Dan Forant's observations

["Ozersky, Joshua A" <OzerskyJA@corning.com>]

Dan has made some good points, but I would take issue with three of them.

1)  He seems to be saying that we should trade Antoine Walker for Dale Davis.
This is not acceptable.  Antoine may not be what we need, but his value as a
commodity is very high.  We can not except an unfair return on his talent.  You
don't get that many assets to build a great team with; if you deal away a marquee
talent for a merely good and dependable veteran, who deserve to lose.  (See the
76ers trades of Charles Barkley for Jeff Hornacek or Moses Malone for Jeff Ruland
or Brad Daugherty for Roy Hinson for good examples).  Your strategy has to follow talent
which is where I agree with Dan about us needing to fastbreak more.

2) what I disagree with, however, is his allocation of blame.  Pitino deserves some guilt
no doubt, but none of the players seem to understand fastbreak basketball except
Danny Fortson and (sometimes) Dana Barros.  Kenny is essentially a fast plodder (see
my other post); Antoine doesn't seem to have any clue as to how to run the break, 
except to score himself or throw a flashy pass; and Paul Pierce as often as not calls
his own number, possibly to get back at Antoine.  The point guard is the one who
has to set the example; that's why we need a guy like J Kidd, and there are very few
like him.  (I don't know if I can think of another, for that matter.)

3)  I don't think Paul Pierce is playing out of position.  He is a natural small forward
the way that Michael Jordan is a natural small forward, or Larry Bird a natural big forward.
Not that he is that good; but he is good enough to play a smaller position without giving anything
up on defense.  (I guess he's better than Larry in that regard.)  On offense, there is no such
thing as being too big for your position, unless you are talking about a big man who can't dribble.
Pierce would not be nearly as dominant if he didn't have the advantage of his great height and 
long arms, which also make him a nightmare to shoot against.  I would like to see him play closer
to the basket more often, however.  He is shooting too much from the outside, no doubt because
of his injured ankle.

Those are my thoughts, w/all due respect