Re: Lil Penny?

[Peter Delevett <pdelevett@sjbj.com>]

         Reply to:   Re: Lil Penny?

I keep hoping on some sort of compromise deal between the 6 year, $100 mil Twon is said to want ($16.6 mil/yr) and the $14 mil a year Pitino is said to be able to authorize without Gaston's say-so ($84 mil total). It doesnt seem like such a wide gulf, in the world of ridiculous NBA salaries.

Peter May also made a good point on the Sporting News Web site: if Gaston demonstrates he is not willing to pay the top-dollar salaries that are needed to keep or attract top players and win rings, how long will Pitino stick around? 

Josh Ozersky wrote:
>I'm sure there's nothing to this.  More and more, I am convinced that
>other than a few (Vescey, May, one or two others) sportswriters don't
>know any more than we do.  Hardaway was no doubt a throw in (why not?)
>and Taylor could just have easily have written "David Robinson" or
>"Tim Thomas."  Even the whole Twon for Mash and PJ thing has been
>circulated almost by default, received wisdom from Vescey, who may
>have picked up on it via McDonough.  (I'm not sure about the timing.)  
>
>I met one of the contributors to the newsgroup this past weekend, and
>he made a point that we all seem to have missed.  Why shouldn't we be
>able to sign Antoine to (say) a 70 or eighty million dollar contract? 
>No other team can offer him nearly as much.  Thanks to the Bird
>Exception, we can offer him  a few million more than Chicago, and I
>very much doubt that Twon will pay five or ten million dollars for the
>privilige of saying fuck you to the Celtics.  Garnett money really is
>always bidding against itself.
>
>josh.
>
>p.s.  Paul is being very shmucky lately.  Pitino is a great coach and
>an aggressive GM whose moves it is too early to judge, but who in any
>case looks for his own kind of guys in a way the Dave Checketts of the
>world don't.  I still have complete faith in his judgement.
>