[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Untouchables

At 11:46 PM 6/17/02 -0400, James A. Hill wrote:

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.
Yup, I wholeheartedly agree. In shape physically and mentally. And looks like he finally GETS it enough that it's here to stay and only get better. Never doubted his wanting to win, only his grasp of how to.


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.
Yup, I've no questions about physical prep there either, although I still think from the way he wore down by the end of the season that he would probably be better served with time off than playing in the Worlds. Mentally I hope he makes as much progress in maturing this coming year as Walker did last year. It's tougher to judge than physical prep though, because it can be tougher for the player to see what's needed.


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....
he 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 ?.
Fair enough. I keep forgetting about Cook as a possible Anderson replacement. I still don't think they can and am not wholly convinced they should trade him but if Cook does turn out to be anything like he's projected I could change my mind if they should really fast.


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.
My biggest concern about Rodgers is one I've posted about before - how often he was just too slow to react, something that's more likely to get worse than better. If he was bigger and an intimidating shot blocker or some such to go with it I'd be more inclined to discount it, but he NEEDS to be quicker to get to the boards and loose balls to provide what the Cs need from him. OTOH I won't argue that they're unlikely to get an upgrade right now if they do let him go.


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.
Fair enough. I disagree and think that most of what he did was pure good business to get a better return on investment, which is why I don't see him doing something that's unlikely to have a significant enough increase on return in his opinion. Hopefully I'm wrong.


Anyone can overpay, but to win
within the system is the idea.  Ask the Lakers, they don't need to overpay
to win.
Now, no. But that's not the way Shaq's original contract with them was viewed and that was really the basis for being able to attract the rest.


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.
OK, I give him an unproven at this point. I believe that he really didn't have much real control over anything while Pitino was here and may not have wanted to draft as they did. I also think there's a grass is greener syndrome that can sneak into this sort of evaluation (Ray makes an embittered career out of hyping it) and people are too apt to remember only the mistakes made here and forget all the mistakes made elsewhere. How many lottery picks anywhere work out as expected? We've got a team literally full of first round picks other people have rejected, starting with your own fav Battie.

Kim.