Re: Dream

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

Ritesh Ramani said:
> Jeez...Pitino might become another Doug Collins. Trades players he does not
> get along with screwing team chemistry. Didn't some post something about
> Mercer and Billups hoping to play together forever?? I wonder how Mercer
> will take it?? I hope his game doesn't falter.

Who ever said Pitino didn't like Billups?  I've never had any indication 
about that from anywhere, except from people making speculations based on 
no real information.  If he didn't like or get along with Billups, he sure 
covered it up well.  He had nothing but praise for Billups as a person (as 
well as a basketball player) in yesterday's interviews.  He also added that 
his wife and daughter were extremely mad at him for trading Billups.  That 
doesn't sound like someone who he's not getting along with.  

Pitino traded Billups because he needed a point guard, had plenty of 
scoring gaurds, and Billups was the only gaurd he could get something 
back for.  

> This leaves the team weak in the power forward and center position. Was
> that Roy Rogers thing about 13 blocks in college against Kentucky all BS by
> Pitino? He didn't play at all did he??

Roy Rogers is a great shot blocker but hasn't proven anything else beyond 
that.  He was SUPPOSEDLY injured, which is why he didn't play after his 
first few games with the Celtics.  I did see him play in a few games 
before he got injured, but since he wasn't in "Pitino-ball" shape, he only 
got a few minutes.  His shot blocking instincts were amazing, but he 
did nothing else defensively or offensively.  

Losing Thomas and Rogers doesn't make the team weak at the power forward and 
center position.  I liked Thomas a lot, and think he'll be a real good player 
in the NBA, but as a rookie on the Celtics he didn't get a lot of minutes, 
and neither did Rogers.  It leaves them with a bit less DEPTH for a few 
games, until Ellison and Dontae' Jones come off the injured list, but 
Declerq, Knight and Walker have handled almost all of the Center and 
Power Forward minutes, and will continue to do so.  Once Tabak comes back 
from his injury, the Celtics will have at least as much depth and at least 
as much talent as they had at PF/Center before the trade. 

Declerq was the reason the Celtics won last night.  He got them the big 
lead in the first half.  We still have Declerq, and I doubt Pitino will 
trade him.

Look, folks, you can't assume that just because Pitino trades someone 
means he doesn't like them as a player or a person, or that they've been 
in his doghouse.  I think Pitino likes all the players he just traded away. 

But you have to give something to get something.  All the players Pitino traded 
are good to potentially great players, but their skills just didn't match what 
Pitino needed, as he had other players with the same or better skills or 
their skills just didn't fit Pitino's style which requires fast, multitalented
players, which is why he said he thinks BOTH teams won in this trade, and I 
agree with that.

Jon Mc