I was reading a post on Red's Army about the players that got away from the Celtics. A couple of things stood out. Rick Pitino tried to play Ben Wallace at the guard spot and then cut him? I had not heard that one. (Update - Apparently this is not true or at least a little off. See comment.) Also whoever posted this seems to be under the impression that the Pistons won two rings with Chauncey Billups and Wallace. The San Antonio Spurs and history seem to remember it differently. However, the bigger issue is that it too easy to criticize moves made or not made. And if I learned one thing from the Back to the Future movies it was that you can’t change one aspect from the past and expect everything else to remain the same. Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys hit upon this in a recent interview with lowpost.net:
"If you could do the 2003 draft over again, would you take Carmelo, Wade, or Bosh instead of Darko?
I would probably take Carmelo. It's Carmelo or Bosh, really. A much as Wade is everybody's poster boy right now, I think that the backcourt as we have it right now is still the best in the NBA with Chauncey and Rip. I don't think Wade could have possibly developed at the same rate as Chauncey developing into an MVP candidate and Rip becoming an All-Star for the first time in his career.
But Carmelo, my big concern with him coming out of the draft, was he just looked like he had too much baby fat on him, and I though that he had the frame, that you think he might carry a few pounds. He really this year impressed me with his conditioning. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if he wins the scoring title this year. Plus, aside from some of his antics during his rookie season, his clutch shooting, he's become known for that, more so than any of the other players.
My big problem with Bosh, and it's not really a big problem, is that if we had drafted him, which at the time was not even a thought that anyone would take him in the top three, if we had, then we would have been that much less inclined to acquire Rasheed Wallace, and he put us over the edge for the 2004 title.”
The problem seems to be that the Celtics are simply too young. That and Rick Pitino is the devil, which Red’s Army was all over.
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2 comments:
I've heard the "Ben Wallace at shooting guard" story a few times. If I recall, the Celtics basically deny it, but Ben has sticked to his guns. Found this from an old NBA.com article:
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His only opportunity came from the Celtics, who offered Wallace a roster spot on their summer league team. But the cards were still stacked against him. As Wallace recalled in an interview with SlamOnline.com, then-Celtics coach M.L. Carr "said I was too small to play power forward or center in the NBA, so they had me playing the 2-3."
Not surprisingly, Wallace, who wasn't used to playing on the perimeter, didn't make the Celtics' regular season roster.
Thanks for the comment. Informative and helpful. Apparently we can't pin this on Pitino if it happened. Alas.
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