POB...Catching Doc's eye?

[no kidding]

With a sensible position coach like Clifford Ray, who's had O'Bryant all summer and probably sees him as a long term project, you'd probably have to break one of his arms to get him to say anything especially positive about O'Bryant (unless somebody said something dismissive of him).  However, if he had something negative to say, he'd probably squeeze it in between the lines.  And that's apparently what he was doing when he stressed that O'Bryant needs to learn there's more to playing the center position than just X's and O's.

By listening to Ray, I'm hearing the message that O'Bryant may have a strong shot at a good future. (But I've been wrong before.)

[BballTim]

The basketball skills of a player don't change if the observer is a pessimist or an optimist, I'm pretty sure of this. They are what they are. Same for potential. One can disagree about them - I disagree with myself very often; and some players are very difficult to read. But being optimistic or pessimist has not, or shouldn't have, a place on these conversations.

For example, when we drafted Walker I decided to watch 6 of his college games available on film and carefully scouted him. My verdict, that I wrote on a post somewhere over here, was that he wasn't ready to play in a NBA team like the Celtics and that the best solution for him would probably be going to Europe or play in the developmental league. Some called me a pessimist, for sure. But later on, we were able to know that Ainge's original plan was indeed to stash him in Europe.  That's what Walker was when he played his last game in the NCAA tournament: a player who wasn't good enough to contribute to a NBA team. I was always quite sure about this assessment. Has that changed because he became a Celtic and we root for the Celtics? Nope, it has changed because he developed his game mightily, to the point of unexpected, during the Summer.

  Ainge's plan to stash Walker overseas was probably influenced by the fact that he was still hoping to have Posey on the team. But even if he agreed with your assessment it could still be incorrect, just like someone drafting POB in the lottery wouldn't validate a glowing assessment of him. If Walker contributes this year then your assessment of him was wrong. Not saying you will be wrong, but clearly as a fan of the team I hope you are.

No, because I never said it would be impossible for him to contribute this year. Have you even read the assessment we're talking about?

Here's a quote from it:

Now, let me say that all these flaws I’ve pointed out are very correctable – except the long-range jumper, that will take time to develop, if ever; and his tendency to overplay, that will require intense team-play practicing and playing time. Most of the others are correctable in the short-term, given good coaching. In fact, even a Summer of hard work can help a lot.(...)

Walker is said to be a very hard-working and smart kid, with a huge desire to be great. If that’s accurate, and considering he’s only 20 years old, there’s no reason he can’t improve his overall skills very quickly, barring enduring effects from his injuries.

http://www.celticsblog.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=64&topic=20611.0

I'm not saying I wasn't wrong, I'm wrong all the time. However, if you want to prove me wrong, there's only one way of doing it: present you reasons and arguments. Check those games where Walker played and tell me what I'm missed. Honestly, I'd appreciate that very much; it's always good to confront opinions because one always learns a lot. As I wrote on the same assessment:

Being aware that Walker has so many fans over here – and I’m one of them since he was drafted, dissents are welcomed

To sum it up: this is not, in my view, a prediction game. I find those utterly childish, not my kind of stuff. An argument about the skillset of a player, yeah, that's welcomed.

  If I did read the original assessment it certainly wasn't clear in my mind. I was just responding to your summary of it "he wasn't ready to play in a NBA team like the Celtics and that the best solution for him would probably be going to Europe or play in the developmental league", which doesn't seem to jibe with the quotes you pulled from it.

[Sweet17]

The beauty from our perspective is that POB doesn't have to be good - he just has to stop sucking and realize he can make ALOT of money in the league. I compare his situation to Mark Blount. Blount was a talented underachiever but something clicked in him after he returned from Denver and he turned it on and made alot of money. Now he quit after that but their was a period where he was actually decent.

It's just so much different for a big, IMHO. The competition is so much less then it would be for a smaller player like a Gerald Green. When you have the size and skills of POB you just have to want it - some. If you look at his PER 36 numbers you see why Danny took a flier on this guy.

Pete