Re: Vin Baker

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe wrote:

To wit, over a full 48 minutes Vin is still averaging 
14.5 ppg with a (by far) team leading 6 offensive boards. 

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Baker would foul out three times over if he played 48 minutes per game.

Sorry, Joe, but the per-48 argument for Vin is hollow. He can't stay on the
floor much of the time because he's too lazy/immobile to avoid dumb fouls.
This isn't about the coaches not playing him enough. They don't have much of
a choice. And, I'm sure you know, Vin looks as bad as his stats. He's
terrible.

Kestas wonders why it happened so suddenly... I'd argue it didn't. It was
happening in Seattle for three years. They've been trying desperately to
dump the guy. They continued to play him at the team's detriment just so he
could get artificial numbers to sucker in someone like Wallace. It worked.
But to say Vin "suddenly" lost it is wrong. He's been losing it for a while,
and everyone else saw it. Only Wallace was fooled.

Again, to Obie's credit, he's not trying to justify the deal by giving Baker
minutes he doesn't deserve or a role that might help Baker but hurt the rest
of the team. More accomplished coaches wouldn't have the chutzpah to so
blatantly flaunt their boss' mistake, even if it was the right thing to do. 

Maybe Vin will turn things around, but let's be honest-it would be a
reversal of unprecedented proportions. We're talking a "Bengals making the
Super Bowl" kind of turnaround. My guess is the spin will be "Vin is doing
everything we've asked... we're getting 14 points and 12 rebounds from the
center position... he's a great guy who buys all the Krispy Kremes for the
team flights..."

Mark