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View from the bench First-hand impressions from the Rookie Challenge
Coaching the Rookies in D.C. last weekend was a great experience, but those Sophomores were just too tough. Even if we played that crew of sophomores every night, I don't think we'd beat them. As rookies, they beat the Sophomores in 2000, so they're pretty impressive. In fact, they have three or four players who will be on the All-Star team in the near future, if not next year. Houston's Steve Francis and the Clippers' Lamar Odom will definitely be there, and Chicago's Elton Brand and Cleveland's Andre Miller have a good shot. There were a couple of impressive rookies, too. The Clippers' Quentin Richardson, particularly, is a very good athlete. He's very aggressive and hustles all the time. He may not be a great shooter, but he has a chance to be a very good player. And Orlando's Mike Miller has good range, and he knows how to play. He plays with confidence and is taller and more physical than you'd expect.
All the Rookies were good kids, but the effort they gave was disappointing. Coming into the pros out of high school or with just one or two years in college, they don't understand how hard you have to work in the NBA every night. Hopefully, they watched the All-Star Game and saw the intensity those players showed, especially Allen Iverson. He willed his East team to victory and competed as hard as you can compete. All his teammates got caught up in it.
Sixers set to tackle next challengeIverson competes so hard in every game that it's scary -- you wonder how he's going to get through the season without getting seriously hurt. As Philadelphia continues to get hit with injuries - the latest being center Theo Ratliff - Iverson is only going to be asked to do more. While the Sixers are happy to get backup center Matt Geiger and point guard Eric Snow back, they're really going to miss Ratliff -- he's the backbone of their defense. But they have such mentally and physically tough people, they'll hang in there. They won't give up. Celtics face season's toughest testThe Celtics certainly have turned things around. Interim head coach Jim O'Brien changed the team's defensive strategy, and it's made a vast difference in its overall play. Former head coach Rick Pitino, who resigned Jan. 7, was a little stubborn regarding the system he had such great success with in college. The pressure defense he used requires tremendous athleticism, particularly at the professional level, but his two best players -- Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker -- are not great athletes. They're great players, but athleticism is not their strongest trait, and they were playing a defense that wasn't suited to them. Now they're playing a half-court, softer defense that's proving more effective. Because of the better defense, the team became more comfortable in all aspects of the game and the Celtics started winning. Team confidence improved, and everybody's happier: Winning really solves an awful lot of problems. In fact, they're in playoff contention, which is really hard to believe. But they've just begun a seven-game road trip, and that will be a difficult test.
Kevin Loughery is a former NBA player and head coach. He appears each Sunday on CNN's This Week in the NBA.
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