Have Pitino's trades and signing made that much of a difference?

[DJessen33@aol.com]

As I have written about earlier, many NBA analysts and columnists have taken 
turns roasting Pitino for what they consider a series of poor managerial 
decisions. Peter May, who has been a Pitino dissenter all along, has come out 
this week with a scathing review of Pitino's first two years in this week's 
Celtics review in the Sporting News. He accuses Pitino of blowing up two 
teams. He says that the trade of this year's number one pick plus DeClerke 
for Vitaly was "the only good trade that Pitino has made". He scoffs at 
moving Walker to small forward and Pierce to guard. Coach Peter May thinks 
neither will be able to play defense at that position and that they will have 
difficulty learning a new position. 

Well, he may be right. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while. 
We will find out if he is right in a couple of months. However, it seemed to 
me that Walker played a lot more small forward than big forward last year, 
regardless of what you want to call him. I remember him shooting a lot of 
threes and dribbling the ball a lot, something most big forwards don't do. I 
also remember that perhaps the greatest small forward of all time, Larry 
Bird, wasn't known for his man to man defense abilities. Also, Pierce was 
Rookie of the Month when he started at shooting guard when Mercer got hurt at 
the beginning of the season. Peter is looking more like that old blind 
squirrel every minute.

But let's humor Coach Peter May for a minute. Lets assume that Pitino didn't 
blow up the team he inherited. Let's say Pitino resigned Wesley,  Fox and 
Williams and still had Radja. Now all of that would have put us seriously 
over the cap and would have prohibited any other moves but let's assume we 
somehow would have been able to sign DeClerke and still made "the one good 
trade" of DeClerke and our no. 1 for Vitaly. For simplicity's sake, we will 
keep the draft picks of Billups, Mercer and Pierce the same. I will continue 
to give Coach Peter May a break and assume that we could still sign Cheaney 
with the middle exception. We would end up with the following team:

1) Wesley, Billups, Barros
2) Mercer, Fox, Cheaney
3) Pierce, Williams
4) Walker, Radja
5) VP

Versus our present lineup:

1) Anderson, Barros
2) Pierce, Cheaney
3) Walker, Williams, McCarty
4) Fortson, Battie
5) VP

As you notice, although Pitino has been accused of blowing up two teams, 
these two teams aren't that much different because most of the major players 
are the same. It seems that with all the moves that Pitino has done, most 
fall out with the noise. Now I definitely think the present version is better 
than the original version. The present version is a much better rebounding 
team and will be much stronger inside. I do grant that the original version 
would be better defensively up top with Wesley, Billups and Fox. However, the 
original team still has the problem of not enough balls and shots to go 
around with Mercer, Pierce and Walker. I also feel that inside strength and 
rebounding is much more important than perimeter defense. I think Pierce will 
be able to do an adequate job on defense, making up for a lack of speed to 
quicker shooting guards with his height and reach. The final kicker on this 
comparison is the extra future no. 1 pick from Denver that the present team 
has stored away.

Another way we could evaluate the two teams is individual breakdown. If you 
get rid of all the common players, you are left with the following 
comparisons:

Wesley vs Anderson. 
Mercer vs Fortson, No. 1
Billups, Fox, Radja vs McCarty, Battie

In all three comparisons, I prefer the present team players, although only 
slightly. Again though, the core of the team (Vitaly, Walker and Pierce) are 
not part of this equation. 

Then I guess it depends of what you team will work best together. I guess 
Coach Peter May must think that Mercer, Pierce and Walker could all play 
together and Vitally would be able to be the inside strength and rebounder. I 
disagree in that I thought past history of other teams and our own that there 
just wasn't going to be enough shots to go around between Walker, Pierce and 
Mercer and we really needed to solidify our inside defensively and in 
rebounding. 

Who is right? Well, Coach Peter May, how many skins do you got on the wall? 
Ah, I thought so. A degree in journalism doesn't do that much for me, at 
least when comparing to someone who a college basketball championship under 
his belt. Since I have proved that the two teams don't differ that much and 
if anything, tilt toward the present Celtics favor, I have to conclude that 
your distain for Pitino must be something personal. It is either that or you 
truly are the blind squirrel in that you only see what you want to see...

DJessen33