RE: Vin Baker

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

Josh, 
have you been watching their games!? Whenever they try to pass him the ball,
it's a turnover, unless he's alone in front of the basket (and even then he
manages to get stuffed more often than not). It's gotten to the point where he
hides behind the defender so that they wouldn't try to pass him the ball. His
defense is, for the most part, a charade, which he tries to disguise by fouling
people needlessly to show that he's doing something. 
I remember an article by Frank Hughes sometime in the summer or early fall. He
wrote that Baker had mastered the art of appearing to be doing something while
not actually doing anything useful. In fact, judging by the Sonics' record
without him, his presence was actively harming the team. Anyway, at the time I
thought the Hughes guy was yet another, particularly vicious sportswriter. But
now I've seen what he meant. The level of venom directed at Baker by people who
have observed him on the court for some time is truly incredible. You don't
evoke such hatred without a reason, especially if you are a nice guy off the
court, which Vin apparently is. People don't want to hate Vinnie the basketball
player, they just can't help it. Even the Celtics' "PR firm" can't remain
silent any longer. 
As for Obie, he sees what most everybody else sees, and he's not into rewarding
players with PT when they don't deserve it. I mean, look at how much we missed
Baker last night! Tommmy and Mike, who never have a bad word to say about a
Celtics player, were talking very pointedly about the Celtics' new-found
"chemistry", mentioning it at least a dozen times, especially when a play
involved Battie. The implication was, Baker contributes the most when he stays
the hell away from the team.  
The Celtics need to find a shrink to diagnose Baker with incurrable depression
(sounds like it wouldn't be much of a stretch) and get him to retire. It's a
win-win-win situation. The Celtics chemistry would improve by leaps and bounds,
Vin would be under the radar screen of the media, getting fat on the money he
stole, and Wallace hopefully would get fired for sticking the owners with a
$50M bill. 
(If Wallace isn't fired by July, the owners are completely clueless. I mean,
Enron's management did a good job, compared to Wallace. Btw, May is pretty
clear why Wallace has gotten a free ride until now. Is that why you're
defending him too, Josh?).
Kestas 


--- You wrote:
Not only that, but Mark is dead wrong.  The trade was
a mistake, but Vin Baker is a good teammate who has
contributed in some small way to the Celtics this
year, and deserves greater respect.  Obie is a
frigging moron for not making an effort to make him
more involved and confident; I would fire him before
Wallace, because he is the primary author of what is
going on now, which I by the way predicted months ago.
 Give the guy the ball ten times a game, and you'll
get 10-12 easy points, and a few turnovers.  Let him
shoot a 12-footer facing the basket, or drive.  He can
do all these things -- but even if he couldn't, it's a
shame and a disgrace to treat a player the way Baker
has been treated.  Everyone knows he's psychologically
fragile, and they treated him like an old dog they
wished would die.  The Baker "disaster" has been a
self-fulfilling prophecy. 
--- end of quote ---