Posted by holfresh:
Posted by TMS:
so in your eyes it makes perfect sense to take on albatross contract after albatross contract, no matter how these players complement the ones we already have... no wonder you love Isiah so much.
No nothing is perfect but you have to look at it in the real world..there aren't any low post shot blockers out there available...DLee is a nice player but can't compete with the best the league has to offer...The Isiah and Marbury act has fail, time to move on...You guys are harping our positives...Zack and DLee...We have bigger problems...
Yeah, I'm sure teams aren't just dangling shot-blocking talent out there on a string. Ripe apples to be plucked off the tree. It doesn't work that way all the time. Sometimes it's easy and there's a firesale somewhere where you can get what you want at a reduced price, but most of the time, you've got to initiate and be creative. First and formost, Zeke's got to recognize he's got a huge deficiency in that area and it needs to be addressed. That's the first step. And to be honest, I don't think he believes that at all or doesn't put much stock into it, evident by his "shotblocking's overrated" comments from the pre-season and most recently by his comments concerning Eddy Curry's role on defense: "It's not up to Eddy to bail us out. We can't just look at Eddy all the time for help." I'm paraphrasing a little here, but you remember the comments. I kinda see where he's coming from a little (obviously, he's sick and tied of his rotten guard play on defense) but still, you can't just give Eddy an out like that publicly. That's insane. Has Eddy earned and out like that? No way dude. No way do you take Eddy off the hook like that. Never. It's almost like telling everyone Eddy does enough and you don't expect anymore from him. That's how I took that and I could see Eddy taking it that way also. I'm sorry but Curry can't continuely be coddled that way. Zeke's got to finally sit this turkey down and say listen, I know you're only 25, but that's not an excuse anymore. Enough of the bull****. You've been in this league for a while now and you know what's expected. I'll speak to the guards about doing their part, but either you finally decide to play some defense or you can forget about making and stupid all-star team and being compared to Dwight Howard (which was such a joke last year btw, Isiah should have never lobbied as hard as he did for Eddy to be an all-star) and more importantly, YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT YOUR TEAM WINNING ANYTHING!!!! The Marburys, Richardsons and Crawfords will come and go. But Eddy's the centerpiece - he's the guy with the most potential here. And you know what, HE'S GOT TO BE HELD THE MOST ACCOUNTABLE!!!! Bottom line moving forward. Some guys you don't have to worry about, but it's obvious now that Curry's a guy that you have to continuely light a fire under because the damn pilot light keeps going out.
Enough about Eddy though. Eddy needs help, no matter how much defense we might be able to squeeze out of him one day. A good GM recognizes a need, then goes out there and pursues it, whether it's readily available or not. You put a list together with your asst. executive personnel, try to pinpoint who you want, then pick up the damn phone, initiate the talks and make it happen.
My list for interior defensive help worth trading for at this time is a short one:
(1) A Justin Williams/Francisco Garcia package
(2) Andris Biedrins
(3) Hilton Armstrong
(4) Samuel Dalembert
"Yeah Mullin? Isiah. How are ya pal? How's the family? Great, listen, I really like the kid Biedrins a lot. How do you feel about Balkman and Randolph Morris? You have some interest in Balkman, but that's not enough? Oh, you really like Lee though. Hum? What was that? Lee and Balkman huh? Well let me think about that. You gonna be around later? Alright, cool, let me talk this over with my people and Dolan and I'll call you later. Thanks Chris."
It ain't rocket science.
11/24/2007 2:29 PM
