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Message: [QUOTE="Flacusian, post: 1652702, member: 264"] Pace is the embodiment of the type of player that becomes instrumental in successful programs. Although not the most gifted player athletically or physically, he maximized the talents and his abilities to become a role player which made the team better as a result. His left hand was a weapon that other teams were often unable to cope with. Not the best of shooters, he discerned just exactly what his effective range was and which shots were best for him and as a result developed a floater that confounded other teams at times and exacted enough focus from the opposing teams whereby other players on his team were provided some modicum of relief when the opposition was kept honest by the threat that Pace represented. Never a problem off the court and characterized as a kid who was willing to do whatever it was that helped the team to win. Although we live in a time where the focus seemingly is always on the one and doners, the diaper dandies, the 1st round draft picks, and the 1st team all Americans/ Mickey D's AA's and the media darlings, the unsung heros are the kids like Josh Pace who fill essential roles on the teams that have the one or two great players. The teams that typically go on to win championships have a supporting cast of players like Josh Pace and they often go unheralded. Case in point... Carmelo as a freshman was able to lead his team to the National Championship. Regardless of what some people may have said he was the best college player in America in 2002-03. But Melo also had the supporting cast of players who although were not really NBA caliber, were magnificent role players who contributed within the limits of their talent and ability for the benefit of the team. Melo has not had that surrounding cast of supporting players since he left Syracuse and his lack of NBA titles is not so much a referendum of his lack of ability or talent as it is a demonstration of how players, regardless of great talent and ability, need a cast of supporting players who coalesce into a team greater than the sum of it's individual parts. Josh Pace is one of the things that Championship teams are made of. [/QUOTE]

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