Celtics youngsters growing up before our eyes.

[JBcat]

Ahhhhh, Tony. Okay, I haven't liked your game for years and still don't. But even me, one of your bigger critics can see the difference in your play. You are driving into the lane with your head up and with less abandon. Your defense, except for the first half of game one has been exemplary. You are making good passes underneath and appear, without a doubt to be at least a step and a half quicker than this time last year and the elevation is almost completely back. I still hate the fact that you can still be faked in the air by the occasional head fake and that you somehow find a way to dribble the ball off your foot a couple of times a week, but you are much improved and you are proving me wrong. Good for you.

Maybe you didn't follow the C's during the 24 win season of whatever. I don't know. Or perhaps your not a great judge of talent. But TA's play is entirely expected. he was a dominant player on both ends of the court that year before he got hurt. Not just good - but dominating.

This isn't anything "new" from TA - it's a return to form. And he isn't 100% back yet. His jumper still isn't quite where it used to be.

Pete

I have watched just about every game the Celtic have played since the late nineties and no Allen's game was not expected. He played great basketball for about 20 games in one season out of 5. That's it.

Tony has for years played without abandon driving to the basket with his head down and almost never making a pass while driving. He has always been easily fooled into overreacting defensively on certain moves. His passing even in the exterior has been lazy and not well thought out at times. His ball handling has been close to atrocious for long, long periods of time. His shot is still ugly and not effective outside of 15 feet.

And just about everything I wrote in the above paragraph has been true for all but 20 or so games of 4 plus years. There was no guarantee that Tony would revert back to that type of play. There was hopeful expectations of it, but to say it was expected might be stretching it a bit. Tony today is just not all that much smarter of a ball player than he was when he entered the league.

If he maintains this play consistently, I will be happy to say that he finally matured. But even Danny Ainge may have had trepidations that Tony wouldn't play to this level as it was widely regarded in the off season that if Posey re-signed then it would have meant Tony was gone because he wasn't a sure thing.

I think many members here have watched as many games as you and go further back however  it doesn't mean everyone is going to agree.  If you back prior the late 90s there have been much worse draft picks.   There is some truth to what your saying however Tony has dealt with 2 major injuries that really curtailed his growth and the latest with many experts saying it would take a year to a year 1/2 to fully recover.  Many young players really start to blossom in their 3rd or 4th year anyway and whose to say that 20 game stretch wouldn't extend over the rest of that season and last season.  I think some members including myself think we could be talking about a 100 game stretch now instead of a 20 game stretch when he played that well.  I hope that's the case and he can return fully to that form. 

[nickagneta]

Ahhhhh, Tony. Okay, I haven't liked your game for years and still don't. But even me, one of your bigger critics can see the difference in your play. You are driving into the lane with your head up and with less abandon. Your defense, except for the first half of game one has been exemplary. You are making good passes underneath and appear, without a doubt to be at least a step and a half quicker than this time last year and the elevation is almost completely back. I still hate the fact that you can still be faked in the air by the occasional head fake and that you somehow find a way to dribble the ball off your foot a couple of times a week, but you are much improved and you are proving me wrong. Good for you.

Maybe you didn't follow the C's during the 24 win season of whatever. I don't know. Or perhaps your not a great judge of talent. But TA's play is entirely expected. he was a dominant player on both ends of the court that year before he got hurt. Not just good - but dominating.

This isn't anything "new" from TA - it's a return to form. And he isn't 100% back yet. His jumper still isn't quite where it used to be.

Pete

I have watched just about every game the Celtic have played since the late nineties and no Allen's game was not expected. He played great basketball for about 20 games in one season out of 5. That's it.

Tony has for years played without abandon driving to the basket with his head down and almost never making a pass while driving. He has always been easily fooled into overreacting defensively on certain moves. His passing even in the exterior has been lazy and not well thought out at times. His ball handling has been close to atrocious for long, long periods of time. His shot is still ugly and not effective outside of 15 feet.

And just about everything I wrote in the above paragraph has been true for all but 20 or so games of 4 plus years. There was no guarantee that Tony would revert back to that type of play. There was hopeful expectations of it, but to say it was expected might be stretching it a bit. Tony today is just not all that much smarter of a ball player than he was when he entered the league.

If he maintains this play consistently, I will be happy to say that he finally matured. But even Danny Ainge may have had trepidations that Tony wouldn't play to this level as it was widely regarded in the off season that if Posey re-signed then it would have meant Tony was gone because he wasn't a sure thing.

I think many members here have watched as many games as you and go further back however  it doesn't mean everyone is going to agree.  If you back prior the late 90s there have been much worse draft picks.   There is some truth to what your saying however Tony has dealt with 2 major injuries that really curtailed his growth and the latest with many experts saying it would take a year to a year 1/2 to fully recover.  Many young players really start to blossom in their 3rd or 4th year anyway and whose to say that 20 game stretch wouldn't extend over the rest of that season and last season.  I think some members including myself think we could be talking about a 100 game stretch now instead of a 20 game stretch when he played that well.  I hope that's the case and he can return fully to that form. 

I've been a huge Celtic fan since Game 5 1976 when I was just a wee one. I have seen a huge majority of their games since Bird was drafted. I have seen virtaully every single one since the mid to late nineties. I'm very familiar with the Celtics draft history.

But I take exception to being told I must not watch the games or be a good judge of basketball talent because Tony Allen was just returning to form. What form? The form he has displayed for less than 10% of his professional career? He had a great twenty game stretch when he and Al Jefferson were the only two offensive options on the team for the C's 2 years ago until he boneheadedly decided to dunk on a play after the whistle and tore up his knee.

What Tony displayed last year is what we saw for the first two years of his career. There was no, I mean no, guarantee that he would return this year and be anything more than he was for those 3 seasons. None. There was hope. There was a chance. There was a possibility. But even management wasn't sure since it was widely speculated that the odd man out if Posey signed would have been Tony and the fact that the Celtics drafted two players that play a role and game almost exactly the same as Tony's.

I am glad he is doing well and will gladly, as one of Tony's bigger critics say that he has started off playing well this year. But when I give the guy credit and humbly praise him and admit I might have been wrong thus far this season, there's no reason to throw it in my face, semi-insult my basketball intelligence and state that this was something that was a given, a no brainer, or a certainty because it wasn't.

Tony could still revert back to his old self and I quite honestly expect it for stretches of the year. But if he plays like this the rest of the year it will help this team immensely and I will gladly praise him for it.

[acieEarl]

Ahhhhh, Tony. Okay, I haven't liked your game for years and still don't. But even me, one of your bigger critics can see the difference in your play. You are driving into the lane with your head up and with less abandon. Your defense, except for the first half of game one has been exemplary. You are making good passes underneath and appear, without a doubt to be at least a step and a half quicker than this time last year and the elevation is almost completely back. I still hate the fact that you can still be faked in the air by the occasional head fake and that you somehow find a way to dribble the ball off your foot a couple of times a week, but you are much improved and you are proving me wrong. Good for you.

Maybe you didn't follow the C's during the 24 win season of whatever. I don't know. Or perhaps your not a great judge of talent. But TA's play is entirely expected. he was a dominant player on both ends of the court that year before he got hurt. Not just good - but dominating.

This isn't anything "new" from TA - it's a return to form. And he isn't 100% back yet. His jumper still isn't quite where it used to be.

Pete

I have watched just about every game the Celtic have played since the late nineties and no Allen's game was not expected. He played great basketball for about 20 games in one season out of 5. That's it.

Tony has for years played without abandon driving to the basket with his head down and almost never making a pass while driving. He has always been easily fooled into overreacting defensively on certain moves. His passing even in the exterior has been lazy and not well thought out at times. His ball handling has been close to atrocious for long, long periods of time. His shot is still ugly and not effective outside of 15 feet.

And just about everything I wrote in the above paragraph has been true for all but 20 or so games of 4 plus years. There was no guarantee that Tony would revert back to that type of play. There was hopeful expectations of it, but to say it was expected might be stretching it a bit. Tony today is just not all that much smarter of a ball player than he was when he entered the league.

If he maintains this play consistently, I will be happy to say that he finally matured. But even Danny Ainge may have had trepidations that Tony wouldn't play to this level as it was widely regarded in the off season that if Posey re-signed then it would have meant Tony was gone because he wasn't a sure thing.

I think many members here have watched as many games as you and go further back however  it doesn't mean everyone is going to agree.  If you back prior the late 90s there have been much worse draft picks.   There is some truth to what your saying however Tony has dealt with 2 major injuries that really curtailed his growth and the latest with many experts saying it would take a year to a year 1/2 to fully recover.  Many young players really start to blossom in their 3rd or 4th year anyway and whose to say that 20 game stretch wouldn't extend over the rest of that season and last season.  I think some members including myself think we could be talking about a 100 game stretch now instead of a 20 game stretch when he played that well.  I hope that's the case and he can return fully to that form. 

I've been a huge Celtic fan since Game 5 1976 when I was just a wee one. I have seen a huge majority of their games since Bird was drafted. I have seen virtaully every single one since the mid to late nineties. I'm very familiar with the Celtics draft history.

But I take exception to being told I must not watch the games or be a good judge of basketball talent because Tony Allen was just returning to form. What form? The form he has displayed for less than 10% of his professional career? He had a great twenty game stretch when he and Al Jefferson were the only two offensive options on the team for the C's 2 years ago until he boneheadedly decided to dunk on a play after the whistle and tore up his knee.

What Tony displayed last year is what we saw for the first two years of his career. There was no, I mean no, guarantee that he would return this year and be anything more than he was for those 3 seasons. None. There was hope. There was a chance. There was a possibility. But even management wasn't sure since it was widely speculated that the odd man out if Posey signed would have been Tony and the fact that the Celtics drafted two players that play a role and game almost exactly the same as Tony's.

I am glad he is doing well and will gladly, as one of Tony's bigger critics say that he has started off playing well this year. But when I give the guy credit and humbly praise him and admit I might have been wrong thus far this season, there's no reason to throw it in my face, semi-insult my basketball intelligence and state that this was something that was a given, a no brainer, or a certainty because it wasn't.

Tony could still revert back to his old self and I quite honestly expect it for stretches of the year. But if he plays like this the rest of the year it will help this team immensely and I will gladly praise him for it.

I'd throw out last year for Tony. He was visably still hurt and not close to 100%. This year he looks healthy and seem to have matured as a player. So far so good this year.

T Allen's biggest problem has been his inconsitency, and this was before he got hurt. He'll still make a bonehead play here and there but he's postives have highly out weighed his negatives this year. He may never have the smarts of Posey or the 3 point shot but so far he's been great this year with all of his other attributes.

[Chris]

I'd throw out last year for Tony. He was visably still hurt and not close to 100%. This year he looks healthy and seem to have matured as a player. So far so good this year.

T Allen's biggest problem has been his inconsitency, and this was before he got hurt. He'll still make a bonehead play here and there but he's postives have highly out weighed his negatives this year. He may never have the smarts of Posey or the 3 point shot but so far he's been great this year with all of his other attributes.

I agree with this completely.  Tony has been much more consistent than he has ever been before this year, and he has shown the ability (so far) to play within himself, and keep his implosions to a minimum.

I still have my concerns about his ability to maintain his composure and focus when things start going poorly, and he has a bad night, but so far so good.

[BballTim]

Ahhhhh, Tony. Okay, I haven't liked your game for years and still don't. But even me, one of your bigger critics can see the difference in your play. You are driving into the lane with your head up and with less abandon. Your defense, except for the first half of game one has been exemplary. You are making good passes underneath and appear, without a doubt to be at least a step and a half quicker than this time last year and the elevation is almost completely back. I still hate the fact that you can still be faked in the air by the occasional head fake and that you somehow find a way to dribble the ball off your foot a couple of times a week, but you are much improved and you are proving me wrong. Good for you.

Maybe you didn't follow the C's during the 24 win season of whatever. I don't know. Or perhaps your not a great judge of talent. But TA's play is entirely expected. he was a dominant player on both ends of the court that year before he got hurt. Not just good - but dominating.

This isn't anything "new" from TA - it's a return to form. And he isn't 100% back yet. His jumper still isn't quite where it used to be.

Pete

I have watched just about every game the Celtic have played since the late nineties and no Allen's game was not expected. He played great basketball for about 20 games in one season out of 5. That's it.

Tony has for years played without abandon driving to the basket with his head down and almost never making a pass while driving. He has always been easily fooled into overreacting defensively on certain moves. His passing even in the exterior has been lazy and not well thought out at times. His ball handling has been close to atrocious for long, long periods of time. His shot is still ugly and not effective outside of 15 feet.

And just about everything I wrote in the above paragraph has been true for all but 20 or so games of 4 plus years. There was no guarantee that Tony would revert back to that type of play. There was hopeful expectations of it, but to say it was expected might be stretching it a bit. Tony today is just not all that much smarter of a ball player than he was when he entered the league.

If he maintains this play consistently, I will be happy to say that he finally matured. But even Danny Ainge may have had trepidations that Tony wouldn't play to this level as it was widely regarded in the off season that if Posey re-signed then it would have meant Tony was gone because he wasn't a sure thing.

  Tony played pretty well over the last month or so of the 05-06 season as well. If you map out his career he played pretty well his rookie year and then hurt his knee. His play was coming back during the latter stages of his 2nd year and for a good part of his 3rd year before he hurt his knee again. He's just really getting all the way healthy again. The fact that you didn't expect Tony to play like this doesn't mean that others did justifiably expect it.

  And I'm not saying that TA doesn't make some boneheaded plays or that he isn't turnover prone, but the healthier he is the smarter he seems to play. And while Ainge did want Posey instead of Allen it also seems like he wanted Tony over most of the other wing players that were on the market.

[nickagneta]

Ahhhhh, Tony. Okay, I haven't liked your game for years and still don't. But even me, one of your bigger critics can see the difference in your play. You are driving into the lane with your head up and with less abandon. Your defense, except for the first half of game one has been exemplary. You are making good passes underneath and appear, without a doubt to be at least a step and a half quicker than this time last year and the elevation is almost completely back. I still hate the fact that you can still be faked in the air by the occasional head fake and that you somehow find a way to dribble the ball off your foot a couple of times a week, but you are much improved and you are proving me wrong. Good for you.

Maybe you didn't follow the C's during the 24 win season of whatever. I don't know. Or perhaps your not a great judge of talent. But TA's play is entirely expected. he was a dominant player on both ends of the court that year before he got hurt. Not just good - but dominating.

This isn't anything "new" from TA - it's a return to form. And he isn't 100% back yet. His jumper still isn't quite where it used to be.

Pete

I have watched just about every game the Celtic have played since the late nineties and no Allen's game was not expected. He played great basketball for about 20 games in one season out of 5. That's it.

Tony has for years played without abandon driving to the basket with his head down and almost never making a pass while driving. He has always been easily fooled into overreacting defensively on certain moves. His passing even in the exterior has been lazy and not well thought out at times. His ball handling has been close to atrocious for long, long periods of time. His shot is still ugly and not effective outside of 15 feet.

And just about everything I wrote in the above paragraph has been true for all but 20 or so games of 4 plus years. There was no guarantee that Tony would revert back to that type of play. There was hopeful expectations of it, but to say it was expected might be stretching it a bit. Tony today is just not all that much smarter of a ball player than he was when he entered the league.

If he maintains this play consistently, I will be happy to say that he finally matured. But even Danny Ainge may have had trepidations that Tony wouldn't play to this level as it was widely regarded in the off season that if Posey re-signed then it would have meant Tony was gone because he wasn't a sure thing.

  Tony played pretty well over the last month or so of the 05-06 season as well. If you map out his career he played pretty well his rookie year and then hurt his knee. His play was coming back during the latter stages of his 2nd year and for a good part of his 3rd year before he hurt his knee again. He's just really getting all the way healthy again. The fact that you didn't expect Tony to play like this doesn't mean that others did justifiably expect it.

  And I'm not saying that TA doesn't make some boneheaded plays or that he isn't turnover prone, but the healthier he is the smarter he seems to play. And while Ainge did want Posey instead of Allen it also seems like he wanted Tony over most of the other wing players that were on the market.

Yes, and while I agree with most of this what I was taking issue with is the fact that Sweet17 was making it sound like I was either not a very close follower of the team or wasn't a good judge of talent and hence not to well informed in my basketball knowledge. He made it seem as Tony's emergence mentally this year was an absolute given, which it wasn't. Tony is playing a very team oriented, intelligent game right now. Say all you want about his play during the stretch just before he got hurt last, but team oriented or intelligent weren't to words you would use. He played great but there are lots of players in this league who put up great numbers but weren't great team players or intelligent players. That is what is making Tony different this year. Not the physical results, it's the mental alterations to his game that is making a difference.

[BballTim]

Ahhhhh, Tony. Okay, I haven't liked your game for years and still don't. But even me, one of your bigger critics can see the difference in your play. You are driving into the lane with your head up and with less abandon. Your defense, except for the first half of game one has been exemplary. You are making good passes underneath and appear, without a doubt to be at least a step and a half quicker than this time last year and the elevation is almost completely back. I still hate the fact that you can still be faked in the air by the occasional head fake and that you somehow find a way to dribble the ball off your foot a couple of times a week, but you are much improved and you are proving me wrong. Good for you.

Maybe you didn't follow the C's during the 24 win season of whatever. I don't know. Or perhaps your not a great judge of talent. But TA's play is entirely expected. he was a dominant player on both ends of the court that year before he got hurt. Not just good - but dominating.

This isn't anything "new" from TA - it's a return to form. And he isn't 100% back yet. His jumper still isn't quite where it used to be.

Pete

I have watched just about every game the Celtic have played since the late nineties and no Allen's game was not expected. He played great basketball for about 20 games in one season out of 5. That's it.

Tony has for years played without abandon driving to the basket with his head down and almost never making a pass while driving. He has always been easily fooled into overreacting defensively on certain moves. His passing even in the exterior has been lazy and not well thought out at times. His ball handling has been close to atrocious for long, long periods of time. His shot is still ugly and not effective outside of 15 feet.

And just about everything I wrote in the above paragraph has been true for all but 20 or so games of 4 plus years. There was no guarantee that Tony would revert back to that type of play. There was hopeful expectations of it, but to say it was expected might be stretching it a bit. Tony today is just not all that much smarter of a ball player than he was when he entered the league.

If he maintains this play consistently, I will be happy to say that he finally matured. But even Danny Ainge may have had trepidations that Tony wouldn't play to this level as it was widely regarded in the off season that if Posey re-signed then it would have meant Tony was gone because he wasn't a sure thing.

  Tony played pretty well over the last month or so of the 05-06 season as well. If you map out his career he played pretty well his rookie year and then hurt his knee. His play was coming back during the latter stages of his 2nd year and for a good part of his 3rd year before he hurt his knee again. He's just really getting all the way healthy again. The fact that you didn't expect Tony to play like this doesn't mean that others did justifiably expect it.

  And I'm not saying that TA doesn't make some boneheaded plays or that he isn't turnover prone, but the healthier he is the smarter he seems to play. And while Ainge did want Posey instead of Allen it also seems like he wanted Tony over most of the other wing players that were on the market.

Yes, and while I agree with most of this what I was taking issue with is the fact that Sweet17 was making it sound like I was either not a very close follower of the team or wasn't a good judge of talent and hence not to well informed in my basketball knowledge. He made it seem as Tony's emergence mentally this year was an absolute given, which it wasn't. Tony is playing a very team oriented, intelligent game right now. Say all you want about his play during the stretch just before he got hurt last, but team oriented or intelligent weren't to words you would use. He played great but there are lots of players in this league who put up great numbers but weren't great team players or intelligent players. That is what is making Tony different this year. Not the physical results, it's the mental alterations to his game that is making a difference.

  Sorry, I missed the tone of his post.

  The team was in disarray right before he got hurt 2 years ago, but I thought that his play in the short stretch of games where he and Al were starting before Paul got hurt resembled what we're seeing now. Small sample size, but we still saw glimpses of his good play then.

[guava_wrench]

Ahhhhh, Tony. Okay, I haven't liked your game for years and still don't. But even me, one of your bigger critics can see the difference in your play. You are driving into the lane with your head up and with less abandon. Your defense, except for the first half of game one has been exemplary. You are making good passes underneath and appear, without a doubt to be at least a step and a half quicker than this time last year and the elevation is almost completely back. I still hate the fact that you can still be faked in the air by the occasional head fake and that you somehow find a way to dribble the ball off your foot a couple of times a week, but you are much improved and you are proving me wrong. Good for you.

Maybe you didn't follow the C's during the 24 win season of whatever. I don't know. Or perhaps your not a great judge of talent. But TA's play is entirely expected. he was a dominant player on both ends of the court that year before he got hurt. Not just good - but dominating.

This isn't anything "new" from TA - it's a return to form. And he isn't 100% back yet. His jumper still isn't quite where it used to be.

Pete

I have watched just about every game the Celtic have played since the late nineties and no Allen's game was not expected. He played great basketball for about 20 games in one season out of 5. That's it.

Tony has for years played without abandon driving to the basket with his head down and almost never making a pass while driving. He has always been easily fooled into overreacting defensively on certain moves. His passing even in the exterior has been lazy and not well thought out at times. His ball handling has been close to atrocious for long, long periods of time. His shot is still ugly and not effective outside of 15 feet.

And just about everything I wrote in the above paragraph has been true for all but 20 or so games of 4 plus years. There was no guarantee that Tony would revert back to that type of play. There was hopeful expectations of it, but to say it was expected might be stretching it a bit. Tony today is just not all that much smarter of a ball player than he was when he entered the league.

If he maintains this play consistently, I will be happy to say that he finally matured. But even Danny Ainge may have had trepidations that Tony wouldn't play to this level as it was widely regarded in the off season that if Posey re-signed then it would have meant Tony was gone because he wasn't a sure thing.

I think many members here have watched as many games as you and go further back however  it doesn't mean everyone is going to agree.  If you back prior the late 90s there have been much worse draft picks.   There is some truth to what your saying however Tony has dealt with 2 major injuries that really curtailed his growth and the latest with many experts saying it would take a year to a year 1/2 to fully recover.  Many young players really start to blossom in their 3rd or 4th year anyway and whose to say that 20 game stretch wouldn't extend over the rest of that season and last season.  I think some members including myself think we could be talking about a 100 game stretch now instead of a 20 game stretch when he played that well.  I hope that's the case and he can return fully to that form. 

I've been a huge Celtic fan since Game 5 1976 when I was just a wee one. I have seen a huge majority of their games since Bird was drafted. I have seen virtaully every single one since the mid to late nineties. I'm very familiar with the Celtics draft history.

But I take exception to being told I must not watch the games or be a good judge of basketball talent because Tony Allen was just returning to form. What form? The form he has displayed for less than 10% of his professional career? He had a great twenty game stretch when he and Al Jefferson were the only two offensive options on the team for the C's 2 years ago until he boneheadedly decided to dunk on a play after the whistle and tore up his knee.

What Tony displayed last year is what we saw for the first two years of his career. There was no, I mean no, guarantee that he would return this year and be anything more than he was for those 3 seasons. None. There was hope. There was a chance. There was a possibility. But even management wasn't sure since it was widely speculated that the odd man out if Posey signed would have been Tony and the fact that the Celtics drafted two players that play a role and game almost exactly the same as Tony's.

I am glad he is doing well and will gladly, as one of Tony's bigger critics say that he has started off playing well this year. But when I give the guy credit and humbly praise him and admit I might have been wrong thus far this season, there's no reason to throw it in my face, semi-insult my basketball intelligence and state that this was something that was a given, a no brainer, or a certainty because it wasn't.

Tony could still revert back to his old self and I quite honestly expect it for stretches of the year. But if he plays like this the rest of the year it will help this team immensely and I will gladly praise him for it.

You think the way TA played last year was representative of his first 2 years? I don't remember people being so down on TA before last year. It seemed to me people overreacted to his post injury performance.

It was clear last year that some were groping for criticisms in some games where he played fine. There were plenty of bad games and bad plays, but there are times when people go on record not liking a player and then try to force every game into evidence of their view. I am not accusing Nick of this. Nick is in general an excellent poster. Still, we had the anti-TA crowd and the anti-Doc crowd that refused to give them credit for anything for much of last season, even during their best moments. We also have the pro-GG and pro-Toine crowd and their apologetics justifying everything that happens in their careers.

Perhaps tempering our opinions would avoid the defensiveness. I can admit that I posted many times that I didn't expect much from Powe, but I never went overboard saying he was garbage and would never amount to anything. I just thought he had a low ceiling and was proven wrong.

[guava_wrench]

Though I am a TA fan, I am still set in reality. Many of his penetrations moves end in him throwing the ball toward the hoop, meaning he will continue to be erratic on such shots. He also seems to be getting worse at jump shots, though he has been our best FT shooter this year.

In his defense, his dribble has been fine. I felt last year that his problem wasn't his dribble per se, but his indecisiveness while dribbling. That led him to over dribble, sometimes leaving the ball behind while he made his move or presenting it to defenders for easy steals. I was also surprised that people got down on him when he blew open layups last year. That should have been a reassuring sign that he wasn't back yet.

Looking at his game this year, it is clear that he would be garbage on offense without his quickness. I can see people giving up on him last year if they though he would not regain his quickness. I think Doc and Danny's plan to use TA as a PG also caused more fans to turn on him, since it emphasized his problems last year. Perhaps if they had never mentioned that, he would have had less critics.

[nickagneta]

Though I am a TA fan, I am still set in reality. Many of his penetrations moves end in him throwing the ball toward the hoop, meaning he will continue to be erratic on such shots. He also seems to be getting worse at jump shots, though he has been our best FT shooter this year.

In his defense, his dribble has been fine. I felt last year that his problem wasn't his dribble per se, but his indecisiveness while dribbling. That led him to over dribble, sometimes leaving the ball behind while he made his move or presenting it to defenders for easy steals. I was also surprised that people got down on him when he blew open layups last year. That should have been a reassuring sign that he wasn't back yet.

Looking at his game this year, it is clear that he would be garbage on offense without his quickness. I can see people giving up on him last year if they though he would not regain his quickness. I think Doc and Danny's plan to use TA as a PG also caused more fans to turn on him, since it emphasized his problems last year. Perhaps if they had never mentioned that, he would have had less critics.

What I see this year is what you allude to here guava. His decisiveness. His confidence. His mental approach to the game.

For instance, in game 1 vs. Cleveland he did throw up some absolute prayers toward the basket that went in. I haven't seen that hardly at all since. His moves toward the basket have not been forced, he's backed off and dribbled out of the paint or given the ball up if the opposition has closed down the middle when he starts his drives, he's going in head up and being aware of his surroundings much more, he's made some beautiful dishes of the penetration that really wasn't a part of his game, and he's getting steals but he's not playing the passing lanes nearly as much.

That to me signifies mental growth in the game he plays. Perhaps the adversity and the injuries have forced him to play the game in his head better and not to rely solely on his athleticism. Now that his athleticism has returned and he's playing smarter, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised and delighted and hope he continues to grow. It will only mean good things for Tony and the Celtics.

But he will go cold at some point and struggle in others and I'm am interested in seeing how it effects him. In the past if a portion of Tony's game struggles, Tony lets it effect his whole game. Let's see if that maturity he has shown on the non-physical side of the ball continues and he can still play great defense when his shots stop dropping or things aren't going his way offensively.

[BillfromBoston]

Tony is going to have his ups and downs like most players, but I think the real issue was with the PROBABILITY of Tony producing at his current level this season based off the preponderance of evidence we had...

While its in-arguable that TA has been inconsistent throughout his tenure, the nature of that inconsistency seems pretty clear - confidence...TA's game ebbs-and-flows with his belief in his success, when he's riding high, he is a force, when he is filled with doubt, he is terrible...

Now, TA had shown twice that post-injury, his confidence was extremely low and that he'd take a significant amount of time to recover. Last season he showed that physically he was 100% by season's end, but lacked confidence to consistently trust himself...

It was my belief, as well as some others, that getting the insurance of an extension - something TA admitted weighed on his mind - would help instill some of that confidence back into his game. I also surmised that the possibility for an expanded role, the fact that he had played will with more minutes, and the presence of young up-and-coming competition would further stoke his competitive nature and bring out the confident, competitive TA that plays his best bball...

So, I think it was reasonable to expect a solid probability of TA performing at a quality level based on his personality and past history...it wasn't a "slam dunk" but it seemed likely given how his performance has ebbed-and-flowed, not just because it did...

[2short]

My take on the young guys:
Rondo-at times looks all star caliber, game changing amazing player; other times ineffective, he needs to realize the c's need his A game every night, we are sooo much better when he is playing great (no foul shooting practice this off season?)
Perk-big improvement so far this year, would love to see a traditional hook shot added to his offensive game (limited) but guy plays great D and has been rebounding very well AND blocking shots like a near league leader
Tony-is causing 2nd units headaches, he could start for a portion of nba teams and is proving to be a defensive stopper like we hoped, turnovers haven't been major so far 
Davis-good hustle but honestly hasn't shown me much besides good d and the confidence is his outside shot (even if it isn't falling)
Leon-love it, one of better bigs off bench in league, his rebounding numbers are done but brings a defensive toughness to the team like his starter kg
Pruitt-get his some playing time
Walker-same
these two will help by playoff time!