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| | Friday, July 14 Celts fans not fans of Pitino | |||||||||||||
| ESPN.com While most of our users who wrote in about our Atlanta Hawks offseason spotlight agreed that team wasn't very good, we figured we'd get a different response when it came to the Boston Celtics. We don't think the Celtics will be title contenders, but in the Eastern Conference they aren't that far from being a playoff team. We were surprised to see many of our users disagree with that, with an awful lot of animosity directed toward a certain former Kentucky coach.
A few things CAN happen, and IF they do (big if), the Celts should be back in the playoff picture. Someone needs to light a fire under Anderson, and if they can (It's Pitino's job, but apparently he is unable to do this in the NBA) and he turns back to even close to his New Jersey days, he could be a more than an adequate point guard. If the Celtics re-sign Danny Fortson and IF he regains what he had a couple years back, he could be a force at the power forward position. IF Walker stops jacking up threes and leaves that to Pierce, who can hit the broad side of the Fleet Center, he would be much more valuable and a better percentage shooter (.471 on two-pointers) and possibly hit the boards more. IF Jerome Moiso comes in and does half as well as I expect he will, he will be a good contributor. IF they finally unload oft-injured and underachieving cap eating Pervis Ellison and Doug Overton, that alone would improve the Celts. So IF all these things transpire, the Celts could be a No. 7 or 8 seed this season, but that is a lot of IFs. Charles Klein Tucson, Ariz. Since the Pitino era started I've been very optimistic that the Celts would be back in the elite of the league. Over the last couple of years they drafted Walker, Ron Mercer, Chauncey Billups and Pierce. All seemed that they would bring Celtic pride back, but only two of the four players listed are even still Celts. The best player out of the group is Pierce; He seems to be fitting into NBA life quite nicely while the others struggle. I like all those players and wish they were gracing the green and white, but only so much happiness (money) can be dished out. Someone's gotta leave Beantown and I think it's Kenny Anderson. We need a point guard who can control these youngsters and get the most out of them. Steven Strantz South Bend, Ind. You guys got it dead wrong. Antoine Walker is a team leader. Unfortunately, the best adjective for this club is inconsistent. Look up inconsistent in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Antoine Walker. Now that's leadership :( The team is soft and it doesn't play D. A great center would definitely help, but it's not like they grow on trees. What they should do is play Pierce at the two-guard, Antoine at the three and look for a good free agent (Austin Croushere, Chris Webber to play the four. Barring that, play Battie and Potapenko at the same time. These guys have underachieved for long enough. It's time to get some heart! Sven Pride Rockville, Md. Rick Pitino is an extremely successful basketball coach. However, he is not very adept at evaluating talent, and his personnel moves and the salaries that he has offered has killed the Celtics' chances of being any better than a marginal team. Pitino has assembled a current group of players who do not fit together, do not play defense and are selfish. He has no one to blame for losing than himself. Mike Harshman Clarks Hill, Ind. Get rid of Antoine Walker, ship him off to Chicago where he belongs. Anyone who shoots 43 percent from the field and 69 percent from the line -- as CAREER HIGHS!! -- is a disgrace to the beloved Celts. This would all be almost excusable if he made those around him better, but he is just hindering the development of Pierce. Walker wants to be a star and all the benefits that come with it, but he is no star. He is just a ballplayer with a big ego who takes way too many shots. Kenny Anderson is just as bad, he is just looking out for himself and worrying about his car payments. Get them out of here, and then after another two bad years you will see wonderful developments. They would be better off playing the current versions of Bird, McHale, Parish, DJ, and Ainge... Bobby San Antonio, Texas Given the Celtics' youth, they need to continue to use an energetic and up-tempo attack. However, that also requires the Celtics getting back and playing defense. I feel that Jerome Moiso was a good selection as the Celtics lack depth in the big-man department. He should help the rebounding and shotblocking load with the possible departure of oft-injured Danny Fortson. i think Pitino needs to connect and get more out of his stars, namely Walker and Pierce. If Kenny Anderson does not want to provide the veteran leadership that is needed, Walker should step up and take over. He is greatly talented, as is Pierce, but needs to work on his shot selection and not deviate from his skills. He is quick and agile for his size and can take most power forwards off the dribble. Also, with Vitaly Potapenko and Moiso, Anderson needs to get to the hoop and create and leave the outside shooting to Pierce and Dana Barros. This team is .500 at best. Steven Bisciello Queens, N.Y. That's a pretty good assessment of the Celtics. If they get some on-court leadership in the form of a solid veteran (how Rick Pitino thought Calbert Cheaney would provide that is beyond me), then I think they have a decent chance depending on how the free agent market pans out. For success now and into the future, replacing Pitino in the front office (not necessarily on the sidelines) would be a big boost. Thanks. Michael Marlow Hanover, N.H. I agree with your analysis. The biggest problem the C's will have down the road is their lack of an inside presence. Walker can score on the block, but he's not a power player. That need will be filled in next year's draft. Drafting Moiso was not all that bad, but they needed a power forward. Etan Thomas would've been a perfect fit. They don't need a ton of scoring from the four position. What they need is 10 points, 9 rebounds and 2-3 blocks per game from their starting power forward. I think Thomas can do that. Anyway, another problem we have is Kenny Anderson, who won't pass the ball. He holds the younger players back from developing by not giving them the opportunity to score. Antoine will have a breakout year and Pierce will continue to do damage. They need to make an offseason deal though -- a bold one. Hadley Camilus Brookline, Mass. To start with, Kenny needs to think pass first, ALWAYS. Early last season when he was thinking pass first, he was dangerous and he made everyone better. It also led to some easy baskets for himself. Kenny has the skills to average eight or nine assists a game. Next is for Antoine to stop thinking about threes. I still have nightmares of seeing Antoine stepping back to try to hit a three to win the game. Pass it, it'll come back. Antoine needs to know when to force it down low, and when to give it up. I saw glimpses of greatness last year. He can create a lot of easy basket for his teammates. Paul has to be the No. 1 option. He can take the three and take it to the hole. In the beginning of the season he was awesome. In the second half he tried to be the hero too much. To be a hero, it must just come -- you can't force it. Keep up the good work, Paul. Adrian, if he does what he did at the beginning of last season, is scary. They need a wide body at center, not a scorer, a rebounder! Pitino, you need to build the GREEN team. The team of the mid-'80s had it. The bench would come in a give a great lift. It happened a few times last year but most of the time when the bench was in, it looked like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off! There needs to be a leader coming off the bench. Eli Millis, Mass. The greatest team in the history of basketball is a laughingstock. How sad. What's even sadder is that anyone can see they're going to remain a joke for a long, long time. There two major problems with this team. The biggest problem is a common one in sports: an owner who's simply not committed to winning. He sees that his team is profitable and that's all he cares about. The other problem is management. Rick Pitino is a great coach, but he's being hurt by Rick Pitino the GM. This guy has made some of the dumbest moves I've seen and I'm getting tired of hearing him complain about Tim Duncan. Sell the team to Larry! Dave Brown New York, N.Y.
Antoine Walker is not the problem! He is a rare talent, one whom can do it all except shoot from the outside. He is starting to realize this and this year he will either be better at hitting those outside shots (by working in the offseason) or cut down on how many he takes. The NBA is somewhat of a joke in that if a player is on a good team, he is considered great, but if that same player is on a bad team, he's a problem. The only thing that will make the Celtics a better team is getting a dominant center -- Zo, Duncan, Shaq. There is no player out there outside of these three that you could put on the Celtics in place of Antoine and could help the C's win significantly more games. The Celtics were very competitive last year and lost a lot of close games because they didn't have the inside force down the stretch. Given that getting one of these centers is out of the question, especially with their pitiful budget, the C's are doomed to mediocrity. The only way the Celtics can improve is to sell the team to a private investor who doesn't mind spending the money to take a financial loss but build a winner. As long as the Celtics are a public corporation, they will not win in this league. Simple as that. Celtic fans in Boston should picket this pathetic team and not attend games until they are sold to someone with deep pockets. In the NBA these days, unfortunately, that is the ONLY way to compete. Mark Liberman Los Angeles First off, being a Celtics fan, I've been very disappointed these past few seasons. I think the main reason the Celtics are not playoff contenders is because of a lack of leadership. Employee No. 8 shoots too much, and lacks the discipline to know when to stop. Paul Pierce is going to be an all-star in two years. Kenny Anderson was a great point guard, but he plays on a team where he fears he'll never see the ball again if he passes it. He does need to up his numbers in all offensive categories. Adrian Griffin is what we should all look at as a hard working player. He got to the NBA from busting his backside and doing the little things that don't show up on the stat sheet. Pitino should quit. This isn't college, this is the pros. He can't manage professional talent, and his style of coaching doesn't work for guys not willing to put in the extra work. How many players in the NBA want to run sprints in practice? The biggest hole in the lineup is at center. If the Celts can pick up a talented big man, the future looks great, but until then their chances of even breaking .500 seem dim. Tell Antoine to pass the ball to Pierce, he's the real star. Jason Dudley Harrisville, R.I. Last year I remember Pitino wanting more rebounding, and commenting that they needed to find more rebounding for this season. I know Danny Fortson was hurt for much of the season, but a year ago he was one of the best rebounders in the league. If Pitino needed rebounding he should have played Fortson more at power forward, moved Walker to small forward, where he belongs, and played Pierce and Anderson at guard. I remember games where Fortson was playing center, but he is 6-6 on a good day. That was crazy! They need to find a no-name center that is willing to rebound, but I don't think they are as bad as they look. Matthew Chance Nashville, Tenn. Fact one: Some of these starters are actually very capable backups on better teams. They need a center who can score, rebound, and defend. Kenny Anderson has never been the answer anywhere. He just isn't good enough to be a starting point guard for a championship team. Antoine is better than most give him credit for. He is not a leader and I have always believed if he was second billing to a real star (Duncan, Hill, etc.) he would be more effective without the team leader tag. Fact two: Pitino is a better coach than what has transpired in Boston. He is a lousy GM or president or whatever his title is. Someone else should have made the decisions he made and signed players. Most GMs have reputations as not so nice, but they have more cap room and talent than the Celts. Fact three: If they sell the team to Bird, McHale and company, we'd win once again. David A. Martin Vernon, Vt. It's interesting that everyone seems to think that the Celtics have the talent to make the playoffs. I've heard a number of people say that they just need some veteran leadership to get over the hump (isn't that the coach's job?) The thing is that having watched this team I just don't see it. Yes, Walker has flashes, but they're usually when he's playing against defensive stiffs (he eats Juwan Howard for lunch regularly). If you make HIM play defense he disappears. I agree that Pierce is an up and comer and Griffin is a nice complementary player, but that's all they've got. Battie is horrifyingly inconsistent, Potapenko is a great backup center, Anderson shows no signs of EVER understanding what "point guard" means (he consistently complains about his teammates telling him to pass the ball) and the remainder of the cast is basically just a bunch of guys who would be bench warmers on any playoff team -- with the exception of Fortson, who is to short to play center and can't get time at power forward because they HAVE to play Walker a ton or he's even less effective. As much as I want to believe (Boston sports fans are suckers for preseason predictions), I just don't see this team beating out New York, Miami, Orlando or Philly to get into the playoffs anytime soon. Andrew Laffin Boston
Pitino isn't part of the problem, he's most of it! The guy has filled the team with a number of mediocre players and signed them to long-term deals (Tony Battie, Walter McCarty, Calbert Cheaney, hey, remember Travis Knight). Whenever the Celtics are able to get rid of Pitino, it will take the new management at least a couple years to clean things up after all "Trader Rick" has managed to do. The only hope the Celtics have is if Bird is able to buy the team and clean house! At the end of last season, Pierce and Fortson were the only two guys playing well enough to warrant another year. Walker's shot selection is some of the worst I've ever seen. I've been a Celtics fan my whole life, but Pitino makes it a struggle to continue. I now approach each season with new hope -- that the team will do poorly enough that Pitino will finally be canned! Then maybe the Celts can start to build for a return to past glory. Jack Zeilenga Calais, Vt. There was a point in the middle of last season where Antoine Walker started playing up to his potential and when Danny Fortson started getting playing time. During this stretch, the team played as well as any other team in the league. Walker has finally "found himself" and developed as a team leader. If he can keep it up for a full season, the Celtics will make the playoffs. Losing Fortson will hurt. Jim Tobia Wilmington, Del. The Celtics are going straight to the top of the Eastern Conference. Pierce will reach superstar status and Walker will accept being second fiddle. With another season under their belt, this young squad will finally realize what it takes to win. Pitino could be coach of the year and Pierce and Walker could be all-stars. An upgrade at point guard (Mark Jackson?) and a little roster tinkering (Mercer would be a huge scorer off the bench) and this team could have what it takes to win the division and challenge for the No. 1 seed in the East. A deep advancement into the playoffs is possible. Shaun Butler Winthrop, Mass. What the Celtics really need is to rid themselves of Kenny Anderson. Short of Rod Strickland in Washington, I can't think of a more overpaid point guard than Anderson. If anything calls Rick Pitino's judgement into question it is that he legitimately thought that Anderson was an answer rather than a problem. If the Celtics could find a guard who could shoot from the outside, play hard defense every game and set up his teammates, they would be a playoff team. Bryon Allen College Station, Texas As a big Celtics fan, I was obviously extremely excited about Pitino joining the Celtics three years ago. Pay him whatever he wants, he will lead us back to glory. Except for one thing: One of the best coaches in the history of basketball had/has no concept of the NBA salary cap. And in today's game that can be one of the most important talents of a coach or GM. Signing mediocre players to large contracts is what has really kept the Celtics down. He overpaid for a bunch of average players. However, I still would like Pitino to stay. He just needs to change some major philosophies. Dave Providence, R.I. With the projected lineup for the Celtics next season, it doesn't look bright. Potapenko is at best a backup center making starter money, Anderson has almost run himself out of town, and Griffin is an ex-CBA player. Not exactly the beginnings of a championship run. Just let Rick coach, and let someone else handle personnel moves. Start over with Walker and Pierce as the center pieces, and build the team around them, as the Lakers did with Shaq and Kobe. Bryan Fontaine Boscawen, N.H. | ALSO SEE Offseason spotlight: Boston Celtics Offseason spotlight index Offseason spotlight: Atlanta Hawks Offseason spotlight: Hawks users comments | |||||||||||||
