Re: No point...

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

jaims@philonline.com wrote:

> But IMO, if you get a Ducan or Webber type player for our "superstar", it would be easier to get a good chemistry on the team rather than keeping a Walker(ballhog) type of a player.  While we all know that all three are impact players, a Duncan/Webber player would always know his strength and as importantly...his limitations. And unfortunately, walker just doen't know his.  All i'm sayin is that if and only if the celts are to trade away walker, the only players i'd say would be better than mr. wiggle are Duncan or Webber!

You all know by now what I feel about 'Toine, so go ahead and correct me if I'm taking a too rosy view as usual.

I saw AW play two subpar games over the weekend, and watched very carefully for signs of ball hogging, show boating, day dreaming or forcing shots. I counted 3 (or 4) forced shots and none of anything else. FWIW, I think it is accurate to state that the best player on the team a decade ago would surely have taken all but one of them, and had Bird also missed any of them he would have gotten a charitable foul call for landing on his rear. (Bird actually probably averaged 2 or 3 bricks per game. It was just one facet of his
aggressiveness and will to win.)

Inside the paint, I have yet to see Antoine win a foul call for anything other than direct shooting arm contact. Frankly, that type of foul happens once in a blue moon (if ever). I'd bet 95% of fouls called inside the paint come on mid-air body contact, usually reinforced by a fair amount of acting.

The fourth "bad" shot Antoine took was a 3-point miss with 20 seconds left on the shot clock midway through the last quarter of the Detroit game with the Celtics leading. Do you guys remember it? It was a momentum breaker (Cousy groaned).

I could easily imagine Bird launching that shot on a hunch (it was a wide open shot), and possibly making it. But had Bird clanked it there would (for obvious reasons) have been NO questions asked, even though in Bird's case he had several Hall of Fame inside scorers he could have worked the ball to in that scenario. With Pierce injured at the time, Antoine was and pretty much remains the team's entire inside AND outside game. FWIW, I think Antoine had hit four of five 3-point attempts at that stage of the game, including a
last second corner bomb minutes earlier. He was all net on all  four of those 3-pointers. And although he had a poor passing game against Detroit, he certainly is no Chuck Person even on his worst day.

If that's the worst Antoine gets, then I'd take him over a flaky, dope-smoking, choker like Chris Webber any day. I was expecting far worse from AW, considering all the talk about how much his game has regressed this year. As for Duncan, sadly we can't possibly get him in a trade. I doubt any team could.

Joe

P.S. I'm very happy for Ringo that he had a career-type game, but that doesn't mean I'm not pleased as heck that we traded him away for a real center. One thing that surprised me, though, is that none of the Boston papers sought out AD's reaction to the trade (as far as I could tell). In fact, I still don't know what his reaction was. IMHO, the Celts beat writers should have recognized that Ringo was clearly one of the biggest fan favorites in this decade. We all know Peter May likes to make fun of AD, but the other Boston
writers really should have known better.

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Re: Peter D's:
>But while I agree with some of what you're saying, I disagree that racism or xenophobia are Southern-fried specialties. >Remember Bensonhurst?

Malcolm X kidded a reporter once by saying that North America is divided into the "South" and the "Upper South". In my mind, it's no coincidence that both he and Dr. ML King spent their formative years in "tolerant" Boston. To all you folks who have lived there anytime in the past, "I know you know what I'm talking about" (a favorite expression by the "X-Man" in his speeches).

Like Cecil Wright, I apologize for not having the self-control to ignore this thread completely. (FWIW, I believe there is such a thing as Southern Hospitality, though.)

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Re: Michael Byrnes, I'll take his word for it on Antawn Jamison. FWIW, I've read that both Stevie Francis and Brand might not declare for the draft. Other than sports agents, most anyone would advise Brand to wait another year and learn how to play facing the basket. What I'm saying about his game is not original.

BTW, even if they do choose to stay in school, it is not necessarily a weak draft. At this time of year, everyone calls the upcoming draft "relatively" weak. You see the same talk year after year. Pitino even said late last Spring that he doubted he could find anyone at #10 who would even help our 12 man roster. That's almost akin to Auerbach calling Bob Cousy a "local yokel".

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