Re: Center

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

Josh - I agree that you don't need Shaquille O'Neal in the post to win a ring;
in fact, it could be a liability. However, look at the teams that have won the
last dozen championships: Chicago had big men like Longley, Wennington, Perdue
and Cartwright who, if nothing else, could clog the lane and be counted on for
some points to keep defenses honest; the Pistons were guard-focused but had
Laimbeer and James Edwards (who was a deadly post scorer) to balance things
out; the Celtics had the Chief, who was not a do-everything center but brought
good size, ran the court and had an inside game (and also had McHale & Walton
backing up); the Lakers had Kareem, who late in his career was not the scoring
machine he had been but still drew defenses away from slashers & shooters like
Worthy, Scott and Magic. Houston, of course, was the exception to the rule as
it was built around its center. But the point is, each and every one of these
teams had legitimate 7 footers who could run, score, rebound, defend and box
out, or at least some combination of those skills. 

I don't see the point of bringing up the fact that teams could win with 6'9
centers in the 70s. This is not the 70s. Players in the league keep getting
bigger and bigger -- hell, there are 6'9 POINT guards these days. The 6'9
center, by and large, has gone the way of the two handed set shot. Alonzo
Mourning and Tim Duncan aren't quite 7 feet, but nobody on our team has the
raw talent and strength those two do. Battie could fill out, sure -- he's
young; but everybody I've heard from has said he is too thin to man the pivot
for long stretches at a time, and that was even the consensus when he was
coming out of college as a highly-touted pick. Anybody like Dale Davis (who is
not a center, but would be one on our current team) would have to be willing
to sign for the exception, as we will NOT have cap space with the Big Four
around; and given the sums teams are lavishing on post players, I think it's
unlikely at best that someone good would play for so little. 

I may be totally kidding myself to think the Lackeys would part with Campbell
for anything less than 1 of the Big Four. But if they would, I would
definitely pull the trigger. I think it's not necessarily accurate to argue
that just because Campbell can't coexist with O'Neal means he couldn't thrive
in a situation where he could be the man inside.

Josh Ozersky wrote:
> 
> I would make this trade, but I take issue with two parts of Peter's
> argument.
> 
> 1)  Campbell is a bum.  As soon as he got his big contract from the
> Lakers, he went back to his Valium game.  I really think this is a bad
> guy, and can't believe that he is necessary to winning.  Which brings
> up my second point.
> 
> 2) Where is it written that you have to have a big bad center to win a
> championship?  The Detroit Pistons didn't have one.  Other teams, like
> the Celtics and Bullets of the 70s, had 6'8" centers in the pivot.
> Where is it written that Battie will never be a starting center?  Or
> that we won't be able to acquire a Dale Davis somewhere along the way,
> particularly after the cap rises and Dino, Pervis, Minor, etc. are
> finally off it?
> 
> Josh
>