RE: My fear...

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

Josh,

Your sentiment about Jason Williams is a really extreme. The college
experience, especially that on a athletic star like Williams, is certainly
about more than just the coursework (that he could make up in the
offseason, as you suggest). And he's already financially secure for the
rest of his life, probably -- I believe that universities are allowed to
take out multimillion dollar injury insurance policies on behalf of top
prospects, so that they don't feel forced to enter the draft solely to
guarantee their financial security against a freak career ending injury
while they're in school. If the guy wants to stay in school, shoot for
college player of the year, and finish his education, he should be
applauded in my opinion, not hated. Even if it hurts the Celtics' draft
this year.

As for packaging our picks to move up in the draft: It seems really common
in the NFL, but pretty rare in the NBA, where quality generally rules. We
have seen some package deals recently, though -- Milwaukee moving up to
take Pryzbilla last year and Traylor in the 98 draft. So maybe it's possible.

Alex

At 03:51 PM 4/19/01 -0400, OzerskyJA wrote:
>My fear is that we get stuck with only middling 
>talent in the draft and via free agency.  I can't 
>believe some team with a pick somewhere in 
>the 4-7 area wouldn't want to pick up two
>lotto picks and/or Vitaly Potatpenko for their
>pick.  I absolutely hate that that little Jason Williams
>is such a mama's boy.  Could Duke suck any more?
>Yeah, he has to get a degree before he declares.
>WHY?  Didn't he ever hear of taking classes in the
>offseason?  Anyway, it's not like he's ever going to have
>to find a job; once you're drafted, you are financially
>secure for ten generations.  I almost feel like it would
>serve him right to break his foot and end up being picked
>at the end of the first round.