RE: The man in the middle

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

excellent points, Jim.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Jim Meninno [SMTP:Jim_Meninno@hotmail.com]
> Sent:	Friday, February 09, 2001 10:39 AM
> To:	celtics@igtc.com
> Subject:	Re: The man in the middle
> 
> ---- Original Message ----- From: OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>
> 
> > what I don't understand, Joe, is if V is providing us with scoring
> > and rebounding, why demote him to scrap minutes behind Tony
> > Battie?  I think Tony should have to earn minutes away from Vitaly,
> > who as you say has become a major anchor for us in the middle.
> > (though I cringed when he blew that dunk vs. the bucks.)
> 
> One thing I think we need to remember is that Tony Battie was playing
> extremely well before he got hurt.  As well and as consistently as anyone
> on
> the team, in fact.  Playing the way he did for those 30 games, he gives
> you
> nearly as much shotblocking as Blount and as good offense as Potapenko.
> His
> rebounding was better than either guy's too.  Consider the following
> stats:
> 
> Battie Ranks #12 in the NBA in Blocks Per 48 Minutes(3.42)
> Blount Ranks #5 in the NBA in Blocks Per 48 Minutes(4.23)
> 
> Battie 7.2 rpg in 26.2 min
> Potapenko 5.0 rpg in 22.7 min
> 
> Battie 8.3 ppg on .553 shooting
> Potapenko 7.4 ppg on .475 shooting
> 
> In short, he's the only one of the three who can block shots, rebound AND
> score.  While I like what I've seen from Blount, at this stage he is not a
> very good rebounder and a poor offensive player.  He's shown potential and
> was a great pickup, but he still needs work, especially on his offense.
> Vitaly has a very useful offensive game with his short jumpers, but Battie
> can also knock those down and has more of a close to the basket game.  V
> has
> been a terror on the board for the last few weeks, but I don't see his
> minutes slipping when Battie comes back.  Another thing about V is that
> his
> hands seem to have improved lately.  He's developed this knack of knocking
> the entry pass away from the man he's guarding and just generally seems
> invigorated.  Could be the extra playing time with Battie down, or the
> head
> being put back on the chicken, but it's sure been a welcome sight.  If any
> of the big men have to sit, it will have to be Blount.
> 
> Jim