Smith, Vecsey on rumors. . .

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

The Sam Smith rumor certainly smacks of home-town bias. The Bulls give up
the #1 in an admittedly weak draft and receive both Ron Mercer AND Tracy
McGrady?!? Give me a break! 

Given the imbalance of that scenario (as well as Warwick's intelligent
comments on the strong relationship between McGrady and ROY Vince Carter) I
think a much more plausible scenario - no inside info here, just
plausibility - would be Toronto swaps the #5 and #12 for the #1 which
Chicago sends to Boston for Mercer. 

Why? Toronto gets Steve Francis, the Bulls get Mercer - who WOULD have been
the #1 pick had he stayed in college but now has the additional value of 2
years NBA experience, and the Celts - who actually get OLDER if they draft
seniors - presumably draft either senior PG Andre Miller or senior PG Jason
Terry at #5 and either the "nimble" 7-3 Radojevic or six-year senior PF/C
(6-11, 245) Evan Eschmeyer at #12. Everyone's got an opinion on the PGs and
you've heard about Radojevic's upside but Eschmeyer already has a pro body,
is an extremely hard worker who is not shy about mixing it up, and is
reportedly a very intelligent player. He would presumably start at PF. This
would leave a log-jam at the PG spot but Chris Wallace has shown that he is
adept at trading away otherwise useful players for second round picks,
dryer lint, and old socks - who knows, maybe they can work a PG into the
swap with Chicago? Still, you have to ask, would it be enough to vindicate
the Pitino playoff pledge? I have my doubts on that score, but you have to
look at how quickly Orlando was able to integrate two seniors into their
rotation (with no practices in a 50 game season no less!). The trade would
presumably fill our two most dire needs - a physical presence at PF and a
defensive presence at PG - at the cost of a player that Pitino has
presumably already deemed expendable. I guess I'd be excited about the
trade simply because it would represent such a gamble from the Cs'
perspective. I have to honestly say that I'm ambivalent about its value - I
think that this would truly be one trade that would have to be evaluated in
retrospect.

That said, here's a piece that ran in today's Globe regarding the
irresponsible Vecsey. If anything, I think Howard Manly is a little too
easy on his fellow reporter.

ciao for now - Tom Murphy

>>SPORT VIEW
Vecsey's reports vexing 

By Howard Manly, Globe Staff, 06/04/99 

The good news is Peter Vecsey is not a medical doctor or an airline pilot
or in any profession in which you need to be more than 50 percent right.

The bad news is that viewers of NBC and TNT and readers of his New York
Post column don't really know whether the NBA analyst is spreading rumors
or reporting facts.

By all accounts, Vecsey is a decent enough guy, a newspaperman able to
transform a ruffled exterior into a television personality. But even an
on-air talent has some responsibility to get the truth.

In recent days, Vecsey has dropped significant ''news'' during the NBA
playoffs. The first piece involved the Celtics. He said that Orlando's
troubled - and oft-injured - Penny Hardaway is headed to Boston in a trade
for Ron Mercer and Kenny Anderson.

The rumor has touched off all sorts of buzz locally. But no one, including
Vecsey, really knows whether Hardaway will ever wear a Celtics uniform. A
Celtics source said the trade is on the ''backburner.''

At first glance the deal sounds good. Hardaway is miffed at Magic
management for not ''respecting'' him enough. Translation: He wants a lot
more money and a coach that doesn't tell him what to do.

That definitely wouldn't happen under Rick Pitino, largely because Pitino
is a control freak.

If the Celtics can't pay Mercer, then how, pray tell, are they going to pay
a perennial All-Star? And that's the problem with Vecsey.

He's sort of like the NBA's version of CNN. He has a lot of information but
has little time to explain what it all means.

The next troublesome Vecsey scoop is his reporting on the Phil Jackson
mess.

There's no real sorting out this Gotham saga. Everyone involved, from
Madison Square Garden president Dave Checketts to the former Bulls coach,
are unseemly at best and liars at worst.

Checketts had to apologize for lying to the media about his clandestine
meeting with Jackson while the Knicks were mounting their surprisingly
successful playoff run. The fact that Jackson would even meet with
Checketts while Jeff Van Gundy was still at the helm was pathetic. But then
for Jackson to reject a $6 million offer from the New Jersey Nets and fan
rumors about going to the Los Angeles Lakers was just plain sick.

Vecsey needed to be in the gutter with these guys, but he remained a
Jackson coatholder despite having published information suggesting that
Jackson would not get the Lakers job.

The Los Angeles Times and New York Times published stories last week that
indicated Kurt Rambis would probably return as Lakers coach. The stories
went on to say that Jackson's price was too high and that his best chance
at securing that kind of money would come from the Nets or Knicks.

Vecsey wrote in Tuesday's column for the New York Post: ''Regardless of how
far the Knicks go and what Dave Checketts ultimately decides to do with
Jeff Van Gundy, it's my licensed belief Phil Jackson won't agree to coach
anyone next season except the Lakers.''

Really Pete? That doesn't have anything to do with the fact the Lakers
never met with him, much less offered him a job?

Not according to our ace reporter.

''As I understand the situation,'' Vecsey wrote, ''from those privy to the
cunning and conversations of Jackson's agent, Todd Musburger, neither the
Nets nor the Knicks particularly captivate the six-time coaching champion.
But it doesn't hurt to elevate his market value by playing the passionate
interest shown by both franchises for all its worth in an effort to whet
the appetite of LA owner Jerry Buss.''

Vecsey did manage to describe Jackson's secret meeting with Checketts as a
''low-rent stunt,'' and then went on to flesh out his story with
interesting but irrelevant blather about Kobe Bryant boning up on the
triangle offense.

Vecsey concludes: ''Given the pick between helping [presidential candidate
Bill] Bradley or the Lakers, I say he goes political. The Democrats win
more than the Lakers.''

Later that night, during the Knicks-Pacers playoff game, Vecsey reported as
much during TNT's halftime report.

''The Lakers haven't contacted Jackson at all,'' Vecsey said. ''I believe
he is going to help Bradley next year. That's where he is headed.''

As rumors go, Vecsey's reports were fine. But they missed one important bit
of analysis: just how sleazy the NBA has become.

This story ran on page D13 of the Boston Globe on 06/04/99. <<