Re: Pitino Admits To A Bad Trade; Bob Cousy; Free Agents To Be

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Way Of The Ray wrote:

> Fortson, I expect to see him re-signed next summer, if not sooner.
> Although
> if it's sooner, it will have to be between now and October 1st as he's
> grandfathered in the old rookie contract.
>
> Battie is probably a goner - The victim of having to sign both Fortson
> and
> he. Is Gaston going to shell out $12 - $16 million for their combined
> salaries?
> Seems unlikely, and with Il Duce constantly on the prowl, trying to
> upgrade
> the team, there's strength to the possibility that Battie could be
> packaged
> for a quality veteran along with other players like Barros and Mr.
> Injured Reserve
> himself, Pervis.

Hi Ray:

My feeling is that Tony Battie will blink first and re-sign long-term this
summer at not far above the wacky Yogi Stewart contract (6-years at 24
million). TB knows what it feels like to have "The Fort" throw his weight
around in practice and pretty much humiliate him, so hopefully he may
decide to cash in before he loses leverage as, inter alia, the Celt's only
legitimate shot blocker. If Battie extends at slightly above 5
million-a-year, this is "Vitaly Potapenko money" so it hardly can be
called a "dis" (especially since the money is totally guaranteed
regardless of injury etc.). It's not as if TB dominated anyone decent in
the summer leagues, so I would assume he's "quietly confident" more than
"cocky" going into impending discussions with Chris Wallace.

IMBO (in my blowhard opinion) this is a critical "re-sign" for Pitino,
given what it costs to find Tony Battie athletes out there (Ratliff,
Camby) and his irreplaceable function in the Pitino system.

As for Fortissimo, I'm not worried about this situation particularly. If
our Danny Boy drops to 8 rpg, he won't be axed as a budgetary casualty.
And if he maintains his furious energy (11.6 rpg), he will be re-signed by
Pitino/Gaston next year at any cost as a "no brainer". The Celtics have
always been a team that recruits and pays fair value to guys like Fortson
who produce the "hustle stats" we value (in this case, 11.6 cans of
whup-ass). I've said it before, and I'll say it again! Pitino offered
Mercer an "insulting" and short-term extension because deep down he thinks
the guy sucked for his team last year. The logic behind why Mercer got
"kicked in the Nuggets" is the same reasoning that frankly explains why
the Celtics won 16 championships in 30 years. We don't grade players by
style, but by substance. This means Celts fans don't often get to enjoy
players who jump really high but rarely pass or rebound, like fans of the
perennial lottery teams. So boo freaking hoo!  "Read 'em and weep"  as
they say (16 banners).

The Boston Celtics always replace guys like the above with "less talented"
alpha pit bulls, mainly because they have enough institutional knowledge
to not worry about getting laughed at by the rest of the league. The moves
Pitino made this off-season will engender a totally different mood in our
pre-game locker room.

Last year:
Paul: Uh, uh, uh, that's a really nice ankle accessory your sporting there
Ron.
Ron: Mais oui, it's Cartier. I can also suggest for you the perfect
Gaultier silk shirt to match it.
Paul: Cool, that's nice of you. I'm glad you're my friend. Well, uh,  it's
almost game time...Kenny suggests I need to help him feed you enough
passes so that you can jack up 17.6 thousand shots for every one of your
patented mid-air dump-off passes.

By contrast, next year's locker room might look and sound different.
You're going to see A LOT more manly jock camaraderie activities,
involving farting contests and whatnot. No, seriously. Picture 12 guys who
look like they just parachuted into the Fleet Center locker room "for the
fun of it" out of a military DC-3. Picture 12 game faces. This level of
intensity cannot but psyche up the talented but go-with-the-flow Pierce
and Battie. We now have guys who view it as their "job description" to
carry Paul the apostle steadily forward on their shoulders, slings and
arrows zinging all around. If any one of us flotsam shared a pre-game
foxhole with committed AND unselfish teammates like "The Battleship" and
"The Fort" (all 550 pounds), we'd be whooping and hollering and getting
unbelievably psyched for the game. We'd be unbelievably ready to play.
Paul Pierce is going to be sprinting out of the locker room with Crazy
Horse Antoine absolutely committed to kicking the living crap out of the
visiting team.

As Paul Revere once said....well never mind, but I love the new look
Boston Celtics basketball organization.

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