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Re: Ricky Davis and Jiri Welsch

At 10:50 AM 2/18/2004, Berry, Mark S wrote: 
As a break from the trade talk, which I love, I thought I'd bring up the
Celts' swingmen.



I am a HUGE Jiri Welsch fan. HUGE. But the time has come to insert Ricky
into the starting lineup and bring Jiri off the bench. Jiri hit the wall
a month ago and is struggling to bust through. Remember, he's basically
a rookie. He's playing big minutes, isn't physically strong, and it's
obvious he's wearing down. It's time for Carroll to make the move to
start Ricky and bring Jiri in for shorter minutes off the bench. I don't
see it as a permanent thing. But down the stretch, it feels like the
right thing to do.

I'm actually a fan of both and kind of up in the air about this.
FWIW, an interesting alternative take on Jiri was offered on the Cs radio broadcast last night (think it was by one of their guests, though, not Grande or Max), noting that the rather precipitous drop-off dates to the arrival of Ricky, with Jiri trying to be some thing he's not in response to that. Given how different they are in many ways, that might seem ridiculous until you look at a couple of facts while also remembering what Mark points out about how young in NBA experience Jiri is and how much trouble he's had getting PT before he came here. That's the usual substitution pattern - Ricky for Jiri, setting up an inherent competition. While IMO Ricky, for all his faults and more selfish, gunner mentality as a player IMO comes closer to Jiri than almost anyone else on the Cs in terms of having basketball IQ vs just athleticism. It was the biggest surprise I've had since watching more of him at the games since he came here, although he doesn't have the discipline to make the most effective use of it. Particularly court vision, ball handling and ability to pass - among Jiri's biggest assets. Although Ricky has yet to learn that the best pass is one the person you're sending it to catches and not everyone can manage to get ones he himself could.

Kim