Apology and comments

[Kim Malo]

At 08:08 PM 11/11/2007, Alex Goldblatt wrote:
>Kim,
>
>KG is the major obvious factor - no doubt. But I think Ray is an
>overlooked team defensive player in your analysis. I totally disagree
>that he's looking strictly for his own offense - this is a huge
>mistake on your part.

Might be if I said it, but I didn't .
I said that was the perception / expectation of him, then I 
complimented him on the D we're seeing contrary to expectations.

>  IMO - he's the second best player on the team,
>and his almost .600 shooting for the perimeter player is as remarkable
>as it gets - HE NEVER TAKES A SINGLE DUMB SHOT. Period.

Yup, as they keep calling him - amazingly efficient. Sort of the 
anti-Antoine, who even when effective was rarely efficient : )

>he is as efficient as it gets - and in incredibly quiet fashion. Danny
>trading for him is one of the best moves in the NBA ever - just Paul
>and KG would not cut, IMO. He's an ultimate glue guy - on both sides.

Well yes and no. Per KG, the KG deal doesn't happen without the Ray 
deal and IMO Ray on his own not enough (I don't necessarily agree 
with you about KG not being enough, which is not intended as a shot 
at Ray but they do different things), so great move but for different reasons.

>I have a lot of reservations with Paul though. He's not on the same
>level, at least not yet. Dumb decisions, stupid TO's, well contested
>shots, gambling in the passing lane, etc, etc. BTW we have yet to see
>his improved D game he's been bragging about. He moves better - but
>that's as far at it goes.

NJ was a bad game for him, with too much of old habits on offense. 
But I can see the better D. You may not see it in stats, but his man 
isn't always the one wide open as in past and if he is it's not 
because Pierce didn't even twitch. And I disagree with the overall 
panning, although I can see reason to reserve judgement. But a big 
thing with Paul that has always differentiated him from Antoine, even 
when he looks as pigheaded, is that he's more open to influence and 
not as hard headed for the sake of hardheaded, so I wouldn't give up 
on Garnett's and Allen's beneficent influence.

>I also think that you totally overlooked Rondo

But I wasn't going down the whole roster. For that matter I didn't 
mention TA either. Or BB or.... I mentioned guys we were getting D 
from we didn't expect it from. We EXPECT it from Rondo. How can I 
overlook Rondo, he's at least an inch or two taller than I am (I 
always check that on new Cs PGs <g>)

Kim