Saturday, April 22, 2006

Hoops - Father of Buck Speaks....... Again

Why is it that every time Buck Fredrick Senior speaks, I feel somewhat sorry for junior? Check it out.

Fredrick’s father said there would be no such backtracking this time.


"Absolutely no chance. Zero. There ain’t no going back to Atlanta. That's over," he said. "If he’s not going to stay there, it's going to have to be Carolina. It's as simple as that."


Really? Simple as that huh? Glad you have put down the law.


Interestingly, Buck's dad said the reason he is leaving is a disagreement that just occured this past week during a discussion about Fredrick's playing time and role on next season's team. Frankly, I can imagine there might be some truth here. Coach Hewitt has made it clear that he will NOT accept a lack of conditioning and we clearly had that last season - particularly with Buck. Heck, near the end of the season when he was playing his best ball, it was when his minutes were being limited to about 20 per game. Buck lost a decent amount of weight, but he clearly needed to lose more. However, with all that being said, you cannot help that Buck is caught in a position quandry. He will not be the starting PG with Javaris Crittenton on the way, and he would struggle for major minutes at the two-spot.


Having said that, I like Buck. I think he's a winner. I think he's a victim of "little league dad". Over0bearing fathers should not have their transgressions heaped on their sons. It's not fair for 19 year old kids to carry the burdens and dreams of their fathers. At the end of the day, Buck has decided he will be better off in another situation. I wish him all the best and hope he finds what HE is looking for (not pops).


As far as the Jackets are concerned, my hope is that the team chemistry will sky-rocket. For two seasons now there has been this "Buck saga" always hovering in the background. Let's let Buck move on and let's do the same. For Buck, he may not even land at USC as they seem to have run out of numbers. All the best.......