Re: Baker's return to Seattle isn't a slam dunk

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

> Agent says Baker's return to Seattle isn't a slam dunk
> by Nunyo Demasio
> Seattle Times staff reporter
> The Sonics intend to re-sign Vin Baker, and can offer him the most money
> under the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. But re-signing the 6-foot-11
> power forward won't be as simple as a layup. (....)

> To re-sign Baker, Seattle almost surely will have to offer the maximum salary
> for a player in his seventh year: $87.5 million over seven years. Last
> Thursday, teams were allowed to begin negotiating with free agents, and
> General Manager Wally Walker reiterated to Goodwin his intention to re-sign
> Baker.
> "In Vin's mind, the numbers have already been established," said Goodwin,
> whose client can't sign a contract until Aug. 1 because of NBA rules. "It's
> the maximum number. Period." (...)
> "It all falls back on what does Vin want to do," Goodwin said, "and whether
> or not the Sonics have any issues of re-signing Vin, and I don't think they
> have any issues of re-signing Vin. So we should be able to work something
> out."

Vin Baker has a nervy agent in Aaron Goodwin. It's not so much that Baker hit
only .450 of his freethrows on 4.7 attempts per game, but rather his drop-off in
other numbers that makes it doubtful IMO that he'd be a sure starter (at least at
power forward) on many East Coast NBA teams.

In 34.2 mpg he mailed in just 6.2 rebounds and converted only .453 FG% despite
taking no 3-point attempts (he took 54 attempts in his best season in 1997).
Additionally, he averaged only 1.0 blocks, a horrible assists-to-turnover ratio
of 0.74, as well as 6 fewer ppg than his career average coming into the season.
Add it up. Essentially all of these numbers (except scoring) are inferior to
those of the similarly built Tony Battie.

In general, I'm tired of hearing about all these "power fairies" out on the left
coast along the lines of a Rasheed Wallace or Mo Taylor. These guys struggle to
get anywhere near 5 rebounds per game and yet everyone talks them up like they
are the prototypical young power forwards. James Worthy was the archetype "power
fairy". He made it okay for lesser West Coast power forwards to earn a
respectable living cherry picking dunks and not being ashamed of a 5-rebound
night.

Rebounding differentials are what won Celtics playoff games in the 60s, 70's and
80's. This meant everyone had to haul their own weight on the boards. This is how
our Celts were able to show how basically fraudulent all these Brent
Musberger-hyped West Coast prima donnas were.

In practical terms, a championship-caliber (as opposed to playoff caliber) team
should get as close as possible to 40 rpg out of a 4-man frontcourt rotation
(Bird, Parish, Walton and McHale averaged around 35rpg, as did Cowens, Silas,
Nelson and Hondo). How do the 1999 Celtics stack up? Aside from Antoine Walker,
fuhgettaboutit. So far, we get a meager 20rpg from young Vitaly, Battie and
Pierce (all of whom STILL averaged more rpg than power girlie-men Wallace or
Taylor). That's why a bench player on a crappy team like Lorenzen Wright projects
as a more valuable trade or FA commodity.

IMO, we'd be taking a step backwards by trading for either one of those fruits
out West. Granted, it might help Pitino sneak into the playoffs if our starting
power forward could nail 55% of his post moves over 82 games, which is something
Walker cannot do. But once we get to the playoffs, the games always ramp up into
uglier, rougher affairs and I'm sure we'll go nowhere without more help on the
boards (even starting two psychopath competitors like Vitaly and Walker, assuming
we decide to keep Walker).

Joe

p.s. I watched the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats championship game again two nights ago
(in which Delk hit a record number of 3-pointers) to see how a good Pitino
offense is supposed to play. One thing that surprised me was how strikingly
thinner Walker was and that he had explosive hops and a small forward's game. I
don't think he turned his back to the basket even once prior to entering the NBA.
The other thing I noticed was that the Wildcats had great spacing and averaged an
amazingly high number of passes per shot in the half-court set, even by college
standards. I'm talking successive 15-foot "pinball speed" bullet passes after the
ball crosses midcourt. The thing is that the guards out there (Epps, Delk,
Sheppard, Derek Anderson) are only average passers, so it really was a
combination of athleticism and a Pitino-enforced ball-movement system that won
the day. The flip side is that Pitino-ball inevitably seems to involve a very
high number of rushed decisions and rushed shots in transition. The pace is too
frenetic and the adrenalin level too high for any one player to demonstrate
level-headed, as opposed to totally instinctive, decision-making ability. It
frankly looks kind of ugly if you grew up used to watching 80's Celtics
basketball, as opposed to 80's UNLV basketball.

p.p.s. I apologize in advance if this post sounds in any way "fruit bashing" or
whatever. My wife is a designer and I actually own a french poodle named
"Puccini", so this means in other words that "some of my best friends are
fruits". Really. BTW, I wonder if my Puc would get along with Paul M.'s dog
Lydia.

****