The Fort & Free Agents

[bird <bird@pixi.com>]

>From: "Jim Meninno" <jim_meninno@hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: BSG reports Walker trade in works
>
>  One thing I'm becoming more and more convinced of,
>though, is that Paul M was the only one who had this right from the
>beginning.  Fortson is a tenacious rebounder, no doubt, but he is too short
>and slow to play good enough defense to help this team.  Rebounding is
>great, but at the expense of defense, on an already weak defensive team, it
>just doesn't help.

Well, Fortson does have his disadvantages, that's for sure.  He _is_ 
only 6'7" or so; he is slow (especially on D); he is not a good 
defender, especially given the "new rules" (same as the "old rules" 
as The Who might say); he seems to need 20-25 minutes a game to get 
his thing going on the court; he is _not_ a center and shouldn't be 
used as one.  Fortson's also got some good points: he's a great 
position rebounder, especially on the offensive glass, giving his 
team second-chance points; he's got good hands; he's got a good 
inside shooting touch.  Oh, and he's got "potential" and/or "upside" 
which just means he could get better.  Give him 30 mins/game in the 
next couple of years, and he'll probably average 12 and 12 over the 
course of a season.  Your point about Fortson's effect on defense is 
well-made, though; except that defensive rebounding is a _kind_ of 
defense -- that is, at least you're not giving up second-chance 
points yourself.  The fact is, we needed to get better at rebounding 
as well as defense before we got Fort -- now that we have him the 
focus has shifted (rightly so) to the defense.  Subtract him, and we 
might need some rebounding help.

(What I just don't understand is, why trade for him and then not use 
him?  Sure, he fouled a lot, especially in the early season, but I 
thought that fouls were there to be given in Il Duce's system?  Let 
him get 10 bounds and foul out.  The "Walker Experiment" at playing 
the 3 went by so fast I never even saw it, and so  Fort gets to play 
backup 4 and 5.  If he's not right for the "system" why pick him up? 
To trade for Alvin Williams?  (Alvin freaking Williams?  Geez.)  It 
seems to me that you can either privilege your system and gather 
those 6'10" a-the-letic (you gotta say that like Hubie Brown), 
rail-thin guys and go to war, or you assess your talent, try to 
acquire more talent, and tailor your system to them.  (I like this 
one better.)  But half of one and a quarter of the other just ain't 
gonna cut it, methinks.)

On the Anthony Carter front -- I saw him play while he was at the 
University of Hawai`i as well as in the pros and he could be a help 
to the C's.  We need a backup point (who might become the starting 
point?), and Carter _will_ push the ball up.  Maybe a good point 
guard coach like the Ricktator will help Carter make good decisions. 
But if we get him with the $2.2m exception, that's pretty much it, 
isn't it?  So long Croshere, Derek Anderson, or John Amaechi (all of 
whom would be good pickups, I think), or anyone else who'd sign for 
the $2.2m exception but not the $1.1m one.  Does anyone really think 
we'll get any sort of player for the latter?  Any CBA/college player 
(like the guys in the summer league) will sign for the minimum, and 
we've probably got enough of the type of talent that 1 million will 
get you in the NBA today.

Regards,

Bill