« You Can't Run From Karma | Main | Project 351: Out West, Part One »
November 28, 2006
L'Affaire Doc Continues
Wow, sides are being drawn in the "Fire Doc" debate.
The first shot in this latest scuffle was fired by Bill Simmons, who wrote one of his trademark 42,000-word columns about Doc. Except for the "trade Pierce and blow it all up" bit, I was pretty much nodding my head throughout. One of the major points Simmons made is that Doc is a completely nice and likeable guy, and as such has been treated with kid gloves by the Boston press (which in itself is a headscratcher).
So the Boston press, in the form of Bob Ryan, responded to Simmons, saying that "from 3,000 miles away, as if [Simmons] knows what's going on with the Celtics", he can't be trusted and he's got too much influence on the fans. Michael Gee chimed in, saying that firing Doc would be stupid. Gee finishes by saying,
Look people, isn't it obvious by now the Boston franchise's failure is a total group effort? Sure, the Celts could use a new coach, but only if he came as part of a package. This team needs new owners, a new front office, and about ten new players before the identity of its bench boss would make the slightest difference in its performance.
And that's a point well taken. The reason Doc gets the blame, at least here, is mostly his questionable game management, but part of it is the fear that, if things don't turn in a hurry, Danny's going to make another panic trade, probably involving clearing up some salary cap room, and we'll be told once again that this new group just needs time together.
It's simplistic to blame Doc. I'll admit that. But he also gives Scalabrine big minutes, which overshadows any mitigating factors. For every pleasant surprise like the Milwaukee comeback, there are two unpleasant memories: let's call the meltdown in Cleveland the second worst, and that manure-pile of a game against the Knicks the worst (I had to edit that three times to get it down to manure-pile).
Ryan makes the concession that if this team hasn't shown improvement by the All-Star Break, then, yes, it's Doc's time to leave the island. OK. I'll grant him three more months. But for Ryan to say the fans are impatient...DUH. The Lakers had a couple mediocre years between dynasties. The Bulls were a joke for three years, then got well into the playoffs. The Jazz lost two Hall-of-Famers, and three years later got off to the best start in the league. We're 20 years removed from glory, 15 years removed from relevance, and have heard every year for the past eight years that we're about to turn the corner. Yes. We're impatient.
But I'll give Doc till February.
(Universal Hub helped me find most of those columns)
Filed Under: Boston Celtics | Permanent Link, Comments (0) | Linking Blogs
