I know one thing Crisco Kid, Mo has certainly showed enough to inherit our exception. Let's give him a try. I believe he might be awaiting word to see if Ewing is headed for Seattle for Baker and others. Seattle may have told him, if we can just get this done we will be the team TAYLOR-MADE for you. That may be why he is stalling. Who knows? ------------------
Mo Taylor may very well want to play here. Doc Rocket said so. Let's blame the delay on David Falk. The uber-agent likes to play The Puppet Master in this league. He wants to either get his client more money (and let's face it, if Mo can get much more elsewhere, he'll go--not that LAC will oblige him with a sign-and-trade) or scare Houston into promising bigger bucks should we get Mo for the exception. I just can't help but wonder if something was already worked out. He could have gone to the Raptors for decent money. Why spurn that if you wind up getting jack-squat? This Ewing-to-Seattle seems like BS. It would involve too many players to work. I'm babbling, babbling, so I'll stop now. ------------------
We all know that Eddie jones deserved to be on that All 1st team Defense team rihgt? Kobe is a pretty good defender, but not as good as the media says he is. He had one good game guarding Allen Iverson on NBC, and everyone anoints him as the best on the ball defender in the NBA. When Iverson was guarded by Kobe that game, Iverson got by Kobe many times, but Kobe used his long arms and took advantage of Iverson's height to block a couple of his shots and make him change his shots. In the playoffs when Kobe had to face guards his size, Kobe was abused many times by Bonzi Wells, Steve Smith, Penny, Jalen Rose, and Scottie Quitten. And JWill schooled him a couple times in the Sacramento series too. A lot of times, Phil switched Kobe off of Rose and the others to guard the point, after Kobe was taken. Kobe is a good defender, but not a great one. Maybe if he got stronger, he would be better, since Smith, Wells, and Pippen posted up on him and scored at will.
Eddie Jones 1st round stats* FG% .379 - 3P% .346 - PPG 17.0 (3 down from reg. season) *Starting All-Star guard Eddie Jones put up these fantastic numbers all against a guy who was 7 inches shorter, and was playing with a broken toe, torn rotator cup and inflamed shooting elbow. And don't tell me that was all Theo Ratliff either. ------------------ Say hello to the "Iverson Police"... [This message has been edited by thacabbage (edited August 19, 2000).]
I agree that cuttino might give up one or two inches on some gaurds,but so did Mario E In 95 run(he played small forward,and always gave up a few inches).Speed and smarts are as important in playing defense,and mobley has both and add a huge heart to that mix. Our front court players are always responsible for the type of defense our gaurds are playing.You can not steal every ball,and neither can you stop everyone everytime down the court. As a gaurd most the time you have to give them an outside shot as far away from the basket as possible,the rest goes under team defense. ------------------
NIKEstrad - the value of steals can be argued, but the following are hard FACTS. 1) The other players in the Top 10 in steals are Eddie Jones, Paul Pierce, Darrell Armstrong, Jason Kidd, Terrell Brandon, Gary Payton, Kendall Gill, and John Stockton. You have chosen an isolated example (Iverson) to support your case. Which from the rest of the list would you NOT want Cuttino to play D like? 2) The other guard for Philly is Eric Snow who ranked #11 in steals. Philly (ranked #7 in the league) held the opposition to 93.4 pts/g. This compares to the Rockets (ranked 21) at 100.3. The next one is for you as well Dr. N. To say that steals are not an indicator b/c the result may "only" 4 potential points belies the fact that the Sixers gave up "only" 7 less points than the Rocks (3.5 steals?) but finished 5th in the playoff race at 49 and 33. Maybe it's not Iverson (nor Kukoc), but *somebody* on the Sixers knows how to defend the pick and roll. Cuttino is adequate, but the Rocks will not make the Western Conf finals until everyone steps up the D. ------------------ GATER
