Re: Just my 2 cents

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 09:30 AM 12/19/00 -0800, Thomas Murphy wrote:
>For all the sniping about PP (with Kenny out I guess he is the new 'flavor
>of the month'), at least he has shown that he CAN defend. (Granted, whether
>he is motivated to do so on a team where the tempo and chemistry is set by
>senior psychopath Pitino is another matter. . .) For that reason alone I
>would rather retain Peirce than Walker IF we had to chose one or the other
>(as many of the recent posts seem to imply). 

Good to have you back, Tom. I agree that Paul Pierce has the potential to
be a better defender than Antoine, simply by being a better athlete. But I
don't think that lack of motivation, or mental problems, can be used to
excuse Pierce and not Walker. You could argue similarly that Walker has
shown the ability to dominate games offensively with his passing, IF he's
motivated.

I'd break it down like this. Pierce is a better scorer than Walker because
he gets to the line much more. He also has the potential to be a better
defender at the 2 or 3 than Walker is at the 4. Walker is a better
playmaker and rebounder. But even so Pierce is pretty good in these
departments for a guard. So maybe Pierce is better relative to his position.

But here's the key point in my opinion. Walker is a power forward. Pierce
is a swingman. The first key to a good defense is being able to stop the
inside players -- the opposing center or power forward, and the second key
is containing the point guard. That is why any power forward who can play
effective defense is so valued in the league, even if they can barely
score. That is why PJ Brown was almost enough to get the draft rights to
Lamar Odom, and why Dale Davis beat out our three draft picks for Jermaine
O'Neal. On the other hand, nonscoring defensive shooting guards are a dime
a dozen. That's why Ben Wallace has a $30M contract and Bruce Bowen is
making the minimum

Now the great two-way power forwards in this league are much better players
than Walker, no question. Duncan, Webber, Garnett, Malone -- great players
to build your franchise around. I'd trade Walker and Pierce for any one of
them (OK, not Malone because he's so old. But at the rate he's going, he
almost seems like he could play another 10 years). Brian Grant is looking
impressive this year also. I think that Mason is extremely talented also
though maybe not so great off the court. Beyond that you have the limited
defensive players - Dale and Antonio Davis, PJ Brown, Oakley when he was
younger. Ratliff is probably above these guys because he's just such a
tremendous shotblocker. These guys are all extremely valuable despite their
limitations. And Antoine, when he's playing smart, is definitely within
this group or better. It's true that he gets burned by the top offensive
power forwards. I think the same is true of all our potential replacements.
I really don't see Battie or Moiso stopping Webber. But Antoine can
similarly burn opponents, draw double teams, and create for his teammates.
And it's much easier for us to add more talent at the swingman position
than to improve the power forward spot.

>Put Battie and Moiso at PF next to Vitaly where they are less likely to get
>pushed around and can offer help D with blocks. Surely neither could perform
>any worse on D as Walker. Now I'll go out on a limb: given Antoine's minutes
>V could very likely put up numbers close to Antoine's in points and rebounds
>(15-18 ppg, 8-10 rpg) at half the price. Plus - as an added bonus - any of
>the defensive rebounds snagged by either V or Battie/Moiso would have to be
>advanced via the PASS!

That's far, far out on a limb. Seriously, I don't think that Vitaly's an 18
ppg, 10 rpg center hidden away on our roster, just waiting for the right
coach that will use him. You can't just give the guy more minutes and scale
up his production, because a lot of the production he gets comes from the
fact that people like Antoine draw attention from him and create easier
baskets for him. He gets to choose his shots because the team doesn't count
on him to score. Believe me, I wish that Vitaly could do it. He's not bad
offensively at the center spot. But if we rely on him to put up this amount
of points, teams will double team on him like they do to Antoine and he
won't be able to handle it. He has a very limited ability to create
offensively.

Alex