----- Original Message ----- From: Shailendra MishraIf that was the case then we should have drafted Tracy McGrady instead of Ron Mercer. Now what do you think. - Shailendra
David A Wickerham <aw623@freenet.buffalo.edu> wrote:
Maybe its wishful thinking, but I'm beginning to think that it was CW who
was the real talent evaluator. At least I'm hoping that's true.
I think Wallace/Papile evaluated the talent and Rick made the decisions. I don't think Rick had time to truly evaluate talent, at least not during the season when most of the trades were being researched. I'm sure he looked at tape, but the bulk of the work would have been done by Wallace and Papile.
So, what does that mean for the team now? Well, I happen to think that Wallace and Papile do a fine job of talent evaluation. As others have mentioned, they always seem to be in love with some player that turns out to be better than we thought he was. The problem is that they never get those guys. They always end up settling for Kenny Anderson, Danny Fortson, Vitaly Potapenko... So, like I said, I don't think it's their talent evaluation that is the problem here. I think it's been their ability to get the players that they judge to be worth getting. And, just as important, do they have an overall vision to get this team to contention? We know Rick Pitino had a vision, and we know it failed miserably, but what do these guys believe in? I had no problem with keeping Wallace and Papile in the organization, but I can't say I'm convinced that Wallace is capable of being the man in chage of returning the Boston Celtics to glory. And, make no mistake, this is a critically important off-season for the team. Scary.
I can hear a lot of people asking, "if they're so good at evaluating talent, what about Moiso?". Well, my opinion of their talent evauation makes me believe there's more to Moiso than we've seen yet. If he's a bust, at least they took a chance at getting someone who could make an impact instead of the assortment of mediocre shooting guards that were available. Besides, that pick had Pitino written all over it. A friend at work asked me before the draft who the Celtics would pick and, I just knew that Rick would go for the 6'10" beanpole athlete.
Jim