10-07-2004, 08:00 AM
|
#1 (permalink)
|
|
Enjoying Retirement
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: somewhere in the swamps of Jersey...
Posts: 7,719
Rep Power: 37766
|
Point Guard
Three Nets aim to make point
Quote:
Still, sooner or later, Travis Best, Jacque Vaughn or Zoran Planinic are going to have to step forward and be counted. None will be able to outrun a defense a half-dozen times a game as Kidd did. But at least two of them are going to have to prove worthy of playing 20-something minutes per game.
And it's too early to handicap the race.
"We have until the end of the month," coach Lawrence Frank said yesterday. "It's going to be a committee right now, a partnership. And at some of our positions we're almost going to have to take the intangible approach -- we're going to have to beat you with numbers. That may be one of those positions, whether it's two or three guys, whereas (in the past) it was one guy playing 38-40 minutes per night."
...
Best is the most accomplished. He was a vital contributor for seven years in Indiana, and under Larry Brown and Larry Bird developed into a superb pick-and-roll player who produced in the fourth quarter. This is his fifth team in four years.
Vaughn is all about defense, schooled at the altar of John Stockton for four years in Utah, and a natural leader. This is his fifth team in five years.
Planinic has the most physical gifts and perhaps the brightest future of the three, and judging by the work he has put in -- he has dropped 15 pounds -- he wants it. He also has the advantage of being more familiar with the motion game, and it's shows.
|
I'm hoping they go with Zoran, since giving him extended minutes would obviously help the most in the long-term. And I really like his game when he's playing with some confidence.
|
|
|