luther

Unless by "coach," you mean "person watching TV who is impressed when someone throws behind-the-back pass," I doubt you'd find more than half a dozen coaches who would choose Telfair over Jaric for a team, assuming there were no contract issues taken into consideration. (Obviously, Jaric is overpaid relative to his NBA production; and Telfair is not only cheap, but expiring. Those things play into the real world.)

Last night, Barkley was discussing Marbury and said something I loved. He said something like this: when Stephon was coming out of Ga. Tech, everyone was amazed at his physical abilities, saying "wow, when this kid gets it--really understands how to play--look out!" Then after five years, people start scratching their heads and saying, uh, why doesn't he get it yet? And now it's been 10 and he's still that same damn player, tantalizing in terms of skill, capable in terms of statistical production, but not a good basketball player. He still doesn't "get it." And if, after 10 years, he doesn't play the right way (and as Barkley said, if he couldn't play and get along with KG, of all people), he is never going to.

At some point, that will be the case with Telfair. It doesn't always come down to physical abilities, of which Telfair has many. Sometimes it comes down to doing the right thing on the court when taking into account your physical ability, your teammates physical abilities, game situation, etc. That is why I think most coaches would take the obviously inferior (in terms of quickness, handle, etc.) Jaric over Telfair. He understands basketball in a totally different way than Telfair. And the clock is running on Telfair. Third team in four years. Two teams totally gave up on him. He has value in the NBA, there's no question of that, but he has to play to maximize that value within his team's needs and his capabilities. Otherwise he'll be a shoot-first, shoot-badly point guard who will make the spectacular play sometimes, but screw it up even more.