VP was Antoine

[opi@unesco.org]

You know what I find to be a really a freaky stat?  Vitaly Potapenko actually
leads the team by a significant margin in rebounds per minute, and he doesn't
have much of a nose for the ball. If he were playing Adrian Griffin's minutes
(instead of 23.6 mpg and 3.1 fouls), he'd be averaging well over 10 rebounds
per game.

I'm telling you, VP doesn't show the hands or the instincts to be a top 10
rebounder. A Maine lobster has better hands than Vitaly. VP's only reliable
skill is clearing space for other people to get boards. He takes boxing out as
seriously as would a Pro Bowl NFL left tackle, and at 290 pounds this will make
life a lot easier for Fortson and Griffin and Antoine and Pierce to do some
damage on the boards.

Although it's very hard to project V as a 9+ rebound guy in 30 mpg down the
road, that's precisely what he's shown he can do so far this year given starter
minutes. I don't want to count my eggs before they hatch, but he could very
well be an All Star scorer/rebounder by the age of 28 or 29, more or less by
default. Personally, I hope he stays with the Celtics for the length of his
5-year contract.

Joe

---------

Mark Estepp wrote:

> I don't think we will see a trade like the "Toine for Van Horn deal
> mentioned earlier unless the Celtics implode this year.
>
> Has anyone noticed that V. Baker has been putting up some pretty good
> looking numbers?  He's doing 17 pts./8 boards/game, and shooting 48%.  AW
> is 18 pts/6 boards, and shooting 44%.  Had a deal bringing VB to the
> Celtics for AW been done, folks would probably being praising it right now.
>
> It would be interesting to me to see how AW would perform on a team like
> the Nets, that have developed an reputation for being selfish
> underachievers.  Would AW see that as the chance to step up and have a
> leadership effect for the team, or would he just out duel Marbury for
> shots?  I doubt we will ever know....