Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V9 #88

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

My point is that he played better D than you are giving him credit for.  Yes
he could score and create, but he was no pushover as a defender.  His 42 pt,
15 reb, 7 ast and 3 stl performance, in his rookie year, against the 76ers
in the playoffs aside, he could play solid, albeit unspectacular, defense
comparitively speaking.

You don't lead the NBA in steals more than one season by accident.  He may
not have been the best defender in the league, or on his team, but he was
better than mediocre, as was Bird.

Cecil


----- Original Message -----
From: <GuyClinch@AOL.com>
To: <Celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2002 5:19 PM
Subject: Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V9 #88


> > Magic played C when Kareem was injured, well enough for them to win a
> > championship despite his absence.  Not too shabby for a guy who plays
> > mediocre D.
> >
> > Cecil
> >
> >
>
> Indeed..
> And your point is that he didn't play mediocre D?
> I think he did. I think he would in fact admit that a player like Worthy
was
> a
> better defender on his team alone, not to mention the entire NBA.
>
> Obviously Magic was a great player. But his skills lay in shooting,
passing,
> rebounding and leadership. He wasnt really a great defender.
>
> Bird didnt defend all that well...
> Rather like Kidd and Magic he could play okay "team" defense but had
> alot of trouble guarding smaller players one on one.
>
> Jordan...
> Was fantastic on offense and defense making him a class above lesser stars
> such as Magic and Bird, IMHO. One nice thing about our current star Pierce
is
> that he can play defense very well.
>
> Pete