Grade grousing

After spending the last few weeks of post-Celtics depression watching some exciting, intensity-filled first-round NBA playoff series (Suns-Lakers, Heat-Bulls, Spurs-Kings, Cavs-Wizards to name a few), I've been reminded what it feels like to root for a lottery team: like the kid left standing after all the teams in stickball have been chosen. It's a tough pill to swallow, even if you knew going down to the sandlot that your chances of being picked were remote to begin with. In many ways, it actually decreases your threshold for what will be defined as a successful season. Thoughts such as "if the Celts could have made it to the first round of the playoffs and showed the kind of fight the Bulls did against the Heat, I'd be pumped!" crossed my mind on more than one occasion. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, and I believe I've now dealt with all the levels of mourning and have finally wound up at acceptance.

Watching mediocre playoff teams rise to the occasion in the playoffs -- even if only temporarily -- is humbling after watching a Celtics team fail to rise even for breakfast most days during the season. This C's team just wasn't ready to compete on that level this year.

Anyway, after Gary and I dished out our player-by-player season-ending grades late last month, we received a fair amount of grousing from readers. Because of our tiered grading system that was more forgiving to younger players, combined with the C's horrible record this year, many believed that we were way too lenient. Maybe readers were still stuck in the "anger" portion of the grieving process. Or maybe Gary and I were stuck in "denial." Either way, here's a sampling of the e-mails we received:

What's the point of such a ridiculous feature? If your grades are to be believed, the Celtics, a team that was god-awful and missed the playoffs in a terrible conference, fielded a starting lineup of an A+ (Pierce), B+ (Wally), A- (West), A-/B+ (Perk) and B+ (Gomes). They won 33 games and their starters got no less than a B+??? What grades would you give to teams like the Spurs or Pistons? Either your grades are junk, or Doc is the worst coach in the history of the NBA to guide a team of A and B+ players to 33 wins. – Matt H

Point taken. Although, the grades for Perk, West and Gomes would have been much lower had they been five-year veterans on a team with high expectations. But the individual play of all of three of those guys was about as good as you could have hoped for, and actually much better than even I expected coming into the season. Perk came into his own as a solid NBA rebounder and defender in the post. Delonte showed that he belongs on the court no matter what position he plays. And Gomes gave the C's about 20 times more production in the second half than could have been hoped for. Pierce's season was sensational and Wally brought more to the team than he took away from it when he was on the court. So, as grades go for these players individually in the second half of the season, I think they're in the neighborhood of logical. But I can see, given how the overall team fared, why people would disagree. But I think our grades for the rest of the players and the coach remedied that to an extent.

I can't believe you guys are grading these guys. They might be decent fellas but with this watered-down league, most of the Celtics would be playing in the CBA if there weren't so many teams.

The team has [stunk] for at least 15 years and there is not much to look forward to. And Doc Rivers? Don't give him too much credit for anything. Is there a more useless job than NBA head coach? The genius Larry Brown had a great year with the talent-less Knicks. You need players, plain and simple. Celtics have 1. – Mike M

Well, I'll tell you what, if there was a CBA team out there with Perk, Delonte, Wally, Tony Allen, Gerald, and Gomes on it, then I'd buy season tickets.

I don't understand why you give Brian Scalabrine a B- for the first half of the year and then say it was one of the worst years by a single player in recent years. I agree with you guys in that regard, so why the B-? He didn't do anything in my mind to warrant that type of grade. -- Andrew Vitt

In retrospect, our first-half grade for Scalabrine was way too lenient. Almost embarrassingly so. But, in our defense, he was coming off a stretch of games in which he was actually semi-useful in the minutes he was playing. In what may have been an overly-optimistic view of things to come, we thought Scal had finally figured out his role on the team in mid to late January, and he was giving a few high-energy minutes in which he played smart D, attacked the boards and served as an effective pick man on offense. Unfortunately, that stretch of games lasted about as long as it took me to write this sentence. We were wrong. So wrong. In fact, now that I think about it, even my second-half grade of a D- was too lenient. I'm retroactively changing it to an F.

Until Paul Pierce learns to use his teammates when there is under 2 minutes to go in a game, he should not be given an A+. Might as well still have Antoine standing out at the 3-point line at the end of games as well then. – Mike

Come on, I was just as frustrated as the next guy by the terrible end-of-game one-on-ones, but isn't that on Doc? Pierce’s teammates sure weren't running back screens to get free or setting up pick-and-rolls. Regardless, after how the previous season ended, you couldn't have asked for more from Pierce than what he gave you.

I don't how you can give Tony Allen an A (or an A+ in one instance). ...

I sure would like to take a class with you guys as the professors. According to the grades I've read thus far, the C's should be in the Finals next month. – Chris McCarty

Considering the expectations for Tony were pretty much nil after the first half of the season, that, in our eyes, affected the scale for his second-half grade. Watching his resurrection in the last 20 or so games, I think an A for the second-half of the season was warranted. Not only was Tony the second-best offensive player down the stretch, but also their most consistent perimeter defender.

Anyway, I give that e-mail a B. Maybe a B+.

So, you graded the players, from top to bottom, the coach, even the general manager. There's one group, however, that you haven't touched upon in your end-of-season wrap-up: THE FANS!

What are your feelings about how the disco guy performed this year (I say C-, didn't see him when we really needed him)? And what about the guy in the yellow sweater (A-, I say)? I think the atmosphere in the Gahhden, and around town for that matter, has an effect on the games. So whaddya think guys? – Mark

You're right. This was my oversight. Better late than never.

Gino will be looking to rebound in 2006-07.

Gino

This was definitely a down year for Gino. After making a couple of exciting early-season appearances, Gino went MIA for a long, long time. Maybe he sensed this wasn't his year and decided to conserve his dancing energy for next year. Maybe Gino threatened the Jumbotron operators and they decided to have him handcuffed and chained in the bowels of the Garden. No one really knows for sure where he was for most of the season. Apparently, per one of our readers (though I wasn't there), Gino emerged from his dungeon to treat the fans one last time during the Celtics' season-ending victory over the Heat, which was also, appropriately enough, fan appreciation night. For that, Gino, like these young Celtics, gives us hope for the future. C+

Yellow Sweater Guy: Whatever he's drinking, I want some.

Yellow Sweater Guy

Now this guy was phenomenal. I only saw him during the C's emotionally draining OT loss to the Cavs in mid-February, but I believe part of the reason the C's even made it to OT was because of the raw, primal energy this old man brought to his cheering responsibilities. How often does a single fan provoke the large number of e-mails we received following that game? It's even more impressive considering this fan didn't do anything such as 1) Run on to the court or; 2) Get attacked by Ron Artest. All he did was run up and down the aisles, like a maniac, at an age where most others would have been happy with just being able to get up and down the aisles. As one reader put it at the time, "I've never seen stardom strike so fast and hard." Neither have I. Heck, he even made it onto a pregame montage on FSNE. From crazy fan to TV star. That's Yellow Sweater Guy. For him, the sky's the limit. A