Re: Pepper is no good!!!

["Jeff Tepper" <jaytee@itasoft.com>]

The only reason why the celtics took Ben Pepper is to have the rights to
him if he ever becomes good enough to play in the NBA.  He's still young
and has time to get better.  For all we know this guy could turn into a
decent center in 5 years, and if that happens then we will have his
exclusive NBA rights.  This is the reason a lot of teams took young foreign
players in the second round.  If he never turns into anything then all we
lose is the second round pick we used to get him, which wouldn't have been
worth much anyway.  With a pick that low it's doubtful that any college
player we would have been able to get would have been good enough to make
the team.  We could have taken Seals, Freeman, or Willoughby, but we have
enough shooting guards on the team already, and the fact that no other team
drafted them suggests that they don't have the game to play in the NBA
anyway.  All the teams have numerous scouts that know the game, and none  
They invited Awujobi to the rookie/free agent camp so if he has a good
enough showing then we can sign him anyway.

Jeff

- ----------
> From: Jaime <jaims@philonline.com.ph>
> To: CELTICS <celtics@igtc.COM>
> Subject: Pepper is no good!!!
> Date: Sunday, June 29, 1997 11:42 PM
> 
> Hi, guys.  I've been watching a lot of ESPN here in Asia.  And they've
> been showing the Australian 22 under team goin against the NCAA champ,
> the Arizona Wildcats.  It's a three game series which the Australian won
> due to immense height advantage.  Though the wildcats get to win a
> game.  
> 
> Anyways, I got to see Benjamin Pepper play and he is sooooooo soft and
> he really sucked big time.  He may be over 7 feet but he is really
> skinny and gets bumped and tossed around alot and there was a time when
> Miles Simon even dunked in his face!!!  Pepper couldn't even catch the
> ball right; rebound against smaller players (AJ Brantley, Davison,
> Harris, Simon and even Bibby!!! are some that kicked his ass during the
> tournament); couldn't shoot well at point blank range; and embarassingly
> get blocked by smaller centers and get dunked on by GUARDS!!!of the
> opposing teams.  If the Celtics are really considering to take him in
> then he would make Szabo or Hamer look like Hakeem or Pat Ewing!  It
> really dissapointed me to see a draft pick get wasted.  Why didn't we
> just get the best talent available instead of having to fill a need but
> unsure about the skill and talents of the player?  I see this as a bad
> move by whoever's in charge (wallace?) of choosing.  Willoughby, Seals,
> Awojobi, and Freeman are better choices coz they have better talents and
> credentials.  We should just consider getting or filling up the center
> need thru free agency.  Don't you think?  
> 
> Well, I hope I get to supply some info about Pepper (unfortunately,
> discouraging ones).  Comments and opinions would be very much
> appreciated...thanks.