Apples and Oranges

[Kim Malo]

At 02:59 PM 5/8/2006, Berry, Mark  S wrote:
>Danny and Doc have made it very clear that Al didn't work hard enough
>last offseason -- and I think that showed. He was out of shape all
>season. When the organization is questioning his work ethic, I take it
>seriously.

The other thing that bothers me as much or more than the in shape/out 
of shape is that he is essentially the same player he was when we 
drafted him. He's still trying to do it all on talent - and don't get 
me wrong, that raw offensive talent and those softest of hands are 
magical- rather than improving how he does things, even in a small 
way. That's part of why his defense is still so bad and I suspect his 
strongest supporters here either don't realize or are ignoring just 
how bad that is. One slight improvement is that he now tries to grab 
rebounds a little more often where before he use to just bat at them, 
which was probably all he had to do in high school among the 
munchkins. Whoo-hooo!!!

And yes, I know he's young or you can say it's up to the coaches to 
make him do better, but the answer to that is his fellow Bayou 
brother. Who is almost exactly the same age despite one more year in 
the league and who not only became a workout demon to sculpt his body 
when that was all he could do, but also looked at things like his 
woeful offense and actually developed genuine touch on his shot last 
summer. Which given it was the summer, means it has to have been 
something he did largely himself. Hopefully this summer he can learn 
to stop putting the ball to the floor before shooting.

Kim