Pitino on WEEI

[Jesse Haley <jesse@wmedia.com>]

Did anyone else hear Coach Pitino's interview last night with Ted Sarandis on sports radio? It was a very informative interview. He again stated how Gaston will not pay Antoine $100 mil. He also added that Antoine would never be the player he could be if he left Boston. He then explained how he and his staff rated all the players in the league, and this is what he found out about the Celtics. Everyone on the staff had Kenny Anderson in the top 10 pg's in the league, possibly top 7. Shooting guard, Mercer, was just outside top 10, around 11-14, which will improve. Power forward was also top ten, possibly higher. So they figured they need to upgrade small forward and Center (no big surprise there, but interesting how they broke it down.) Pitino also mentioned how Mercer needs to get tougher, physically and mentally, and to add range to his jumper. He said Tabak and Jones are here "unless something comes up and then they won't be here." He also said he believes in at most 5 years from now 50% of the draft will be high school players. College basketball as we know it is done, and if the league extends the rookie contract to 5 years, Pitino will be all over the high schoolers. On a side note, I guess Walker won't have Webber to push around 4 times a year now. Shucks! I loved to watch Antoine school him.
R.I.P. Frank
Jesse