Re: post player

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

    Lorenzen Wright does have the 42 million dollar contract that goes
through '06 and has actually regressed as a player since signing it. But
he has also put up incredibly solid numbers on occasion. The fact that
his career numbers still average out to just 7.4 ppg despite all those
big nights illustrates what a tease he has been at least to date (much
like Jermaine O'Neil had been I guess). People often use the Parish
analogy as an argument for reclamation projects, but the Chief was
actually pretty much a 17 ppg 10rpg guy with the shotblocks and
everything even before he arrived in Boston in '80. In today's market he
would have already commanded a maximum price tag, but back then there
were relatively good centers aplenty, his Warriors team was selfish and
lost regularly, and Joe Barry Carroll and Darrell Griffith were the talk
of the town. That's what made the trade a surprise, not that Parish was
some sort of bum. And the scepticism was also fueled by a series of
trades for veteran underachievers (Wick, Rowe etc.) made between the
last 1976 championship and Bird's arrival.

    I remember thinking back then the only surprising thing Parish
accomplished in Boston was not that he actually improved on but rather
that he merely maintained the same already impressive stats on a 61 win
and championship team, as opposed to the crap teams he played on before.
I thought his numbers would drop by half once he joined a contender, but
he delivered 16 and 10 that year and achieved that (or better) for about
a dozen more years thereafter.

    My point is I guess you do have to gamble on career underachievers
with talent, but make no mistake Parish wasn't half as inconsistent or
unpromising coming into Boston as some of the names we have been sifting
through lately. BTW, I agree that the Bird article in the Indy Star was
fascinating. After reading Bird's recollections, it makes it seem all
the more amazing how kids these days can make the even greater social
adjustment of jumping straight to the pros, much less to a 40,000 person
college campus. Bird seems just so likeable and full of depth in that
article, even though if my own kid ever pulled that stunt I probably
wouldn't talk to him for a year either! Anyway thanks for posting it,
Mike.

Joe

   FWIW, (sorry non-Celts) I'm in full national celebration mode today
over the Manny Ramirez signing, which looked so impossible at the time I
went to bed last night. I'd trade Babe Ruth all over again for this guy!
Pedro plus Manny. No baseball team has had the dominant pitcher and
hitter in the game (both under 30).  Its typical of the Boston papers to
suddenly be wringing their hands sanctimoniously over the cost of the
signing, as if they wouldn't have been screaming bloody murder if the
Red Sox had not upped their original 18 million bid and lost out on
Manny.  I guess the New England media is just superstitious and subdued
based on the principle that anything "too good to be true" should not be
preemptively celebrated with dancing in the streets. Maybe I should also
feel that way too, for good luck. Go Red Sox! Go Celts! Thank-you
Dominican Republic!

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