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[Fung Yee Danny Lim <dlim@utkux.utcc.utk.edu>]

Hi, Danny here. I apologize for those dead letter messages earlier. I
joined the list just one or two months ago. It's been a tremendous
experience and the level of discussion is impressive. OK, onto what's on
my mind. 

Being from Tennessee, there is no doubt in my mind that Pitino is a great
coach and from his stint with New York, it can be seen that this does not
apply only to college. More importantly, however, he's not simply a great
coach when given great players. He came to a struggling program in
Kentucky and turned it into a twenty game winning team in just two years,
and the fact that he has kept the program at the level ever since shows
that it was not a fluke. He did the same thing with NY. I mean, yes, NY
had talented players, without a doubt. But that talented bunch wasn't
winning. In the NBA, talent is so widespread that often, the only thing
that really separates a winning team from a losing one is simply the
mindset of the players. I mean, look at Philly, or Washington, or even
Milwaukee. What one sees are tremendously talented teams without the wins
they should be getting. Many talk about chemistry, but the heart of the
matter is that winning helps create chemistry among players and a good
coach can bring about winning by something as basic as changing the
mindsets and confidence level in a team. A good player can sometimes also
achieve that (eg: Larry in 1980, David in 1990). So, my point is, forget
the money, if we'd like to be contending anytime soon, and were he
willing, bring in Pitino at any cost.

Regarding the draft, boy, I can't wait. Were we to get Duncan, assuming
the second pick falls maybe at no. 7, I'd like for us to go for a shooting
guard or trade for one. Fortson's might be still there, I guess, and I say
we take him and then hawk him around to see who we can get.I still like
Antoine as PF, and besides him, we still have EW and Dino (realistically, 
we probably won't be able to get rid of him and besides, he's still a
pretty good player when healthy), assuming that Rick is gone. Wesley, we
have to keep, I think. It's very rare to find a point guard with his kind
of stats. It's not the magnitude of his no.s that impress me, it's the
efficiency. He's shooting almost 46 % and 80 %. His turnovers are alright
(about 175) for a point and his assists and steals are impressive. He's
worth it. For a SG, someone who plays like Hawkins would be ideal. Day
shoots entirely too much (which is why I'm not for Page either, he took
like 20 shots in a half in one of the tournament games) and Minor is a SG
who shoots like a C from outside 10 ft. What do y'all think? Tell me, I'm
curious. - Danny