Re: Frontline

[Noah Evans <ishbak@pipeline.com>]

Cecil Wright wrote:

> But with all due respect, why take a player who's game is obviously
> decaying?  Motivation isn't always something a coach can instill in every
> player.  Some must come from within and Ollie's work ethic makes me wonder.
> I do get to see alot of his games here in Canada and he's shown little to
> support your wish.

I think the decay in his game is more due to anorexia and depression
than any loss of physical talent. I'm sure being on the raptors helps
too. On an organized team like the Celtics he could make a
resurgence(like Dana and too some extent Dee this year) and if he
doesn't we aren't any worse off(since we signed him for the minimum so
waiving him wouldn't hurt our cap).

> I would prefer to have Vin Baker leave Seattle and sign with us but....  I
> think we would be so much better defensively with McDyess.  I suppose that's
> easy for me to say since I don't own the team and it's not my money.  But I
> feel sure that fans would support any ticket increase to have McDyess and
> Walker in the same frontcourt.

It's not as much a matter of the owner's impending poverty(yeah right)
as much as it is of the salary cap. Signing Mcdyess to a huge contract
would leave us capped out well into the next millenium. After attrition
takes its toll we won't have any money to replace tertiary players,
leaving us with a CBA bench.

> Now you have lost me completely.  Miller will run the offense?  I'm doing
> some headscratching now.  I would not feel comfortable, nor would any Celtic
> fan I know, with that scenario.  Run that one by the rest of the list and
> see.

Miller is quite capable of running a second unit's offense. The celtic's
main motion set play involves putting the center(currently Declercq or
Travis) out on the 3 point line and having them pass to an open cutter.
Having a passer of Miller's caliber running the same play would help our
second unit's offense immesurably(just as Kenny's passing skills helped
our first unit). Having Miller's decision making and passing would
relegate Dana(who runs the second unit's offense now) to bringing the
ball up the court and scoring--things Dana does well.
 
> I believe in signing talent, not *inferior* players regardless of how much
> money they may save.  We may be better off allowing Walker to leave and see
> who we can get from the CBA on that premise.  Put yourself in the coach's
> shoes.  Who do you sign based on talent and the ability to get you to the
> Finals?  That's the measuring stick in Boston.


Well there's signing talent and then there's overpaying for it. It's
like the money we wasted on Travis at the beginning of the year. The
dropoff between Travis and Marty Conlan is negligable(frankly, Marty may
be better than Travis) but we could have gotten Marty for the veteran's
minimum plus 20 %. Are we willing to pay Mcdyess Garnett money when we
can get more bang for our buck with Ratliff? It's a matter of a player's
efficency per dollar not just the size of their contracts.

Noah