Re: Rookie watch

["Orion" <johnlyell@hotmail.com>]

I saw Tony Parker the other night and he looked real good at the point
position. Was he available when we took Forte?

 position----- Original Message -----
From: "JB" <jbmetzea@yahoo.com>
To: "Celtic's Stuff" <Celticsstuffgroup@yahoogroups.com>; "Celtics @
igtc.com" <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 4:39 AM
Subject: Re: Rookie watch


>    Joe; I love your efforts at bringing us the "Rookie watch." Thank you.
>    While we all have heard that; hindsight is better than foresight, on
most
> days; we are particularly interested in this years draft class because of
> the unorthodox pick of Kedrick Brown and the ballyhoo of taking the best
> players available instead of picking for positional need..
>    There were two players Tinsley and Murphy, who most pollsters figured
the
> C's would take at 11. These were both players who filled a need and knew
how
> to play basketball. Instead we went for the athletic kid (just like last
> year) and filled no needs. Ironically, if we had taken Murphy with the 11
> pick, we could have had Tinsley at 21.
>    I don't want to say that Forte is a bust or Kedrick Brown won't be the
> next Tracy McGrady, but it does seem we would be a lot better team with
the
> fore mentioned players.
>   Can anyone tell me why Forte has been disabled? He had a breakout game
> against Cleveland and then he is forgotten. Did he take too many shots?
> Rookies aren't supposed to do that you know. Will Walker and Pierce
complain
> to the coach about Joe Johnson? Will Johnson be the next victim of
"Helenic
> flu?"  as punishment for stealing thunder?
>    I missed the NJ and Bucks game, so I'm a little behind the learning
> curve, but it seems from the posts that Walker has lowered his head to the
> ground and is taking more of the play making  away from Anderson. For much
> of the preseason, under Anderson's floor leadership, the team was running
> and Walker was moving the ball around. Why has that stopped?
>    George Karl has thrown down the coaching gauntlet. This is O'Brien's
> challenge. He has helped create the concept that it is a star driven team,
> that Walker and Pierce have the ordained right shoot as much as they like.
> If he wants to be an NBA coach for more than a short run, he will have to
> teach them that passing and team play is the key to success.
>    Imho, Walker's poor 2 point % results from trying to create his offense
> too far from the basket, another drawback from his setting up outside. He
> wants so badly to be a Kobe Bryant type player, with that quick first step
> and that high slam finish, but he just can't get up like that and his
drives
> start from way too far out for his agility level.
>    The team needs a low post threat in the half court. If Antoinabee

would
> set up down low, as Pitino tried to get him to:
>    1. He could be effective scoring, or passing out of the double teams
that
> would have to come. He could also score on putbacks of offensive rebounds,
> which we haven't seen since Fortson limped out of town.
>    2. Anderson would be able to control the offense and get shots for our
> centers and any player who decides to come off a pick or cut to the
basket.
>    3. Johnson, Forte and Strickland would be able to create a bit in the
> half court and all are unselfish, can pass and will shoot a much higher %
> than Walker.
>
>
>
>                  JB
>
>
>
>
> Unchain My Heart!
>
>
>
> on 11/5/01 5:02 AM, j.hironaka at j.hironaka@unesco.org wrote:
>
> Joe Johnson (12.0 ppg, .576FG%) ranks among the NBA leaders in several
> interesting categories, notably #3 in assists to turnover (10 : 1). Its a
> bit of a statistical fluke, since he's averaging just one assist every 11+
> minutes (remarkably, Paul Pierce currently ranks just seventh on the team
> in assists).
>
> So don't annoint him our point forward yet (someday I hope), but he's off
> to a solid, near Rookie of the Month type start, just like Paul Pierce and
> Adrian Griffin before him.
>
> Among the top rookies, Kedrick and Forte aren't the only ones waiting in
> line for PT from their coaches. We all know that Obie has a thing with
guys
> named Eric (or Erick), but other more experienced NBA coaches are also
> making their top draft picks sit despite fan impatience comparable to our
> own.
>
> Of the first 15 picks in the draft, six are contributing 2 points or less
> per game (including Tyson Chandler, Kwame Brown and Randy White) and three
> others are shooting below .316 from the field (Jason Richardson, Eddie
> Griffin, Vladimir Radmanovic). These are the types of prospects that list
> members wanted Chris Wallace to trade up for on draft day. A lot of them
> may develop into the true stars of their draft class in due time, but so
> could Joe and Kedrick.
>
> As a rookie, Dirk Nowitzki shot .206 on treys and was a poor defender and
> rebounder (3.4) as a rookie. In recent drafts Baron Davis, Tracy McGrady,
> Antawn Jamison, Jason Terry, Rip Hamilton were also quiet rookies. Most of
> us wouldn't object to trading Paul Pierce straight up for half of those
> guys.
>
> Thus far you don't see any instant franchise player types like the Vince
> Carter and Paul Pierce phenomenon of a few years ago, but several rookies
> are off to a very impressive start. In terms of motivation to prove his
> doubters wrong, I guess Shane Battier is this year's Paul Pierce so far.
> The Memphis dynamic duo of Pau Gasol and Shane Battier continues to defy
> critics (although it hasn't translated into wins).
>
> Here are the scoring leaders for the time being:
>
> Shane Battier 14.5 ppg 6.5 rpg .440FG%
> Richard Jefferson 12.8 ppg 4.3 rpg .514FG%
> Joe Johnson 12.6 ppg .576FG%
> Pau Gasol 9.0 ppg 4.5 rpg .571FG%
> Troy Murphy 7.3 ppg 7.3 rpg .526FG%  (#2 in rebounds per 48 minutes)
>
> But the current ROY leader has to be Jamaal Tinsley, who only ranks #1 in
> steals (3.0) and #3 in assists (10.3) in the NBA while shooting .500 from
> the field and .750 from the line. You've got to wonder what Utah was
> thinking drafting Real Madrid's 6-0 Raul Lopez three picks ahead of
> Tinsley. Time will tell, I guess.
>
> Also, if you look at next year's "point guard" draft, aside from the two
> Duke guards you wonder if any will have had a better college resumi in
> terms of leadership and production. Why is Frank Williams a better
prospect
> than Jamaal Tinsley was? I think it is because, in general, this season's
> collegiate crop looks to be inferior to those in the 2001 draft entry
> class, even though this year's class was overshadowed by the early-entry
> prep big men.
>
> If Jason Williams had declared early, the NCAA would look like a wasteland
> filled mostly with flawed stars and a depleted Freshman class. Last year
at
> this time, one could already sense that there might be a slew of typical
> lottery calibre players available. In the end, quite a few didn't live up
> to that advance billing (Jamaal Tinsley, Loren Woods & Brendan Haywood,
> freshmen Gerald Wallace & Zach Randolph, Joe Forte and Gilbert Arenas,
> Terrence Morris, Alvin Jones & Ken Johnson...). But at least they were
> recognizable names. This year, some of the top collegiate names sound no
> more exciting at this stage than Trenton Hassell or Jeff Trepagnier. And
> the next great prep class seems another year away.
>
> Still, if we somehow knew Antonio McDyess would suffer a major injury,
> perhaps it would have been worth it to roll over the top-three lottery
> protected pick. Of course, if we could have predicted that then we also
> would have been able to stop the September 11th tragedy from happening.
> This was a much safer draft to be in.
>
> ****