Re: 80% of NBA could be free agents

[Dan Parker <danp@town.ipswich.ma.us>]

On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, Joe Hironaka wrote:

> in clutch situations.  As much as the Boston media rightfully protected
> Larry Bird's reputation for all that he did in Boston, the 24-year-old
> rookie Larry Bird still basically came across to me as the poor rural
> white trash flipside of the black, urban 22-year-old Antoine Walker.
> Both guys would tell their new teammates in utterly stark terms that
> "I'm the big star here so give me the damn ball if the game is close".

Nope, nope, nope.

Larry Bird deferred to Dave Cowens his first year, despite that to the
impartial observer Larry was clearly the leader of the team.  But it was
the *right* thing to do, and don't think the fans didn't know it.

Also, telling you're new teammates "I'm the big star here so give me the
damn ball if the game is close" goes down a lot easier when you're winning
60+ games a season, rather than 15/36.

Dan

P.S.  No disrespect to Antoine intended - I hope the C's sign him.