Q: So how are your days different now that your season is over?
DOC: "Well, I'm playing golf about four days a week. That's a good thing. I enjoy that. It's also nice to be with the family a lot (at their Orlando, Fla., home). Every time I go to the office I bring out a pad of paper and I put down names and write about how we can get better. ... We have to improve our team if are going to win."
Q: So what are you writing down on that pad?
DOC: "For one, we have to take better care of the basketball. If you looked at our numbers we were third or fourth in the league in field goal percentage (actually second at 48.6 percent) yet we were 28th in turnovers. Two, our transition defense has to get better. Off the edge, in transition, we gave away too many easy baskets. Three, our bench has to get better as a group, positions we have to improve. We need a backup big (man). We need a backup for Paul Pierce. And we need a backup for Rajon Rondo."
Q: You mention three All-Stars, but wouldn't you consider your point guard Rajon Rondo a fourth All-Star?
DOC: "Rondo still has a lot of growth ahead of him. As great as his numbers were, as great as he played at times, guys still fell off him to double team. Guys don't fall off an All-Star to help with someone else. He has to make them pay for that by hitting his shot. Rondo has a chance to be a great player.
"But you have to do it every day in the playoffs. The first five games of the Chicago series Rondo played at an All-Star level. But the rest of the playoffs you could make the case that he really struggled. He had good rebounding numbers. He also had some good assist numbers at times. But at the point guard level you have to be able to score and get your assists. When teams play the Boston Celtics the one guy they are going to help off of is Rondo."
Q: Does Rondo understand that?
DOC: "Yeah, I think he does. Rondo has a healthy ego. But he understands he has to get better on the scoring end. He has to hit the open shot. But knowing him and how competitive he is, and how tough he is, he will work on that this summer."
Q: What about the progress made by Glen "Big Baby" Davis?
DOC: "Sure, we were happy with his progress. We needed him to work on his jump shot and he was phenomenal in the offseason. But he has to be a better defensive player. He has to get in better shape to move his feet more. He has to be a better rebounder. Baby had games with one or two rebounds. That's not enough. He's also an inconsistent finisher.
"A lot of that has to do with his size. We want him to finish at the basket. He has a tendency of wanting to draw fouls. As good as he was, he took a step back defensively and rebounding. We talked about it. I think Baby fell in love with his offense, which helped us. But I think it comes down to conditioning. That's something he has to do next year. He'll be in better shape next year."
Q: Big Baby is a free agent. Will you re-sign him?
DOC: "He has to do his business, and see what's out there, but hopefully we'll sign him. I think we have a great shot at signing him. He fits in well with our team. I know he loves being here. He's just a young guy who needs to mature. We want him back."
Q: What did you think of Ray Allen in the playoffs?
DOC: "It's unfortunate for Ray, not having Kevin. When Ray comes off pin downs with Kevin, nobody is helping. But with Baby, Perk and Scal it was different. What also hurt was Rondo's guy, on every pass, ran to Ray. Think about it, Ray had Rondo's guy running at him. He had Perk's guy running at him. They didn't fear those guys on the offensive end. If you look at a lot of Baby's shots, it was his guy going to Ray. Clearly, not having Kevin, affected Ray the most."
Q: A lot of people brought up the loss of Garnett, but you often corrected the questioner by bringing up the loss of Powe, too. Why?
DOC: "Leon was our low post scorer. Paul was an easy guy to trap. We became an in-out team to an out team. A lot of our points in the paint came off drives rather than feeding the post. Look at Orlando. They are a pick-and-roll team and an in-and-out team. After a timeout is called you know Orlando is going to go down low and then back out. Leon would have allowed us to do that a lot more.
"Leon also would have been a big help on defense because he would have been able to cover Rashard Lewis. He has quick feet. It also would have been tough for Rashard to guard Leon. That was a big loss for us. I don't think people understood how much it would have helped. It would have helped Baby, too. I think that dynamic would have pushed both of them."
A really interesting interview...more at the link...
