The State of Sports Jan. 17th

-Basketball

-Maybe Doc Rivers has to get fired
I am not the biggest Celtics fan, but even the die hard Celtics fans and basketball fans are questioning their own team. I will give you a case in point. I watched the away messages on AIM the night of the triple overtime loss and I read 5-6 of the same messages: "Watching the Celtics blow it in overtime." This message is echoed throughout many in the Boston and National media outlets. What I can figure out is, why would the Celtics trade Paul Pierce, if they can just solve the problem by getting a new coach. Isnt Pierce the team leader, that is supposed to help them out by scoring as much as he can, every night, and trying to get people more involved and motivated in the game.

The Celtics lack two main things, at this point in the season, that has been mentioned on Boston.com blog ,"The Green Room" and in Bill Simmons article last week. Fact is they disregard two of the many different fundamental ways you play the game: Preventing turnovers and defense. You have to win ball games by playing defense. Apparently the lesson of the New England Patriots affected everyone else in the US, except franchises in the city of Boston.

While this is hardly the comparison that I should use, it makes you wonder sometimes. My basketball team (BSC Bears, D3 basketball) are 6-6. They very easily could be 10-2, if they had played defense in 4 of those games by a combined 9 points. Fact of the matter is, they can stay in the game with their really good offense in 3-point shooters, and big men who know how to get to the paint, and at the foul line. I have only seen a few Celtics games this year, they seriously lack a defense, to close the deal. They go through the motions like this games over, and go into complete shut down mode. While my basketball team wouldnt dare do that (because the coach would be riding them), this Celtics team does that. Also, there are some really bad turnovers that are made that should just never happen. The Celtics average 16.6 turnovers a game. That's ranked 29th out of 30 teams in the NBA. There is absolutley no accountability for the starters they have in there.

Its almost as if Doc is playing players because thats how much they are getting paid, and if you spend 15 million dollars on a Center, then by golly maybe he should have a lot of playing time. Thats the business aspect of things. But, I think its the wrong stratagy. I think you should be playing a steady rotation of starters that is Blount, Ricky Davis, Dalonte West, Pierce, and LaFrentz. But use your rookies and second year players to get some experience. I also realize that when your a coach, you like to see consistency, and while not all of your first and second year players are consistent and hardly worth starting, you have to give people the opportunity.

The NBA is interresting because you have to play your starters that are on the cap, or your rookies that you need to find playing time for. Practice is what makes perfect, and what better time to start, as the celtics are 7 games behind and 9 games below the .500 mark. Sometimes I wonder what Celtics team im going to be reading and hearing about the next day. Will it be the team that almost beat the 20-5 Detroit Pistons, or the team that is 0-2 and plays down to the dead last place 10-26 Atlanta Hawks. Fact of the matter is, the Celtics lack some kind of consistency. I think they are more inconsistent than anything else, with the kind of offensive and defensive performances that you see night in and night out.

The Celtics need to do something fast about this situation. You dont want to waste time with your rookies and second year players, and money on people who are eating up the salary cap. The management needs to make a decision before the wrong one is made.

Maybe they should get rid of Doc. Maybe they should trade away team leader, and backbone of this team, Paul Peirce. Maybe they should play who on the basis of who deserves it more. Maybe this team can put up enough points to get to .500. Maybe they should start to play more rookies, and put the veterans on the bench.

What I think they should do is look for the decision that situates the future of the team. Look to see what will save money, but bring experience at the same time. All I know is this: Rivers coaching style is driving fans nuts. When I ask if people want to watch the Cetics game, I sure dont want to hear, why would I just want to watch them blow it, coming from the fans that are more into it than I am.


-Random Thoughts:
-Gammons writes a good article at the rebuilding of the expansion teams that were added in the last expansion (Arizona, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Colorado). He points out of what each team needs to do in order to suceed in their division. In Colorado, they have to get back to even again, and out of the red. Arizona is trying to get a mix of veterans, and young guys to form a competative team. Florida just has stadium issues; and now has an influx of talent to work with. And Tampa Bay might just wind up being the Cleveland Indians of the mid 90's. Great offense, but poor starting pitching. Gammons can be bold, but it just takes a while to see his point.

-I think this article published in Sundays Globe further illustrates my point above.

-I said to my sports editor last night that the Patriots coaching staff is like the Duke coaching staff. I think that any assistant in both organizations is worth their weight for a high level position, because of who is at the top, and how the organization is run. Thats why you see three big moves in the last two years with Crennel to the Browns, Wiess to Notre Dame, and now Mangini to the Jets. This organization just has so much coaching talent, and Bilechick just keeps bringing people in. Its just like Duke, and how Krzyewski and how he prepares his assistant coaches.

Pictured- New Jets head coach Eric Mangini

-I was completely wrong on three of the four games I previewed. I promise to make it up to the readers this week. I know I can do better than that. Preivews and a story on Reggie Bush that I have been planning for a while, in the works for later this week.