RE: Re: C's mentioned in trade-up, etc....

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

Good stuff Joe. On Moiso, let's just say I wouldn't be counting on him. I'm
not ready to write him off, but I certainly wouldn't consider him as a
foundation in whatever the Celts are trying to build next season.

I agree with you on the big guys. Like you, I like Loren Woods the least of
all those guys, but the points made on the list about Woods' size at draft
time as compared to Mutombo's are fairly revealing. Also, when you watch him
he looks like Camby in the way he moves. A Marcus Camby certainly would be a
find at 10 (although Woods doesn't play with the energy of Camby). I also
believe in virtually any other year guys like Haywood, Randolph and Chandler
would be locks to go in the top five. Suddenly they could be sitting there
at 10 and the Celts could have their choice of the best two. It's so hard to
compare players at different positions and how their games will translate.
Will Chandler be David Robinson or Jerome Moiso? Will Haywood be Robert
Parish or Eric Montross? Will Joe Johnson be Lamar Odom or Walt Williams?
Will Pau Gasol be Dirk Nowitzki or Mirsad Turkan? We all have our opinions.
I will say this... big men have more innate value than swingmen. A guy like
Antonio Davis-a nice player, but no all-star-is going to get the max this
summer. Meanwhile, a swingman like Ron Mercer-a nice player, but no
all-star-had to be bailed out by a desperate Jerry Krause last year in order
to get anything above the $2 mil exception. Big men who can play are hard to
find, and for that reason alone I think this is a critical draft for the
Celts. 

One more thing... I have an easier time trusting Wallace to identify talent
than I do trusting him to identify the Celtics' needs. I know it all could
be BS, but the comments about being comfortable with the center rotation and
"Antoine is our power forward" scare the hell out of me. Joe Forte? They're
a dime a dozen in the NBA.

Mark

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	j.hironaka [mailto:j.hironaka@unesco.org] 
Sent:	Thursday, May 31, 2001 1:05 PM
To:	celtics@igtc.com; berrym@BATTELLE.ORG
Subject:	Fwd: Re: C's mentioned in trade-up, etc....


>Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 12:16:32 -0400
>From: "Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
>Subject: Re: C's mentioned in trade-up, etc....
>To: "'celtics@igtc.com'" <celtics@igtc.com>
>
>and one more
>thing... let's give Moiso this season before we give up on him. And can we
>once and for all stop lumping every tall, thinly built young player in as
>"another Moiso." Do any of us really believe Moiso didn't contribute this
>year because of his size or strength? He didn't contribute because he
wasn't
>aggressive enough. It has nothing to do with his stature. A guy can be
>passive at 6-8 just as easily as at 7-0.

Point taken, Mark. Not that that's what you're getting at, but I don't 
think we should discount drafting a center-forward type, including another 
thin & tall one like him, just because Poodle Boy is already on the roster.

It could easily just be a bluff, but the Celtics' public positions seems to 
be that they are already deep at the power forward and center positions. 
Are you holding your breath waiting for Moiso to unleash his inner poodle 
next season? The guy is a 7-foot baguette in gym shorts.

Over time I think people will recognize this may be a rare opportunity to 
get a talented big man after the single-digit picks are off the board. The 
fact that Haywood, Woods, Zach Randolph and Tyson Chandler could all be 
there at #10 illustrates this point. I'm not sure Loren Woods is any less 
talented than a past top-three pick like Gumby or Kandi-girl, and Woods is 
actually the guy I least like among the four names I listed.

Joe


----