RE: Kenny Anderson

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 02:11 PM 11/8/00 -0500, OzerskyJA wrote:
>This is a pretty reasonable and judicious post, and one that makes me
>think.  Still, how much in the way of point guard instincts/offensive talent
>does it take to throw the ball downcourt instead of dribbling it, or to run
>a three-on-two break?  Or any break?  When I watch the Celtics run a
>half court offense that consists of getting one guy or another an open 
>jumper by moving the ball around the perimeter, I feel like even if we score
>we don't deserve to win.  A point guard has to get you some easy baskets.  

Well, there is a hierarchy of needs that the point guard satisfies. Yes,
Kenny doesn't do some things that we'd like him to. However, he takes care
of things that seem so simple that we take them for granted -- but are
beyond many would-be NBA point guards. For instance, you never see Kenny
terrified and struggling to dribble up the court against tough defensive
point guards like Mookie Blaylock. I remember Billups getting abused in
these situations several times. You never see Kenny get forced to pick up
the ball five feet beyond the 3-pt line and look desperate to get rid of
the ball, without any thought of starting the offense. But we did see
Barros playing like that.

Basically, I agree that there is a lot of room for improvement. But we
could also have someone a lot worse. Unless Herren proves that he can
handle the point guard duties right now, I'm happy to have Kenny, with as
many flaws as he has. I would love to see Herren turn us into a
fast-breaking, unselfish pass-happy team. I'm not ready to assume that he
will though -- not based on the one good game that he's played for us. As
Joe said, Kenny looked like he was going to revolutionalize our offense
when we first got him, and look where we're at now.

Alex