Apples and Oranges

[gene kirkpatrick]

Granted, you have the better case right now.  I'm looking at what Al can do sometimes vs. what JO can do rather regularly.  Al had a bad year; he was hurt, he hasn't learned how to train effectively yet, and he may be slow on learning defense.  But I would prefer his potential to O'Neal's actual.  I just don't see O'Neal as stepping into that elite class; Al has a better chance, imo, of being there.  Ok, so this is a diamond-in-the-rough in the eye of the beholder thing, but the flashes Al shows are beyond what I've seen in O'Neal.  O'Neal gets his numbers and helps make the Pacers a good team, but they can't get over the top.  He doesn't have to be a Duncan to be valuable; I'm just not sold on him.  Al shows more, if not with consistency yet. The argument about getting attached to our players is always a good one with me, since I lean hard against the winds of reality; but, that would be accurate with Gomes, not a cornerstone player.  Al is different.  Gene

"Berry, Mark S" <berrym at BATTELLE.ORG> wrote:  Gene, if you want to argue Al will be better someday, fine. But come on.
Al was a colossal disappointment this season, and part of that is
because of his lack of desire. Al is going to have to work very, very
hard to ever reach Jermaine O'Neal's level. 

I'm not sold on trading Al but if you do it, then a guy like O'Neal is
exactly who they should be targeting. He's a sure thing in the prime of
his career. A game-changer. 

Now, do I have questions about his injury history? Sure. But that is the
extent of my concern on Jermaine O'Neal. He handled the Artest stuff as
well as any player possibly could. He carried a bad Indiana team last
season and this (when healthy). 

I'll in no way be disappointed if we start camp with Al on the roster.
But to get this attached to anyone -- to the point where you argue he's
better than Jermaine O'Neal (he wasn't better than Raef LaFrentz!) -- is
counterproductive.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: celtics-bounces at igtc.com [mailto:celtics-bounces at igtc.com] On
Behalf Of gene kirkpatrick
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 10:14 AM
To: celtics at igtc.com
Subject: re: Apples and Oranges

I interrupt my reading of this discussion to state my firm belief that
Al is better than O'Neal right now. Sure, if they were on the same
team, you would start O'Neal but you would see Al doing things (mainly
on offense) that JO can't do. Do any of you remember the games when Al
overwhelmed JO last year, or again early this year? Al is better
offensively than JO is defensively right now. Sure Al has to fill in
the gaps of his defensive game, but we're looking at a superior talent
in Al and that can be seen already--the preceding is an opinion based on
watching Al eat JO's lunch in various games. Furthermore, Al has the
desire that JO doesn't seem to be able to call upon. Sometimes, I think
you trade potential for actual, but not Al's level of potential. Let's
recall this thread next December and note Al's progress. I've seen
enough to crown him. Now, back to reading your interesting discussion.
Gene

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