Re: Would The Celtics Win More Or Less Games If Walker Was Injure d?

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

I'm not going to repeat all of Joe's excellent post, but I did want to take
up one point. Basically, what is Antoine's worth?

Joe, you confidently say we'd never get comparable value for Antoine. I'd
say that's pretty subjective. You, and many others, value him very highly
and feel he is undervalued around the league. I, and many others, believe he
is overrated by many on this list and the league perception actually is
pretty accurate. I think you could trade Antoine for a player or players who
improve the team.

I stack Antoine up against the following group of players, for example:
Jamal Mashburn, Jerry Stackhouse, Antawn Jamison, Eddie Jones, Allan
Houston, Latrell Sprewell, Jalen Rose, Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Marcus
Camby, Lamar Odom, Elton Brand, Peja Stojakovic, Theo Ratliff, Andre Miller,
Glen Robinson, Sam Cassell, Jermaine O'Neal, Antonio Davis, Ray Allen, Shawn
Marion, Stephon Marbury. There probably are others. I came up with this list
off the top of my head. Some of these guys are scorers, some rebounders and
defenders, some point guards. Some are better than Antoine in certain
categories, others better in other categories. You can't just look at stats
to make comparisons. Take Jermaine O'Neal. He averages 10 fewer points than
Antoine and two more rebounds. Some would say you're giving up way too much
offense (scoring, assists, ball-handling) for the improved defense and
rebounding, but I'd bet Boston would do that trade before the Pacers would. 

Now, you could argue each of these, but I'd say there would be arguments
made on both sides for each player. I'd say it's a safe bet that discussions
about Antoine and any of these players, obviously involving other players
and/or picks, wouldn't be laughed off from either side. So I'd submit that
it wouldn't be as hard as you think to get comparable value for Antoine.

But if you're of the opinion that the only comparable value is Garnett,
Duncan, Webber, T-Mac, Vince, Kobe, etc., then you're right... you'd never
get equal value for Antoine. But I'd submit that you're overestimating
Antoine's value.

The hard part about trading Antoine right now is the team has boxed itself
in by basically making him the only power forward on the roster. If you
trade Antoine, you absolutely have to get a big man back or have another
trade in place to return a big man. And you're right, Joe, there aren't that
many attractive young big men out there, and the ones who are rarely go on
the market. That's one of the reasons I thought the Celts made a mistake in
not making a move up in this year's draft-they had the ammunition to do it,
and this crop of big men could be historic. But that's water under the
bridge.

Mark

P.S. Did anyone notice Khalid El-Amin's line last night? He had 23 points,
but more importantly, look at the Dallas shooting percentages of the
starters (El-Amin started) and the points scored by the team-115. The Celts
made a huge mistake in letting him get away. He was available for next to
nothing.