[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Vescey's knowledge and Indiana

Did you see Reggie in the playoffs last year? It's pretty obvious that he IS chopped liver right now.

I'd trust Jermaine in crunch time more than anyone on the C's except Paul and in very few situations Antoine. Indiana probably would have been a 35 win team without him last year.

Let's say you ask a guy in a wheelchair to climb Mount Everest. He makes it 9/10's of the way to the top before he just can't go anymore. Would you complain that he didn't perform when it mattered most?

Jermaine did all he could last year. He carried an entire team on his back more than maybe any other player in the league did. So you can't really complain if he came up short in some situations. You can only do so much with all that weight on your back. Put him on a team like the C's where he doesn't have to carry the team, and you would be amazed at the results.


From: Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Vescey's knowledge and Indiana
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 21:43:56 -0400

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.

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself with MSN Messenger 6.0 -- download now! http://www.msnmessenger-download.com/tracking/reach_general