Re: Nazr vs. Battie.

["Jim Meninno" <jam@london.com>]

----- Original Message ----- From: "j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>

> First off, welcome back from London, El Jimbo. Just for the record, I'm
NOT
> advocating signing Mohammed, nor have I gone out and said we should
before.

Thanks, Joe, and sorry for the misunderstanding.  I'm mystified by the
attention Mohammed is getting this off-season, and think he's being vastly
overrated.

> This whole thread started because Mark and I felt that Wallace/O'Brien
> shouldn't behave on an assumption that the free agent market is off limits
> because of spending edicts (sign-and-trade solves this) or that Boston
> couldn't possibly improve around the edges without involving the two
> captains or the rookies in a trade.

I agree that the team is in serious need of an upgrade in the middle and the
only way that's going to happen right now is through trades.  I'm not
convinced that, because we're not hearing rumors, that means there isn't
anything going on, though.  Maybe they make a trade, and maybe they don't,
but I don't believe for a minute that they're not even considering any.  If
the best they can come up with is Mohammed, though, I'd just as soon see
them stand pat.

Re: Sign and trades.  Aren't they also problematic because the signed player
normally gets BYC restrictions?

> My larger point is that if the Celtics don't rebound the basketball next
> season, they will lose period (no amount of success by the rookies is
going
> to stem that).
> ........
> Chris Wallace ought to be working to find a guy who can consistently get 9
> or 10 boards playing alongside Walker. I believe this would add 5 or even
> 10 wins to Boston's total next year, because this team can already put
> enough points on the board.

Going by last year's form, if you give Battie and Potapenko roughly 24
minutes each, they'll pull down about 15 boards between them.  I'm not sure
why that's worse than having a starter get 10 and a backup 5.  Mark Blount
is another story.

My own opinion is that the Celtics are hurting for low post scoring and
defense far more than rebounding from their big men.  If they found a solid
post defender, those guys are generally pretty good rebounders anyway, so
that's what I'd be looking for.

> Or they really love Battie's "upside". This guy is very talented and he
> isn't entirely under-productive or "El Busto" either. But if he continues
> to mail in so many games he plays in, as I illustrated in my earlier post,
> then he doesn't deserve to be wearing a Boston Celtics uniform.

I was hoping my last post would convince you that he didn't 'mail in' many
games last year.  Almost all of those very poor games came at the end of the
season, when he was trying to get back from the injury and was only playing
a handful of minutes.  My recollection of him before the injury was that he
had improved his consistency greatly, despite getting dissed by losing the
starting job to Vitaly, who was playing absolutely awfully at the start of
the year.  I have no idea if he'll come back with the same attitude, but I
think he deserves some credit for last year.  They certainly need him to
play like he did before getting hurt, and for Vitaly to play like he did in
the second half of the season.  Remember what an animal he became on the
offensive glass?

Jim