Report from Celtics practice via Celticsblog

[BillessuR6]

Some interesting stuff from a poster cdif911 from celtics blog who attended yesterday's Celtics practice...

Started with a nice breakfast, followed by a talk given by Jo Jo White. He's a classy classy dude. A couple of points he made which were interesting:

- Celts are trying to bring the "professional" back to professional athlete
- Celts could have had Stoudamire or Cassell, but don't want to mess with chemistry
- Big Baby is not getting minutes b/c he's not giving 100% when he's out there, gets too caught up in putting on a show so to speak. Bench guys need to realize that when called upon they need to give it their all and contribute, or they'll end up back on the bench. Converse to that is Powe who they feel has really earned his minutes.
- The Celtics players genuinely like each other - he credits the trip to London for camp for gelling these guys.
- Funny note: KG was po'd that they beat Dallas without him on the floor.
- Says Heinsohn deserved more credit as a coach than he got, when Jo Jo played for him.
- Goal is 3 finals appearances in next 4 years
- I asked him about Thibideau's impact, and he said what we all thought, that he's helped bring that defensive intensity that we're all seeing.
- Basically said Celts don't want to be Dallas or Phoenix and do great in the regular season then fall off in the playoffs - that's why KG is out, even though KG's not happy about it

Some full court drills - Doc and Thibideau really took over here, Tom is definitely the defensive guru, he sees things I would never see. Doc definitely had his posterior 1 foot away from my face a few times, kinda awkward - Gabe Pruitt looked absolutely lost, and Doc told "get your head in it young fellow" - Baby was with the second unit to begin and Powe sat, then they rotated. Lots of full court stuff - amazing how hard everyone throws it down even in practice - Powe and Perk especially. Scal even had a few. One funny moment, Pruitt tried to drive baseline and dunk and Scal rejected him, knocking him to the floor, everyone was just like ohhh....

THey took a couple water breaks - it was interesting that Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo worked through their water breaks on their jumpers - Tony was hitting 3's at about 60% which is a great sign.

Last part of the practice, Rondo took over, House couldn't guard him, and Rondo kept pulling up for jumpers and knocking them down. He's now my gf's favorite player b/c of his speed and control.

Link: http://www.celticsblog.com/index.php?op ... ic=14626.0

[Dogen]

Thanks for that, the birdman!

[Tricky Ricky]

Jo Jo is very classy and has a lot of respect for the fans. I love listening to him speak, he really should be a motivational speaker someday I went to a luncheon and heard him speak the year we traded Walker for Raef and he had me convinced that a Pierce Raef combo would win a championship lol

[Spin Move]

. He's now my gf's favorite player b/c of his speed and control.

umm i dont even know what to say to that

[francishsu]

-= original quote snipped =-
umm i dont even know what to say to that

What, that she likes his quick handles?

[magee]

^Two words:

Banana hands.

[Rocky5000]

We could have had Cassell? And we don't want him!?
I can't say I'm with Danny on this one. Yes, chemistry is important, but it's all important to have more than 1 guy on the team that is capable of bringing the ball up the court under pressure. If that guy also happens to be a good veteran point guard with championship experience, then all the better. We still have 1/2 a season left, Cassell would have enough time to gel with the team and since it's only one guy would actually probably fit in right away. I don't feel confident going into the postseason with the team as presently constructed, especially when I think of Doc's coaching. Cassell would be an extra coach on the floor and bring a lot of calming experience to the team. You need that from your point guard in tense situations.

[ParticleMan]

great report.

not sure i buy the thing about cassell tho. it's not like he's available. if he was, i don't care what lip service people are saying in practice, i bet danny would sign him in a hot minute. teammates and coaches always say they don't need anyone else.

[lastgh0st]

I was at that breakfast too (great stuff I won a team signed basketball ).

The Cassell thing was kind of odd. Jo Jo was talking about Stoudamire and he looked to be trying to think of another player. Assuming he was semi-forgetting Cassell's name one of the fans called it out and then he added him with Damon in talking about no need for more players. It just felt odd and I don't know how much truth there was in it.

Also as the OP implied it was blatently obvious why Pruit and big baby havent been getting minutes. Doc spoke up to Pruit on multiple occations and big baby had to stop one set short to ask what the hell was going on. So I guess when Doc says 'if you were in our practices you'd know' he isn't kidding.

Pierce was so comfortable it wasn't funny, seemed like he could run the sets in his sleep. Best moment of the whole thing was Rondo barking out orders. During one of the 5 on 0 run-the-floor-and-execute drills Pierce sagged out a bit and Rondo yelled at him to get his ass in the corner. Maybe you had to be there...

If anyone gets a chance to do one of these it's HIGHLY recommended. Great time.

[DelMonte West]

Also as the OP implied it was blatently obvious why Pruit and big baby havent been getting minutes. Doc spoke up to Pruit on multiple occations and big baby had to stop one set short to ask what the hell was going on. So I guess when Doc says 'if you were in our practices you'd know' he isn't kidding.

Pierce was so comfortable it wasn't funny, seemed like he could run the sets in his sleep. Best moment of the whole thing was Rondo barking out orders. During one of the 5 on 0 run-the-floor-and-execute drills Pierce sagged out a bit and Rondo yelled at him to get his ass in the corner. Maybe you had to be there...

If anyone gets a chance to do one of these it's HIGHLY recommended. Great time.

Too bad about Davis and especially Pruitt. I hope he gets with the program soon, but House has done a good enough job of late.

The thing with Rondo doesn't surprise me; you can hear him barking stuff out all the time during games with that high-pitched yell (cracks me up every time I hear him). In all seriousness, it's a great trait for a young player...nearly every time someone gets a rebound he's hollering for it.

How do you go to these events? I've never given it much thought so it may be something obvious I never considered.

[lastgh0st]

How do you go to these events? I've never given it much thought so it may be something obvious I never considered.

Got them through a special offer from American Expess to the best of my knowledge (didn't actually get the tickets myself, just was asked to go). You do have to pay 75 per for the tickets but it's worth every penny. I got the impression that the offer wasn't that unusual but I really have no idea.

[billfromBoston]

...the team is very interested in adding Cassell, they just aren't willing to trade for him-that is what White meant when talking about team chemistry...the "this is the team we're rolling with" mantra is PR speak for "I can't promise you a new player, so i'm going to say the guys we got are it..."

if Cassell is bought out he'll be in green 24 hours later...

[sox839]

Cassell is a professional athlete he has not been in trouble to my knowledge as far as getting in trouble outside of basketball. Stoudmaire has had some legal problems with marijuana and he did play for the blazers.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Yeah, I also interpreted that as "we don't want to disrupt our chemistry by making a trade," not "we don't want to disrupt our chemistry by signing a free agent."