Re: Untouchables

["James A. Hill" <jahill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Snip....
>>I project all three will come into camp in the best shape of their
>>basketball life and will show continued progress.

>Hope so. I'm not real worried about the shape they'll be in, although I
honestly think Paul needs the summer off to recover >more than playing for
the Worlds. I'll buy the point that these three can make the biggest impact
if they continue to
>develop, because the bar on their upside is higher than most of the team.
It's a really good point I hadn't given enough
>weight to in my thinking, and justifies slotting Battie here instead of
Anderson, as Doug had suggested and who was my
>original thought. Kenny has no more upside, we can only hope he maintains.
OTOH, Battie's the one of your three I'd have
>most concern about how much further he will develop, but if he does he
could be one of the better C/F out there these days.
>Do you think keeping Rodgers is key to that development to give him SOME
help inside and on the boards?

IMO, the single biggest event of last season was Walker finally showing up
to camp in basketball shape.  That added 10 wins to the plus side just by
itself.  I hope he does it again.  That and his "team" winning attitude
continuing will be a major plus.

Pierce, I have no questions about as far as preparation and advancement.  He
wants to be an elite player and will put in the work to get there.  He will
be better then just his raw skills will carry him.

Battie is in a GREAT position to improve.  He has size and hops, he is
friends with Pierce which helps, he obviously worked on his upper body
during the last off season and had to feel the difference it made.  I expect
a big step forward for him this coming season and over the next couple years
as well.

Anderson had a super year for us.  I think this past year and next year
were/are important for his next contract so he will be ready to play.  I
think Cook will turn out super and replace Anderson.  Even though all the
pundits said he was coming out too early they also said he could be the best
of last years PG class when he gets it together.  I doubt he wants to be in
the NBDL again.  I expect him to be ready to play.  The Celtics need to
trade Anderson to get value for his contract I think so his next team, who
has worked out a new contract for him or has a need for a veteran PG for the
remainder of the season, may be a trading partner as part of a 3 way or ?.

I like Rogers as a player and I have seen him before the games working with
K. Brown.  I think he helps the team but hope his new contract isn't very
long or for too much.  I disagree with the trade but liked what Rogers
brought most of the time.  Delk needs to get his head back on straight.



>>I don't have much confidence in Wallace, so best to let the team grow
>>another year, see how they do and see what happens with next years picks
and
>>cap space. Gaston should be shopping for a new management/scouting team
this
>>year and be ready to pull the trigger before letting these guys blow
another
>>draft opportunity.  He could just drafted the picks as projected by
>>NBADraft.net and have done better over the last few years. IMO.

>*Shrug* well I wouldn't hold my breath on Gaston putting a new management
team in. I presume the current ones have contracts >lasting a few years and
it's not likely he's going to pay any more departed contracts than
necessary. Also, this one's >letting him feel he can get away with ticket
price increases without there being any real screaming. I'm not as down on
them >as you are anyway and don't think a change would necessarily be an
improvement enough to rush to drop 'em.

Gaston stepped up and paid big money and a big power transfer with Pitino
which was a complete failure in many ways for Gaston and the stockholders
money.  But he tried to get the best available and paid the money to do so.
He hasn't raised ticket prices for a couple years which I doubt many other
teams can claim even as they had terrible teams on the court, like the
Knick's.  The playoffs was less then a 10% boost unlike other teams.  He now
has 3 highly paid players with Walker, Anderson and Pierce this year.

I believe that if it would make a true difference to winning, Gaston would
pay what he needed to.  He got further into the playoffs then Dallas did and
Cuban wasted enough money this year for everyone on this list to retire
reasonably well and he still couldn't win.  Anyone can overpay, but to win
within the system is the idea.  Ask the Lakers, they don't need to overpay
to win.

This management team has choked in the draft, except Pierce, since Pitino's
first year.  The last few drafts have been miserable not unlike the few
years before Pitino, Walker excluded, that were just terrible.  How many
first round picks that we have had are even still playing in the league?

On paper, Wallace should be the right guy with his background.  It hasn't
seemed to be that way though.

<Jim



>Kim