Re: Thoughts on the deals/celtics

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Alexander Wang wrote:

> At 11:05 AM 2/26/01 +0100, Hironaka wrote:
> >Kenny Anderson is 31-years-old, loves to dribble, and is a defensive
> liability.
> >Mark Jackson turns 36 next month, loves to dribble, and is a defensive
> >liability. Both could have been good additions for a deep playoff run on the
> >right team, and Kenny is a legitimate NYC legend (and the last NBA player
> before
> >Walker to score over 40 points and 10 assists in a game). I wonder if Chris
> >Wallace even bothered to ask if the Knicks had any interest?
>
> Mark Jackson is averaging 9 assists per game. Kenny Anderson is averaging
> 4. The fact that they both 'love to dribble" hardly makes them identical
> players. Beyond that Kenny Anderson makes about twice as much as Jackson.
> Based on Kenny's year so far, I don't see how he could have possibly been
> moved.
>
> >You'd think the front office would at least say "hey we tried nonstop from
> every
> >angle but everything fell through."
>
> Even if they had been trying nonstop, what benefit they have in announcing
> that? It would purely be some sort of public relations ploy to try to
> appeal to fans while probably hurting the morale of the team.

    My point is that management probably should not behave on the assumption that
Boston fans are well happy with the status quo. I don't believe fans are saying
it would have been easy or even possible to make a beneficial trade for the team.
But it could be construed by at least some as insulting if management played a
"let's not mess with what's working approach" spin on us. In the end, this is the
Boston Celtics after all and not some kind of expansion team.  We're 7-games
under .500, 2-games out of the playoffs, have a roster liberally sprinkled with
zero talent aside from the two young stars, and yet we're supposed to accept this
tone.

    Celtics fan expectations were probably for one (or better both) of the
following: 1) add a veteran who could  help the two captains in a legitimate run
for the 8th seed playoff seed; or 2) push hard to move some legitimately bad
contracts onto a contender so that Boston can one day have the maneuverability to
restock for a championship run in the future. It was Rich Pond's tone of
complacency, and implicit assumption that fans would agree with him, that I view
as somewhat offensive and out-of-tune with knowledgeable fans, not the fact that
no trades were actually consummated (I can live with that).

    You raise the morale issue, but a few of these guys deserve to be traded off
the Celtics. You have three guys actually shooting under 30% from the field
(Herren, Griffin, McCarty) and three more still stuck well under 40% (Eric
Wiliams, Kenny Anderson and Jerome Moiso). I'm not at all advocating trading
anyone for nothing, but Herren, Moiso and possibly Griffin all for one reason or
another may have a greater trade value than is merited based on their production.
Throw such names in with a late first round draft pick and, who knows, maybe a
Bryant Stith level contributor could have been had.

Joe

p.s. Others may have thoughts on this, and we'll get our answer eventually, but
I'm wondering if Mark Jackson's playing style suits the chemistry of the Knicks.
These guys each like to have equal time handling the ball and doing their own
thing, much like on our team with our own two would be Allstars. And the Knicks
also need to play great team defense to have a chance to win against elite teams.
Having said that, it still would have been interesting to see if Mark Jackson
could have helped Pitino win in Boston just as he was really the key when they
were together in NY. I have a feeling things would have been different if we had
a proven point guard like that running the offense from the start. Maybe Antoine
and friends really were a bit too young to be given the keys to the car.

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