Re: misc

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

I think chances are you are more right than I am on Courtney Alexander. But bear
in mind that as role players go, he canned only 33 percent of his college 3's
last year (45FG% overall). Nor has he made a big college effort on defense,
although he has great, great quickness. Basically in order to really shine, he's
going to have to be allowed to play "his game"-- which means slashing to the hoop
a lot, handling the ball a lot, and jacking up quite a few off balance
shots....kind of like Antoine, or Pierce. I'd still be happy if he falls to
number eleven because he now seems to have a "can't miss" talent/maturity
quotient (mostly talent), but two years ago we also thought we had finally solved
the "problem" of finding a three dependable scoring options in Toine, Mercer and
Pierce.  Yet instead of Boston leading the NBA in overall team scoring as some of
us predicted, we instead had Mercer lead all shooting guards in FG attempts per
game. Pierce spent half the season moping around and Toine and nearly everyone
else shot at any opportunity that presented itself. That in a nutshell is how
shaky team chemistry can be on young teams...one unselfish, talented player can
make a world of difference in terms of making his teammates know that if they
pass the ball they might actually get it back.

Also, a lot of super-talented players who are also good with words and say "all
the right things" in team interviews start to think they can get away with
murder. I've always preferred misanthropes like Bird, Orr, Bill Russell, Nomar.
I'll give Courtney Alexander the benefit of the doubt, but he's done some bad
things (who else do you know that would beat up a pregnant young girl?) and I
certainly hope he doesn't feel that a little smooth talking and the fact that he
is a ROY type talent makes everything better. I don't want to end on a sour note.
I know FAR less about his character than the people who give him these grueling
interviews.  I'm not talking about a Slam (try Softball?) interview but the ones
that NBA team officials and psychologists do on individual players. :-)

Go Celts!!

--------


Thndrblt31@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 6/22/00 1:16:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> j.hironaka@unesco.org writes:
>
> << Courtney Alexander seems to be winning people over in interviews and
>  is a great talent, but I'm worried that Antoine or Pierce's continued
>  development as unselfish, pass-first players would revert to business as
>  usual if we add another shoot-first, think-later reputed gunner like
>  Alexander. To the extent that he is an early ROY candidate, it's because
>  everyone knows he's going to jack up a lot of shots and score a high
>  number of points.
>
>      But when Tark the Shark says Coutney Alexander is the best player he
>  ever coached (Rider, LJ etc.) that's still quite an endorsement. I doubt
>  he will be there at eleven. It could as easily be Tsak. >>
>
> Who can really say if Alexander will be the selfish gunner he is reputed to
> be if the Celtics drafted him?  I recently read an article about him in Slam
> magazine and it seems he has really changed himself as a player and a person.
>  On the right team, he could be a gunner, but he could easily come here and
> just be a money guy like Glen Rice on the Lakers (only on offense I hope).
> Rice doesn't score as much as he used to, but give him the ball and he's
> automatic most of the time.
>
> -= thndr =-