Re: FW: [Celtics' Stuff ''He's in fantastic physical condition,.. ."

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

Joe wrote:

Its important to hear that he's in shape and ready to go, but I'm not 
really thrilled that we used the 15th contract on a point guard who showed 
us nothing last season. I guess this means management was joking when they 
said Walker and Forte (and equally plausibly Joe Johnson) would get a look 
at backup point guard in camp. The injury to our third-string pointguard 
before camp even started seems like a good opportunity to test and/or 
discard this idea.

	In any case, I see no rush to sign a point guard unless other teams
are 
also expressing this keen interest in signing Bologna boy, AKA the great 
white hype. It raises a lot of "what ifs" seeing the veteran power 
forward/rebounders that were out there at garage sale prices.

---end---

Joe, I'd also like to see the team sign a power forward, but that's not why
I'm responding. A couple of your comments really bothered me.

First... using the 15th contract "on a point guard who showed us nothing
last season..." Remember, Herren was injured. He looked great in preseason,
especially in a 17-point, 10-assist game against, I think, Chicago. The ball
really moved when he was in the game. The shoulder injury didn't just take
him out of the lineup for a long stretch, it clearly affected his shooting
once he came back. But, late in the season he was the key factor in two
notable fourth-quarter comebacks. He almost single-handedly won the
Washington game, and almost did the same thing against the Lakers. I have
concerns about his ability to handle traps, which he's sure to see more of
under the new rules, but Herren is a guy who can help the team if healthy.

Now, the "great white hype" thing really gets under my skin. You've made
several comments like this basically accusing those of us who criticize
Walker of having a racial bias, or favoring a player (Herren, Austin
Croshere, whoever...) because he's white. You always disguise it just enough
so you never actually come out and say it, but I doubt I'm the only one who
notices. I could care less if Chris Herren is white or black. Same with
Antoine, Kenny, Vitaly, Tony Battie... you name it. A lot of us like Khalid
El-Amin for the same reasons we like Herren-he has more point guard
instincts than anyone on the roster. Why do you always have to make race an
issue, when no one else does?

Mark