From: "hironaka@nomade.fr"<hironaka@nomade.fr> To: celtics@igtc.com Subject: Chad Ford Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 21:36:53 +0200 According to Chad Ford's ESPN Insider today: "(Shammond) Williams has struggled to pick up the Celtics' offensive and defensive schemes, giving the clear advantage to Delk." It sounds a bit like we've got some slow learners among our new guys. Meanwhile, Battie-Baker are averaging a combined 10.9 points and 9.7 boards in the preseason. It needs to get up around twice that once the real games start. That's a lot of salary. In other news, near Celtic and local guy Travis Best is struggling as the starter in Miami, averaging 7.7 ppg and 2.2 apg in the preseason. The Heat's leading pre-season scorer is 10th overall pick Caron Butler, averaging a mere 11.7 ppg. In Cleveland, Celtics alumnus Miracle Milt Palacio seems to have beaten out Dajuan Wagner and Darius Miles for the starting point guard job. Good for him. It still looks like Mark Blount and Joe Johnson also have won starting jobs for their teams. I suppose this shows in part that Boston's personnel and player development/coaching isn't THAT bad. At least we seem to stress conditioning, defense and video scouting. For the Nets, Rodney Rogers is shooting 58% from the field, hitting over half his treys. He's the kind of guy that really benefits from Jason Kidd. He's barely in shape yet. But schadenfreude, the Nets have suspended FA signee Chris Childs indefinitely for being 30 pounds overweight. Jason Kidd has no backup! In Milwaukee, Toni Kukoc surprised everyone by averaging 6.2 assists this pre-season. He may even beat out Tim Thomas (41%FG) for a starting job. In Orlando, Pat Burke and Pat Garrity are the starting power forward and center. Poor Doc Rivers. And Jacque Vaughn is shooting 33% from the field, as another projected starter. (But he looked good last in the TNT game I briefly watched.) Below is some info on tonight's opponent- the Wiz. Its nice to see Kwame playing a little bit more like a #1 overall pick. I haven't seen him at his best yet, so I'm looking forward to tonight. (N.B. All this info comes courtesy of BDodgers on JB's yahoo! Celtics list. Thanks to him, for posting it to that list) WASHINGTON WIZARDS PG: Larry Hughes vs. Juan Dixon vs. Tyronn Lue vs. Chris Whitney The Wizards thinned their point guard corps a bit by trading Whitney to the Nuggets Thursday. Hughes has been the star in the preseason, averaging 14.5 ppg and 3.3 apg. Lue has also shown flashes, leading the team with 3.8 apg. Dixon is running a distant third, especially in the point guard department. Unfortunatley, all three have a downside. Hughes still look uncomfortable running the team. He's played his best when coach Doug Collins moved him to the two. Lue is a sparkplug, but he's too small to get big minutes. Dixon is still trying to prove he can find his shot and his teammates at this level. SG/SF: Michael Jordan vs. Jerry Stackhouse vs. Bryon Russell It's probably too early to tell. Jordan has played in only two preseason games, coming off the bench in both of them. Stackhouse has been impressive, averaging a team- high 19.7 ppg. But he also leads the team in turnovers and is only grabbing 1.7 rpg. Russell has really struggled, averaging just 5.5 ppg on 39 percent shooting from the field. That leaves Jordan, who has looked pretty rusty in his first two games. Still, a lineup of Jordan at the two and Stackhouse at the three, regardless of who starts where, seems to be the direction that coach Doug Collins is heading. PF: Christian Laettner vs. Kwame Brown vs. Etan Thomas There hasn't been a bigger surprise this fall than the emergence of Brown. His game has suffered a bit since Jordan returned (he defers to MJ a little too much) but the Wizards are really pleased with his aggressiveness, especially on the boards. He's averaged 13.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg while shooting an impressive 51 percent from the field. If the Wizards can get that from Kwame on a regular basis, they'll be very good. Thomas has given them some toughness inside, but seems better suited backing up Brendan Haywood at center. Laettner hasn't see a lot of action and, with the signing of Charles Oakley, seems to be the odd man out at this point. Opening Night Starting 5: PG: Larry Hughes SG: Jerry Stackhouse SF: Bryon Russell PF: Kwame Brown C: Brendan Haywood ------------------- L'e-mail gratuit pas comme les autres. NOMADE.FR, pourquoi chercher ailleurs ?