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Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Back To The Future - Part 1 (PG)

Left with no new news, its time to take on the time honored writers-block antidote: Summary and evaluation. But rather than bore you with stating the obvious current state of the team, I'd rather look to a more distant, enticing future. Forget for the time being what painful growing pains we shall endure, but instead contemplate the not-so-distant promise of tomorrow. (Especially since we'll have all year to gripe about the growing pain stuff)

I'll go position by postion, in part because I don't have anything better to talk about. Besides, with Orien getting his payday, it seems pretty appropriate to start with Point Guards.

Danny has been looking for an ideal point guard for his system since the day he took over. He didn't have much time to prepare for that first draft, but picked a face in the crowd and made sure he got him. A draft promise and draft day deal brought Marcus Banks to town. The kid has all the tools to be special and a defensive heart that makes coaches beam. The problem seems to be his slow plod up the learning curve. If the C's brass and staff think that he will never get to the point they are aiming at, he won't be a Celtic much longer. If they are sure he can, you can put these trade rumors to rest right now.

Next came the Al Jefferson draft. As an afterthought to the press, we also picked up Tony Allen and Delonte West. When Danny proclaimed that they were the highest rated at their positions on the C's draft board, everyone laughed and called it spindoctoring. I don't think we'll ever know just what that draft board looked like, but we do know how much the staff and brass continue to gush over Delonte like 15 year old girls at a boy band concert.

Skipping forward through the Gary Payton year, we heard of Danny's infatuation with Chris Paul. And who wouldn't love this kid (aside from the Jazz)? Still, unable to catch lighting in a bottle, Danny has chosen the scattershot approach. In short, it seems like he's thrown a bunch of young PGs at the wall and is waiting to see which will stick. Orien Greene was promised, picked, and given the Raef treatment ("go ahead and get the surgery, here's your check"). To be safe, Will Bynum was invited to Vegas and handed a retainer check so he'd show up at training camp. Greene is guaranteed to be here for a few years. Bynum may just end up on the NBA-DL team.

So now that I've bored you with the past, what of the future? I can picture a backcourt driven by Delonte and backed up by Orien. Which is some feat since I've seen West play only a handful of games at point and never laid eyes on Greene. Still, I know that whatever Delonte lacks in abilities he makes up for in leadership and smarts - which are far superior to talent for this position. Plus, Danny sees something in this Greene kid, and all I've read on him is glowing. It will take time to water these seeds, and perhaps a veteran will be brought in to help the team in the meantime, but thats another rant for another day.

Here are some more links of reference: Shira's report | Greene's profile | Bynum's profile

# posted by Jeff @ 7/26/2005 08:32:00 AM

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