Re: Re: Billups makes old team wonder

[DJB <dajubo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My point is, we just don't know, so those projections don't make sense.

-David
-------Original Message-------
From: Kestutis Kveraga <Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu>
Sent: 03/17/03 10:54 AM
To: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: Billups makes old team wonder

> 
> --- You wrote:
If the C's had kept Wallace, would they have had the opportunity to draft
Billups, and if they did have the opportunity and kept both Billups &
Wallace,
would they have had a shot at drafting Pierce?
--- end of quote ---

 I seriously doubt that having Ben Wallace as a rookie (who was barely
getting
off the bench for Washington in '96-'97) would have affected the fate of
Captain Carr's Titanic one bit. The Celtics had the same determination to
lose
then that Cleveland does now. Besides, if they'd had a lower pick in '97,
who
knows, maybe they would've taken a shot at McGrady.

And  in '98, they might've had a chance to draft Nowitzki. What makes you
think
that the remainder of the '97-'98 season would've been dramatically better 
with
Billups and Wallace in the lineup? You're projecting what these players
are now
to that season 6 years ago, before Wallace became a prime example for what
steroids can do for a pro athlete's career, and before Billups had found
his
niche in the NBA.  Kenny played great initially  - I remember Cooz cooing
like
a pigeon about Kenny's play. I remember being astounded at the difference
between Kenny and Chauncey in terms of PG skills. Kenny was a point guard
we
hadn't had since John Bagley. Then, of course, it went downhill, as some
many
things did in the Pitino era. 

Anyway, this whole business of projecting what might have been is silly,
because our guesses require that other things stay the same. And they
never
would, because we're dealing with a chaotic system here. If you could
change
one little thing back in '96 or '97, it's likely - even highly probable -  
that
today's NBA would be dramatically different. Only one thing would remain
constant - the BDT would still be idiots. 
Kestas