Apples and Oranges

[Wright, Cecil]

I agree 100% with Mark.  I stated early in the season, after the first
ankle injury, that I was concerned about Al's conditioning and psyche as
a result.  Some players just cannot do the same things after a serious
ankle sprain.  Their explosiveness and lift disappears amidst fear of
re-injury.  I think this could be one reason why Al tried to take so
many charges when he came back the second time.

But there is really no way to state that you would take him over O'Neal
RIGHT NOW.  Al has not proven himself yet, IMHO.

Cecil (who loves eggs)


-----Original Message-----
From: celtics-bounces at igtc.com [mailto:celtics-bounces at igtc.com] On
Behalf Of Berry, Mark S
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 11:45 AM
To: The Boston Celtics Mailing List
Subject: RE: Apples and Oranges

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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