RE: Rooks and LaFrentz (was: Is Kedrick Brown the 'real deal' or not?)

["James A. Hill" <jahill@leasingservice.com>]

Actually I didn't complain, I asked a question.  LeFrantz was just an
option.

Do YOU think Walker makes the players around him better or not?  That is the
only relevant question.  <Jim

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jim Hill
mailto:jahill@leasingservice.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Alexander Wang [mailto:awang@MIT.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 4:16 PM
To: James A. Hill; Celtics (E-mail)
Subject: Re: Rooks and LaFrentz (was: Is Kedrick Brown the 'real deal'
or not?)


At 03:04 PM 10/23/01, James A. Hill wrote:
>The question though is would LeFrantz make the Celtics a better TEAM.
(This
>is a question not a statement)

[cut]

>Cousy made other players better by getting them the pass "when and where"
it
>was effective for his teammate to score. As did Bird, as well as so many
>other things he did.
>Hondo did it his way, Russell with rebounding and altering shots and by
>being the hardest working and smartest player on the floor, Cowens with
>effort above and beyond anyone else on the floor, Parish, JoJo, etc...  All
>these players made the effort to make the other players better as part of a
>team then they were individually.
>
>The question is, "Would this define Walker?"

I think the relevant question is "Would this define LaFrentz better than it
does Walker?"

You can complain about Walker and compare him negatively to Bird, Russell,
and Cousy, but to translate that into "Trade him for Raef LaFrentz"
requires more than that. LaFrentz blocks a lot of shots and it's been
argued that the fact that he is undersized for the center position would be
less important in the Eastern Conference, where Camby and Antonio Davis
have succeeded. You could make an argument that a young, Antonio
Davis-quality center/PF could have similar worth to Antoine. I haven't seen
enough of LaFrentz to even begin speculating whether that could be the case
though.

Alex