Re: what a shmuck Holley is

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

OK, this stuff from Holley isn't new. We've read the same garbage before,
and we'll read it again right around February, as the trade deadline
approaches. He carries Toine's bags. Always has, always will.

A few specifics from the story: 

1. I don't care about Toine's basketball camps. The only thing that
interests me about his summer is his workout routine. If he spent his time
running clinics and playing pickup games, we're in for the same old
Toine-brilliant one night, awful the next. Until he realizes this is a
full-time job, and the NBA isn't a professional pickup league, he never will
be as good as he could be.

2. Holley loves to make these wild suggestions without providing the "how
to" part. Improve the starting lineup? Gee, that's a great idea. Without
trading Toine? OK, how about Pierce? I doubt Holley would go for that
either. He seems to subscribe to the "let's trade Eric Williams and a
second-round draft pick for Iverson" school of NBA general managing. He
talks about Croshere nixing a deal "because he wanted to play with Walker
and Pierce" but Holley was the same guy who said Pitino wasn't serious about
winning if he signed Croshere-not traded for him, just signed him. Getting
the guy without giving up anything would have been a bad move in Holley's
eyes.

3. How many real trade rumors have we heard involving Toine this season? The
Indy rumor for Croshere. And how much life did that have? Holley's the first
guy to mention any Lakers rumor. And the Miami thing came and went years
ago. If Toine doesn't like hearing his name in trade rumors, he can do
something about it-work harder to become the player he can be. You don't
hear the names of Duncan, Garnett, Shaq, Alonzo, Kobe or Vince in trade
rumors, and there's a reason. Holley and Toine need to realize that the only
reason Toine isn't in that same class is because of Toine. If he was as
driven and committed as the others, the Celtics wouldn't dream of trading
him. Three years ago, Toine and Garnett were at similar points in their
careers. They are where they are now not because of Rick Pitino or Flip
Saunders, but because Garnett was willing to work to be the best forward in
basketball and Toine wasn't. (This, by the way, is a real hot topic for me.
How would you like to be Rick Pitino and have your future tied to Toine, a
guy who certainly is capable, but also completely unwilling to put in the
effort to be a great player? You talk about a coach-killer. If you decide to
trade him, you want to get a return that matches Toine at his best. Other
teams are offering a return that matches Toine at his worst. So you keep
him, hoping he "gets it" and placing the future of your career and the
franchise in the hands of a 23-year-old slacker. That is the position Toine
puts Pitino in every single season.)

4. "Effortless triple doubles?" Oh, come on. Say what you want about Toine,
but I don't see him settling in as anyone's third option very gracefully. 

Finally, Toine is an incredible, unrefined, wasted talent. He may or may not
"get it" someday. But he has no one to blame for these trade rumors but
himself.

Mark