"Celtics are on Their Way Back..." <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">You can count on at least one Boston point guard being dealt before the start of training camp. No one?s saying who it might be, although you can be sure it won?t be Dan Dickau (who is about to be acquired from New Orleans), Delonte West (a favorite of GM Danny Ainge), or rookie free-agent Will Bynum (who just signed). ? That leaves Marcus Banks, the third-year player out of UNLV. It seems awful early to give up on the guy, especially since he seems like a younger version of Derek Fisher. This is just another one of those perplexing situations that has been created during the Ainge era -- as I wrote about in my previous column. ? Speaking of Ainge, I love how he referred to Bynum as ?a playground legend in Chicago? in the Boston Globe. Playground legend? Now those are credentials you just don?t hear enough about in today?s NBA. ? Celtics fan Mark Piotrowski (Gainesville, Fla.) sent along a nice e-mail that included the following: ?Your writing is too astute to buy into simple critiques of the Celtics. The Ricky Davis trade alone is one of those kinds that Red Auerbach used to pull. A borderline All-Star -- believe me, Davis may be one if he starts this year -- for a couple bench players. Yes, the Celtics have five points guards and no, none of them are all-pros. But remember, this team won titles with Dennis Johnson. Ainge believes West can become that type of player. Meanwhile, Dickau is a rich man's Jerry Sichting.? ? Mark continued: ?The Celtics are on their way back. Mark my words, Ainge is building a legitimate contender. This season will be a slight step back -- I believe they'll finish second in the Atlantic and eighth in the East -- but it will also be a coming-out party for Al Jefferson and Tony Allen (who is among the most underrated young players in the league). And considering high school phenom Gerald Green is our 12th man, things could get interesting.? ? Finally, Mark wrote: ?I look at Ainge's job this way: If a car is speeding backwards you have to first stop, then put it into drive to move forward again -- you can't just slam it into drive. The first two-and-a-half years of Ainge's tenure have been about stopping the car -- shipping out guys like Antoine Walker, Vin Baker, Tony Battie, Tony Delk, all on the downside of their careers. Then Ainge put it into drive by stocking the team with young talent and letting it develop -- Allen, Jefferson, West, Banks, Davis, Ryan Gomes, and Kendrick Perkins. We'll be building up our speed over the next two seasons. Come along for the ride!? ? OK, my turn. ? I agree that West can become a similar player to Johnson. I also like Jefferson, Allen, and even Gomes. That?s about all I agree with. ? If this team is a car, then Ainge should be pulled over for reckless driving. He trades Antoine Walker, then bashes him, then brings him back. Then Ainge trades him again. He drafts a quality young point guard in Banks, then drafts West a season later, then signs Bynum and trades for Dickau. All four of these guys are around the same age and play the same position, each with similar effectiveness (read: inconsistently). That alone could be the point of my entire column -- namely, these aren?t your father?s Celtics. ? Davis has shown improvement in Boston, but still has too many mental lapses and is an utterly uninspired defender. How that translates into him being on the verge of becoming an All-Star is beyond me. ? Mark also mentioned that for all my bashing, the Celtics ?won the Atlantic Division last season after finishing sub-.500 the year before.? True, but I still don?t consider that progress. Not when Miami and Washington, who were clearly better than Boston, moved out of the division. ? Finally, that statement also went a long way in proving the point of my column, as winning the Atlantic last season was like saying you took Mimi from The Drew Carey Show to the prom -- but hey, at least you went. In other words, Celtics fans sure have lowered their expectations. ? None of this is intended to trash Mark. I admire his passion, appreciate the fact he sent a well-written argument, and am willing to admit he stands as much of a chance of being right as I do -- if not more. For now, we can agree to disagree. ? Only a little more than a month is left until the preseason starts! Or in the case of readers like Mark, only a few more weeks of having to wait to write, ?Hey, Amico. I told you so.?</div> Source
My take on Dickau is different than most. I think he's the future Steve Nash. If you watch him play, that's exactly what he reminds you of. If the Celtics find away to get him, that's going to be scary for the next 5 years. Trust me. With ALL those athletes in Boston, the biggest gift is an unselfish PG who can shoot lights out and pass. Celtics= Future Phoenix
My take on Dickau is different than most. I think he's the future Steve Nash. If you watch him play, that's exactly what he reminds you of. If the Celtics find away to get him, that's going to be scary for the next 5 years. Trust me. With ALL those athletes in Boston, the biggest gift is an unselfish PG who can shoot lights out and pass. Celtics= Future Phoenix (Maybe even better)
All right, I have plenty to say about this article, and it it first seems important to say that this guy clearly doesn't follow the Celtics as closely as we do, because he is just WAY off base. First off, let's see what he has to say about Marcus Banks: that he's a young version of Derek Fisher. What?! First of all, Derek Fisher is known for his shooting ability. Banks doesn't have a lick. Did this writer just pick a random veteran point guard and say Banks was like him? Fisher isn't particularly noted for his defensive intensity, although he certainly has some, the difference being, that's supposed to be Banks' calling card. Fisher's clutch shooting worked wonderfully in the triangle offense, where he didn't get as much attention as a role player meant to be taken out of the offense on collapsing double teams. Marcus Banks can't even spell the sentence I just wrote, my point being that Banks, as of yet, is not a system kind of guy, nor is he the basketball mind that D-Fish is. These two guys are as close to diametrically opposed point guards as you can get in the NBA, and here goes this jerk comparing the two. Moving on, I suppose that fella was being sarcastic when he mentioned how he thought playground legend status wasn't bandied about enough in the NBA. It seems to me he is saying that Bynum's praise ain't worth a damn, and Danny should be rethinking this. Well, earth to jackass, he hasn't played a single minute in the NBA, so let's just give him the benefit of the doubt, as I am wont to do when it comes to Danny and his personnel moves. If he wasn't being sarcastic, more power to him, because we really don't hear enough of playground favorites in the NBA, where everyone feels that the word playground might as well be synonymous with "hack," and that none of those players have any fundamental ability. Wrong on both counts. Nextly, his silly ranting about Danny Ainge's dealings with Antoine were just that, silly. The Antoine moves were made in connection with Danny's quite good eye for sound business decisions. The man wasn't putting butts in the seats, and he took the team as far as he could. That's that, he's gone. Bring him back for a playoff run, don't pay the majority of his salary, and he's gone again, for cap space, and a run at a young Spanish player and a 2nd rounder. Why not? In the very same paragraph, he states that West, Banks, Bynum, and Dickau for being inconsistent. That's just stupid. West was hurt for the majority of his rookie season. Banks has been markedly inconsistent, and yet he's the only player of the lot that he defends. Once again, Bynum hasn't played a single minute in the NBA, so to call him inconsistent is just plain stupid. And Dickau hasn't gotten enough in the way or playing time (previous to last season), to be able to call him inconsistent. The only thing inconsistent about him has been his minutes. I'm going to leave it at his utterly stupid comments about Ricky Davis, and the only reason I'm stopping there is because I'm actually getting mad. Last year, he was actually (barring poor shot selection) entirely free of mental lapses. So that point is moot, and I don't feel the need to elaborate. Aside from that, he says he's an uninspired defender. Nothing could be further from the truth! The man showed his dedication to his defensive game time and again last season, and were he to start in this league and perhaps wrap up 30 minutes a night, he would be an all-star, but he won't, because he thrives on sparking the second unit, just as he should. At least he acknowledges at the end of the article that any one of us could be right, and that, at this point in the offseason, anything could happen. It seems we don't get enough of that kind of second-guessing in sports writing, and maybe we should (Skip Bayless, I'm looking in your direction).
This is why I hate National writers. They like to write about stuff they don't know about. It would be like me writing an article about how crappy the Utah Jazz are. I haven't the slightest clue about that team, but I know enough of the general stuff and can examine enough statistics to write an article about it. I guess I have every right in the world to write such an article, but you can be damn sure nobody will publish it. That's what I don't get about the whole national scene. What qualifies these people to write about one team like this? Their opinion is no greater than ours, and they certainly don't spend enough time observing every single NBA team to justify writing about all of them. I mean, the local beat writers are traveling with the team, watching practices, talking with the players, and observing every game. Shouldn't we turn to them for this stuff?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 44Thrilla:</div><div class="quote_post">This is why I hate National writers. They like to write about stuff they don't know about. It would be like me writing an article about how crappy the Utah Jazz are. I haven't the slightest clue about that team, but I know enough of the general stuff and can examine enough statistics to write an article about it. I guess I have every right in the world to write such an article, but you can be damn sure nobody will publish it. That's what I don't get about the whole national scene. What qualifies these people to write about one team like this? Their opinion is no greater than ours, and they certainly don't spend enough time observing every single NBA team to justify writing about all of them. I mean, the local beat writers are traveling with the team, watching practices, talking with the players, and observing every game. Shouldn't we turn to them for this stuff?</div> Why don't we write ourselves an article on Maccabi Tel-Aviv and send it to this guy and see what he thinks about it? He clearly knows all there is to know about basketball, especially when he told off that jerk of a Celtics fan he was referring to in this article. He knows more than anybody, so let's see what he thinks. I have to agree with you, this is why national writers have only one place in the game, and that's writing on the most base level possible. I think Page 2 on ESPN.com hit it on the nose when they decided that their national guys would only be writing op-ed stuff from now on. The best part about that is, I never read op-ed for any reason, so now I never have to bother with reading Page 2 anymore. And couple that with the fact that I don't have cable TV, I never have to hear about Skip Bayless ever again. Thank you God. End of tangent.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Crywalker:</div><div class="quote_post">All right, I have plenty to say about this article, and it it first seems important to say that this guy clearly doesn't follow the Celtics as closely as we do, because he is just WAY off base. First off, let's see what he has to say about Marcus Banks: that he's a young version of Derek Fisher. What?! First of all, Derek Fisher is known for his shooting ability. Banks doesn't have a lick. Did this writer just pick a random veteran point guard and say Banks was like him? Fisher isn't particularly noted for his defensive intensity, although he certainly has some, the difference being, that's supposed to be Banks' calling card. Fisher's clutch shooting worked wonderfully in the triangle offense, where he didn't get as much attention as a role player meant to be taken out of the offense on collapsing double teams. Marcus Banks can't even spell the sentence I just wrote, my point being that Banks, as of yet, is not a system kind of guy, nor is he the basketball mind that D-Fish is. These two guys are as close to diametrically opposed point guards as you can get in the NBA, and here goes this jerk comparing the two. Moving on, I suppose that fella was being sarcastic when he mentioned how he thought playground legend status wasn't bandied about enough in the NBA. It seems to me he is saying that Bynum's praise ain't worth a damn, and Danny should be rethinking this. Well, earth to jackass, he hasn't played a single minute in the NBA, so let's just give him the benefit of the doubt, as I am wont to do when it comes to Danny and his personnel moves. If he wasn't being sarcastic, more power to him, because we really don't hear enough of playground favorites in the NBA, where everyone feels that the word playground might as well be synonymous with "hack," and that none of those players have any fundamental ability. Wrong on both counts. Nextly, his silly ranting about Danny Ainge's dealings with Antoine were just that, silly. The Antoine moves were made in connection with Danny's quite good eye for sound business decisions. The man wasn't putting butts in the seats, and he took the team as far as he could. That's that, he's gone. Bring him back for a playoff run, don't pay the majority of his salary, and he's gone again, for cap space, and a run at a young Spanish player and a 2nd rounder. Why not? In the very same paragraph, he states that West, Banks, Bynum, and Dickau for being inconsistent. That's just stupid. West was hurt for the majority of his rookie season. Banks has been markedly inconsistent, and yet he's the only player of the lot that he defends. Once again, Bynum hasn't played a single minute in the NBA, so to call him inconsistent is just plain stupid. And Dickau hasn't gotten enough in the way or playing time (previous to last season), to be able to call him inconsistent. The only thing inconsistent about him has been his minutes. I'm going to leave it at his utterly stupid comments about Ricky Davis, and the only reason I'm stopping there is because I'm actually getting mad. Last year, he was actually (barring poor shot selection) entirely free of mental lapses. So that point is moot, and I don't feel the need to elaborate. Aside from that, he says he's an uninspired defender. Nothing could be further from the truth! The man showed his dedication to his defensive game time and again last season, and were he to start in this league and perhaps wrap up 30 minutes a night, he would be an all-star, but he won't, because he thrives on sparking the second unit, just as he should. At least he acknowledges at the end of the article that any one of us could be right, and that, at this point in the offseason, anything could happen. It seems we don't get enough of that kind of second-guessing in sports writing, and maybe we should (Skip Bayless, I'm looking in your direction).</div> ^^^^THIS MAN SPEAKS TRUTH.....with the young squad we have we wil be back to winning the ship in a few years....we are fundemently sound at every position with good vets on our team....i cant wait for the season
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting celtsfan2589:</div><div class="quote_post">^^^^THIS MAN SPEAKS TRUTH.....with the young squad we have we wil be back to winning the ship in a few years....we are fundemently sound at every position with good vets on our team....i cant wait for the season </div> Amen brother, this team is going to be fun to watch. It's gonna be great.
get this guy some of this. All hes doing is HATING on us. just look at his Ricky example ~ RD hasnt done anything wrong since hes been in boston but this guy tries to make him look like hes been the same guy from cleveland. know the facts, hater. write about soemthing you know.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tiny dancer:</div><div class="quote_post">just look at his Ricky example ~ RD hasnt done anything wrong since hes been in boston but this guy tries to make him look like hes been the same guy from cleveland. know the facts, hater. write about soemthing you know.</div> People's treatment of Ricky in the press has long been a bone of contention on this site, and this guy is no different. Every national press guy brings up Ricky's name as an example of what is wrong with the game. It makes me nuts because the guy has so much good to offer, and almost nothing that detracts from his hard working, gutty style of play. I will be the first to tell you that his incidents in the past were just godawful representations of who he is as a person, but that stuff is right where it belongs, in the past. Ricky has been great, especially since the only thing that shook up the press last year was his reaming out Mark Blount and very nearly getting into fisticuffs with him over his level of determination to this team. Were I Ricky, I'd be pretty frustrated with his sorry behind too. I don't challenge his determination, and I don't think he'll be a player that will distract this team from its ultimate goal of winning a championship.
I agree with Crywalker, Ricky cleaned up his act heaps when he came to Boston, and the madia still wants to bash him becuase of what he WAS. They should just move on, and focus on what he is doing now, which is being an emotional player who always gives 100%, thats wat its all about, and thats why we love Ricky...
