comments on May's column

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Kestas wrote:

Mark Berry offered Randolph's performance as an example that summer leagues
shouldn't be taken seriously.  I, on the other hand, would posit that
perhaps it's due less to the quality of of summer league play and more to
Zach Randolph's abilities. Should we have taken him in lieu of Forte?  I
guess we'll see in a few months.
------------

That's not exactly the point I was trying to make by pointing out Randolph's
numbers. I agree that Randolph was a steal for the Blazers. You might
remember that I was pushing for him early in the draft process, before it
became apparent that the Celts had no interest.

Anyway, the gist of your comment is correct. I think Randolph is going to be
a player... but I don't think that because of what he did in summer league
play. Jeff McInnis had a 50-point game in a summer league. My point was guys
like Randolph, Joe Johnson, (and Moiso, but that's another subject) should
dominate summer leagues because they are superior talents... and that
happens every year. But very few of those summer league stars end up doing
the same things when the real games start. These guys are going to have
20-point nights, but they're going to follow them up with 3-point nights.
That's the way it almost always works with rookies. To expect anything more
based on strong summer league play is overly optimistic.

Mark