In praise of sluggish play

["Gene Kirkpatrick" <gkir@tjc.tyler.cc.tx.us>]

I don't know of a more important time to have a terrible game than
last night.  I was getting worried about too many wins in pre-season. 
We needed a loss and, in fact, two are better than one.  We're not as
good as Orlando, yet, and we're capable of being beaten by the worst
team in the league, Atlanta.  Those are good lessons before the season
begins.

I'm of the opinion that we will be ok.  That's not good enough, but
we will see real progress in ball movement, in defensive cohesion, and
in bench play.  I hope we see McCarty and Moiso on IR to start with. 
Blount & Carr are playing well enough to demand some time for now.  A
real injury (most likely to one of the pgs) will occur soon enough to
get Moiso into the action.  Now, I think we're better off with Moiso,
but Battie may do more out of sheer necessity to salvage his career at
this point.

The notion that we have only three players is both overstating and
understating the truth.  We have two plus two plus two, etc.  Anderson
will be better because of Brown and Herren and that one position will
make a big difference.  Blount aids the crucial shot-blocking area,
and Stith/Carr can add solid play.  Plus, AG is back.  Believe it:  he
makes the same difference that Brown and Herren make in ball movement.
 We'll see lots of 8, 6, 4, 2 games from Adrian and that's points,
rebounds, assists and steals.  He is Mr. Cohesion.  

Am I pumped, yet?

Gene