Post Draft Reactions

The Celtics had a potential lottery pick land in their laps at the #18 pick and they pounced on him. Unfortunately that pouncing action didn't result in Hakim Warrick landing on the team, my personal favorite long shot choice. However, the Celtics are being widely lauded as smart and lucky at the same time. Of all the players in this draft Green probably had the second biggets "upsdie" warranting rave reviews to Tracy McGrady and others. I really hope he realizes that potential, and if he can hold down the three spot (depending on where one looks he projects as either a two or a three, 6'7" or 6'8") the Celtics would be in great shape. They haven't had an athletic wing man in a while, no offense to Ricky Davis. Personally I'm dissapointed, but it seems like the Celtics made a great pick.

In the second round the C's grabbed Ryan Gomes out of Providence. I'm a little partial to Gomes as I saw him play live several times during his PC career and he was a well liked and talented player. But I could also see that he's not very athletic, not the greatest shooter, and not instilled with a will to win. Several times I felt like Gomes should have lead P.C. to big upsets over ranked teams and he seemed to shrink in the waning minutes of ball games. But, it's not like the Celtics really need him and in the second round your hoping to get a project or a more polished player.

The other player the Celtics drafted Orien Greene is somebody I know very little about. The early projections is that he's a Bruce Bowen type of defensive player. A tall guard who is raw offensively, but his length and athleticism will allow him to play some spot D. We'll see. I can't complain too much about the second round though because the Celtics picked pretty low, but it seems like Jawad Williams or Jakie Manuel would have been good picks over Orien. Time will tell.

Overall I give it a B.

Ghost of Jordan Past

Send it in Jerome! (Er, I mean Robert). That's a dunk that might have given Digger a stroke. I can't believe Horry made his 34 year old frame move like that. What is missed in the photo is the meek attempt by Rip to draw a charge that actually resulted in a foul. You could see he was frightened by Horry's move in the replay.

Big Shot Bob

Hey Rasheed? Who did you leave open on the double team? Good decision, Roscoe.

Time to circle the wagons

Another very, very good game for Miami and a surprisingly lackadaisical performance by Detroit. With Shaq and Wade having foul trouble early and with Wade basically out of the game for the last quarter and a half the Heat took game 5 and look poised to move onto the NBA finals. I think Detroit will bounce back, but the consistency from game to game just isn't very good. Rasheed Wallace in particular is a problem here. All the Detroit players are letting the refs get to them too much. They need to drop the bitching and complaining and just play their game. The other thing that I feel is hurting Detroit is their desire to try and foul guys out. They went to Shaq's or Wade's man too often when they were picking up fouls trying to knock them out of the game. Detroit doesn't have the type of players that can get fouls on themselves when they want to and when making a guy pick up a foul becomes your offensive strategy then your offense is going to suffer and play more into the defenses hands. Larry Brown said it himself last night when he said they needed more ball movement. Detroit just nees to play the right way.

In other news, it's not clear if Wade will be ready for game 6 at the Palace. This has to be a very big concern for Miami as they need the 1-2 punch of Shaq and Wade to get over the hill to the finals. If Wade doesn't play Eddie Jones is going to have to have a superlative game (he has played exceptionally well already). I think Miami can do it, but it will be tough on the road without Wade and with a still very immobile Shaq. I noticed after Wade drew that late charge from Rasheed just before he went out how armored up he is. Thigh pads, knee pads, elbow pads, and then a flack jacket after the charge. He must take some severe beatings to be wearing all that stuff.