on the finals

[Eric Albert]

>After every finals/playoffs there are always proclamations about 
>"what it means since ____ won".  You can always draw conclusions from 
>the fiansl winners, but one thing that the last 4 NBA champs (since 
>the end of the Kobe/Shaq 3-peat) have had is 3 bona-fide stars.  I'm 
>not talking superstars, but all-star caliber players:
>
>SA (2003 & 2005) -- Duncan, Parker, Ginobili
>Det (2004) -- Billups, Wallace (both or either), Hamilton
>Miami (2005) -- Wade, Shaq, Walker (like Shaq is on the downside of 
>his career, but Walker is a talented player)
>
>(the other) mark

I just don't see how you can rate Antoine an all-star caliber player.
He hasn't had a whiff of the all-star team for years.  His lifetime,
current year, and playoff stats don't justify it.  The only place I would
have expected to hear that statement before this message was from
Antoine's mouth.

Like others on this list, I think Toine has a great heart and a decent
basketball brain, but he's never been able to harness them to make
his own game effective (enough).  He's a player who hurts you about
as much as he helps you (as supported by that stat I quoted before:
his contribution to wins for last year's Hawks and Celtics, *combined*,
was plus one).

"Hurts as much as helps"?  That's not an all-star caliber player.

-- Eric