Spanking Tim Duncan

[Jo Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Hi GregO:

(Re: Draft'96v'97)

Before I say anything else, I concede your point that Tim Duncan may be
the best player in either of the past two draft. But overall, I still
can't think of a weaker talent pool in this decade than last year's
draft. Maybe someone else on this list can.

Regarding theoretical matchups, Camby put up good numbers going head to
head with Tim Duncan in college (although I don't know about this year).
As nuts as it sounds now, had Duncan declared early, it was hardly a
sure thing that he'd have been picked ahead of Camby in 1996. Camby was
a remarkable college player; a Bill Russell type shot blocker as well as
a scorer. Duncan was (sort of ) a finesse player back then.

Anyway, IMO we should ban talking about Tim Duncan on this list. I
remember (irrationally) thinking that if Red Auerbach and/or Rick Pitino
had personally attended the draft lottery instead of sending ML as a
proxy, we would not have been so cursed. Imagine coming out of the 1996
draft with both Duncan and Mercer?

Respects,

JoeHironaka

p.s. I predict the national media will be raving about Ron Mercer
outshining Kobe Bryant when we "Beat LA" in the year 2000.

p.ps. Reading of how the '98 Hornets are hustling reminds me of how much
I loved Dave Cowens as a player. Remember how red his face would get,
pushing and shoving his way toward a potential rebound?  I guess he's
one of my favorite Boston sports figures. He visited my elementary
school in Kobe, Japan, years ago.

****

Greg Odegaard wrote:

> I am curious as to which of the 96 picks would be assigned the task of
>
> "spanking" Big Tim Duncan off the court.  Not going to happen.
>
> I do agree with the "Beat LA" tag.  It is a frequent chant of mine.
> ---------
>
> >2)  1997 NBA may be remembered as both the thinnest and weakest draft
> in
> >a decade. IMO, Tim Duncan, Van Horn, Brevin Knight, Mercer and Derek
> >Anderson would get spanked off the court by the 1996 lottery picks
> >(Shareef, Ray Allen, Antoine, Kobe, Iverson, Marbury, Kittles, Camby
> >etc). Adding insult to injury, I’ll bet the average age of the 1996
> >lottery class is younger.