Re: Tinsley, Parker and the "braintrust"

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

I think there's little question Red Auerbach played a major -- probably 
decisive -- role in the decision to draft a third shooting guard with the 
21st pick (Joe Forte). Chris Wallace did work out or scout Tinsley and 
Parker pretty extensively.

But as for those two "pure" points, I honestly think some of the early 
success can be attributed to being picked by the right team to fill a need. 
Nothing wrong with that of course.

Both the Pacers nor the Spurs lacked a true point guard in incumbent 
starters Antonio Daniels and Travis Best.

So the rookies start, and through five or six games, Tony Parker is 
shooting .359 from the field while Jamaal Tinsley is not much better at 
.404 (.286 on 3-pointers). And its likely they are being given more room to 
shoot than most NBA players get to enjoy, given the double-team attention 
that has to be paid to Jalen, Reggie, Jermaine, the Twin Towers, Steve 
Smith etc. Moreover, you can see actual slippage in their production after 
a promising start, now that they've been scouted.

Hypothetically, if one of them had been drafted by Boston (a clear 
possibility at the time), I wouldn't have been shocked if Tinsley or Parker 
were also placed on the IR like Joe Forte, before any had an adequate 
chance to show what they can do in real games.

We still wouldn't know what we had in them. Obie has shown a clear 
preference for veterans like Eric and Erick on our team while bringing the 
rookies along slowly.

In the end, there's nothing unusual about the early trends. Does it 
surprise any of you out there that the NBA rookies who have hit the ground 
running this past week all tend to be either older and more physically 
mature (Tinsley is 3.5 years older than our rookies), have experience in 
big college and NCAA tournament games, or played professional ball overseas 
for several years?

Age and big game experience obviously make a difference, just as I'm sure 
you guys all remember how much easier it was to get a "Gentleman's B" as a 
college senior compared to your freshman first semester. Troy Murphy and 
Jamaal Tinsley are certainly off to "Gentleman's B's". They could 
eventually turn into "A's".

But it also goes without saying these days that for every Ron Mercer type 
impact rookie you'll have people from the same draft class who blossom 
later into much more complete players (e.g. Tracy McGrady). Tinsely and 
Murphy are far from perfect in terms of their physical "upside".

A lot of this is about delayed gratification. Before the draft, Way was 
raving about Zach, Rodney White, Kwame Brown, Rashad Philips and many 
others including Joe Forte. After a week of game evidence, he's now 
broadcasting for the very first time how boneheaded Boston was for passing 
on instant impact player Richard Jefferson.

(Kudos BTW to Gene Kirkpatrick for being the only person I remember who 
even mentioned Richard Jefferson at that time. In fact, Gene really was a 
huge backer of Jefferson. From now on I'm listening to him instead of some 
other draft know-it-alls.)

Hindsight is such a piece of cake really. In my case, I didn't like Gasol 
or Parker based on available stats rather than any first person 
observation. I admit I was way off.

And in a post I saved, I see Way applauding Jerry Krause for "bluffing" 
Vancouver into taking Gasol at three so that the Bulls could get Curry at 
four. We all remember what Way thought about Joe Johnson (or Jamaal Tinsley 
incidentally). You can't always be right.

We won't know who the top ten players in this draft are for another 3 to 5 
years, I'd wager.

****