:::  In addition to the impending opening on the Nets bench, O'Brien's name is already being linked to a potential opening in Philadelphia, where first-year coach Randy Ayers' group continues to take on water, with Glenn Robinson punching holes in the hull. :::

I expect "daddy-in-law" Ramsay could even put in well connected "words" for him there.

::: No surprise there, anyway, from the Big Dog, who is not a stranger to spreading his malaise to others. :::

Bad, bad medicine there. Life is over-difficult enough in the NBA, as it is normally-to have a malaise-spreader connected to a team. Although, he probably by far, is not a "lone" example.

:::  But if the Sixers continue to sink in a division that should be up for grabs the rest of the way, look for O'Brien to be at the top of his hometown list, right up there with Maurice Cheeks, who is expected to flee Portland if he can catch on with the Sixers. :::

I've said it before. If Jimmy O gets job on the Sixers as coach, Mo Cheeks could come here to the Cs ,  without any argument from me. But the natural ties would seem to have Cheeks at Sixers.

    
::: On top of this, point guard Eric Snow (presumably part of the solution) lashed out at the team's deteriorating sense of defense.

   Sound familiar, Celtics fans? :::

Now wait. There's more than that, to this reference. Depends what type defense you are trying to deploy. It is damned difficult to place athletic, long guys fronting the star-in-middle opponents' guy(s), and have it work exactly out, such as that the MOST suspect opponent to be sure you "get on"-at the most exact time you need to do it, is going to come THAT easy.

Maybe most of us might not realize, that in the league there is growing ability/development (scouting, film, video and just a higher level of "perception" ), to expose a team's achilles heel.  There has to be a good reference-point, while watching the numbers and shotclock seconds unfurl, during a game, where the better teams are scoring, with great openness on shots-for example the Pacers last night :


I kept running numbers, of shots going up within some fairly short-to-damned short seconds within the 24 second clock. We were putting up: quickly-into-the shotclock, shots versus the allowance of the 24 seconds. Overwhelmingly so, compared to our shots that were "farther along in the 24 seconds". BUT..my point is, the Pacers were even putting "those seconds/shots/stats" up, faster.


The Cs fg% first Qtr was 60%, but the Pacers was 73%. By the time the game was  in the final Qtr and settling more into "a game plan to watch a little more patiently for THE break", well we were still shooting 52%; the Pacers 48%.  The thing about this defense style, though, is it is just as generous by default, to the opponent in the fourth ouarter, as in the first. Given to add, the players are a little more tired to boot. There is more to meet the eye, in defense/offense among the "better teams" league-wide today. IMHO. And, if you want to talk turnovers? the Pacers had 19, to our 18. And, not counting 'team rebounds', we had 36 rebounds to their 37, so, go figure.

Its believeable that, since our defense style has been the style of choice for the coaches, for some time time now-its totally believeable that with Jim gone, it still is the defense used. What else? So, its simple to assume the same achilles heel would be well-placed in the opponent's  "game plan".

So, with all respect due to Eric Snow and he's a good pointman, defensively as well as setting up an offense-well, given the normal range of over-developed egoes in the players in the league, I do believe nowdays, it isn't quite as "black/white" to "lash out" at the lack of defense, without considering the facts of complexity that scouting produces nowdays.  Couldn't you "ask Jimmy O, and Harter" about this ?  Comments ? ?

--best--
mustyceltic (Joe)
 


JB wrote:

Ainge in tenuous position: Must hold players' faith
By Mark Murphy/NBA Notes
Sunday, February 1, 2004

The hits he can take.

     Danny Ainge even joked with Jim O'Brien [news] about the impending barbs as the former Celtics coach was handing his resignation to the director of basketball operations last Tuesday.

     ``I was laughing with him about it,'' said Ainge. ``I told him, `Man, I am going to absolutely get killed over this.' ''

     Ainge said this with a nervous, lilting laugh.

     He could see it all. Beyond Celtics ownership, there aren't a lot of people in Ainge's corner right now.

     Supporters are fleeing the scene like skydivers rotating out of an airplane.

     O'Brien's resignation has been taken as an indictment of the sketchiness of Ainge's vision, even if the coach himself told the Herald last Wednesday that he actually understands what Ainge is trying to do.

     But the biggest problem - and it's one that has Ainge on tenterhooks - is that after so many disruptions to the routine, players may finally be looking for the exit as well.

     Take Mark Blount [news], for instance. The Celtics center's stock has risen considerably this season. He is no longer just a big body to bring off the bench. He has developed, in O'Brien's estimation, into one of the toughest interior defenders in the league - a vital part of the team's complex scheme.

     He's also learned to score in deceptively simple ways that really help this team - off the pick-and-roll, off open elbow jumpers, off put-backs.

     Blount, as loyal to O'Brien as the coach was to him, is also in the last year of his contract. In terms of stability, there hasn't been a lot lately that would make the big guy want to stay.

     As another player noted while looking up and down the locker room a day after O'Brien's announcement, ``Think about it. What do we really have here anymore?''

     And that, of course, is Ainge's greatest worry.

     ``It's a dangerous thing that they could lose faith,'' said Ainge. ``The guys I'm a little worried about are Paul (Pierce), Walter (McCarty) and Mark. They've been here, and they've been through a lot. Like a lot of fans and people who don't understand the big picture, they could lose sight of what we're doing.

     ``I do understand that this could happen. I also understand the criticism I've received and the opinions. I'm not frustrated with my long-term plan.''

     Pierce, at least, has said the right things. He talked Thursday of the four years remaining on his contract, and how he's an optimist.

     At the same time, however, if you are looking for a Maxwellian climb-on-my-back-boys kind of leader, then Pierce is not your guy.

     No one works harder, or exhibits more of an instinct and willingness to go for the jugular on the floor. He'd be a great Patriot. But he's not going to slap the stragglers into shape. And make no mistake: If ever there was a time when stragglers could start dropping out of formation, this is it.

     Consider Pierce's response to the leadership question last Wednesday.

     ``I'm not the only one who has to do it, that has to come from a number of our guys,'' he said. ``For the other veterans on this team, it's their chance to step up, too.''

     That's where McCarty and Blount come in. Like your typical Eastern Conference coach, your typical Celtic hasn't been around very long, though the hearty Mike James [news] plays and moves among teammates as if he's a lifer.

     For better or worse, this is what remains of Ainge's dwindling leadership core.

     The director of basketball operations has responded by talking with his players individually and collectively.

     Almost always he tells them that he believes in them, though by now actions are far more important than words.

     He also hesitated when asked about that day when stability becomes more important than vision.

     ``When I feel like we're competing for a righteous goal,'' Ainge said after a slight hesitation. ``This team was in a situation where it could accomplish a lot, but this wasn't a situation where it was going to get any better.

     ``We needed to take a step back to get better without going completely off the earth, and I'm optimistic to this day that we have created more value - trade value, flexibility with contracts, all of those things.

     ``We have two first-round draft picks this year, we're going to get Raef LaFrentz back, we'll have the mid-level exception to use, and possibly even a second exception because of Chris Mills, whose (approximate $6 million) salary will come off the books after this year.

     ``I really believe that by the opening of training camp, we'll be as good as we were last year.''

     Provided that Ainge's players buy into the plan between now and then.

     Wheels of misfortune

     Byron Scott gets fired, and two days later O'Brien resigns. And you thought the NBA had gone topsy-turvy when, within days last spring, Detroit fired the league's reigning coach-of-the-year in Rick Carlisle and Larry Brown responded by bailing out of Philadelphia so he could be the first in line at Detroit GM Joe Dumars' office the next morning.

     Though two of the above-mentioned four moves were voluntary, you have every right to wonder if the wheels can spin even faster.

     And considering the way the Hawks are playing, don't expect Terry Stotts to last very long as the most senior coach in the Eastern Conference.

     ``I don't remember anything this traumatic,'' said Dallas coach Don Nelson. ``It's a hard place to make a living.''

     Dallas assistant Del Harris - a senior member of the NBA fraternity who knows a thing or two about the shelf life of a head coach - still doesn't understand why more general managers don't exercise patience instead of pink slips.

     ``The irony of it is for all of the shifting around, the teams that have done the best are the ones that don't shift around,'' said Harris. ``If you can divorce your parents every time you get upset with them, kids would have no parents.''

     Sixers in deep

     In addition to the impending opening on the Nets bench, O'Brien's name is already being linked to a potential opening in Philadelphia, where first-year coach Randy Ayers' group continues to take on water, with Glenn Robinson punching holes in the hull.

     No surprise there, anyway, from the Big Dog, who is not a stranger to spreading his malaise to others.

     But if the Sixers continue to sink in a division that should be up for grabs the rest of the way, look for O'Brien to be at the top of his hometown list, right up there with Maurice Cheeks, who is expected to flee Portland if he can catch on with the Sixers.

     The question is whether there will be anything left. Robinson has contributed to the decline by grousing about minutes.

     ``I'm in the doghouse,'' Robinson said after scoring seven points in 18 minutes, including four minutes in the second half during a loss to the Raptors last Tuesday.

     Robinson later told reporters that he believed he was being punished for missing a defensive assignment. Ayers countered that he didn't send Robinson back in because the game was out of hand.

     On top of this, point guard Eric Snow (presumably part of the solution) lashed out at the team's deteriorating sense of defense.

     Sound familiar, Celtics fans?

     Lost in the Meadowlands

     Even more than Vin Baker [news], perhaps, there may be no sadder character in the league right now than Eddie Griffin, who as it turns out may not play for the Nets after all.

     As innocent as the circumstances may sound, the troubled center alarmed guests in a hotel near the Meadowlands when he went to the wrong room, apparently in search of a party he had been invited to by an unidentified female.

     Police were summoned, though no arrest was made.

     He left the team to return to Houston's Menninger Clinic, where he has been treated for clinical depression and substance abuse.

     ``There's a lot going on that he has to face up to,'' said Jason Kidd. ``As a family member, we have to make sure that he gets everything situated.''

     The Nets, who signed the former McDonald's All-American after he was waived by Houston, are paying Griffin $370,000 for the year.

     He will then be a free agent.

     Future considerations

     Here's one summer scenario to chew on.

     O'Brien signs on with the Nets, and then reunites with free agents Eric Williams - the Prince of Newark - and Blount for some nice bench defense.

     It may not be so easy for the FleetCenter crowd to hate New Jersey anymore.