Re: Houston, we have a problem?

["Jim Meninno" <jim_meninno@hotmail.com>]

>From: "Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>
>Hey Joe,
>
>You raise a very interesting point. I've had to ponder this question a
>while. Thanks for raising this question and in answering it I'll also
>explain why I think Houston for Walker actually favors the Cs.

Thomas,

You make it sound like a team can be successful with a bunch of one skill 
players, as long as that one skill is strong enough.  Well, we'll have 
Houston to shoot, Childs to pass, Fortson to rebound, hopefully someone else 
to play defense, and all will be great.  What's Pierce's one great skill?  
Or Vitaly's?  Do we have to trade them too?  I don't think it works that way 
at all.  Like you said, one exceptional player is worth several good 
players.  And the exceptional players are the ones who can do several things 
very well, preferably including some aspect of defense.  You casually 
dismiss Antoine's skills by saying he doesn't shoot well and only dribbles 
and passes well for his position.  Well, scorers don't have to be shooters, 
and if Antoine sticks to his strengths he has proven he's capable of being a 
plenty efficient, all-star calibre, scorer.  He's a good rebounder, period.  
No, his dribbling is not as good as a point guard's, but it certainly adds 
all sorts of possibilities to the team.  It is not Antoine's ability to 
bring the ball up the court that is important, although the fact that he can 
do this and other teams don't even bother to try to pressure him shows you 
what they think of his ball handling abilities.  The real value of this 
skill is his ability to beat his man and create offensive openings for 
himself and, using his passing ability, others.  Regarding his passing, I'd 
say he's already exceptional, regardless of position, when he remembers to 
do it.  And that's the only real problem with Antoine, isn't it?  He's got 
all of these exceptional talents that he proves time and time again he can 
dominate with, but he keeps straying away from the most effective ways to 
use them.  I'll grant you that I don't think Antoine's on the verge of being 
a "top 5" player.  You've got Shaq, Duncan, Hill, Iverson, Webber and others 
who are all pretty young.  Antoine would need to add some credible D to leap 
up into that league.  But we're talking about Alan Houston here.  You 
graciously credit Houston by saying that his scoring is underrated because 
he hasn't had to carry the load for a team, but he could just as easily wilt 
under the additional defensive attention he would see night after night.  I 
know a lot of people don't like this name brought up, but isn't Houston just 
Ron Mercer with a little more range, a little more poise, a little more of 
just about everything except rebounding and passing?  Yes, those little bits 
make him a significantly better player than Mercer, but not better than we 
could have reasonably expected Mercer to become, I don't think.  These are 
not the type of players to build a team around, which is what you're talking 
about if you're trading Antoine.  Unless you think this is Paul Pierce's 
team?

I guess this is all just a very long way of saying that if you're just 
looking for a sharpshooter (and the Celtics could certainly use one) you 
shouldn't need or want to give up Antoine Walker to get him.  Now, if 
Antoine can just show up in October in shape to play like he did the last 
couple of months of last season, I don't think we have any more 
conversations about trading him for Alan Houston.

Jim
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