP is now
taking just as bad a shots as AW, don't run (even when they have the
advantage), don't look up the floor (how many times do you need to hear
T scream "LOOK UP, a mans open"), don't take advantage of hot guys, etc,
etc. The litany is long and hideous. Where is the coach? He's right
there at courtside. Why isn't he adapting to in game situations? Where
is the coach? He has access to video footage of every game they play.
Where are his game to game changes for short term trends? Where is the
coach? Isn't he supposed to be capable of teaching also? Wouldn't that
be a prime requisite for the job? Why are his players regressing?

What you're left with is a figure head who smoozes the players. He
has absolutely no strategic, tactical, or teaching skills. What a sad state
the NBA has become.

Gregory Greene
ggreene@sauron.unh.edu

fletcher, michael

Pfft...the NBA is fine. Just because your team and conference ****s doesn't mean
the league is dead.

--
MF

See L.A. for class
On March 21 in Los Angeles, former Celtics great (who broke the hearts
of many Lakers fans) Bill Russell had his picture on the scoreboard.
The fans gave him a long ovation.
The previous night, when it was announced that Shaq O'Neal scored his
20,000th point, the fans in Sacramento booed. Then, to make matters
worse, a the game ball was defaced, presumably by a Sacramento fan.

Clinton E. Parish
Sacramento

Rest in Peace, Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn : 1916 - 2002

steve wallace

Is it Mike?. I'm obviously east coasted, how are attendances and TV
viewership west of the mississippi compare to the Lakers Vs. Celts heyday?

nate smith

LOL! true dat.

GO SPURS!!!!!!


- nate

nate smith

thank you for reiterating the problem again.

the other significant factor is that those teams
tend to draft the players more than any other
method of acquiring them.

the lakers are exceptions with trading for wilt & shaq.

you're exceptions above, however, were accomplished with
their own draft picks playing the major roles.


paul is not a top 3 player and wont ever be. his number would
improve. but no title until he is generally regarded as the 3rd
best player on the team.


or a magic or a jordon or a bird or...a russell

impatience tempered with a mistaken belief
that he knew what he was doing when he had no clue.


...??? excuse me? can you state when this "while" was???
i seems to fergit.....

best player?? which time was this??


yeah - WHY THE **** IS LEO PAPILE STILL
AROUND WHERE HE CAN BE TALKING TO JERRY WEST!!!!!!!
jeez Ainge, how can you get on that bus?


shows how badly things are in Portland to even consider him....

well, as luck would have it, his contract expires in
2005. hey, two years!! ;-) of course if he wants
exercise his player option in 2004, so be it! .....[]....

TRUTH! we are 5-6 years away from getting there.
we should start stockpiling draft picks...amass 20-30
top 5 picks in a 5 year span up ahead to take over.

if ainge unloads walker somewhere for a starter and also has
maybe a whitey bulger type convince vinny to hang up his shoes,
i just might march down mainstreet blowing my trumpet high.


- the Mad Carpet-Bomber

nate smith

Nate Smith infected himself with a usenet pest:


oh stars & garters...i've been on the net too long....


- nate

rwmcches@uiuc.edu (elrod

I agree that Obie is horrible at taking a medium or long range view --
he is obsessed with winning immediately. I think he might trade three
future no. 1 picks to get 10 more victories this coming
season.(Fortunately he is not the GM, and neither is Wallace anymore.)

But that being said, what the Cs accomplished with their absolutely
bottom shelf talent is incredible. I don't think Red Auerbach or Phil
Jacksomn or James Naismith could have coaxed any more victories out of
this pathetic collection of deadbeats. Aside from Pierce, there is
nary a single player in the bunch who is an NBA caliber starter and
who has any market value. There is no other team in the league you cn
say that about.

That doesn't mean O'Brien could coach a team to the promised land if
he ever had real talent. It only means he should be given his due with
the hand he was dealt. He may not watch as much videotape as you would
like, but he is effective.

fletcher, michael

Point taken, but they'll be much improved next year, and they benefitted from tons of
opponent injury this year.


--
MF

See L.A. for class
On March 21 in Los Angeles, former Celtics great (who broke the hearts
of many Lakers fans) Bill Russell had his picture on the scoreboard.
The fans gave him a long ovation.
The previous night, when it was announced that Shaq O'Neal scored his
20,000th point, the fans in Sacramento booed. Then, to make matters
worse, a the game ball was defaced, presumably by a Sacramento fan.

Clinton E. Parish
Sacramento

Rest in Peace, Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn : 1916 - 2002

neil cerutti

Careful, Mike. You'll get tears in my beers!

--
Neil Cerutti