Re: Clancy

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

I love the way Sam Clancy plays, but just have real concerns about his size.
Weatherspoon isn't a bad comparison. I've been trying to come up with
another name and haven't had much luck. He's at the opposite end of the
spectrum from a guy like Gerald Wallace... Wallace has all the physical
tools and ideal size for his position, but very limited basketball skills...
Clancy has great power forward skills-he rebounds, has a (gasp!) low-post
game, can hit the face up shot from 15 feet, but he lacks about two inches
(my wife might say the same thi.. uh, never mind). He really has a rugged
body, though, and seems like an intelligent player. The difference in
drafting is what you hope for... with Wallace, you're hoping he develops
that perimeter game to go with his physical ability, because if he does he
could be a star. If he doesn't, he could be Harold Miner... With Clancy,
you're probably drafting him because he can step in as a low-post scoring
threat off the bench and probably have a long career, but never be an
all-star. Wallace is the high-risk dot-com stock, Clancy is IBM (I hope that
isn't dated... I'm no stock expert). I wouldn't be disappointed at all if he
landed with the Celts at 21, because teams could do a lot worse than picking
up a reliable, role-playing, low-post player that late in the draft.

As for the Papile remarks... I just really doubt that he has any idea what
kind of trade discussions Wallace is having. I don't know... I wonder about
Papile. He's one of those AAU guys and that whole level of basketball seems
so strange and shady. He was a Pitino crony. Probably good to have on the
staff for his familiarity with the high school circuit, but I question his
scouting chops. The guy thought Adonal Foyle might be as good as Tim Duncan,
if I remember correctly. Anyway, I feel fairly certain the Celts are
actively trying to move up to get one of the Brown, Curry, Griffin, Gasol
group. If they can't get one of those guys, they fall back to "best
available" and wait to see who is there from the Diop/Chandler/Johnson
group.

Mark