Re: Pitino worshiping.....

["smishra" <smishra@ix.netcom.com>]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: MICHAEL ZAINO [SMTP:mz3096@student.law.duke.edu]

>I disagree. If he is making mistakes, that cuts into his credibility. These
are the early warning signs > that spell disaster later. I agree that there
is no evidence of long run problems yet, but Knight is
>signed for potentially seven years.

Do you think Knight hasn't demonstrated the skills that he was signed for? I
thought that in the pre-season, Knight was our best player behind Walker and
McCarthy. He has shown that he can run the floor, rebound and knock a 15
footer with some degree of consistency.

> My point is that if RP doesn't/can't evaluate talent at this level the way
we thought he could, that
> could have serious repercussions in the long run. I personally do think RP
can evaluate talent,
> but so far, he hasn't done much with the C's to prove that he can.

I think he has Mercer, Jones, McCarthy and Knight are all good signings.
Billups is a little slow in getting upto speed, but then that happens, after
all it's not easy to learn an offense, it took both Kukoc and Harper of
Chicago Bulls almost an year to learn the triple post offense.

> He is basically shuffling players.  I am just troubled by the fact that
very few people are bothered
> by this. I think the euphoria of getting RP to replace ML is a bit too
strong. We are all jumping on
> his boat, IMO, a little too quickly and too freely.

Good coaches do shuffle players..didn't Riley shuffle the Heats Roster
couple of times before settling for the current lineup. I remember middle of
the season he almost fired his entire team with the exception of Alnonzo
Mourning. Regarding ML, he was a joke and it irked me no end that our
beloved franchise was the laughing stock of the NBA, during his tenure.

> So far you might argue that RP was mistaken about Mills' value, Eric
Williams' value (he originally > talked up EW), and even maybe Billups'
value. Even  though he manged to unload these mistakes, > what makes
everyone think he did the right thing this time around? I am not bashing RP,
just
 > trying to keep an objective point of view.

> I think it can be argued that  no one he has brought in matches the
potential of Eric Williams.
> That is where the rhetoric begins to fall apart, IMO.

RP wasn't mistaken about Mills value, Mills brought in 4 players. Mills
being traded on the 61st day leads me to belive that RP apriori had some
kind of an agreement with the Knicks regarding this trade. Coming to Eric
Williams was a good player, but instead of him now we have a 6' 10" SF who
can handle the ball better, rebound, score, plays better defence, is faster
and also gives the cap flexibility.

                                                                            
   - Mishra