Re: Vescey's knowledge and Indiana

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 01:10 PM 9/10/03 -0400, Berry, Mark  S wrote:
> Shawn asked:
> Does anyone else on list have an opinion of Jermaine? What's the concensus?
> --- --- ---
> I don't understand Snoopy's problem with O'Neal either. He's a stud. He 
> scores, rebounds, blocks shots, runs the floor and gets better every 
> year.  As for the crunch-time criticism, I think it's somewhat valid 
> although easily understandable....
> So, did Jermaine struggle at times (not all the time) down the stretch of 
> games? Sure. But he was saddled with a coach without a clue and perimeter 
> players not really capable of either creating or making an open shot.

Basically, that's my problem.  I've never said O'Neal wasn't a good 
player.  He is.  But I think he's prone to problems at crunch 
time.  Several times, I have seen him blow a play, or commit a dumb 
foul--but ONLY in high pressure situations.  The closest--though 
faint--analogy is Shaq.  He's a tremendously talented player, but in a 
close game that's going to be decided by free throws, I wouldn't want to 
ride the game on his FT percentage.

I'm willing to concede the possibility--though I think it unlikely--that 
Jermaine's problem stems from Thomas as a coach.  How badly can you really 
be shaken by the coach if you've got Reggie Miller to back you 
up?  Granted, Reggie's on the tail end of his career, but he's not chopped 
liver either.  Given a choice between O'Neal and Artest, I'll take O'Neal 
because I think Artest is too big a pain in the patootie to be worth 
babysitting until he starts acting his age and not his shoe size.

But right now, the Celtics have FAR too many close games to have anyone on 
the court who isn't rock solid at crunch time.  Jermaine would have to show 
me grace under pressure to convince me he's worth the risk in the win/loss 
column.