Bringing AK Back

Hayesfan · Sep 20, 2007

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-66/Bringing-AK-Back.html

Really good article Kelly.

I'll post a bit here, then yall go check out the rest at True Hoop!

This guy can play. Anyone who's watched Kirilenko over the years knows that this is a special basketball player, you might not want to build a team around him in theory, but it wouldn't be a bad option if you tried. From his jaw-dropping European championships lines, to the memories of five-by-fives gone by, this is a man who (in just a few years) has already made us nostalgic for the "old" Andrei Kirilenko. Andrei Kirilenko, of course, is 26-years old. Things spin quickly, 'round these parts.

I know Henry linked to this page yesterday, but it's worth another look. The math is sound. For those of us who got the bug watching Kirilenko during the 2000 Olympics, and grew smitten watching him dash across the court for the Jazz from 2001 until 2006, last year was a real pain. Yeah, the Jazz were winning, but their pick-and-roll machinations were too orthodox, and Kirilenko's attempts at playing small forward were frustrating to behold.

(And, believe me; I have reason to want to see him slide. Live-blogging the 1999 Draft - yeah, I did that back then - I wondered aloud if Kirilenko could be "the next Martin Muursepp." There's still time to make me look good, even if AK looks bad)

It's this spark, this batch of "remember when," that spurred the comments page on yesterday's AK post to run for two pages. I didn't read more than the first few, I knew I had a Kirilenko post in me today and didn't want to go in with preconceived notions that I was ripping off someone else's trade proposals, but you can see why this goes beyond the usual September doldrums.

We want AK back. We want him playing power forward, and we want him on a running team. We don't want him having to chuck up a 3-pointer at the end of a possession just because the shot clock has run down and somebody took the middle away from Carlos Boozer.
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tracyyao01 · Sep 26, 2007

good job finding it hayesfan.

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Bringing AK Back

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