Re: have you seen fortson play?

[Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU>]

At 16:31 2/22/00 -0500, you wrote:

> He's not as good as Corliss
>Williamson, who made the adjustment to SF reasonably well.

Well, CW is a somewhat better scorer than DF (12ppg to 10 ppg career), but
a significantly poorer rebounder (4.2rpg to 7.5rpg even including this
"lost season" for DF). CW is actually a pretty good player, but I don't
think his somewhat better scoring ability is as important to a team as DF's
rare knack for getting his team a chance after chance after chance on the
offensive board.  

>Fortson gets his rebounds, but he is atrocious defensively (he's not alone
>there with the Celts), often out of position offensively, and he fouls far
>too much because he is too small and too slow to guard the players he is
>required to guard. 

And who in that system looks good defensively? Play Danny in a more
reasonable defensive scheme, let him get comfortable in there by giving him
some minutes, and he'll be OK. He's been playing in the most adverse of
circumstances this season: returning from injury in mid-season, new rules,
"headless chicken outbreak" defense, extremely limited minutes, and a coach
who yanks players after their 2nd foul,  etc. etc. That he's been able to
deliver 5.5 rpg  and 6.4 ppg on nearly 60% shooting in 13mpg is amazing,
considering the conditions he's had to play in. 

>He's had some decent stats in a pair of blowouts, when the officials no
>doubt were swallowing their whistles to get the thing over with. 

11.6rpg over a season and leading the NBA in offensive rebounding, don't
happen by accident. Neither does getting 14 rebounds (8 offensive) in 25
minutes against a frontline as potent as Portland's. We outrebounded
Portland last night for only one reason - Fortson. Not only does he gobble
up rebounds himself, he clears out a large area under the basket so his
teammates can get rebounds easier as well.