There's Talk of Sichting Long Before the Summer of '85

January 6, 1985

Celtics' Talking Sichting in 1985

The Celtics are piling up an impressive record, but at what expense? Will Boston's Standout Six grow weary, while the subs turn to petrified wood on the sideline pine?

It's hard to find fault with a 28-6 record, but do the Celtics believe they have enough depth to defeat the 10-deep Philadelphia 76ers in a seven-game playoff series?



In case you haven't noticed, going into last night's contest at Milwaukee the Sixers were only a game behind the high-flying Celtics, and Philly has been doing the job with 10 players. The Sixers' second five consists of Bobby Jones, George Johnson, Clemon Johnson, Clint Richardson, and Sedale Threatt. Sam Williams and Leon Wood are Philly's 11th and 12th men.

K.C. Jones said he isn't worried about Philly having more depth than Boston. "It never even crosses my mind," said Jones. "We are in good shape when we go to Carlos Clark, Scott Wedman and Quinn Buckner."

Maybe, but Jones has been hesitant to weave his second six into mundane regular season ballgames. Take a look at Friday's box score. Against a last- place team with no center, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson all played 38 or more minutes. The top six scored 100 of the 105 points against the Knicks.

And those six have been playing almost all the minutes and scoring 95 percent of the points for the last month, and atrophy has set in with among the pine brothers. Veterans like Buckner and Wedman have had trouble getting untracked with limited playing time, and youngsters like Clark, Greg Kite and Rick Carlisle don't have the experience they need to contribute.

If Jones doesn't have confidence to use his bench, shouldn't the Celtics try to acquire new players? Could Ennis Whatley or Jerry Sichting help this team more than Buckner or Clark? Would Jones have more faith in Mark West or Granville Waiters than he has in Kite?