Re: FA money and draft

[DJessen33 <DJessen33@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-05-18 13:19:38 EDT, you write:

<< Pitino may be a great coach, but when people suggest that we
 should trust his judgment to pick the best available players, I just shake
 my head in disbelief. His only player acquisitions successes have been
 drafting (his own player) Mercer, signing DeClercq (not a major signing),
 and the (lucky & obvious) trade with desperate Toronto. This isn't very
 impressive when compared against his long list of failures in this critical
 facet of his job.
  >>

I can't agree on the 'long list of failures'. You can't point to a failure as
poor judgement and then say a success is because of luck. Luck comes in both
bad and good just as judgement.
The Anderson trade was possible because of Billups upside. As I have said
before, would have been able to trade for Anderson with anybody else picked
after Billups other than Mercer? With the money we had available, I don't know
who we could have signed(or who wanted to sign with us with such a bad team)
other than Knight. The only thing I think people can question is the Erik
Williams trade, we should have gotten more or shouldn't have gotten into the
situation where we had to dump salaries so quickly. Therefore, that can make a
person a little nervous when it comes to trade time. It all boils down to when
one man holds so much power, things can change very quickly, for the good or
bad....We also will have to opportunity to draft for immediate help(Doleac) or
drafting someone who will stink for a while but has long term
potential(Lewis,Harrington). DO YOU PLAY IT SAFE OR TAKE A RISK AND GO FOR THE
BIG PAYOFF?

DJessen33