RE: Stay patient with Kedrick

["Wright, Cecil" <Cecil.Wright@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu
[mailto:Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu]
Sent: January 17, 2003 12:49 PM
To: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: RE: Stay patient with Kedrick


--- You wrote:
I have seen those "flashes" and also wish I could see them more regularly.
You would have found the same thing in McGrady during the first half of year
2 for him and he wasn't as injured as Kedrick has been.  
--- end of quote ---

Please, Cecil. McGrady was averaging nearly 10 pts. and 6 rebs., plus over 2
assists, a steal and a block per game, while shooting 44% in his second
year.
His rookie year wasn't far off his second year. I remember arguing with you
about Billups's struggles at the point back then and your contention that he
just needs more time to mature and learn the position, just look how McGrady
is
struggling etc. etc. Bringing up McGrady as an example didn't work even then
(and that's against Billups, who was doing relatively well in the non-PG
facets
of the game), and it certainly doesn't work now. I challenge you to find a
single star-quality player in the NBA who had shown less in his first 2
years
than Kedrick. As it turns out, Billups became what I claimed he was  - a
decent
guard who can defend and score a bit, but not a real PG. As it is, he's
averaging fewer assists than McGrady. 

* Well coming out of college where Billups had never played the position
before, why was it wrong to mention that he would need more time to adjust
to the position?  If you knew he was going to turn into a decent guard who
can defend and score, seems you should have been lobbying to keep him.
Anyway, with respect to Kedrick and Tmac, I suspect that Tmac averaged those
points in  quite a few more minutes than Kedrick has received and was under
less pressure to give the ball up to the "scorers" as well.

* I am not saying Kedrick is Jordan, just that he hasn't received enough
floor time to make a complete judgement, especially in light of how the
ankle injury would restrict the mobility in a player with his physical
skills.

I certainly hope that Kedrick has a breakout similar to Bremer (such as it
is),
but I'm not holding my breath at this point. Note that we're hoping that he
matches the production (3 games-long) of an unheralded, undrafted PG who
isn't
exactly setting the league on fire either, just showing some signs of life.
That our expectations for KB are so low should very telling in and of
itself.
He may become a decent defensive player who can rebound a little based on
his
athleticism, sort of a poor man's Stacy Augmon. Even that may be a lofty
goal,
because Augmon started all 82 games and averaged 13, 5, and 2 his rookie
year.   
Kestas

* Judging by these Augmon stats, I guess you would have predicted he would
have been much better than Tmac AND Kobe :-)

Cecil