<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%">Boston:1-6, very young, and they have a tendency to collapse at the end of games.or.....Memphis:1-5, without Pau Gasol (and will be for a while), in a tougher conference, also very young, and according to HoopsHype, Mike Fratello might be fired in the near future.Which team is in more trouble?</span>
Boston is. Pau is going to come back eventually and they will be better when he does. Boston is pretty much healthy and has their star in Pierce healthy as well.
Boston is in much more trouble. They don't have anything going on in the post and people are already on Doc Rivers neck wanting him gone. Memphis has a lot more veterans and when they get Pau Gasol back they will be fine, I don't see Fratello being fired.
Boston didn't (or at least shouldn't) have high expectations for this season though. The Grizzlies have been in the playoffs the last three years and are still without a playoff victory. If they drop too hard and too fast without Gasol then Fratello is gone. I think Memphis is in more trouble.
Unfortunately Boston is... Only because they're so young, and Pierce is the only REAL veteran leader on the team... Doc prolly should be fired, and I would at LEAST like to see them make .500 though I highly doubt it'll happen...
Pau is expected back in like 3 or 4 weeks, doctors were saying late December so if he didnt recover as quickly as expected, they would be blamed.
Unfortunately, Boston is in way more trouble. With Pau, Memphis is probably still a playoff team. With a healthy roster in Boston, we still suck.But I'm also going to have to point this out: you said we are young and tend to collapse at the end of games. You want a major reason for that (other than youth)? Fatigue! Doc Rivers plays the starters way too much without breaks. Paul Pierce, last night, did not sit 1 second in the entire 2nd half. The other starters played the first 10 minutes, maybe 10:30, of the 3rd quarter, got a 2-4 minute rest, and played the rest of the game.... oh wait, besides Perkins. Why, you ask? Because Doc plays small ball and he decided to put Ryan Gomes at center to guard Dwight Howard last night.I could rant every topic that has the word Celtics in it, but I'll try and keep my composure, you all know how I feel.Join the Fire Doc Rivers Club! (sig)
Boston. THe Grizzlies just arent able to score points. They dont have their star player, and that would make a huge difference if he were there. The sad thing for the Celtics is that both Paul Pierce, and Wally Sczcerbiak are playing great, but they're still 1-5. That's when you know you have a problem.I think I was the only one here who wasnt drinking the Celtic's kool-aid.
Memphis. They just aren't that good. I like Rudy Gay, Warrick is improving, but they don't have a great point guard, and other than Mike Miller, you don't really have a guy who can score on a consistent basis. Neither dop they have a good big guy. Swift? Nah.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CB4AllStar @ Nov 14 2006, 05:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Boston. THe Grizzlies just arent able to score points. They dont have their star player, and that would make a huge difference if he were there. The sad thing for the Celtics is that both Paul Pierce, and Wally Sczcerbiak are playing great, but they're still 1-5. That's when you know you have a problem.I think I was the only one here who wasnt drinking the Celtic's kool-aid.</div>I got drunk off that kool-aid weekly before the season started. But seriously, you can't argue that they should definitely be doing much better than 1-6. Looking at the schedule for the rest of the month, we SHOULD have about 3-4 more wins (but we probably won't).vs. Indianavs. Portland@ New York@ Charlottevs. New York@ Milwaukeevs. New JerseyThe only ones that I really can't see us winning is the New Jersey game, maybe Indiana. In the past couple years we have played well against Indiana in the regular season, but this year we are playing horribly, so who knows. But New York twice, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Portland - come on. If we can't win 4 of those 5 we have huge problems. HUGE problems.
Well, once they get Pau back, they will have two guys who can score on a consistent basis. And they have guys capable of scoring..Mike MillerEddie JonesPau GasolDamon Stoudamirehell, even Stro Swift will give you 15 sometimes.Nothing works without Pau though, to be honest. Thats why theyve start badly.
IMO the Celtics are in more trouble. The celtics have a young and talented team that is underperforming. The only guy who is living up to his standards is Paul Pierce, one of the most underrated players in the NBA. Gerald Green who I tought at the end of last year had started to developed has not been given a real chance to play, which makes no sence when a team is struggling and is looking for a spark. In addition, Sebastian and all those other young players are playing selfishly and not buying into Doc's coaching style. Sadly much of the blame is being put on Doc, but that is unfair. Hes a good coach and can motivate and bring out the best in player. (Ex: Tracy McGrady, under Doc had his best years but since then he has never had as much succes).Memphis is in a better position also because they do not have Pau, and once hes back they will once be back to their above average team status.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tmgbball15 @ Nov 14 2006, 06:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>IMO the Celtics are in more trouble. The celtics have a young and talented team that is underperforming. The only guy who is living up to his standards is Paul Pierce, one of the most underrated players in the NBA. Gerald Green who I tought at the end of last year had started to developed has not been given a real chance to play, which makes no sence when a team is struggling and is looking for a spark. In addition, Sebastian and all those other young players are playing selfishly and not buying into Doc's coaching style. Sadly much of the blame is being put on Doc, but that is unfair. Hes a good coach and can motivate and bring out the best in player. (Ex: Tracy McGrady, under Doc had his best years but since then he has never had as much succes).Memphis is in a better position also because they do not have Pau, and once hes back they will once be back to their above average team status.</div>A few things/corrections:- Pierce hasn't been himself the past couple games. He's forcing things, looking frustrated.- Sebastian is not playing selfishly, he's doing a solid job offensively.- Doc doesn't have a system, honestly. He doesn't have any set plays. Every offensive possession is "we'll see what's available here."- Doc is not a good coach. He is terrible with managing players, I don't know why you think he's good with that. He is not a good in-game decision maker, he doesn't make good subs, and he doesn't play certain players at the right times.- Tracy McGrady blew up under Doc because they had nothing else there, plus T-Mac was due for his breakout year. Doc didn't have much of anything to do with that. And T-Mac hasn't had much success after Orlando? Um... he had a very good year his first year in Houston and then last year was shut down due to a bad back. He's still Tracy McGrady. Are you saying Doc Rivers would have prevented that back problem?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticBalla32 @ Nov 14 2006, 06:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>A few things/corrections:- Pierce hasn't been himself the past couple games. He's forcing things, looking frustrated.- Sebastian is not playing selfishly, he's doing a solid job offensively.- Doc doesn't have a system, honestly. He doesn't have any set plays. Every offensive possession is "we'll see what's available here."- Doc is not a good coach. He is terrible with managing players, I don't know why you think he's good with that. He is not a good in-game decision maker, he doesn't make good subs, and he doesn't play certain players at the right times.- Tracy McGrady blew up under Doc because they had nothing. Doc didn't have much of anything to do with that. And T-Mac hasn't had much success after Orlando? Um... he had a very good year his first year in Houston and then last year was shut down due to a bad back. He's still Tracy McGrady. Are you saying Doc Rivers would have prevented that back problem?</div>-Alrite maybe Sebastian isnt playing selfishly, but he is still not playing as well as he could.-Pierce Despite not being himself the last two games has still posted average stats, and in teh otehr 4 games he had great games.-As for Doc being a bad coach, I see wher your coming from, he does make some erroneous and irrelevant decisions, but he is still a better coach than peopel say. He helped Orlando reach teh playoffs when they had no other player than Tmac.-As for the Tmac argument, I am tired of hearing about how good a season Tmac had in his first year in Houston, when in reality it was hsi worst one in about 4 years. He averaged less points, 7 less than 2 years before, which was arguably his best season and when he was still under Doc, and the year before that when he averaged 28 points per game. This is not mentioning that in years previous to that he also averaged more rebounds and more assists. And Tmac did not blow up on Doc for that reason only, he also did it cause he was frustrated at the mediocracy of the front office, which failed to make Orlando a true contender
