Worm Guts wrote:Not really, Wally chose to sign an extension. But even then, being around is more of a tangible, measurable contribution than being first. The value in being first is almost all emotional.
I don't really feel the need to give Wally extra credit for signing a contract that made him about 20-30% overpaid.
I disagree that the value in being first is almost all emotional (tangible improvement in the on court product, a more than 20% jump in attendance, etc.). I also think that emotions matter when discussing a list such as this. If you didn't think emotions mattered in this discussion, you likely wouldn't have helped draw out the discussion on Marbury, Cassell and Googs this long ("they broke our hearts", "obviously his best was better than Wally, but **** him"). You're just stuck on the negative. That's fine, I just think it's misguided to dismiss main pieces of the only two relevant or close to it teams in franchise history for a guy who was mostly just here for a little longer.
Like I said before, the ability of Marbury, Googs and Cassell to generate emotion means something, particularly when most of the emotion Wally generated was "Damn, why didn't we draft (insert any one of a handful of players here)".