"Tony Allen is known as an offensive player"

[Steve Weinman]

Dick Stockton had to be kidding, right?

-sw

[Who]

To be honest, I rate his offense more than his defense and his penetration is the first thing I think of about the man. I'm always surprised people, and by big numbers, think of him first and sometimes solely as a defender.

[liam]

I think of him mostly as a mental error guy.

[Steve Weinman]

I think of him mostly as a mental error guy.

TP, liam!  My sentiments exactly.  I'll root for the guy for as long as he wears green and keep talking myself into his ability to get it together...but this about sums up his first four years in the league.

-sw

[Bahku]

I think ol' Dicky is dabbling into areas a little outside of his expertise, (not a difficult thing to do, I fear). Tony is an amazingly talented athlete, and can be just as explosive on the offensive end of the floor, as he is a defensive force.

As previously intimated, TA's big problem is in his head, and until he stops being cerebral, and relies on his visceral impetus, he's going to continue to struggle on the floor, and keep becoming his own worst enemy. The fact that he realizes this and still seems to make no headway, is what's truly troubling to me.

Problems are only problems if they're perpetuated, and become opportunities in the hands of someone who's dedicated to change and improvement. I'm not sure if that is a place that Tony will ever get to. Let's pray it is, and pray that he becomes the confident, powerful basketball player he's capable of!

[davemonsterband]

He's an offensive player who's physically made to play defense. But I will say Dick Stockton sounded drunk tonight, he didn't know who was fouling who or who was who. I got a kick out of it, reminds me of listening to Walton.

[yall hate]

I had mentioned this in the game thread.  It's a shame that crap like this happens, but it happens around playoff time for all sports.  you get announcers who arent familiar with teams who just dont know what they are talking about. 

I call it the Chris Berman syndrome (anyone ever noticed how he never really has anything relevant to say, but ESPN trots him out for all the big events?). 

They find a guy who has a good knowledge of the game, coupled with a good voice, and the plug him into big spots but the person really has no clue about the individual players (and how would they when there are so many players and a guy like tony allen is so low on the 'star' list.

[Celtic]

I had mentioned this in the game thread.  It's a shame that crap like this happens, but it happens around playoff time for all sports.  you get announcers who arent familiar with teams who just dont know what they are talking about. 

I call it the Chris Berman syndrome (anyone ever noticed how he never really has anything relevant to say, but ESPN trots him out for all the big events?). 

They find a guy who has a good knowledge of the game, coupled with a good voice, and the plug him into big spots but the person really has no clue about the individual players (and how would they when there are so many players and a guy like tony allen is so low on the 'star' list.

Totally true, and perhaps the worst thing of all is you can tell by their statements, that not only do they not know anything about the players, but they really didn't care enough to want to. So many of the guys on TV really do not watch the games, and if they do they watch the Spurs and the Lakers and just don't know the rest of the league, but have no problem speaking as if they are the utmost authority.

[Steve Weinman]

I had mentioned this in the game thread.  It's a shame that crap like this happens, but it happens around playoff time for all sports.  you get announcers who arent familiar with teams who just dont know what they are talking about. 

I call it the Chris Berman syndrome (anyone ever noticed how he never really has anything relevant to say, but ESPN trots him out for all the big events?). 

They find a guy who has a good knowledge of the game, coupled with a good voice, and the plug him into big spots but the person really has no clue about the individual players (and how would they when there are so many players and a guy like tony allen is so low on the 'star' list.

Totally true, and perhaps the worst thing of all is you can tell by their statements, that not only do they not know anything about the players, but they really didn't care enough to want to. So many of the guys on TV really do not watch the games, and if they do they watch the Spurs and the Lakers and just don't know the rest of the league, but have no problem speaking as if they are the utmost authority.

To follow up on yall hate and Celtic on this, I guess what bothered me most is that I feel like as obvious as it is that Stockton had likely never watched TA play prior, the comment still seems fairly avoidable to me.  The amount of preparation that these broadcasters do for their jobs is generally immense, and in addition to what they see with their own eyes, they are given pages and pages of media notes on everything under the sun.  And since I can't imagine he was given a scouting report that read "Killer offensive player" about Allen, it makes me wonder if Stockton is the sort of guy who couldn't even be bothered to read the material and get whatever he was regurgitating right.

Maybe I'm just overreacting...but it really seemed to be another recurrence of "national broadcaster syndrome."  And that's always frustrating.

-sw

[BASSTHUMPER]

tony allen is a scorer.

[CoachBo]

He's offensive, all right.

His mental mistakes are offensive. To me.

[Roy Hobbs]

I don't disagree with you often, Steve, but Stockton was right on the money here.

offensive (adj) - causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying

You're telling me that that doesn't describe Tony's play?

[Steve Weinman]

I don't disagree with you often, Steve, but Stockton was right on the money here.

offensive (adj) - causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying

You're telling me that that doesn't describe Tony's play?

Touche, Roy.  TP for ya.

-sw

[thelittleticket]

I get the feeling Bob Cousy doesn't watch too many games.  "That Big Baby is a a huge kid.  Hes gotta be 6'11" or 6'10"".

[billysan]

Dont know about anyone else, but Stockton typifies a lazy mouthpiece to me. He (as stated above) is a good voice with a generally good knowledge of the game. The problem for me is that he hasnt taken the time to read or research about the second tier of players on these the playoff teams. This is pretty common in recent years (in my experience), I cant imagine seeing some guys like Madden or even Costas making these kind of gaffs.

I guarantee that if Tony Allen or Glen Davis were to come out and have a big game statistically this would suddenly change and Old Dick would suddenly know a few facts about them. Of course that would be because of the broadcast crews research, not Dick Stockton.

I say let Tommy take Dicks seat or at least join him in the booth.