Re: good all-round team

[Adam A Suchocki <Twilight@world.std.com>]

I really see this as being completely different.
Last year i would have made the argument that we had 7 players who could
start for other teams.....
Dino
Antoine
Eric Williams
Rick Fox
David Wessley
Dana Barros
Todd Day
and with Day and Barros it's based on talent, not overall productivity.

This year, I can see:

Antoine
Mills
maybe Billups
Dana Barros
as good enough to start on most NBA teams right now.  Mercer and Billups
are unproven 20 year olds who may or may not be able to play at the NBA
starter level this year.  Mercer is very physically talented, but he did
not  look like a starting two guard playing against summer league and
rookie camp talent.  Billups has yet   to play against even that level of
talent as part of the C's, so its hard to know...but I'm giving him the
benefit of the doubt for now.  As to the others, Denver might be the only
other team in the league that would consider starting Travis Knight.  No
one would staart Bruce Bowen, Tony Massenburg, Tyus Edney, or even DeClerc
unless   the roster had been decimated by injuries.

It really hasn't been ver competitive for the players we signed.  In the
cases of DeClerc and Knight - the only confirmed offers other than the
Celtics mega-offers were million dollar exemption levels.  Another very
telling point is that for Mills, DeClerc, Edney, and Massenburg the teams
which held there rights were not willing to offer even 50% of what Boston
did, despite being able to offer anything they wanted to, and despite not
having quality starters across the board.  It is very wishful thinking to
label Knight, DeClerc, Bowen, Massenburg, Brown, and Edney as NBA
starters.  Bowen, despite playing in the NBA last season, did not even
score.  Edney was told by Sacramento that they thought he should play in
the CBA or Europe for a couple years to llearn a jump shot.  Massenburg
can fill in if all of your other forwards are injured, but he has been a
league minimum player for the last 7 years, DeClerc was able to put up
good back-up numbers when he got to start, but his own team was unwilling
to offer more than 2 years 2 million, Dee Brown has been untradeable for
the last two years - and was incredibly erratic in the rookie camp.

Then there are the rookies.  they may develop into stars, but both Pitino
and Chris Wallace have made it clear that they are not stars right now,
and might not ever be.  In interviews (well after the draft) both Wallace
and Pitino have stressed their "we need three all-star level players"
philosophy".  They then have given the status of the players against that.
Bth have listed Antoine as the first star.  They then express hope that
they might be able to land a star through free agent or trade in the next
two years.  Finally, they hope that one of Williams, Mercer, or Billups
can develop into a star over the next three years.  So perhaps Walker,
Billups, and Mercer do develop in 3 stars, but even the team management is
not very high on that possibility.

Right now, I look at our current roster, and I see real talent problems,
and even bigger flexibility problems.  I'm praying that Billups and Mercer
turn into starts, but Mercer needs a ton of work, and I have yet to see
Billups try and run an NBA team.  I hope it works, but I've seen nothing
that gives me confidence (which in part is because we are relying on a
couple of guys who left college as Sophomores in a weak draft).

Oh well, hopefully Pitino is such a good coach he can win with mediocre
talent.  that is my hope right now.

Adam


On Sun, 24 Aug 1997, giants wrote:

> I think that the Celtics "Next Generation" is going to be a great team.
> If you look at every other team, there is a complete dud. This team has
> no duds, even Pervis when healthy is a solid NBA player. This team will
> definitely play good ball, each of the top 11 players could definitely
> start on an NBA team. We've got our 3 stars (AW, RM and CB) and now
> we're set. The C's are in a similar position as the T-Wolves were at the
> start of last season. I think we have a good chance of making the
> playoffs and once we get there, our fresh legs could carry us into the
> 2nd round.=20
>=20
> Warwick
> C'S UP!!!
> --=20
> MZ=90
>=20