random thoughts...

[pio@edu15.coe.ufl.edu (Mark Piotrowski)]

1.  My take on the offseason is that RP has done a great job. The only loss
that I lament was Wesley. I think that he's the same type of player that
Pitino has been stocking up on w/ Mills, DeClerq, Knight, & Massenburg:
Someone who works his ass off, is humble about his abilities but plays his
heart out every play, has potential, or upside as the new schoolers call
it, that translates to trade value.  I mean the fact that he was the C's
MVP for the last 2 seasons, played for NBA peanuts (a lot to a $7 intern
like me, though), and didn't gripe once is a testament to his class.  Fox
is sort of like this and I believe that Pitino would have liked to keep him
but Knight messed that up by opening his mouth about being a Celtic.

2. I like the fact that Pitino's staying away from the 98 class.  I agree
with an earlier post that outside of Stoudamire and possibly R. Wallace,
they're all going to be overpaid.  How many playoff wins do they (the
lottery picks) have between them? Zero, i think. His strategy appears to be
(1) Draft wisely (the Lakers, Cavs and Jazz have all shown how important
this is to building a winner), (2) sign several FA's who have "upside" and
desire, i.e. Mills, DeClerq, Knight, rather than ONE overated blockbuster,
like McDyess or Joe Smith--Incidentally, this is one of the biggest things
that set ML and RP apart, Pitino is signing FA's with upside, while ML
signed FA's with big DOWNSIDES (Ellison, Barros, Wilkins. Minor is the one
exception but then he didn't work to develop him).

3.  I would like to keep Brown (I like his Defense and ability, if he would
refocus on it, to break down the D off the dribble.  He was one of the best
at that b/c of his basic speed/quickness), and trade Barros (w/o Brown, I'd
like him as a 6th man, but that's not the situation) and Minor (I think he
could develop into a Nick Anderson, Voshon Leanard type, but I can't live
with what he did to his kid's wife.  I don't care if you make 500,000/yr or
$5/hr its not right.  If he got bad advice, I'm sorry for him but his
children shouldn't suffer, sorry about the soapbox).  I like
Billups/Brown/Edney/Mercer as the 4 guard rotation.

4.  Mercer is my vote as (a) rookie of year, (b) my favorite Celtic (w/
DeClercq 2nd b/c we graduated a year or so apart from U of Florida!).  I
think he has a chance to give us what Reggie used to:  Smooth as silk
offense, solid D and some Panache (sp?), God it'll be nice to see a monster
dunk from a Celtic again (sorry Todd Day).

5.  Speaking of Day where does he end up? Are his day's in the NBA over?
My guess is yes.

6.  My 2 new favorite non-celtic teams are the Hornets (b/c of Wesley) and
Indiana (b/c of Bird).