Re: Could the current roster beat last year's team?

["Ronald H. Evans" <ronald_evans@pipeline.com>]

>Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 17:05:41 -0400
>To: Chris Littlefield <chrisl@mjr.com>
>From: "Ronald H. Evans" <ronald_evans@pipeline.com>
>Subject: Re: Could the current roster beat last year's team? 
>
>At 12:54 PM 7/15/97 -0400, you wrote:
>>If you think about it in a resource-oriented manner, though, what if the
>>C's had drafted big instead, going with Battie and Foyle?  Wesley and Fox,
>>arguably the two best, most consistent players on the team last year, would
>>then have had to be resigned, and you would have been left with much
>>higher-quality big men.
>>
>>Is there anyone out there who thinks that Travis Knight and Declerq will
>>have better years than Battie and Foyle?
>
>IMO one should never draft for size(unless you have the number one pick and
someone like Shaq or Duncan's around), For every Greg Ostertag, there are
four or five, Cherokee Parks and Montrosses. We need size, post defense and
rebounding in the front court, but wasting the 3rd and 6th pick on players
that probably won't pan out is a questionable decision. I think Boston
learned its lesson after Earl and Montross.         Battie is a different
story, He is extremely athletic and has good post offense but his bone
structure indicates that he will never have the bulk to play post defense on
NBA sized players(IMO).
>        Knight and maybe Declerq, on the other hand, have the large bones
needed to put on the kind of muscle needed to battle other centers in the
paint. This makes them better gambles than Battie.
>
>>>
>>>Conversely, will Billups and Mercer be SO much better than Fox and Wesley
>>>have already proven they are?  I really don't think so though I hope I'm
>>>wrong.
>>>
>>>Call me crazy, but wouldn't that have created much greater depth and better
>>>overall talent?
>>>
>
>I think Pitino is taking a gamble that Billups and Mercer will become
stars, while Wesley and Fox will be middle of the pack players at best. I
see his gamble and I understand that smaller players pan out more often than
larger ones, but I'm not sure it will work. 
>
>Responses welcomed 
>
>Noah
>