Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V7 #413

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 08:53 PM 11/2/00 +0100, Hironaka wrote:
>Since someone on the list recently mentioned Keon Clark, I'd point out my
fear
>of deja-vu-all-over-again concerning Moiso with back when Poultrino was
set to
>draft Keon Clark, until the Package was delivered into our laps (without any
>question in my mind, Keon Clark was the same type of player that Poultrino
would
>hype as "a Pierce level talent, one of the best, juiciest, moistest, headless
>chicken athletes I've ever seen in 20 years of coaching etc."). A lot of
people
>spoke about Clark the summer after he was drafted as a jaw-dropping talent,
>based on what he did behind closed doors in scrimmages. In fact he had a
better
>summer than Moiso had.

The thing is that Keon Clark really has come around to become a pretty
decent player. He averaged 8.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.41 bpg in 22.8 mpg off the
bench last year. He reportedly still has a questionable work though. The
thing to keep in mind is that we were drafting #10 in what was widely
considered an eight-player draft (with Nowitzki being the unknown ninth
player). There really was a dropoff in the talent after #9. I guess you
could say that I'm not that much of a Jason Williams fan and I would have
been happy drafting Clark over Williams. I don't see how anyone can
complain about Walker's decision making and praise Williams, who led the
NBA in 3pt shots attempted while shooting 29% from that range. The point
guard is the decision maker and frequently his decision seems to be to take
a pull-up 30 footer five seconds into the shot clock when he has Chris
Webber available underneath. I have a feeling that if he was playing for
Boston, we'd be pulling our hair out over his play. 

Guys like Clark and Moiso (and I would lump McGrady and Jermaine O'Neal
into this category also) definitely have a longer and more uncertain
transition to the NBA because they need to develop a lot of muscle and a
work ethic since they've generally been able to coast on their natural
talent. I remember thinking what a bad pick McGrady ended up being a few
years back. He seemed to have all this freakish athletic talent but no
clue, a bad attitude, seemed to be lazy and uncoachable. Now Clark and
Moiso may not have the talent that McGrady has, but they're the types of
gambles that are available in the low lottery. I've learned my lesson about
jumping to conclusions with these undeveloped freak athletes.

By the way, I'm hoping that Clark stinks big time this year. Keep your
fingers crossed for something like a #6 or #7 lottery pick from them.
Golden State plays them tonight and I hope that Fortson unleashes a 20-20
game on his former team.

Alex