Re: HUNTER AND FALK

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Dorine wrote:

> I believe Hart hit the nail right on the head!  I was thinking as I
> read
> some of the postings/articles tonight that Billy's having a field day
> - his
> day in the limelight or something.  Boy, is he negative.  And Falk is
> altogether too powerful with his stable of big names.  Between them
> they
> ought to succeed in ruining the game for the fans, but good.  We could
> live
> very, very well on the minimum salary of the NBA players.
> I have no sympathy for them and less as it drags on.  Not that I think
> the
> owners are lilly white either, but they'll survive, and the players
> won't.

Hi Dorine and Hart

I guess the thing most people don't understand is how a guy like Rasheed
Wallace can command a higher salary than any Cy Young baseball pitcher
or MVP football quarterback, as a financial "reward" for dropping out of
school and playing two utterly forgettable seasons in the NBA for a
mediocre team in a small market.

(BTW, I'm a little down on Kenny Anderson too. He's old enough already
to know better than to talk like that. With veterans like that on the
Celtics setting the example, how's Antoine Walker ever going to mature
into a full grown man?)

The problem isn't the Larry Bird Exemption.  Why not just make the LBE
only applicable to players after there 7th season in the NBA (or after
the second contract extension with the same team)? In other words,
evolve the LBE into a "Veterans' Exemption" type-of-thing.

****

On a different subject, I used to assume that any guy who stays four
years in college has less "upside" then an approximately equally
talented early entry. After all, Keith Van Horn might not have been a
top ten pick had he left school as a soph or junior, and Tim Duncan
might not have been picked ahead of Marcus Camby or five other guys in
the 1996 draft (Marbury, Iverson, Shareef, Antoine, etc.)  I can't even
imagine Michael Doleac being a  first round pick, much less a lottery
pick, had he declared early.

But now I'm remembering how back in the old days - when the "hardship"
rule was actually a rare phenomenon (Isiah and Magic) - there were a lot
more players in the NBA with good shot selection and fundamental skills
(just like Duncan and Van Horn today). Maybe rushing into the NBA too
soon is just as risky as rushing an inexperienced young boxer into a
championship fight or advancing a pitcher too fast through the minor
league baseball system. One thing I like about Raef LaFrentz is that he
clearly might have been a top three pick any of the past two seasons had
he chosen to declare. Just because he doesn't seem to compare favorably
to Tim Duncan doesn't mean he won't have a serious impact in the NBA.
The only thing I can't figure out is why Kansas never advanced far into
the NCAA tournament, despite being seeded number one in the bracket. As
for Paul M., I think he's just a little cranky like me. I know he's a
true Celtics fan or else he wouldn't care enough to be this cranky.

As for my great skills as a loungechair GM,  I remember being a bit
crestfallen and suspicious when the Celtics drafted Minnesota's Kevin
McHale, having watched Louisville's Darrell Griffith literally hop over
defenders during that year's NCAA tournament. Years later I also
remember thinking Tom Gugliotta was picked far too high by the Bullets,
and I remember thinking Bill Russell was over his head as a GM to
publically declare that Glenn Rice deserved consideration as the number
one pick overall. Oh, and I thought Van Horn was more "Michael Smith"
than "Tom Chambers".  Anyone else care to participate? I guess being a
GM is a lot harder than it looks from our perspective. Boy, was Red
Auerbach something.

My wifey's on a business trip so I have way too much free time. Sorry
for clogging the bandwidth.


Go Celts,

JoeHironaka

*****