Re: quick impressions

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

Kestas wrote:

We should send tonight's tape of Eric Williams to all NBA GMs. He does know
how
to draw a foul, you have to give to him. If he could only teach 'Toine to do
that...

and...

We didn't miss Walker too much.

---end---

I think you've hit on something here, Kestas. Eric saw a lot of time at
power forward once Toine was ejected. He has the same limitations for the
position that Toine has-he's undersized defensively. But he took advantage
of that on the other end by repeatedly driving around Mahktar Ndiaye (sp?)
or Chris Mihm, who were bigger but not nearly quick enough to handle Eric's
drives. Could a team survive with Eric Williams at PF full-time? No way, but
in a role like this, he's effective. By that same token, Toine could learn
something by watching the way Eric played last night. If only Toine would
consistently do what Eric did-drive to the basket and draw fouls against
bigger players, he'd be much more effective. And he brings the added
dimension of being able to pass to an open teammate during that drive.

Anyway, the team didn't miss Toine much because Eric scored much more
efficiently and against Ndiaye, Eric wasn't much of a defensive liability.
Even Mihm, who really has improved, didn't do any more damage against
Williams than he would have against Toine. It should be a lesson, but
somehow I doubt Toine (2-for-10 in just 14 minutes last night-quite a pace)
thinks he needs to learn anything. He hasn't in five years.

Mark

P.S. This also points out the reason Eric looks so pathetic most of the
time-when he's playing SG or SF. He's not quicker than those players. He
can't drive past them. But he's our "defensive stopper." Please. He took his
turns getting torched by Wesley Person last night, just like Kedrick, Pierce
and the rest.