Re: duncan

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

Interesting list of cornerstone players needed for a championship team...
only one of them ever one a championship...

Only three of them have even made it to the finals...

On the other hand, there are many players who have become "franchise"
players for championship teams who were not considered can't miss
"franchise" players coming out of college...

Many of the cornerstone players haven't made great pro players, and many
players with questionmarks went a lot further.

Ralph Sampson was considered a franchise player coming out of college.

Meanwhile, players like Jordan, Bird, and Drexler all were considered to
be very good, but there was some question about how much impact they would
have as pro's....

There are also a lot of late bloomers who turn into star players...ala
Mark Price, John Stockton, Robert Parish etc...

And there are a lot of surprises at just how good a player is at the next
level...like Tim Hardaway, Reggie Lewis, Scottie Pippen, Bill Laimbeer,
etc...

You are right in that players that can carry a team to a championship come
along very rarely, but I don't agree that Duncan is definately one, and
that no one else this year is one.  Other than Bill Walton, Kareem, and
Russel, its hard to think of anyone who stepped into the pros and carried
a team to the championship right away (Magic helped, but boy did he have
teammates his rookie year).  

In other words, who knows...maybe Mercer is the next Jordan, maybe Duncan
is the next Olajuwan (I hope not, 10 years is a long way to wait for a
championship :)  )  

On top of all this, don't discount Antoine Walker as a possible franchise
player....he is showing more talent than I though possible for a 20 year
old in the NBA.  In another year or two he could be capable of carrying a
team.

Adam


On Fri, 21 Feb 1997, MBerry wrote:

> 
>           No Duncan, no nightmare? Teams are built around franchise
>           players, and Duncan is the only one in this draft. There
>           could be some other great players, but only Duncan is a
>           player who can be the cornerstone to a championship team.
>           Think back to past drafts. What players have been
>           difference-makers? The O'Neals, Mournings, Ewings,
>           Olajuwons, Robinsons... Duncan could be the same kind of
>           player.
>