amusing POV

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fantasy Spin
Graham Hays

http://games.espn.go.com/content/fba/2002/story?id=1408694

The Deal
Boston sends Kenny Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko and Joe Forte to Seattle for
Vin Baker and Shammond Williams.


Celtics Spin
Buy: Vin Baker, Antoine Walker, Shammond Williams
Sell: None
Hold: Tony Delk


Vin Baker never had much luck west of the Mississippi River. A college star
in Hartford and during his first four NBA seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks,
Baker's fantasy value plummeted as his weight soared in Seattle. It's hard
to remember, but Baker was a legitimate second- or third-round fantasy pick
entering the 1997-98 season, his first in Seattle, having averaged 21.0
points (50.5 field-goal percentage), 10.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, and 1.0
steals for the Bucks the previous season. Those numbers tailed off his first
season in Seattle, but it was Baker's injury-plagued 1998-99 season (34
games) that dropped him to the rank of fantasy untouchable.

Boston reportedly had other potential deals on the table involving Kenny
Anderson, but the team must feel that coach Jim O'Brien and the training
staff can get Baker motivated and healthy. Should fantasy owners share that
optimism?

Early reports suggest the Celtics intend to play Baker at center, and the
additional eligibility would provide an immediate boost to his value.
Instead of competing statistically against power forwards like Chris Webber
and Karl Malone, Baker would need only post better numbers than other
second-tier centers like Elden Campbell, Antonio Davis and David Robinson.
He'd still come up short based on last year's numbers (14.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg,
0.7 bpg), but moving to the Eastern Conference is another fantasy plus.

Vin Baker
Split  Games  PPG  RPG  BPG
vs. East  18  17.3  6.6  0.89
vs. West  37  12.5  6.2  0.54


Whether it was the proximity to home or just the dearth of talented big men,
Baker was much better last season against the Eastern Conference. For all
his deficiencies in Seattle, Baker never lost the touch that originally made
him a post scoring threat. And in a league full of seven-foot centers
without any feel for the game, Baker's offensive game is a big bonus. Even
in a disappointing season, he posted 16 games of 20-plus points last year.
That's more than Vlade Divac, Keon Clark or Michael Olowokandi.


Who plays point guard?
With Anderson out of the picture, Antoine Walker stands to benefit as much
as anyone. Walker averaged roughly the same numbers of assists per game as
Anderson last season, and despite a propensity for launching shots
(team-leading 20.9 attempts per game), he is capable of playing
point-forward. While retirement is the only thing that will stop Walker from
shooting early and often, fantasy owners can expect some dip in his scoring
average if more of his time is spent distributing the ball. But the
corresponding boost in assists and, dare we hope, shot selection, might make
him a more valuable all-around fantasy threat.

Running the offense through Walker allows Boston to play either Tony Delk or
Shammond Williams as undersized shooting guards. Delk is capable of 20-point
games when he gets regular minutes, he posted seven such games last season,
but he's a known fantasy commodity. Taking into consideration career
averages of just 2.1 assists and 0.8 steals, even seven or eight extra
minutes a night won't be enough to land Delk on the majority of fantasy
rosters. On the other hand, Williams has some sleeper potential. Long a
summer-league star, Williams could thrive going against the East's numerous
smallish guards (Allen Iverson, Jason Terry and Eddie House, among others).
While he's no more a true point guard than Delk, Williams has the athletic
ability to average 15 points and four assists a night if he's given 30
minutes. Those are borderline numbers when it comes to fantasy, but he's a
guy worth watching in training camp.