No Subject

["j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Although there were several positives in the double B2Bs to start the year, 
overall I don't think they have reinforced our confidence that Boston is 
superior to even the weakest team. That is to say, even against weak 
opponents like the ones we are about to play over the coming two weeks, 
there's still no real sense that any of these games will be a cakewalk or a 
sure win.

The schedule ought to help a lot though. The spacing between the games is 
almost like a college basketball schedule, so there is lots of time to 
review game tapes and prepare strategies. We'll likely learn something 
about how much Obie/Harter's game preparation make a difference in how well 
we play.

None of Boston's next 8 opponents possess a winning record, but the 
Wizards, Pacers and Toronto have an identical record as ours.  Since there 
is also a lot of practice time available (12 full days off in the next 17 
days) this is a chance for the rookies to try to work their way back into 
the rotation, or for the two Erics to solidify major roles.

It all begins Wednesday night with the Wiz at home on national television. 
Walker last shot 12-19 in the preseason game against Jordan so let's hope 
he'll be able to use this challenge to get back on track again. Antoine 
really needs that sort of game to reduce the jitters of fans and seem less 
like a meathead. I'll be happy with 8-18 from the field or something like 
that. To me that's in the range of what Antoine can do fairly consistently.

The Wizards frankly have played as well or better than Boston to date, with 
wins over the injury-ravaged Sixers and the upstart Hawks. Yet on paper 
they look Horri-Bull (so do we, I suppose).

Popeye Jones (its great to see him doing well) is easily their leading 
rebounder at 9 per game, but they are getting outboarded by 3.0 per game. 
Popeye is one of four generic, seemingly zero-upside players handling the 
rebounding along with Ty Nesby, Jahidi White, and Etan Thomas. Christian 
Laettner also is part of that equation.

But aside from stepping up out of necessity as the teams' second rebounder, 
MJ's move to point guard was prompted by what seems like an even greater 
talent gap in this area. No one other than Jordan is averaging better than 
3.0 assists per game (that's Chris Whitney) and as a team, the Wiz are 
shooting  a poor .417 from the field.

Chris Whitney continues to impress (12.3ppg) as a shooting point. Their 
fourth go-to scorer is Laettner at 7.5 ppg but on an Antoine-esque .278 
shooting. I still cringe at the rumor last Spring that Dallas would take on 
Kenny and the three first round picks in exchange for Laettner's cap 
clearing contract. Luckily (for both teams probably), the Juwan Howard deal 
came together.

Two Wiz prospects are struggling for reasons that are not clear: Courtney 
Alexander is at 5.5 points per game thanks to .310 shooting and may be 
losing his place in the rotation, while Kwame Brown has played only 12 
minutes the entire season (scoring 2 points). I'm not sure what the deal is 
with Kwame. The guys who are getting his minutes are nothing to write  home 
about.

There's not much else of note on the Wiz roster (I guess I neglected to 
mention Rip Hamilton, but you probably know all about him from his U Conn 
days). Hamilton is shooting the ball really well and will need to be 
contained by JJ, Erick, Eric and Kedrick.

But once Jordan re-re-re-retires, its hard to imagine a more hopeless 
roster than what the Wiz have now. Then again, Kwame has not really had a 
chance to get out of the gate yet. I don't begrudge Jordan at all for 
coming back, but it almost surely comes at the cost of being able to draft 
Jason Williams or Yao Ming next spring.

-------

Here's the SI scouting report, to give you guys an early idea of what to 
look for in the game.

-Jahidi White is a mountain disguised as a basketball player. He takes up 
space, players bounce off him, but he can't handle the ball. ...

-I like Kwame Brown . He's a natural four with a perimeter game, he can put 
the ball on the floor, he's quick and explosive with a sense of poise, and 
he has none of the pressure of being the No.1 pick because the focus is 
entirely on Michael Jordan . Still, it's going to take three years before 
he really gets it. The only high school player I can remember playing well 
as a rookie was Moses Malone. ...

-Courtney Alexander thinks he's really good. He has to be brought down a 
peg, but it's easier to do that with a talented guy like Alexander than it 
is to bring along a guy like Brendan Haywood , who has a reputation for 
having a poor work ethic.

-Jordan got beat a few times in the preseason because he was trying to help 
out on defense so much. You look at the old rosters, and he was surrounded 
by a better team when he came to Chicago as a rookie.

-But he gives the Wizards a go-to scorer who knows how to win in the last 
two minutes, and he's going to get calls. Those are qualities you don't 
usually find in developing teams.

-The other bubble teams -- Boston, Detroit, Atlanta -- have better players 
overall, but they don't have anyone who has shown anything like the 
leadership of Jordan. If he can get this team into the playoffs, it would 
be like winning a championship with his former team. I think he's going to 
do it."

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