Re: 'Toine v.'Nique? Fahgettaboutit

[Adam Litchy <allitchy@cland.net>]

Jo,

While I agree that getting 20 points 10 boards is great and takes much
effort.  Comparing us (recreational athletes at best) with Antoine is just
plain ridiculous.  You should compare him to his peers, for a measure of his
worth.  I mean, the worst player in the NBA could school all our butts.
True you kind of made such a comparison at the end of you're post, but
still...

You're comparison basis also falls short on the Mercer/Nique thing.  Last
time I checked they played at completely different positions.  You expect
you're small forward to get 6+ boards, you're happy if your two guard gets
3.  By the nature of their positions on the floor, a forward is going to
have a greater opportunity to rebound.

Adam Litchy

Jo Hironaka wrote:

> RichSmall wrote:
> "I know I will get flamed for this, but he (Antoine Walker) still
> reminds me of Dominique."
>
> ****
>
> Hi Rich:
>
> This is not a flame, but, at least statistically speaking, Ron Mercer -
> and emphatically not Antoine Walker - better deserves your comparison to
> Dominique Wilkins.
>
> I honestly love Ron Mercer to death, but at this stage he is basically
> (like 'Nique) a sky walkin', medium range jump shot stickin', okay open
> court dribblin', adequate defendin', one-dimensional scorer who will
> need to work A LOT harder next year even to get to 5 rebounds or 5
> assists per game.
>
> Don't give me any "but, but, but..." Rich,  because it's fundamentally
> true. If you think I'm being unfair, look at Mercer's non-scoring stats
> this year. (By the way, I believe that next year Ron will come into his
> own as a star, and that, anyway, he already has Kobe "Where's the Beef"
> Bryant for breakfast.)
>
> Now let's turn to 'Toine.
>
> IMO, I don't think we Bostonians appreciate how much heart and guts it
> takes for any guy -no matter how tall and athletic- to get 10+ rebounds
> per night while still maintaining the energy over 40 NBA minutes to make
> alert "pass/shoot/drive" split-second decisions on offense.
>
> I'm sure many of you on this list try to stay in shape by playing
> sporadically in some sort of YMCA pick-up or intramural/company league
> (in my case, the mighty United Nations' inter-agency league...our motto
> "Beat UNICEF"). If you play the "slow forward" position like me, I
> believe you also would immediately recognize the strangely colossal
> difference between a lucky-bounce 5-8 rebound night and delivering 10+
> rebounds on average every, single, freakin' game. At least for me, it
> has always been an "either/or" proposition:  I either focus on getting
> more than 5 random rebounds per game or I conserve all my energy to
> avoid making retarded (good Boston word) mistakes on offense. IMO, none
> of us even at age 21 (like AW) would last 8-10 minutes playing
> man-to-man defense in the NBA against the quickest 220-280 lb athletes
> in the world, much less 40-minutes-per-game x 82-games-per-season like
> Walker. At least for me, one game would be more brutal than running the
> Boston Marathon in 3.5 hours.
>
> As I've said before, if Antoine Walker's statistical contributions to
> his team were so easy to replicate, then why can't Shareef, McDyess,
> Pippen and at least 20 other 6-10, strong, lightning-quick guys do it?
>
> Have a good weekend everyone,
>
> JoeHironaka
> Paris
>
> p.s. Trade away the right to draft Doleac for a future lottery pick? At
> this point, I would vote definitely yes. IMO, it looks like a hopelessly
> thin draft, unless we reach for one of the foreign or domestic
> teenagers.