Re: Bird's record as talent evaluator

[Kim Malo <kimmalo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:07 PM 9/29/02 -0400, Josh Ozersky wrote:
>I think Montross was actually pretty quick for his
>size -- quicker than Vitaly, for example. 

Better hand eye co-ordination anyway and a much better brain guiding his actions. But I don't think being quicker in whatever way than Vitaly exactly proves much about that point. Seemed like *I* was quicker than Vitaly when I was on crutches, and with better hands even though they were already occupied holding the crutches.

> He
>was also very strong and fundamentally sound.  But
>he was another one of the many "gentle giants"
>we've had over the years (e.g. Artis Gilmore, Mark
>Blount, Ruben "Mr. Sportsmanship" Wolkowysky, etc.)
>His problems were largely psychological.

Er, no, depending upon how far you take 'largely'. Part of my point was that some of his problems were the same physical ones he was expected to have coming out of college. And isn't mental toughness supposed to be part of the NBA skill set you are evaluating anyway? Fundamentally sound no doubt (although that also undermines the ML Carr ruined him argument). Strong yes - debatable whether he beats out Vitaly there BTW, but Vitaly was a reported work out nut. And I'm not sure what relevance gentle giant has anyway. Artis was a nice man, but a basketball horror. Not because he was a nice man but because of his physical limitations by the time we got him.

>  If Bird thought
>he could be better, that's good enough for me.

Which is more than a tad circular argument. You say that Bird has never made a major evaluation mistake and then say that Bird's opinion of a player is good enough for you. Well, no wonder you don't think he's ever made a major mistake (and we haven't gotten into the good old who could they have taken instead side of it, in part 'cause that sort of stuff bores me) - under those terms, there's no way Bird COULD have made a mistake. I'm not trying to go all Forantishly anti-Bird -I said I respect his ability- but that's kind of ridiculous, like saying I could guard Shaq and the proof of it is that I think so.

Not saying you particularly Josh, but a lot of this WE MUST BRING IN BIRD talk here and elsewhere reminds me of when people tunnel vision in on trying to get one particular player as The Only Answer, when several others could help as much or more, even if they answer different questions. It's bad thinking and it's not remotely fair to the designated savior who can only be what he is capable of.

I'd love to see Larry back here. I actually think he'd be interesting to watch if he was in charge of things, would do a good job of it, and at least would show an integrity that has been absent from Cs management too much of the past 10 years or so. And I expect him to make some mistakes while doing so. Red did, Jerry West did. And yeah, I think even Larry has. I also think he has something in common with the best ones, in that he'll learn from the mistakes he makes and not repeat them, which is a lot more important than ass covering to prevent accusations of making them in the end (Pitino's specialty during his tenure here).

BTW, it's not you Josh, because it's a different message path, but someone else here on the list with a NY rr account is still infected with KLEZ. I've gotten infected messages the last 3 days in a row, including this morning. The forged from fields make it pretty clear it's someone connected with this list. Would appreciate it if anyone who thinks this sounds like them would check their machine to get it uninfected if necessary.

Kim