Re: Bskball.com Column

["j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

	In case it isn't obvious, I'll preface by saying that this is in no way 
meant as a criticisim of Josh's interview, and from the sounds of it he has 
laid the groundwork for future interviews with the GM. Great job.

	Here's what I want to say. It has become a matter of course this Summer to 
talk about Mark Blount as though he's contributing great things and is a 
real keeper at center, even compared to the draftable centers or free agent 
centers.

	Well maybe the average fan would like to have heard further insights from 
Chris Wallace into what "intangibles" Blount brings that do not appear on 
the scoresheet. I'm confident that these intangibles are there (the 
won-loss record with him in the lineup bears this out), but I'd love to 
hear Wallace expound a bit on the certain "je ne sais quoi" he finds in 
Blount's game.

	From management's perspective, there seems to be no need to explain this. 
Blount was crowned the "Shaq of the Shaw League" for averaging the same 
number of rebounds as a couple of guard-forward rookies in Joe Johnson and 
Kedrick Brown. Last year, Blount was arguably the most glaring culprit 
among the Celtics starting five for the team's nightly rebounding deficit. 
After a decent start, he was also swatting shots at a fairly pedestrian 
rate for a center. Nothing to write home about.

	So obviously Blount must have been doing something right in a big way. Are 
there any thoughts out there? The kid seems to show a lot more emotion and 
"game face" than Batgirl, but that's saying almost nothing. Besides, Battie 
was more productive as a starter than Blount.

	Maybe its a bit like the DeClerq versus Travis Knight situation way back 
when. On a per minute basis, Knight outperformed DeClerq in rebounding and 
shot blocking as a starter. Yet Ringo clearly deserved the minutes, both 
from the point of view of management and the fans.

	Still, I feel like I'm missing something here.

Joe

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