Doc Rivers, Mark Blount please stop torturing me
http://s19.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=s19southeastofdisorderEveryone on a ship sees a giant ice berg ahead of them. Realizing they are headed toward disaster they all protest to the captain to turn the ship around, but instead of listening to his passengers the captain keeps on going in the same direction towards the ice berg that will eventually sink the ship. This is how it feels to be a Celtics fan right now, Doc Rivers is playing the role of the ships captain. Doc is stubborn and consistent in his ways. These can be good traits, but in the current situation they cause nothing but Celtic misery.
The first evidence of Docs ineptitude with the team this season comes in the form of the Marc "I swear to God I'm Funky" Blount experiment. Marc has average only one more rebound per a game than he does turnovers this season. This is pretty incredbile considering he is a seven footer averaging 30 minutes per a game. Not to mention he is a liability on defense, has the worst hands in basketball, and is a disruption to the team often times claiming he, "Doesn't get enough touches each game." Doc has shown signs of cutting his ties with Blount and relying more on other options at the center position, but keeps going back to Blount. They are the equvialent of that really bad high school or college relationship one of your buddy's was in. The girl cheated on him, talked bad about him, used him for money, but your buddy for some odd reason would only break up with her for short periods of time before getting back with her. Doc has benched Blount for entire games in the playoffs because a lack of effort, stripped Blount of his starting position this year because of his complaining to the media, but always ends up returning him to the starting lineup and keeping him in during crucial situations. The Celtics have Kendrick Perkins who has proved this year he can be a dominant rebounder on a team that severely lacks rebounding and toughness, but is passed by for Blount. A player like Perkins takes the stress off of Paul Pierce to carry the rebounding load. This allows Pierce to be a better man defender, and keeps him fresher late in games.
Most people in the media, and most people following the Celtics seem to realize Brian Scalabrine is a 15 million dollar mistake. Defensively he plays the role of the tortoise and opposing players play the role of the hare, except in the NBA slow and steady does not win any races. Even Doc Rivers seems to understand this for the first 43 minutes of every game. Yet somehow in three of the closer games this year, including Saturday's last second loss to the Washington, Scalabrine has found his way onto the court in the final minutes, despite playing no more than few minutes before in each game. Dan Dickau has also been used in the same manner at times during the season. My point here is how can you have no confidence in a guy to play in the first 43 minutes of each game, then use them in crucial situation with the game on the line?
My last issue with Doc is the way he has handled the point guard situation this season. Delonte West, Orien Greene, Marcus Banks, and Dan Dickau have all seen large minutes in different games this year. All I really ask of Doc his too settle on just one of these guys to start and play at least 30 minutes each game. A point guard has to play a leadership role in order for a team to be successful, and having a point guard by commitee severely hurts the this role of the point guard. Doc has done a good job of slimming his roation of late down to three, Greene, Banks, and West, but still does not seem to of settled on one. Doc is a former point guard and should understand that all these guys can not play equal minutes, despite all of them have similar levels of talent. Doc needs to pick his leader and stick with him.
The Celtics have the talent to be a 45-50 win team in the NBA this year. They have played well against some of the league's upper class, but crucial decisions late in games continue to cost them. Ainge needs to make a change, and make it now.
