Re: The free practice at the Fleetcenter. Watch out for Dana!

[Kim Malo <kmalo19@idt.net>]

At 11:04 PM 1/24/99 -0500, From: "Christopher J. Littlefield"
<cjlitt@erols.com> wrote:
<snip>
Yeah, I was there too and thought I'd chime in:

>Barros pretty much stole the show.  He basically didn't miss.

Not just the shooting, BTW. All around Barros was clearly the most ready to
play for real. Passing pretty crisp, defense noticeably better than Kenny's
and most everyone else other than Bowen and for someone who said himself he
was out of shape, was often first downcourt and showed no real signs of
fatigue. Unlike most everyopne else. Enough to make me forgive him for the
woman behind me whose vocabulary seemed to consist of nothing beyond a
frequently bellowed "Dana".

<snip>
>In one play Popeye (who really did look
>good and, based on this afternoon, should play a lot, maybe at center
>since, well...we don't have one?)

Yeah, I thought Popeye looked good as well. Not just in willingness to bang,
but in clearly understanding better than most what was needed and what RP
wanted. One big surprise there for me was a few very nice little passes out
of Popeye. Not something he's reknown for.

<snip>
<Walker>
>He's not in shape yet.  

No, he's not, but then as I'd think that I'd notice that he still was first
upcourt on some plays and showed less fatigue than most, so although he
looks a bit puffy, don't think it's that big a problem.

>On a sour note, he looks like a jerk out there.  He knocks people down,
>looks at them, and walks away.  Doesn't help them up.  He knocked Bowen
>down hard under the basket and into the upright, then walked away.  When
>Bowen stayed down, he came back and leaned over semi-attentively, but it
>wasn't convincing.  

OK, I'm known to not be one of the Walker apologists, but I can't say as I
was overwhelmed with this aspect of his play vs some others. *shrug* Not
saying he may not have looked arrogant at times, but so did some others and
it didn't particularly stick out to me with Walker. FWIW.

>Kenny Anderson:  Great passing, great ball-handling, but toward the end
>looked like he was favoring that knee.  That's not good.  

Another thing I didn't see. Knee looked fine to me. Thought he was shooting
too much, but then no one came to the ball for him to pass to and it may
have just been to avoid turnovers from bad passes. Passed too often into
traffic I thought too. Totally outplayed by Dana on defense. Totally agreed
on the ball handling -man the difference shows. 

>Pierce:  Looks big, strong and very psyched to be here.  Before the
>game, they did intros, and when he came out, he was slapping five
>exuberantly with everyone in sight, obviously very juiced.  He banged
>home some 3's, crashed the boards hard, shut down Greg Minor, and played
>very effectively, with minimal flash.  I'm pleased with what I saw. 
>From what I can tell, he should be able to play 3 in the pros. 

Hmm, another area of slight disagreement. Just on the minimal flash bit,
although we may be defining that differently. I thought he did some annoying
dumb stuff for show. Not a big concern with a rookie coming into town for
the first time, but it was there IMO. And in the drills as well as the
scrimmage -remember one case in particular when he CLEARLY should have
dished off but didn't and got deservedly stuffed on an attempted slam it
home. Also didn't care for the way he was 'putting' (like shot putting)
rather than shooting some threes during the drills. Other than that, yeah,
overall very pleased with what I saw, especially defense his supposed
weakest point.

>Mercer:  I think he jumps higher than last year.  In the drills he
>looked lost, but as soon as the game started, his jumper started
>falling, and he showed occasionally explosive speed going to the hoop
>for the flush!  Lookin' good.  

Thought his timing was WAY off. Too many clankers on shots, alley oops, tip
ins, etc. Not so much lost during the drills as just his timing off leading
to not in right place at right time. OTOH reports of his being in excellenct
shape seemed true. No sign of fatique there.

>Declerq:  If Knight was the Banana, Andrew is the Velvet Hammer.  He's
>sporting a new Paul McCartney haircut, looks bigger, and was running
>around with, if possible, even more reckless abandon than last year. 
>He's an animal.  

Also seemed to be more of the DeC with a clue that he ended last season as
vs the what am I doing out here that he started it. Never going to be
exactly polished, but another who showed greater understanding of what was
called for.

>Popeye:  I'm psyched.  He's just a good, smart player.  He outrebounded
>Antoine, played creditable post defense, was in the right place at the
>right time, and looked happy.  

Yup on all points.

>Battie:  Had a bad back, didn't play much, and when he did, looked about
>as mobile as Pippen last year in game 6 of the finals, ie not very. 
>He's way too skinny to play center.  He's not much bigger than McCarty.  

Yeah, but still showed that he understands playing inside and on the box,
which is more than almost anyone else we have does.

>Big D:  Dwayne is BIG.  B. I. G.  Big.  If he survives Pitino's camp,
>and can successfully get into shape without having a body-part just
>explode, he could give you 6 fouls you won't forget in 10-15 minutes.  

Grace, my knickname for him is Grace. The friend I was there with kept
looking for the stich marks around the neck and head and the little pipes
coming out the side of the neck. Er, not going to win any style, speed or
mobility points.

>It was a lot of fun.  There was kid entertainment.  The play was sloppy,
>but hey, I'm glad they're back!  

Got that right!

-Kim
Kim Malo
kmalo19@idt.net