Re: thing missing

[opi@unesco.org]

This is kind of an addendum/afterthought to my last post. You know how coaches
teach that the explosive first step is everything in the game of basketball ?
(it's what separates Jordan from Mercer and everyone else). Well Potapenko
takes a relatively tiny first step to set up a longer second stride. McHale by
contrast used the first step off the pivot to successfully traverse a lot of
ground. Potapenko still finds some success in his post moves (especially or I
guess almost exclusively across the paint, as opposed to baseline) because he
squeezs the ball so hard and really takes a powerful second step to set up the
hook or fall away jumper. But remember he is one of the many still 23 or
24-year-olds on the Celtics, all with big chips on their shoulders (Pierce and
Fort come to mind in this regard). Heinsohn boasts that Pots will be one of
the top-5 "pure" centers in the league, mainly through attrition. I know
that's a reach, but Pots does have the body and the coordination, if not the
quickness or soft hands. If we decide to trade him, we'll at least get a lot
more than a Shawn Bradley-type in return. Vitaly had a better season than Matt
Geiger's 9 million dollar career season for Charlotte, but comes at less than
half the price and is 6-years younger with a far better team and individual
attitude. It's extremely rare to find true NBA centers who are  physically
proportioned and coordinated like "normal" human beings, as opposed to the
6-11 pituitary gland cases you find throughout the NBA.

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