Re:Steve Francis/Elton Brand

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Mister Ghost wrote:
>Yeah, Francis and Brand would be an upgrade over what
>the C's currently trot out at the 1 and 4.  Antoine
>ain't no PF, and Francis will be better than Anderson,
>that's for sure.  Brand is a more talented version
>of Danny Fortson.  He'll gobble up the boards, have a
>nice touch around the hoop, and take up a lot of space.
>I'd rather have him at power forward than Antoine,
>whose game is more suited to be a small forward.
Jim Meninno wrote:
>> Oh, certainly.  Absolutely, without a doubt!  Are we supposed to take
>> you seriously?

****

El Senor Mister Grouch:

1) IMHO, Steve Francis' similarity to Iverson lies in that he is and will
likely remain an outstanding "shoot-first" point guard. While I personally
love their mind-boggling speed and fantastic defensive skills, I don't
think you can argue that Francis will unequivocably make the Celtics team
offense any better than it is. When you break it down, Stevie Francis and
Chauncy Billups are actually pretty similar players (genuine big time/big
game college scorers with great defensive tools) but would be the wrong
guys for our team, IMO. More generally, the last thing our Celts need is to
"upgrade" via a rookie point guard. That just shouldn't make any SENSE to
most of us on the list, based on what we know and have seen. Let's focus on
acquiring and grooming a young backup point guard, like local kid Wayne
Turner playing down in Kentucky (as someone first suggested last week).
Based on his stats, he'll probably fall well out of the first round just as
KC Jones did years ago.

2) As for Elton Brand, you better show me first that he's not another
Antawn Jamison. Brand refuses to work on his dribble or face up moves, in
part because he has great teammates who can do all that (he might actually
hurt Duke's chances of winning if he tried to broaden his skills in a
meaningful game). Right now, to say Brand is a weak and underconfident
dribbler is a major understatement. IMHO, Elton Brand is the best college
forward in the same way that Walter Berry was once the best college
forward. It's kind of like being good at math in highschool (it doesn't
necessarily mean anything, basically). Anyway, I say "Stay in School" Elton
(definitely). You've got a beautiful campus, smart and notoriously pretty
chicks (at least compared to any school in frigging New England!), a great
coach and a championship program, plus a $100,000 tuition-free ticket to a
respected college degree. (I interview French teens on behalf of my old
freaking college, and I often advise them to also consider applying to Duke
University and other U.S. schools that they may never have heard of. For
whatever odd reason everyone I personally interviewed in the last two years
seemed well-adjusted and were good looking, so I figured they were "wrong
profile" for a Boston-area school! Sorry Alex Wang, Theresa and all you
others, I'm kidding of course.)

BTW, I confess I've only seen Francis and Brand play twice each this season
so don't take my word for anything (Francis was utterly invisible in one of
those games).  In case MG thinks I'm "flaming" him, let me say that I'm
amazed and impressed in general with his knowledge of and interest in
college and non-Celtics basketball players. He's one of (at least) a dozen
people on the list who just know way more than I do about such interesting
(for me at least) things, even if I'm more prone to shooting my mouth off
with opinions than they are.  :-)

****