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Re: Mark Berry is on the money!
From : " Michael A. DiZio" <" mdizio"@rcn.com>
bird wrote:
> But it still seems to me that there's a knee-jerk
> reaction to anyone who dares analyze the Baker situation in anything
> other than "he stinks, the team will always stink with him" terms.
> Plus, everybody wants to kick this guy when he's down. That's pretty
> mean-spirited. Many of the things the Baker critics have said are
> true. Some are not.
Honestly, where is the "knee jerk" ? This isn't a snap reaction. This
is a half season long considered, analyzation of his performance over
42
games, and it comes after years of horror stories coming out of
Seattle.
While it still may be too early to judge Baker completely, time's
a-wastin', as you say. But I'm not talking about that, I'm talking
about this knee-jerk reaction *on the list* to anyone who doesn't share
the "he stinks, the team will always stink with him" attitude. I said
when the trade went down that I'd give Vinnie until about the All-Star
break to show me what's he's got. Well, he doesn't have a lot, though
he can give 8 and 6 over 18 minutes or so, that's really nothing V
couldn't have given us, either.
Bird, it doesn't look good. I have been to a half a dozen games this
year screaming my head off cheering for him. I don't want to be right
about him, it gives me no pleasure, I've been a Celtic fan since I was
five. All I want is the promise of last year improved upon, not thrown
away.
Yes, the key to that was making a decent effort to bring back the
players who showed that promise. We both know where that went. I,
too, have been a C's fans since I was five years old. I want the same
things you've said you want. I want Vinnie to succeed, too.
If Baker made Walter's salary, nobody would give a damn about his
performance.
This is true. I dislike it, but I see the reality. One thing I will
do is give Vin Baker the benefit of the doubt on the slacking issue,
and not go off half-cocked about how he perpetuating a fraud.
But we don't have Mark Cuban or Paul Allen owning the team
and salary slots are crucial to improvment. Vin compares to the money
losing state supported factories in the Soviet Union that eventually
brought the whole thing crashing down. I want Vinnie to succeed!!!!!
It's not going to happen though.
You simply don't know that. You think you do, and I admit there's a
good deal of evidence to support it. And I am not saying that Vin
Baker will bounce back. Just that it's within the realm of possibility
that he could, maybe, be a 15 and 8 guy for 25-30 minutes. That might
be good enough. Look, should Vin Baker feel badly about not playing
well and making a lot of money? Sure, but he's under no obligation to
give anything back. Sure, if it could be proven he was goldbricking...
but that's not the case. I'm not saying don't try to move him, either,
but, really, how likely is that? What is the profit in going over and
over the Vin Baker thing without any new or fresh ideas as to why, or
something. But some people (not all) are just bitching, and while that
can be entertaining in the more eloquent of the moaners, I expect
better from them most of the time.
Okay, so I reached into the cliche bag.
Well, fair enough.
There is something to what you say here. With three different articles
in the Globe alone about VIN, VIN, VIN, with a big blowout victory
practically ignored, It felt like the situation was coming to a head.
(retirement-putting him at the end of the bench -trading him, which no
gm would ever go for)
Yeah, what, exactly, are the options with Vin? You may even want to
play him more so that he can be more effective, but perhaps Obie's
stranglehold isn't such a bad thing. I don't know. Nobody knows.
That's part of the problem. Am I sorry that we've become the keepers
of Seattle's soap opera this year? Yes, very much so. It's a bad
situation, and I don't see much of a way out.
I just thought that Mark Berry nailed the situation in his post.
Well, perhaps he did. I hope not. I'm sure Mark hopes he's wrong,
too. I happen to think Mark's just a bit too pessimistic, maybe too
certain of the disastrous future. Maybe too hard on Vinnie.
Three more years of this is really going to blow.
Paul Gaston delenda est.
Bird