All-stars and role players

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

I've been away since Friday, and look at all the activity on this list 
since then!  Of course the Williams deal and Mills and Edney signings have 
a lot to do with that. 

Jason Gunkel said
> So why is everyone all of a sudden so depressed about our team.  Is it
> because we did not save our money for the free agents of next year?  I think
> we didn't save our money becasue Pitino thinks we already have our three all
> stars and just went out and signed solid players to help them.
> 
> Would somebody tell me WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?

I think some fans like to see the big-time, exciting players, who score lots 
of points or make fantastic passes or slam dunks, and they're just not 
feeling real proud of having a bunch of players who aren't already household 
names everywhere come onto the team.  For those fans all I can say is have 
patience, Pitino will get the best out of his young talent, and very soon 
some of them will become household names.  I'm glad that Pitino is trying for 
a winning team instead of one that will just attract a lot of attention.  
There are players who get lots of attention who aren't winners and there 
are winners who don't attract a lot of attention (some call them "role
players").

Latch87 said:
> Now we have Mills, who works hard, has a
> good attitude, is highly durable, and put up impressive numbers in a
> very slow-tempo offense.  People are so quick to jump on and off the
> bandwagon.  How realistic is it to assume that we would have been able
> to attract the superstars through the free agency market in the coming
> years.  And even if we got one, we could never afford three.  It's
> totally smart then to try to develop two or so from within 

Eric Borges said:
> After the Celtics lost the lottery and the Pippen deal fell through,
> Pitino went in a different direction.  He is banking on the trio of
> Walker, Mercer, and Billups becoming future all-stars.

S R Farrell said:
> Pitino brought in a bunch of hungry guys who
> will be able to win under his system.  Within that bunch are three of
> the top twelve draft picks over the past two years: out new nucleus.  
> We are now destined to be successful.

Exactly!  Nobody said you had to get your all-stars through free agency. 
Every all-star started as a rookie, and very few of them were all-stars in 
their rookie year, in other words, you can get your all-stars by drafting 
and developing them. 

> Although I am skeptical of some of the personnel moves Pitino has made,
> all of those were for role players.  Role players don't win
> championships.  He made these moves to make the team more exciting and
> possibly win more games.

I disagree.  Quality role players are essential to winning championships. 
Michael Jordan didn't win championships until there were some other guys 
who could play around him.  Steve Kerr and Dennis Rodman are 2 of the best 
role players in the game, but they're still role players, and they're still 
important parts of Chicago's success.  The Bulls can't afford to pay a 
superstar center, so they have a quality role player, Luc Longley, in that 
spot.  No team can afford to pay 8 superstars, so you need to get the best 
$1 mill to $2 mill/year players you can to fill out your roster.


Jon McIntyre