A couple more points about Toine...

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

I really hate to talk in terms of stats, because seeing the whole Toine
experience is so much more convincing, but...

Toine is averaging 25 shot attempts per game. That's second in the league to
Nick Van Exel's 26. No one else is averaging as many as 23 shots per game.
Not Shaq. Not Kobe. Not Stackhouse. Not Jordan. Not McGrady. Not Vince. It's
been pointed out that Toine isn't the only one to have a tough shooting
night. True, but looking at the scoring leaders and going down to Toine's
position on the list (13), the next lowest FG percentage is Antawn Jamison's
.425. Toine is at .300.

Toine leads the league by a wide margin in 3-point attempts per game (10).
Ray Allen is next at 8.7, followed by Van Exel at 7.3, then Pierce at 6.2.
Does the fact that the only two players on the Boston team who draw a double
team are averaging 16 3-point attempts per game bother anyone else? Don't
you think most coaches breathe a sigh of relief when these guys make it easy
on the defense by launching from 25 feet?

Toine is averaging 4.5 free throw attempts per game. Only Jalen Rose and
Michael Finley average fewer among those top 13 scorers (4 per game) and
they are small forwards. 

OK, so is Antoine going to shoot .300 for the season? Of course not. The
point is there is no evidence to suggest he's suddenly going to become the
45 percent shooter and team-oriented player everyone keeps waiting for. It's
not going to happen. Only when that becomes apparent to our "braintrust" can
we move on.

Mark