Re: Miscellaneous thoughts

["Josh O." <igtcjosh@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mark,

I am the first to admit that I wear green-tinted
glasses, and my nomination of Pierce for POY should be
taken with a grain of salt.  But he does as much for
the Celtics night in and night out as McGrady does for
the Magic; Antoine's contribution is not more than the
combined talents of Drew Gooden, Mike Miller, and all
of Orlando's other good players, not including Grant
Hill.  And all that aside, as good as McGrady is, I'd
still take Pierce over him in any game that had to be
won -- though I would agree that McGrady's having a
better year.  

But the thing that really got me is your suggestion
that McGrady is better right now than Dominique, who
you dismiss as "just a dunker."  I was under the
impression that you were around my age (35).  Anyone
who saw Dominque play in his prime would know that he
was a devastating scoring machine with range all the
way out to the arc, the most dependable bank shot in
the NBA, and an ability to create, and hit, his own
shot from anywhere on the floor.  His game was much
more sound than McGrady's, who still gets by on pure
talent.  I also consider it ludicrous to compare his
crude offensive assault with Scottie Pippen, who is to
my mind the most perfect "pure" quick forward to ever
play the game.  McGrady is probably closer to Kedrick
Brown in terms of fundamentals than he is to Pippen. 
Don't get me wrong, the guy's a monster, and he's even
developed something of a mid-range game this season,
but he's a lot more Michael Vick than Joe Montana.  

Josh

--- "Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG> wrote:
> Celtics and NBA-related...
> 
> ... I don't believe for a second that Vescey knows
> squat about the owners'
> plans for Wallace. That's an ownership decision, and
> I find it hard to
> believe Vescey has the ear of Grousbeck (doesn't
> that sound like something
> you'd need to cast a spell or vanquish a demon or
> something?). No way.
> Wallace may survive if the team delivers at least a
> repeat trip to the
> conference finals. Anything less, and he has to be
> gone.
> 
> ... Josh, I read your latest column, and you
> absolutely have to take off the
> green-tinted glasses. For those who haven't read it,
> he discusses the Player
> of the Year candidates and concludes that if the
> Celtics win the East,
> Pierce is the Player of the Year. Josh, Pierce has
> had about one month when
> he performed at last season's level. The rest of the
> time, including
> recently, he clearly has been a touch off. He has
> had a good year, not a
> great year. You compare him to McGrady and say he is
> Bird to McGrady's
> Dominique. Please... That's an insult to both Bird
> and McGrady. Pierce isn't
> in Bird's class, and McGrady is far more than the
> dunker that Dominique was.
> McGrady is Pippen with a mean streak. He's just a
> smidgeon of mental
> toughness and maturity away from being unreal.
> Pierce for most of this
> season has seemed distracted and unhappy. It goes
> back to the Eastern
> Conference Finals, through the World Championships
> and into this season.
> There has been a little bit of selfishness in his
> game. It isn't always
> there, but it shows up from time to time. Anyway, as
> for the Player of the
> Year... Duncan, Garnett, Kobe (you eliminate Kobe
> because of Shaq-why?) and
> T-Mac are in a four-man sprint to the finish. You
> don't mention Jason Kidd,
> who has been fantastic again this season. He should
> round out the top five.
> There are lots of other players I'd put ahead of
> Pierce-Nowitzki, Iverson,
> Ben Wallace come to mind right away. They may or may
> not be better players,
> but they've had better seasons. Last season was the
> time to make the case
> for Pierce.
> 
> ... What does everyone think of this proposed
> 20-year-old age limit? I think
> it will do more to help the quality of college
> basketball players (although
> not necessarily college basketball-some kids will be
> going to college who
> have no business being there). I don't think it's
> the answer. I still think
> the NBA should tailor it like baseball's system. In
> baseball, kids are
> automatically eligible for the draft after high
> school, but if they set foot
> on a college campus, they aren't eligible to be
> drafted or sign a pro
> baseball contract for at least two seasons. The NBA
> should give kids the
> opportunity to declare for the draft after high
> school, but make the age
> limit for playing in the league 20. Kids who are
> drafted out of high school
> would have to spend a year or two playing in the
> developmental league before
> joining the NBA. That eliminates the problem of
> teen-agers coming into the
> league too soon while still giving kids who don't
> want to go to college an
> option.
> 
> ... If you get a chance, check out this Ric Bucher
> piece on ESPN.com:
>
http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/bucher_ric/1521607.html
>
<http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/bucher_ric/1521607.html>
>  Some interesting
> stuff from Mike Dunleavy. I think both Dunleavy and
> Bucher use the wrong
> word when they say "selfish." I think "aggressive"
> would be more accurate.
> There's little room for passivity in the NBA, and
> Dunleavy is figuring that
> out. It's something Kedrick seemingly never will and
> Joe Johnson only
> figures out on occasion (dating back to his college
> days). Some guys get it,
> others don't. There's also an interesting note in
> there about the fact that
> the first round of the playoffs are going to seven
> games so that revenue
> will go up, therefore inflating the salary cap.
> Doesn't that also determine
> the luxury tax? It's going to be very interesting to
> see if the Celts pay
> the tax or not. Wallace made a big deal of signing
> Mikki Moore/Grant Long,
> saying "we're going to be taxpayers" but are they?
> I'm not so sure. 
> 
> ... What did everyone think of the Eric Williams
> ejection Sunday night?
> Watching it at full-speed, when it happened, I
> thought it was justified.
> Watching the replay, it wasn't as violent as it
> appeared. But the officials
> don't have that advantage.
> 
> ... These next two weeks should be fun. Make or
> break time against some of
> the best.
> 
> Mark
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