Re: KA & KA Jr.

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

The whole point is KA didn't and doesn't do what the Coach wants him to do
offensively or defensively. Now what would your boss do??????????????

Dan

At 12:31 PM 10/18/00 -0400, you wrote:
>I agrew with Joe that I just didn't see Kenny passing up assists to take
>shots, which is why I don't think of him as a "shoot first" point guard.
>He's averaged a bit over 12 points a game over his Boston career, which is
>probably below average for starting NBA point guards. The problem is that
>he's not a "pass first" point guard either. He's kind of a "safety first"
>point guard. He doesn't seem to take any chances and it means that he
>doesn't really create many opportunities. His number one option is not a
>shot for himself -- it seems to be the safe pass that doesn't create an
>easy opportunity for anybody. It's weird because the guy averaged 7-9
>assist per game earlier in his career. The low number of assists may very
>well be a product of Pitino's system, as Anderson has claimed. But if this
>is true, how the heck did Mark Jackson average 10 assists per game under
>Pitino? I don't remember what Pitino's coaching looked like back then but
>has he completely revamped his offensive system since his Knicks days?
>
>The thing is, as disappointing as Anderson is, the offense under him was
>still much much better than the offense under Barros or Overton. I'm a bit
>wary of trading him until we are sure that the other point guards can
>actually run the offense when Antoine is not having a good day.
>
>Alex
>
>At 05:25 PM 10/18/00 +0200, Hironaka wrote:
>>To the degree that Kenny's role last year was to take open jump shots off
the
>>pass (career high FG% as a result), avoid turnovers, and try to play the
best
>>defense he could and stay healthy (he played 82 games), I think he did his
>>"job". He filled roughly the same role as Brown filled in against Atlanta
>(minus
>>the 13 deflections), which is very different from the systems that allowed a
>>very talented dribbler to average as high as 9.6 assists and 16+ shot
>attempts
>>per game in the NBA.
>>
>>But if you've watched games last season and honestly saw Kenny regularly
>passing
>>up easy assist opportunities to jack up a jumpshot, or deliberately
>slowing down
>>a fast break opportunity, then as much as I'd like to believe that is true
>I'd
>>have to say you were watching from a different twilight zone. The Kenny I
saw
>>had very few genuine assist opportunities and also very few turnovers.
Like I
>>said, he was doing what it sounds like Brown was doing the other night,
>and what
>>Pitino demanded of him.
>>
>>Right now people seem to be stereotyping Kenny (a cancer, selfish etc.)
>rather
>>than somewhat more accurately as a guy who followed the Celts game plan
>for once
>>in good faith. The point is that what Kenny provided last season for
>Pitino was
>>still probably inadequate (because of defensive shortcomings), not that the
>>Celtics failed because of his selfishness or unwillingness to push the ball.
>>
>>Guess what, if Kenny could have his way I'd bet he'd LOVE to push the ball
>and
>>dribble the ball twice as long on every single possession like Jason
Williams
>>gets to.
>
>