RE: Antoine's moves

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 08:37 AM 1/29/01 -0500, OzerskyJA wrote:
>well, obviously, you can't "develop" athleticism -- if you could,
>Vitaly Potapenko would be an all-star, etc.  

I don't believe this is true. Different people have different levels of
potential. While Vitaly may be a hopeless case in terms of his jumping,
that doesn't necessarily translate to Antoine. There are definitely
examples of athletes who have gotten into great shape and improved their
athleticism and all-around game. I think that this is certainly more
possible with Antoine, who I don't think has worked hard on his body yet
shows good quickness, as opposed to Vitaly who evidently tears up the
weight room.

>But I still think Alex
>underrates Antoine's work down low.  I still say there are very few
>single defenders that can handle him down there.  I saw him score
>on KG on multiple possessions on the box when the wolves were in
>town, and we've all seen him to the same to Malone, Oakley, Horace
>Grant, and other strong defenders.  There are a few guys he's no match
>for, mostly center types like Duncan and Ratliff, but that's no knock
>against him. 

I understand what Josh is talking about. He sometimes has very good games
against very good defenders. But he's very inconsistent. When he can bring
it just about every night, at a high percentage, like Malone or Webber,
then he'll be a great low post player. And he'll be a truly fearsome
overall offensive player.

>It would be nice to see him wheel around and dunk on
>two guys, like I saw Jermaine O'Neal do yesterday -- but I think you'll
>see that Jermaine won't be able to shut Twon down when we play the
>Pacers monday.  He might block twon two or three times, but he'll also
>foul him, and get scored on too.  That's my bet.

Well, I would settle for him dunking on one guy. Just a little bit of lift
would improve his percentage quite a bit, I would think. When you see
Webber get the ball close to the basket, you know that it's pretty much
over because at some point he can just tomahawk it. With Antoine, you're
never quite sure until it goes into the basket.

My opinion is that Antoine shoots too low of a 2-pt percentage, and doesn't
go to the line enough, to be considered a great low post player. He's good
enough to have a good day against just about everyone but on average
doesn't produce well enough. Part of that is poor decision making but part
of it is just physical limitations. He's at a level below the elite power
forwards -- Malone, Webber, Garnett, Wallace -- but it's not a bad place to
be.

Alex