Re: Top Ten Reasons Why Walker or Mercer Should Be Traded For A Center

["skmishra" <skmishra@sprintmail.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: damekmo@teleport.com <damekmo@teleport.com>


>And let me scroll down to this one....
>
>Please...this was one game. Perhaps a lot of us invested way too much in
>those preseason games. Game one was a reality check and it does show that
>the bottom line for this team is still the same...no defense/size up front.
>They're going to get killed at center all year long, as they did last year.
>But this team has to start forming a core of experience or they'll simply
>continue to flounder below .500 like the Clippers. If free agents are ever
>going to want to play for the Celtics for $1.75 mil., Pitino has to create
>an atmosphere of stability. Mercer, Walker, and Pierce are going to be all
>right. They need a chance to develop "together" if this team is going to go
>anywhere. Now...if everybody's hot to make a trade, let's talk point guard.
>There's a player in Minnesota who might look good in green and perhaps
>they'd be interested in Anderson. Anderson plays zero defense. If this team
>isn't going to be able to press/gimmick with Anderson on the court...he's a
>defensive liability (with a mediocre outside shot) who only makes matters
>worse. Mishra mentioned something earlier in passing and I'd like to
>address this again. This team had months to address their problem at
>center. After what I assume to be a thorough search of stiffs, world wide,
>they come up with Dwayne Schintzius and Eric Riley!?! Please. Most of us on
>this list have seen guys on the Guinness Book of World Records sticking
>pins through their skulls who have better upside than those two stiffs.
>Anyway...putting Schintzius and Riley on the court is much more humiliating
>than hearing MLCarr talk about being "championship driven." As Asa
>Hutchinson might say, it's "unseemly." It's probably an unfair criticism as
>everybody is looking for a center, but isn't Wallace supposed to be the
>supreme finder of unknown talent? Look, something needs to be done. I don't
>know what Pitino can do, but Battie in the weight room is a fairy-tale;
>Popeye Jones, at this point in his carreer is a not so mobile small power
>forward who "had"/has? an adequate rebounding game and not much more; and
>Declercq is the only reasonable(?) option at center and that's not saying
>much. They may have to just stink it up for another year and hope to find a
>big body in the draft they can develop. My only point here in this rambling
>post is that I dig Monica's 'do...I mean...Walker, Pierce, and Mercer need
>to stay put. Pitino needs to develop some semblance of stability by keeping
>and developing a few young talented players. Move Anderson, Popeye,
>Declercq, or a host of others...but he needs to start creating some
>experienced Pitino-ball veterans with legitimate NBA skills and build
>around them. God help them and us.
>
Couldn't agree with you more, excellent post. - Mishra