Re: Big Mistake

[Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu>]

At 14:15 3/12/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>
>My opinion: I can't stand Battie. He's soft and even worse, he doesn't play
>hard. He should be able to beat any center in the league down the floor, but
>he just lopes. 

I don't see where you're getting this, Mark. I think he's been playing hard
in every game the last two years. 

> He's at the top of the "trade him at the end of the season"
>list in my book. Is it a coincidence that the team comes to life without
>him? 

Yes. It coincided with Delk and Rogers starting to play well for us (unless
you think Battie prevented them from doing so in the first four games after
the trade).
 
> I don't know. I know this-Vitaly sucks, but at least he works hard.
>Vitaly isn't talented and he's not a smart player, but he works hard. 

You know what McHale and Barkley have said about hard workers...

> The
>offensive rebounds are an offshoot of that. 

Actually, they're averaging similar offensive rebound numbers (Battie at
2.7 and Pot at 2.3, but Battie averages a few more minutes). 

> Battie is more talented. If you
>compare both players at their best, Battie is better. The problem is you
>only get Battie's best a couple of times a month. You compare the players at
>their worst and I'll take Vitaly because Battie takes nights off. You never
>know what you're going to get from him. With Vitaly, you know. He won't give
>you that occasional 16-point, 10-rebound game that Battie manages every full
>moon, but he gives you his six points and five rebounds pretty consistently.

It's funny that you mention that. I looked at their career stats. Pot's
best career year was his first in Boston, '98-'99. He averaged 10.8 ppg and
7.2 rpg. His numbers have steadily declined ever since to their present low
of 4.7 ppg and 5 rpg.  On the other hand, Battie's numbers have slowly
risen since the same year to the present highs of 7.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg. He's
also good for about a block a game, something you can't say about Pot.
These are not gaudy stats, but he's showing improvement, whereas Pot's
seemingly getting worse. The bigger mystery is why V's game is declining.
It's certainly not for the lack of effort. 

In any case, I think Battie's return can only help matters, as he's
probably the sixth-best player on the team right now (and may be more
important than that because of the shotblocking dimension). He's the only
Celtics' big guy who can really go up and get the rebound, the only one who
can reliably catch the ball down low and slam it, the only one who can make
opponents think twice about driving in the lane. Pot is just not able to do
it physically, and Blount makes McCarty look like a basketball genius. 
I think Rogers has established his worth, and it's mostly Blount who's
going to lose his minutes to Battie, maybe Williams as well. Pot will go
back to backup C where he's more effective anyway. So it's all good. 

Kestas