Re: Globe C-Notes

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

Jim Meninno wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----- From: Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>
>
> > Notable news from the Boston Globe: Bryant Stith could end up being a
> > starter (wow), says May. He's ten pounds lighter and healthy for the
> > first time in years. Pierce might play on Friday.
>
> That wouldn't surprise me at all, Joe.  Stith looked like he's going to be
> just the sort of player that Pitino likes, once he learns the funky chicken.
> He looked as good as Bowen or Cheaney defensively, and has to be better
> offensively.  He's an aggressive, in-your-shirt defender, rather than the
> sly, quick hands of a Griffin.

If "Kobe" Bryant Stith can play good heads-up Funky Chicken strutting defense,
then the whole Ron Mercer trade merry-go-round looks even better than before,
considering that it was a desperation trade (Denver 1st rounder, Utah 1st
rounder, Eric Williams, Stith, Chris Herren for Mercer plus throw-ins
Popeye&Cheaney). Like many of you I'm always looking out for any sign that the
Leprechaun is back, and I hope this is one of them. I have my fingers crossed on
those two draft picks (we'll need them).

Stith's great strengths are that he averaged over 13ppg in 18 playoff
appearances (over two points above his career average) and is a career .840FT
shooter. Impressively, he graduated from Virginia as the second leading
rebounder in team history.

I've always viewed Stith as one of those average athlete, NBA overachievers in
the Kevin Gamble, Greg Minor, Blue Edwards mold. Every year you have around a
dozen 6-5 college seniors with what seem like equal or better credentials than
Bryant Stith filling out the second round of the NBA draft, yet few if any make
it.

For example, how many of the following 6-5-ish NCAA stars last year will have
any shot of a Bryant Stith type NBA career coming out of the Y2K draft:   Mark
Karcher, Michael Redd, Chris Carrawell, Eric Coley, Lavor Postell, Johnnie
Hemsley, Eduardo Najera, Pete Mickael, Kevin Freeman, Chris Porter, Jerryl
Sasser, Schea Cotton, Bootsie Thornton, Gonzaga's Richie Frahm, Weber State's
Harold Arceneaux, Texas' Gabe Muoneke and of course UCLA's JaRon Rush. All these
guys were stars and NCAA household names, but only four got first round
guaranteed contracts (Mike Miller, Quentin Richardson, Desmond Mason and
prepster DeShawn Stevenson) and none of them are a sure thing either.

You have to give credit to guys like Adrian Griffin for rising out of such a
crowded field through their work ethic, dedication and superior court sense.

And when you look at the depth of talent in American basketball, it makes it
seem all the more shameful how Team USA performed in the Olympics. I think the
US should unilaterally send an under-23 team to the next Olympics. This would
make up for the phenomenon of early entry into the NBA draft, which IMO is the
principal reason that the rest of the world seemed to catch up to US collegiate
basketball in the late 1980s (so few NBA-caliber college seniors to provide
experience on these teams, due to early entry). Another idea is to have an
under-23 team plus three overage players, like they do with Olympic soccer.

Joe

p.s. Something non-basketball that has irked me recently is the decision of the
4X100 Olympic sprint team to effusively apologize to the American public this
weekend for their behavior upon winning the gold, after reportedly receiving
hundreds of sometimes racist e-mail and letters. The decision of US track and
field officials to set new rules on how you can celebrate a victory is the
modern day equivalent of banning the dunk shot in basketball. In France--a
country that normally has a knee-jerk disgust of "USA, USA!" jingoism--the tv
coverage couldn't seem to get enough of the 4X100 relay team's raucous,
hilarious celebrating (and anything involving Marion Jones). People over here
seemed to think it was the coolest, sexiest thing they had ever seen. For once
it made Americans seem like appealing and interesting people to the Frenchies.

****