RE: Mercer for Shandon and Quincy Lewis...

["Noah Evans" <ishbak@conknet.com>]

> Noah,
>
> Your assessment of Shandon Anderson is fatally flawed.
>
> If you had have watched the series that he played against the
> Sacramento Kings, then
> you would have noticed why your assessment is flawed.

I watched that series.

> Take away Shandon Anderson's brilliance in the fourth quarters of
> games (he did hit something like 7 connsecutive points or something of
that
> magnitude in both games 4 and 5) and you can forget about John Stockton's
miracle shot in game
> 4 and Karl Malone's tremendous defense of Vlade Dade He Likes to Party
Divac in the
> final seconds of regular time in game 5.

Your logic's a little off here. You make the implied assertion that Shandon
Anderson really is(or has the capacity to be) a great player because he
scored well in two fourth quarters. While that may be an indicator of
greatness for some players it is not in Anderson's case. The question you
should really ask yourself is how did Anderson score those points? If he had
done it in a jordanesque or birdlike manner, playing one on five to make the
shots his team needed then perhaps I would agree with you. But Anderson does
not score in that way. Anderson scores most of his points in three ways, on
post ups, open jumpers and cuts to the basket without the ball. None of
those methods of scoring will carry a team, and all of them require a great
point guard(i.e. Stockton) or a great post player(as much as it galls me
Malone) to either pass Anderson the ball when he's open or draw the big post
defenders away from the basket. And that's what makes Anderson a
complementary player.
	This is borne out in games as well. Look at how certain complementary
players are overvalued for their performences in the playoffs. Remember how
good Brian Williams was with the bulls? Look at him now. Remember Steve
Kerr's shot against the Jazz? He's barely a backup on the spurs. Even Greg
Foster has come through in the clutch on occasion. Does that make them great
players? Hardly, it means that other members of their team draw more
attention from the defense so that they, the complementary players, can
score. The same holds true for Shandon Anderson. Just because he was a good
backup on a good playoff team does not mean he is destined for greatness.

Noah