Re: Rate Pitino's move Poll

[Jim McMaster <mcmaster@sweng.stortek.com>]

In message <01BC92BE.416DFCE0@pm2p16.iohk.com>, Paul Whitla said:
> OK so everybody has had fun lashing out in M.L.'s end of term report.
> 
> Well, what grades would you give for Rick's moves so far?, including...
> 
> 1. Letting David Wesley go without a serious offer to resign him

I have no problem with this.  Wesley is a good PG, but I would bet Billups 
will be better in two years.  Then we would all be complaining about how we 
had another overpaid midget backup guard.  What...was Wesley going to make 
this team a Championship contender?  Grade B.

> 2. Giving up our second round pick for an executive from Miami

I'll have to defer judgment on this one.  The 31st pick in the draft is not 
likely to yield a great player, and if Wallace is the talent scout he is 
reputed to be, he might be worth more in the long run.  Grade Incomplete.

> 3. Signing Travis Knight to a seven year contract for 22M

I wish the contract were shorter, but that is apparently what it was going to 
take to pry him away from the Lakers, who really wanted him back.  If Jerry 
West and Rick Pitino think he is good, I am willing to accept their opinion.  
I think Knight might turn out to be a bargain.  Grade B.

> 4. Renouncing Rick Fox and Marty Conlon

I have never liked Fox as a player, and am glad he is gone.  Yes, he played 
hard, but he was just as likely to make a bonehead play to lose a game as a 
great one to win it.  In addition, the SG and SF positions are adequately 
covered by Williams, Walker, Mercer, Brown and Barros.  Fox is not great 
loss.  Grade A.

As for Conlon, look in any dictionary under "stiff", and you will find his 
picture.  Replacements are a dime-a-dozen, and he is no great loss.  Grade B.

> 5. Getting rid of Dino for nothing (i'll say it again this list was way =
> put out when he wasn't elected to the all-star game two years ago) while =
> still having to pay a sizeable portion of his salary
> 
This is not Pitino's fault.  ML gave Radja that contract, and played him at 
center until he broke down.  Pitino *traded* Dino for Cage and Weatherspoon, 
which is not a bad return.  It is not Pitino's fault Radja failed the 
physical, and Brown backed away.

I have been advocating trading Dino for three years, since he is over 30, and 
would not be around when the Celtics became competitive again.  Now it is too 
late to get anything for him.  The team will be paying him to sit on the 
injured list anyway.  If Pitino can con a Greek team to pay him to sit on 
their injured list, and recover *any* part of Dino's cap room, he is a genius.
Grade A.

> All right he did get Billups and Mercer in the draft and renounced 7 =
> other no-hopers but both these moves were widely anticipated and would =
> have been made by just about anyone.
> 
At least you are fair enough to acknowledge Pitino's good moves, unlike the 
obviously biased ML booster.  If these moves are good ones, and I feel they 
are, Pitino still gets a good move for making them, even if "just about 
anyone" would have made them, too.

> BTW this is not an attempt to start a serious poll just some food for =
> thought regarding the subject of Pitino's GM skills.

Let's wait awhile to start trashing Pitino, okay?  He is starting from a 
*very* deep hole.  On the whole, though, I would much rather have this year's 
team than last year's, even if they only win another 15 games.

- -- 
Jim McMaster
mailto:mcmaster@sweng.stortek.com