Re: Major Culprits For the Loss]

[Georgek27@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/6/99 10:38:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
wayray@ix.netcom.com writes:

<< Antoine Walker - Reverting back to former form, except he rebounded better 
last season. If the Celtics don't make the playoffs, there's a far greater 
chance he'll be gone than Pitino.
~~~ If rival GMs share your evaluation of him, who's going to pick up his 
salary?
 
Dana Barros - Grinds second unit to a halt with his perimeter-hanging and 
lack of penetration. Where's Wayne Turner?
~~~ Barros can contribute, he just needs to get in sync again, but if Kenny 
continues to play well Dana may be moved for that reason.
 
Whomever guarded Reggie Miller? It was hard to tell from the nonexistent 
defense. Bad D by Adrian Griffin and Calbert Cheaney.
~~~ Not a hell of a lot you can do when he pops treys at will.  He's been 
known to toast people with much greater reputations than these two.  Try to 
defend him and he throws himself into you and is awarded foul shots.  When 
he's got the touch your only hope is to be able to score at your end as well.

Whomever guarded Austin Croshere, who's a free agent by the way, and said by 
Jersey Red to want to come back to the area.
~~~ Another guy who suddenly couldn't miss.  Mama said there'd be days like 
this.
 
Tony Battie - It looks like where going to see a repeat of last season,  in 
which he plays well in some games and disappears in others. If this 
continues, he becomes a prime candidate to be traded.
~~~ Bad matchup for Tony.  He's not strong enough to keep Smits out of the 
paint and Smits has 6 inches on him.  He's going to be a positive much more 
often than a negative and he is our only real shotblocker.
 
Rick Pitino - Start playing Wayne Turner; stop playing Walter McCarty.
~~~ Did Walter play point guard?  I must have missed that part.
 
Played Well: Williams and Pot
~~~ Agreed, but what about Kenny?  He deserves credit as well - be objective!
 
Suggestions for Il Duce: Acquire an inside scorer or a shot-blocker; play 
Wayne Turner; find another scorer for the second unit.
~~~ Eric Williams scores inside.  Kenny & Adrian are feeding others for 
gimmies.  We've outscored our opponents by a good margin "in the paint" so 
far this season.
You want us to trade our only shotblocker (above) and then find another one.  
How many shotblockers better than Battie are available?  What would they 
cost?  Turner will get his minutes.  The second unit will be fine when 
Fortson rejoins the lineup.

I knew we'd hear from Ray quickly after we lost.  I'm just surprised he 
didn't start at halftime.  3-1 is still a lot better than the 0-4 his keen 
basketball mind expected.  Now at least he can dig up some more negative 
articles.  They must have been getting harder to find.

I'm sure we'll hear from him again soon since Ron Mercer is lighting up the 
mighty Grizzlies.  Of course his team is trailing tho. 

George