Re: Walker's merits (was Walker vs Pierce; my 2 cents)

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

If we're choosing, I side with those who say keep Walker. He's the better
player and the team's leader. He plays hard (I just wish he would prepare
hard).

But, I'm not attached to either guy. I think both of them put up stats on a
truly terrible team. They score a lot of points because they have to. They
get all the shots. Walker gets a lot of rebounds, but then again the rest of
the frontcourt consists of Potapenko, Battie and Pierce--he's not exactly
battling a Rodman for those defensive boards.

Anyway, the easiest thing to do in basketball is put up big numbers for a
bad team. Walker and Pierce have been doing it for a while now. We overvalue
them because of those numbers, when they have done nothing to indicate an
ability to turn this team into a winner. That's what it's about, right? The
simple fact is that players like Walker and Pierce, who pad stats for a
loser, are overvalued, while players like P.J. Brown, Dale Davis, Horace
Grant, Eric Snow and Theo Ratliff go through their careers underappreciated
because they don't put up big numbers (other than wins).

The key, of course, is to find the player who does both--puts up the numbers
and makes his team a winner. The Duncans, Garnetts, Iversons, Malones,
Bryants and Carters of the world. You'll notice, by the way, that none of
those players were acquired via free agency or trade (excluding Kobe's
draft-day deal). You have to get lucky and draft them. That's why I say hold
onto those picks and see if we can't find our guy in this draft, one of the
best in years.

Mark