Same as it ever was

[asterix ninetynine]

Kim,

Think of this way:  If either Wally or Pierce had a season ending injury, with which player would the team have a better record?

I maintain that they would miss Wally far less than they would miss Pierce. 

Kim Malo <kmalo17 at verizon.net> wrote: At 12:23 AM 12/3/2006, Kestas wrote:
>Kim Malo wrote:
> >Try rebounding as a comparison between them, where it's a much more
> >legit criticism for Wally and credit to Pierce, especially since
> >Wally certainly has the muscles and basketball IQ to do more and do
> >it effectively.
> >
>While I agree with your (snipped) comments about Wally's passing,

I'd have been shocked to hear anything else from someone of your 
sense and perception .
It's something I wish the other players would learn from. Hanging on 
to the ball just makes life easy on the defense. If you don't have a 
shot or a plan of immediate attack, then pass it on ASAP to help 
create an opening for someone else. Or to at least to rotate the 
defense off you, improving the odds you'll be more open and get it 
back. Basketball 101 stuff.

>the
>problem with criticizingWally for not rebounding as well as Pierce is
>that he just physically is unable to compete in that category with
>Pierce. Yes, they're both 6-7, but I'm guessing that Pierce has several
>inches in reach,  and more inches in leaping ability over Wally. Yes,
>part of rebounding is smarts and desire, but even if I know exactly
>where the rebound is going and have all the desire in the world, I'm not
>going to get the ball over a guy who can grab it a foot above my highest
>leap.

Sure, I know and agree with all that, although I think using his 
strength to carve out position and to keep it would net him some of 
the kind of fundamental rebound that he's perfectly capable of 
getting, and that might also help create more room for his teammates 
to get in there and grab what he can't.  Bird was a very good 
rebounder and not just because of his greater height, while certainly 
not because of his leaping ability.

But in fairness to Wally it's not at all, as I made it sound to see 
if asterix would reply and how, a matter of his refusing to hustle 
hard enough for rebounds when he's in a position to. He doesn't just 
settle for the sort of it fell in my hands ones that Ricky Davis's 
stats were based on (I used to just laugh when people would point to 
his stats and praise him for rebounding - another example of why you 
can't judge what's going on out of a boxscore, as I know you know). 
Wally does go after them when he's in there, part of why I wish he 
would do more of it, since we need it. But the real problem with 
Wally and rebounds is that on defense he's too busy trying to catch 
up with his assignment and on offense they keep him outside all of 
the time, out of range.

>Gerald Green is probably not the smartest rebounder in the world, and he
>doesn't average many, but when he decides to go after one, it's all his.
>Not too many guys can grab it above the square like he can do at will.

Yup, and he does **go after** them, as Pierce does, and which is 
sadly not a given. It's not just having the skills, it's using them 
to force the results (see above about fellow high flier Ricky Davis) 
. To Gerald's credit, one of the positives of this season is that he 
clearly is working on things like rebounding to become a more 
complete player. Basketball isn't just playing HORSE, and the thing I 
may like best about him is that despite his age, athleticism and 
shot, and the way he likely was used up until now, he gets it about 
that fact. While much though Doc's coaching drives me mad in games, 
I've a strong suspicion he has a positive role to play in that.

Kim 


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