A few more thoughts...

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

A few things...

Tommy Heinsohn made an interesting comment, almost in passing, about Antoine
last night. He said teams are trapping the Celtics' point guards so the
Celts will use Toine as a ballhandler, taking him away from the post. That's
an aspect of all of this that I hadn't really considered. I think he's right
to a certain extent-teams want Toine away from the basket, and I believe
they do trap the PGs so Toine comes out to handle the ball. But I also think
Toine does a lot of that on his own (or by Obie's design), and that plays
right into the opponent's hands. Isn't one of the objectives in the NBA to
force double teams? Well, when he posts up, Toine demands a double team.
When he's 25 feet from the basket, he doesn't. That alone is enough evidence
for me.  By the way, I'll take this Toine game over almost any I've seen him
play. He's had some explosive games where the 3-pointer was falling, but
that's just a hot shooting night. Last night was a controlled, efficient,
performance. Those have been few and far between for Toine.

Another thing... I think the Cavs are perfect evidence for the poor judgment
of giving your max contracts to swingmen. Not because the Cavs have done
that... just because they have serviceable, cheap swingmen. Lamond Murray,
Jumaine Jones, Wesley Person (OK, not so cheap, but he should be)... these
guys aren't and never will be all-stars, but they can get you points. Guys
like this are a dime a dozen. Look at Jimmy Jackson, who is available for
the vet's minimum. That's why winning teams will build their rosters around
a big man and/or a point guard. Those guys are hard to find, so you pay a
premium. If your max contracts (and best players) fill those positions, you
can fill in around them. But if your max guys are swingmen (hello, Boston)
it's awfully hard to fill in around them at PG and center with any quality,
because quality players at those positions don't come cheap. There are
exceptions-Milwaukee (although Cassell is teriffic), Orlando (two of the top
10 players in the league)-but those are few and far between, and even those
teams understand the value of big men (hence Milwaukee's signing of Mason
and Orlando's signing of Grant and Ewing). The danger is that your salary
cap is eaten up with swingmen who aren't really difference-makers. Big men
and point guards are the difference-makers.

Finally... I guess my concerns all boil down to this: I believe Chris
Wallace is a good talent evaluator. I believe if you check his draft board,
he probably does a pretty good job rating prospects. I'm just waiting for
some evidence that he's a good GM. Does he know how to build a team? There's
a big difference between picking the highest guy on your list every June and
putting all the pieces together (through trades, free agency and the draft)
to build a winning team. So he drafted well (maybe). That's only a small
part of it. I just want some indication that we're interested in more than
waiting for the next draft and seeing who falls to us. There was a window
this year for making the playoffs. I think he let it pass. If he's really
worried about the future, I think there are or will be some opportunities at
the trading deadline to improve the future prospects, but they will involve
trading a Vitaly or Tony Battie. These are the kinds of things I'll judge
Chris Wallace on.

Mark