RE: Antoine (was Re: Johnson Touted As Rookie With The Most Impac t)

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 10:35 AM 9/27/01, Berry, Mark  S wrote:
>Alex, I'm just going to zero in on one comment here, because I think much of
>the rest is just a question of opinion and perception. But you ask "who else
>can
>you give extra shots to, that will convert them at a high percentage?" That
>seems to be a pretty consistent argument for those willing to excuse
>Antoine's 41 percent shooting. My point is this-subtract some of Toine's
>missed shots, and any percentage above .000 is an improvement.

Let me repeat that I agree, Antoine has been an offensively inefficient 
player. Some of this is because of the pathetic offense of his teammates, 
and some of this is because of his bad shot selection. Do I believe that 
there's room for improvement here? Definitely.

I guess maybe I've lost the point of the discussion here. Obviously he's 
not the perfect player, we all agree on that. I think everyone also agrees 
that he's not in the top echelon right now. He turns the ball over a lot 
still, he puts up low percentage shots, he doesn't play great defense. I 
think these are valid criticisms. I disagree on the idea that his 
rebounding and assists are meaningless. I think he's extremely valuable to 
this team despite his flaws, though some of this is due to the lack of 
talent (few others that can rebound or pass or score, sadly enough). Would 
I rather have Garnett? You bet.

Now my hope is that he can do something like what you describe above, turn 
from an 8 for 20 shooter to an 8 for 16 shooter (maybe 8 for 18 is more 
realistic), add an assist (if he's still running the offense), get an extra 
offensive rebound, get to the line more, and play a bit better defense. 
Because as you mentioned, a bit better shot selection can make a big 
difference on the bottom line. And he'd be an All-Star with just these 
small changes. Your belief is that he can't do it, based on five years of 
relative stagnation. I think that maybe he can, maybe he won't. Last year I 
saw a guy who was forced to take on a larger scoring burden than he really 
could handle effectively, due to poor teammates. Which is not to say that 
he made optimal decisions, but he certainly wasn't in the easiest position. 
I mean, it's definitely easier to feel confident passing when you have more 
offensive competence on your team than Mark Blount, Eric Williams, and Milt 
Palacio.

So maybe he's going to improve - being in better shape should help too - 
and maybe he's not. Maybe we'll go back to the "bad chemistry trio" offense 
we had when Mercer, Pierce, and Walker were fighting for the ball. Maybe 
Walker will really never get it, like you say; I certainly don't think it's 
impossible. I thought Pitino would "get it" at some point too.

Alex