celticspride-sorry for confusion but i think you are right that danny had previous experience with drafting big strong guys and his eyes were already opened to possibilities of big lower bodied undersized players- tp as usual
Thanks, you too. (sorry, I see this post goes on and on pertaining to topics outside the scope of bulky skilled, shorter bigs. It's 2:30 a.m. and I couldn't help myself.
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A friend once wondered whether Danny and Doc were hurting their own cause because they were guards. As in, how come they kept drafting tweeners and rarely seemed worried about filling the center position. The question we shared was whether Danny or Doc were biased against bigs because that's not what they played. We wondered about Clifford Ray, how he was treated and why he wasn't replaced.
KG worked out, but he wasn't really a center when we got him.
Doc had no clue how to work in Krstic.
So Danny went for Big Baby who truly had skills. I remember him as a young player doing very well. It is a bit odd how big he got. I don't even know if he is still in the league. It's as if both Baby and Sully caved in to the belief that their best chance to play minutes was to put on bulk. It's a tragedy. Both of those guys could have had better careers, though Sully could still turn it around.
Big Baby for Bass wasn't a bad move, but I think Brandon was an example of Doc not knowing how to grow players. Doc wanted everything fixed and determined. It then became 100% psychological. If we play the right way, then we'll win (according to Doc). We needed a coach, not Tony Robbins.
The Darko situation didn't turn out that well. I guess his mother was sick, but still, and I know we are years now past Doc Rivers, but we are in NBA hibernation mode and have to say something. And then we'll be rehashing Rondo and Ray Allen later if we are not careful.
I think we grow as people. I don't think Doc will last in this league. I can only see his legacy taking a beating from here on out. Maybe he should go back to broadcasting. I could see Rozier, Smart or Jackson learning point guard because of Stevens. I know others could say but look at how Doc developed Bradley, Big Baby and Rondo. I'll just say it's easy to say things. I don't think Doc was that good!
Maybe Jordan Mickey is flying under the radar. I don't see many talking about him probably because we still have Zeller. Mickey isn't a bulk guy, but he seems to be a mini-Bill Russell.
I don't think anyone can predict how the players will end up. Brown. Smart. Olynyk. That doesn't mean the glass is half empty. It means we shall see.
Doc seemed to believe in putting out the five best players regardless of how chemistry works.
The new Celtics regime is into the chemistry kind of angle. Brad Stevens is more a schemer like Red than a fill the lineup card of Phil Jackson and Doc, guys always looking for the cushiest, easiest jobs. Brad will improvise and simply be a savant like Belichick is with football. He will make other parts of the team big if we lack a center. I guess the Miami LeBron team could field five guys all six-foot seven.
I like Zeller, but if he isn't in the plans, they should trade him. Maybe the C's are waiting on how Jerebko and Olynyk do before making the move. Right now it seems like a logjam, but it could get even crazier the following year with Yabusele, Zizic, Mickey and maybe more added to the mix.
I thought if we weren't going with Zizic, we should have given Colton Iverson a chance. He is bulk, nimble and seven feet. Like a potentially better Jason Collins? That's the only kind of player we seem to be missing, unless we are worried about backup pg.
Sullinger truly messed up. He got arrested for domestic violence. He has shown no ability to get into shape. He must have an eating disorder. But I agree with you, height doesn't have to dampen a player's NBA potential. Most now accept Isaiah as a high-end quality starter (am thinking Brink's truck), but some worry about how old he will be in two years when it's money time.
We are fans like you say. We are not paid to worry about GM duties. We can guess and speculate and that's fine when it is still early September.
Maybe Danny thinks Amir will be at 100% and can cover big centers or at least neutralise them. Maybe Kelly is underrated for center defense.
If a new Shaq ever enters the league, that team is going to be sitting pretty. Maybe I am a dinosaur fan and just being stubborn about the traditional center role.
Maybe it will be Jordan Mickey and Zizac long-term or something similar with Olynyk too if he improves and Yabusele. Why not?
But that's way into the future speculation and I don't think the new Shaq is playing yet.
I think Yabusele looks like he hasn't done much weightlifting. If he sculptures his body like Brandon Bass, he could be very good.
I agree with you James Young is the only player difficult to support. I don't think it's his fault. In a more realistic world these guys would stay in college three years and learn about life, take classes, and not just enter the pros and make millions. James Young doesn't seem any better a prospect than Fab Melo was, so why keep him? Let him go. We're not helping James Young by giving him charity money because he looked kind of good as a freshman in college.
This league is brutal. Sports is sports. Magic Johnson showed how one guy can dominate a game at any position. You know, filling in for Kareem at center. It comes down to the game almost more than pure talent. Whomever can play at the level they did as a kid into high school and college and just keep on at it, they just might carve out a long career in the NBA.
It takes hard work. Delonte West almost pulled it off, but he succumbed to demons.
James Young could be the equivalent of a good drummer and now he's being asked to play piano. They are both instruments and in the genre of music, but life is not that simple.
So what if James Young can hit jump shots. What else has he got? It takes five guys working together, not five privileged divas who won the crapshoot in the lottery.
Hunter might make it because he understands there are a lot of little things one must do to play well. He has a real chance if he can figure out consistent shooting.
I like all different types of players including fast strong shorter centers like Big Baby and Sully when they are focused and in decent shape.
If basketball was golf, maybe Sullinger would be heading for the Hall of Fame.
Maybe Zeller would be a good backup pure center if we had a center coach. I have seen him aggressive at times but not too often.
Maybe we concentrate too much on the drafted players when it probably takes three or four years to finally find out anyway.
Bradley was good except for his rookie year, but he still took a huge leap last year, as did Jae. Turner fine-tuned his game and got big money. Most agree Isaiah is very good to great (similar to Horford level, above Bradley? Bradley and Amir are at the same level for competence?). Isaiah is amazingly outstanding on offense, but his team history shows that no man is an island. It's like the 80's Celtics or we can look back to the 60's C's. The 60's C's had a genius coach who treated his players as human beings and family. The present team seems that way too as long as players keep measuring up to their potential. These are not robots. We are not watching video games.
Danny's cup is overflowing. We will probably win 50-60 games going forward even without any so-called fireworks. Maybe we'll win a title before Horford's contract is up and then Danny can find a young star to replace him through free agency. That was his plan with Ray, Pierce, and KG, to stagger the contracts so when the window closed, we just find new great players to fill the big contract slots.
Danny took too long. I think those final Doc years weren't that entertaining. I had more fun watching year one of Brad Stevens than the last Big Three season. Danny choked, but the Nets bailed him out of NBA treadmill purgatory. Stevens has worked out. The Nets' picks are turning out better than expected. No one expected much with the James Young pick. We needed the Nets to fall apart and they did. Danny could be the luckiest man on the planet and I think Red once said that.
Topic: yabusele may have been helped by sullinger (Read 5769 times)