Re: Mercer for Dampier

[Jeremy <jwarren@eecs.tufts.edu>]

On Thu, 7 May 1998, Evan LaGrasse wrote:

> > Jerry Stackhouse
> 
> Stackhouse is probably one of the worst two guards in the league in that
> he has no heart whatsoever and is interested only in himself and not the
> team. He is also completely delusional as to his own value. He has quite a
> bit of talent but he will not amount to anything in the NBA until he
> learns the team concept. I would not trade Mercer for Stackhouse in a
> million years.

	I'm not saying Stackhouse is definitely better than Mercer.  I
never even said he might be better or that we should trade Mercer for him.
In fact after the list I admitted that some of them were debatable, but
you cut that out.  I'm saying that Stackhouse is comparable.  I'd also
like to restate my point about sports fans overrating their own players.
If Stackhouse were a Celtic, you might very well be frustrated with his
lack of team play but still be in love with his "huge upside".  And if
Mercer were a non-Celtic you might dismiss him as an overrated hot shot
whose stock has been artificially inflated by the NBA (as many on the list
like to imply about Kobe Bryant).

 
> > I'm not saying Mercer for Dampier is the best possible scenario, I was
> > just responding to someone who asked what it would take to get him.  I
> > still like the idea of packaging Travis Knight, Dana Barros, and our
> > lottery pick to the Lakers for Elden Campbell.  That would leave us with
> > all of our cap room to get the best available forward that we can afford.
> 
> As far as Elden goes, Knight, Barros, and our lottery pick for Elden would
> be a horrible trade. I've been going to school on the west coast for a few
> months now and have had a chance to see Elden play a few times a week for
> this period of time. He just doesn't care. I saw a glimpse of what he
> could be in game 1 against the Sonics when he battled hard for a rebound
> and was really putting out his maximum effort. If he loved to play the
> game and wanted to win, the Lakers would never give him up because there
> is no question he has the ability but he has just as much heart as Derrick
> Coleman without all the talent. I would take Robert Horry, Mario Bennett,
> or even Corie Blount before Campbell.
> 
> Evan

	Elden is Shaq's backup.  He only gets minutes when Shaq needs a
breather.  Since Shaq is making $17M per year, he's always going to get
his 35-40 minutes.  Elden probably feels like no matter how hard he works
they won't give him more playing time.  If he started for us and played
30+ minutes per game, he would flourish.  It's not a horrible trade.
Acquiring a starting center who can rebound and bang around with just
about any center in the NBA is much more valuable than a few role players
and a #10 pick in a very weak draft.  And if the salaries matched up, we
would be conserving cap room by not having to sign our draft pick.  His
contract is the same length as Kenny Anderson's.  So it would allow for a
five year window of oppurtunity, and then an easy transition to 
rebuilding.

	A seperate note to Paul M.  Just in case you wondering if anyone
picked up on your sarcasm when you said Walker sucks, I did.  Anyone who
reads the list should know that you are the biggest Walker supporter out
here, and you might even be personally offended if Gaston offers him
anything less than 9 digits.

Jeremy