Danny's Steals

[mark at 10thumbs.org]

Dude - can we all calm down a little here?  I have not heard anyone say
we're in the Auerbach era.  No one has written that Ainge is a god. etc.

We're -- as far as I can tell -- debating whether or not Ainge has done
enough to warrant keeping him as GM (as if we had any say).  I wish (and
will pledge to try myself) that people would stop twisitng what others who
disagree say.

/rant...

I don't think Gene was saying Perk is better than Josh HOward... but IMO
it's not as big a draft gaffe as Ryan initially made it out to be.

The year after they got Howard, Dallas passed on Kevin Martin, Varejao,
Tony Allen, Delonte West, Chris Duhon, David Harrison, even Justin Reed
for the immortal Pavel Podkolzine. That's a miss.

The closest Ainge has come to that kind of miss is Banks.  Say what you
want about Perkins but when all is said and done he'll have a 15-year NBA
career with 20 mpg with 8-10 Reb/gm, 1-2 blks, 2-3 assts (and he's still
learning) and yes the 5 ppg Ryan keeps mentioning :)  Podkolzine is all
but done. [BTW hasn't Ainge admitted that having been on the job a month
or so he didn't really scout that draft like he should have? He admits
Banks was the wrong pick.]

And if anyone criticizes Ainge for drafting Perkins, they have to
compliment him for taking Jefferson at #15 when others we passing on him
(Kris Humphris, TElfair, Luke Jackson, Aruajo, Robert Swift anyone?). You
(the generic "you") can't have it both ways.

When drafting I think you're doing good if you get:
Stars with picks #1-10
starters with #10-20
spot starters or solid bench guys with picks #20-40
end of the bench guys with #40-60

Ainge has done that *consistently* -- and then some. Every one of his
picks -  save the aforementioned Banks - has fallen in those categories. 
And many are in the next category above (Jefferson, West, Allen, Gomes,
Reed, poss. Green and Rondo).

I don't think Ainge has been w/o reproach, but he has consistently hit on
his draft picks WHERE HE WAS DRAFTING.  Look at teams like WAS and NJ and
see how much better they would be -- both look to have peaked -- if they
were drafting guys like Tony Allen, Ryan Gomes or Kendrick Perkins instead
of Plannanic, Kryhapa, or Andre Blatche.

(the other) mark
-------------------
Sean G. wrote:
-------------------
Are you serious?   Good Lord, have you ever watched both of them play?  I
dont see how a team can suck for so long and still have people thinking its
the era of Auerbach.

On 5/16/07, gene kirkpatrick <gk_tyler at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Right.  I would take a shot-blocking center who can patrol the lane over a
> very good wing.  Twelve years of Perk, who can neutralize the likes of
> Dwight Howard et al, over twelve years of Howard.  That's my pick.  I'd
also
> take Rondo over Howard; centers and points are that much more important.
 Go
> out and rebuild a team based on Josh Howard.  We all value his talent, but
> he's much more easily cloned.  Gene
>
> HRBlaine at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 5/16/2007 7:21:58 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Ryan
> writes:
>
> >Honestly though, you're kidding about taking perk over josh howard,
> right?
>
>
> Unfortunately, he's not.
>
> Harry
> green grow the glasses o
>