Re: K.V.H

[opi@unesco.org]

My sense is that it would cost us Antoine Walker to get Keith Van Horn. Nothing
less. Given our defensive situation, it makes little sense to get a Van Horn.

FWIW, Dirk Nowitzki is quietly having a better season on paper than Keith Van
Horn.

At 21 the kid is already showing signs as a polished veteran scorer (17.6 ppg,
461 FG%, .401 on treys plus .833 FT% from five visits to the line per game). He
has a good assists-to-turnover ratio (1.26) and averages 6.2 rebounds per game.
He's also listed at 7-0 and 237 pounds....not exactly Germany's answer to Kevin
Garnett but certainly he's joined the elite players from his draft class, along
with Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Mike Bibby, Jason Williams,
Antawn Jamison, Michael Dickerson, Kandi-girl etc.

I wish the Celtics had had the 3rd and 6th picks in THAT draft rather than the
previous one. Then we could more accurately judge and criticize Pitino's player
evaluation skills (since there were a few lotto busts in that class as well).

The problem is that virtually every lottery pick in the 1996 draft have been
relative busts. Pitino and his staff basically chose Chauncey Billups over
Antonio Daniels and Tony Battie, and then nabbed Ron Mercer over Adonal Foyle
and Tim Thomas. It's tough to bash him over these decisions even though neither
player is still with us. The only other "keepers" from that draft class either
were not viable high lottery picks because they were undersized (the 5-10 Brevin
Knight and the 6-7 Fortson) or because they were coming off a major knee surgery
like Derek Anderson.

****

John Lyell wrote:

> Van Horn is a lot like Antoine and a Joe Smith. Not really physical enough
> for the 4 spot, and not quick enough for the 3 spot. Kind of a 3 & 1/2 .