re: Another opinion on the big issues of the day

[bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>]

> From: "Jim Meninno" <jam@london.com>
>
> You can look at the Moiso trade two ways.  You can say, well they were 
> lucky
> to get anything for Moiso.  [...]  You can also look at it and say, but 
> Moiso was the 11th pick in the draft just a year ago.  He should have 
> been worth more than that.  [...]  And you know what?  Both views are 
> true.

Yeah, this is absolutely true.  Moiso should have been worth more.  He had 
a bust of a first year, but lot's of guys do (Baron Davis and Jason Terry 
spring to mind from recent history) and then turn out to have productive 
careers.  At 11, you hope the guy can play right away, and that's not 
always been the case recently.  Moiso was a bad pick.  But he wasn't a bad 
gamble, necessarily.  6'11", length, athletic ability -- lot's of player 
do well with less potential than this.  Maybe the real mistake  in 
drafting him was that a gamble like this wasn't a good idea, given the 
team's situation and only having one pick that year.

What would be interesting to note would be the rest of Moiso's career.  If 
he washes out of the NBA, the real question might be, was it wasted 
potential or was the potential even there to begin with?  Just because a 
guy has certain athletic skills doesn't mean they translate well to a 
particular sport.  Or certain levels of that sport, I should say.

> As far as the real important issue of "How does this make Ray look?"  I 
> think
> you've got to admit that he was right from the start.  Jerome Moiso was a 
> poor
> draft pick for the Celtics.

Agreed, but I thought that the issue wasn't so much "drafting Moiso was a 
mistake" as "the Celtics ought to move heaven or earth to acquire Courtney 
Alexander."  (Or Ernest Brown.  I get confused.)  Later, Mosio just became 
a good straw man to wield "Look at how much better Courtney Alexander is 
than the pick the Celtics drafted" against.

I'm still waiting for someone to say that Mosio was a bust because he was 
a lazy Carribean who probably smoked cannabis.  (Kidding, kidding.)

(The Celtic "Tird",
  Celticus "tirdius")