Re: European Centers??? forget it...

[Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
You could make a case for Vlade Divac for his passing and smarts. But I admit it
took him years to become an above-average center. Rik "Dutch Boy in the Paint"
Smits has flirted with All Star status as well.

It is true Sabonis arrived very late in his career to the NBA, and a bit thicker
and slower. From the little I remember, he had a little Bill Walton in him.
Maybe not the younger Walton who could swat shots 14 feet off the ground, but at
least a late-career (but healthy) version of Walton who could make great passes,
rebound, shoot and was immoveable and heads-up in the paint.
--- end of quote ---

I've watched Sabonis play since he turned pro at 16 and became the starting center for his club team, Kaunas Zalgiris (which won a bunch of Soviet Union championships in the '80s - no small feat considering that their rival, CSKA Moscow, was essentially the Soviet National Team sans the Lithuanians). Before he tore both of his Achiles' tendons, he could run like a deer and jump at least as well as any center in the NBA not named Bill Russell. As to an earlier question about his ability to block shots, if you watched the 1988 Olympics you may remember the possession in the USA-USSR game when David Robinson attempted to dunk on Sabas 3 times in succession, and was stuffed every single time. And Sabas was already playing on one leg, having suffered an Achiles' tear, and a re-tear only a few months earlier (he wasn't even supposed to play in the Seoul Olympics because of the injury). Could he average 3 bpg? Give me break! While they weren't keeping these stats in Europe in those days, he must've averaged at least 5 bpg, considering the lower level of competition and his physical abilities before the injuries. But it's not easy to block shots, especially in the NBA, when you can barely get off the ground and your legs are roadkill - even when you're 7-3. It's amazing that he can still contribute at this level, given that his playing days were thought to be over in the early 90s. 

As for  the "softness issue" with Euro centers, I agree. The problem is, IMO, is that they've never had to fight to make a team - any team - before, they were just given their spot. They were big, talented, and as they went, so did their teams' fortunes. As a result, they told their coaches if, when, and how they were going to play, not the other way around. They've never had to beat thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of other similarly good players to make it to this level. Sabonis, in his younger days, used to have more fight in him - he was very emotional and easily provoked. His team more than once blew an important game because the opponents would do a Rodman or a Rick Fox on him, and he would be ejected for fighting. One time, one of his teammates got into a  shoving match at the other end of the court, so Sabas ran a Russell-like full-court dash and decked the offender so hard he made an acquaintance with fans sitting in the 5th row. Nowadays he's just emotional, with seemingly no fight left in him - he's got 4 kids, he's older, wiser, and thinking about retirement. 

Oh well, enough about that. Just to chime in quickly on the draft/trade discussions on the list, my basic problem with any of these scenarios is that I don't trust this crew (meaning Pitino & his supportin cast) to do anything right. Unless some obvious choice falls to them at #11 a la Pierce, they'll likely botch the selection. And we *know* that the other GMs will get the better of Pitino in a trade, so that's not a good option either. The Lakers are within hours or, at most, days of winning their 12th  championship,  and we won't get a sniff of it until the mess from the Gavitt/Carr/Pitino days is cleaned up. And to think we were in the same boat just 6 years ago... Every year that goes by with Pitino as the coach/president/client of the club is another year(at least!)  we're removed from building a contender. On that cheery thought, I'll sign off. 
Kestas