Joe Smith

["Alden Brosseau" <aldenb@vom.com>]

For those of you who still fancy Joe Smith as a Celtic, check out these
extracts from an item in today's San Francisco Examiner:

"Word of the Joe Smith fraud is starting to spread around the league.

"People who see him for the first time regularly ask what happened to him,
wondering what happened to the player who was picked first in the 1995
draft.

"His offensive game is a mess, his rebounding has declined, and his defense
. . . well, the topic is usually avoided in polite conversation.

"If Smith were a hockey player, his plus-minus differential would have
gotten him sent down to the minors.

"He is now averaging 15.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 41.5 percent shooting.

"But numbers don't begin to tell the story of Smith's season-long
inefectiveness.  Watching him let a perfect pass in the lane go through his
legs for a turnover, committing a lane violation and failing to hustle
after a loose ball, that presents a more accurate picture.

"Scouts from teams that at one point might have been interested in trading
for the free-agent-to-be have surely picked up on it.  And they can't help
but notice that the guy going on a scoring spree against the Warriors is
usually the one Smith is supposed to defend."

Alden