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RE: Looking for a center in all the wrong places

At 11:47 PM 3/29/2004, John Lyell wrote: 
I agree Mark Blount has been playing very well as of late, but where the
hell has he been for the last couple of years?

In Denver part of the time, backing up Battie most of the rest of it. Yes, he's had a surge of improvement and yes I've spoken before of his needing a fire lit under him. But it's only his third year playing in the league, so the recent sharp improvement isn't as out of line in terms of development for a non-superstar big man as you seem to think. Especially since the improvement actually began at the beginning of the season when he on his own acquired an offense over the summer.

$5-$8M would be acceptable, but cross your fingers he doesn't go back into
hibernation


I would like to go after Stromile Swift or Kwame Brown. I think these two
are still young and have a lot of potential as did Jermaine O'neal when
Pitino went after him.
<snip>

See now, this is just silly juxtaposed together like that, as you seem to be indicating that Blount is an old veteran past the point of thinking upside who has been coasting for years and years compared to them - Swift has 4 years in the NBA, Blount 3, Brown 2. Blount is older chronologically, but not in development in terms of NBA experience. Washington would thank you for going after Brown, who has even bigger motivation issues than Blount who at least has always had the reputation for working hard offcourt even when he looked lackadaisical on it. Swift is more borderline, with inconsistency more than the el busto lable usually applied to Brown. OTOH, Swift is a bit undersized at center, more a forward and Blount is a certified 7 footer in the middle, even if his offense is heavier on short jumpers than drop step into baby hook. So was Patrick Ewing's (no I'm not equating the two, just pointing out that you can still be considered a good offensive center with an offense based in that)

Look, I agree about not overpaying him or making him out to be more than he is, but don't go overboard the other way either. Your Brown or Swift point sounds mostly like grass is greener syndrome, particularly with Brown.

Kim