Re: Mark Berry's fears (and other notes... Khalid!)

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 09:49 AM 7/19/01, Berry, Mark  S wrote:
>I hope you're right, Josh, and you certainly could be. I'm just taking a
>more conservative approach to expectations of our rookies. I'm trying to
>imagine how Bryant Stith would look in the same summer league
>situation-probably pretty similar to Joe Johnson.

Even if this is the case, I would think that Joe Johnson would improve from 
where he is now, going through the rest of the summer league, veteran's 
training camp, the preseason, and the season itself.

On the other hand, even if Johnson is a better NBA player than Stith, it 
doesn't necessarily translate into more wins. When we added Paul Pierce, I 
would have thought we'd go from a 36 win team to a 45 win team, but we went 
the other way due in part to poor chemistry. One thing about Stith is that 
he has proven chemistry with Antoine and Pierce, because he plays good 
defense, spots up fairly well from the 3 point line, and makes smart plays 
in general. I would project Johnson to have pretty good chemistry too, 
because he seems to have 3 point range, has more length and athleticism on 
the defensive end, seems to play unselfishly, has ballhandling skills, and 
good basketball IQ - but it remains to be seen whether it's really the case.

Now if Stith comes back, the question to consider is whether Joe Johnson 
would be an upgrade over Eric Williams. I think the answer's pretty easy in 
this case. I can see why the Celtics' brass would want Stith to come back 
though. More veteran depth at that position, especially early in the season 
while the rookies adjust.

Alex