Re: the state of the rivalry

[KK <6166kkver@umbsky.cc.umb.edu>]

Cecil Wright wrote:

> ...
> I'm sure this is only your opinion, but learning-challenged?  Come on
> now.  If that isn't going terrribly overboard, what is?  Unless you are
> part of the coaching staff, how can you make that criticizm and why would
> you even say such a thing?

Perhaps I didn't express myself clearly: I don''t mean that he is slow to, say, pick
up the teams's plays because of a learning disability - I, as you point out, wouldn't
know it, unless an insider told me. Rather, my criticism referred to the fact that he
doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, and keeps repeating them again and again.

> So who is to blame for the terrible shooting percentage for the minutes
> Billups didn't play?

Not he, certainly.

> Let's be fair, you can hardly fault the guy for a
> teammates failure to hit the jumper or to finish a layup.

It may or may not it be the passer's fault. For example, if the ball is dumped to the
shooter in an awkward, difficult to score from, position, with the shot clock
expiring, it's unfair to demand that the shooter make a high % of such shots. That is
not to claim with certainty that this is what Chauncey did, but the fact remains that
off his passes the teammates scored 0 points, while off Walker and Edney's - at least
22. Statistically, it just doesn't seem very likely that, with other things being
equal, people would miss all the shots off Chauncey's passes, but make a bunch of them
of other people's passes. More likely, he either did not pass to people in scoring
positions, the people he passed  to were poor scoring options (and thus shouldnt've
received the ball), or else these passes were poorly placed and timed.

> Yes he had a
> crappy game, but if he shot 8-17 from the line, you'd want his head on a
> platter.  Walter is 6'10", so I would hope that he can do defensive
> things that Billups can't.  That doesn't factor into this discussion.

But it does. McCarty is valuable to the team even if he does not score much, or
register a single assist, whereas Billups is much less so.

> Your point revolves around the fact that as a #3 pick, he should be
> performing at a higher level.

Well, of course! Not only my point, but the whole prolonged discussion revolves around
that fact.

> I'm saying that, given the circumstances,
> his play will improve.
>

I am sure (and sincerely hope) your prediction will come true, for it would be nearly
impossible for it not to. The question here is, how much will (can) it improve?

K. Kveraga