Allan Ray -- why?

[Kim Malo]

At 02:13 AM 3/21/2007, Eric Albert wrote:

> >Kim Malo wrote:
> >
> >But back to Ray, I think it's just one of those we need to see him to
> >decide if we keep him around next year or not things. I don't think
> >you'd be seeing much of him if we had even a bad chance of making the
> >playoffs. They've been pretty public in the media that at this point
> >guys are playing for jobs next season as much as anything this season.
>
>I guess I've lost belief in those "if we keep him around next year or not
>things."  Doc spent the whole preseason "checking guys out," then
>started the games that count with a brand new line-up.  He never
>settled on a rotation.  Partly that was injuries, but mostly that's Doc:
>someone (who's not a star) doing well seems to just about guarantee
>they won't be playing next game.

I don't disagree about Doc, but Ray playing now is a bit of a 
different situation and one that I expect has a lot more to do with 
Danny than Doc. As it stands now, his contract situation (his and 
Powe's and they know more about Powe's potential value) makes him 
most likely to be cut as needed to make room for draft picks and/or 
FA, and they need to get a clearer picture of what they'd be cutting. 
As I said, they're really playing for next year's jobs as much as 
anything now, since even without actively tanking, no playoff run 
means no need to make moves only to try to win games and they do need 
to do some evaluation. Ray was clearly not NBA ready when he got spot 
minutes earlier, but now he's had more time and that NBADL stint and 
they want to see if that's changed anything, especially if it means 
he can be more than another dime a dozen one dimensional gunner.
Kim