Sonics win draft slot!
William Baker
Yahoo! The Sonics made it! For a while there I was afraid
that they would do something dumb like start to win. Now they have
a one in seven chance of getting the mondo pick, no. 1.
Why should Seattle trade the pick if they get it? So far,
all the comments have been to the effect that it would be extremely
stupid to pass on Patrick Ewing because he may become one of those
once in a lifetime players, like Kareem. Maybe he will, but it
will be at least a couple of years before he plays at that kind
of level. At the moment, Ewing is a great defensive player. In
time he may be a great offensive player. However, Seattle doesn't
need defense, it needs offense. Sure, you could draft Ewing and
start a frontline of Ewing, Sikma, and Tom Chambers. That would be
one of the best defensive frontlines in the league, but it wouldn't
score any points.
Seattle seems to be in desperate need of some offensive
players. Henderson is a good playmaker, Sikma rebounds well and
puts in his 15-20 points a game, but there is a dearth of pure
shooters on the team. Seattle needs a shooting guard and a forward
who rebounds, hustles, and gets his shots in. Who better than
Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale? This is just one suggestion. The
idea is that it would be stupid to draft a center when you have one
of the best centers in the league. Look at Portland. They could
have drafted Michael Jordan, but they took Bowie instead. Everyone
said that they were making a mistake. No mistake. Portland needs
another guard like it needs a hole in the head. Yes, Jordan has
had a great rookie season, but Bowie has done well and the
Trailblazers are looking strong for the playoffs.
Same situation for Seattle. The Sonics don't need another
center. If Sikma is looking a little worn around the edges,
it's because he must carry the team too much of the time.
He has a lot of good years of b-ball left; no need to replace him yet.
If they get the number one pick, they should trade it. They could
trade down and pick up a high draft number and a premier player in
return. Or they can go looking for veterans. My only concern is
that the Sonic front office has an absolutely horrendous record
when it comes to trading. They're so stupid they would probably
trade a no. 1 pick for Dan Issel.
Bill Baker
tektronix!reed!wab
gowie
I'm not a Patrick Ewing ( is that spelled right ) fan but I
do feel any team that would pass him up should have their skulls checked.
Dave McGownd
hplvla!gowie
roy
Pete Williamson
There is little possibility that the Celts would ever do that.
Boston consecutively sells out the Garden because of the popularity of its
players, not because of World Championships (although they certainly help).
The attendence figures during the "DYNASTY YEARS" are embarrassingly low.
But since Larry arrived, you can't buy a ticket.
BIRD, McHale, and Ainge are arguably the three most popular players in
today's Celtics uniforms. RED would never trade two of them away ... he'd
have a revolt on his hands and the attendence would drop.
One might further argue that the major reason Gerald was dealt to Seattle
was to allow Danny to blossom. The feeling in Boston is that we improved,
especially on outside shooting and defense.
Greg Kite and Carlos Clark are available, however !!
steve pruitt
>
> There is little possibility that the Celts would ever do that.
>
> Boston consecutively sells out the Garden because of the popularity
> of its players...
I agree with you that Boston (RED) probably wouldn't make such a move
for similar reasons but with a slightly different twist. If we're
talking about the same Boston that's supposedly one of the most
racially divided US cities (outside of Chicago of course), they
would loose much of their local appeal two fold: first by giving
away two members of the league's declining commodity (the WHITE player)
and second getting in return one big, black (and supposedly ugly) dude
(...who speaks with a slight accent when he speaks at all?). Remember
the only way they took Parish was in return for the draft rights to
McHale for which they gladly gave up the draft rights to Mr. J. B. Carrol.
This of course was also a good basketball move above and beyond the
racial implications (could JBC have ever fit in the Boston's style of
play?).
The real issues are: 1) will "The Boys" get to Magic again in
the championship series??? and 2) will a powerful Texas lobby
make a decent race for rookie-of-the-year between Akeam-The Dream
(Ralph Sampson's dream come true, now I don't have to play center
any more) Olijawan and Mike-Nike (I drive a chevy, when it's raining
so my Benz won't get wet) Aire-Jordan.
Go Bulls >> destroy the Bucks???
Steven P.
""Living forever isn't just a dream, but wake
me up when the Great Tribulation is over!""
Tim H. Robinson
> have drafted Michael Jordan, but they took Bowie instead. Everyone
> said that they were making a mistake. No mistake. Portland needs
> another guard like it needs a hole in the head. Yes, Jordan has
> had a great rookie season, but Bowie has done well and the
> Trailblazers are looking strong for the playoffs.
NO MISTAKE!!!!! Are you a Bull and Nugget fanatic! Portland might
not need another guard, but everyone needs Michael Jordon. The MJ vs.
Bowie draft, as well as the Cooper, Lever, Natt vs. Kiki trade, will
go down in history as the worst draft/deal ever made. Using ONLY
Portland's 'regular' starting line-up and the players who were
directly involved by the draft/trade, let's make 2 hypothetical teams:
BEFORE
Starters Reserves
------- --------
Jordon Lever
Paxson Valentine
Cooper ---
Thompson Drexler
Natt ---
This is a tremendous team which would have included 4 current/former
All-Stars. This team has it all - speed, scoring, defense, rebounding,
you name it. The depth is not even matched by the Lakers when you
included Portland's other players. Plus, the versatility of many of
the players, especially Jordan, Thompson, and Drexler, gives this team
many dimensions and weapons. There are 8 starters on this team!
HOWEVER, using the same 'players-of-interest', now picture this team:
AFTER
Starters Reserves
-------- --------
Paxson Valentine
Drexler ---
Bowie ---
Thompson ---
Kiki ---
It isn't pretty is it. You loose speed, defense, rebounding, scoring,
depth, not to mention 2 current All-Stars; is there anything left to
loose. Let's face it, Jordon out scored, stealed, assisted, and rebounded
Sam Bowie; he is unquestionably one of the best players in the league.
Bowie is, and will always be, an average NBA center; one day soon, Jordon
will be the best. I am a big Blazer fan and believe that Portland is
looking strong mainly due to the vast improvement of Bowie. However,
with the "BEFORE" team, the Blazers would have been vying for a
championship this June, instead of barely being a .500 club.
- Tim Robison