Re: Battie and brother -Reply -Reply

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Ryan Falcone wrote:

> >>> <j.hironaka@unesco.org> 05/12/99 07:33am >>>
>
> FWIW, neither was Jerome Williams.  Or John Thomas for that matter (a
> good role player on our bench last year). <<<
>
> Oh contraire, Joe.  Jerome Williams led the Big East in rebounding as a
> junior and was a consistent double-figure scorer at Georgetown for his
> two years of eligibility after transferring from a junior college.  He was a
> vital cog in on a Georgetown team (also featuring Allen Iverson and
> Othella Harrington) that was consistently ranked in the top-ten
> throughout his collegiate career, en route to being a first round draft
> selection.
>
> The similarity between Derrick Battie and Jerome Williams begins and
> ends with the fact that they are both role players.  The difference is that
> Williams is an immensely talented role player, whereas D. Battie was / is
> not.
>
> Hey--hopefully I'm wrong and Battie #2 (or should I refer to him as #1,
> given his elder-ness over Tony) will end up turning out to be another
> pivot "gem" off of the scrap heap like Thomas Hamilton.  Or Schintzius.

Well, you know Jerome Williams was a career 10.5ppg scorer in the NCAAs and was
drafted 26th overall. Of course it is hard to be anything but a role player with
Iverson on your college team. :-)  And yes, at least he got drafted (Derrick
Battie did not). Anyway JW was a stringbean back then (late growth spurt) and
was kind of easy to overlook as a future NBA power forward prospect. I was a
grad student in Wash DC around that time, although I never went to any Big East
games.

FWIW, I always liked Othella Harrington's hustle and unselfishness. Is he a free
agent? I recall he was once rated the top high school senior by "Street and
Smith" (ahead of Jason Kidd), and many expected him to follow in the footsteps
of Mourning, Mutombo and Ewing at Georgetown. He met expectations as a freshman,
but then it went downhill I guess.

BTW, do you all remember buying "Street and Smith" at the newstand in the dark
ages before the Web? I remember paying a small fortune for my two-month old
copy, back when I was living in Japan.