Our favorite Celtic blogger, Jeff Clark raises the development of Gerald Green as a spark that could lead to one of the type of disagreement between the current team president and coach. Danny Ainge has praised Green for his abilities and bemoaned the lack of opportunity for his second-year guard. Coach Doc Rivers disagrees wholeheartedly and thinks Green is a long way, defensively, away from getting significant minutes.
Ainge:
"I'm not discouraged with Gerald. I've been very, very happy with Gerald. We talked about him being more involved on the glass. He's using his athleticism for more things than just scoring. He's contesting shots more. There's a lot of very, very positive things I'm seeing in Gerald. I've been pleasantly surprised that he's more actively trying to use his athleticism."
Rivers:
"Gerald is not playing well, obviously, he's getting lost on defense, in transition. We've just got to keep teaching. He's a talented kid. So, we've just got to keep working with him. We try to encourage him [when he loses focus]. Then, if it happens again, you have to take him out at times for the sake of the team. He's just got to play better. He will. I'm not worried about Gerald, but I'm not satisfied with his play right now. Even with his age, I'm not satisfied. He's better than what he's played over the last five or six games."
You can certainly understand both sides of this argument, but driving a wedge into one player's ability has been the downfall of several a coach (Steve Francis anyone). As I said in Sunday Notes back in November, Ainge will be back on the bench before the season is over.
Posted by Randy Ball at 1/1/2007 4:15:00 PM |
