Keep or trade Antoine

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

I think the main thing that determines whether Antoine gets traded
or not is whether he will ever become motivated under Pitino. If 
Pitino feels that Antoine is never going to do what Pitino asks,
in terms of eating better, staying in phenomenal shape, developing
his body however Pitino wants it, and working on his game with the
coaches during the offseason, then the Celtics would probably be
better off trading him. I think that for Pitino, he would rather 
have a guy with 8 talent (on a 1-10 scale) and 10 work ethic than
10 talent and 5 work ethic, which is basically what Antoine is.

What's discouraging me about Antoine more than his play right now
is how he openly contradicts his coach in public. When Pitino says
"Antoine needs to be in better shape" or "Antoine should practice
shooting 10 hours a day," Antoine usually tells the media "I don't
worry about it." Despite all his potential (and I think his potential
is much higher than Hughes'), if he simply won't listen to Pitino,
he'll never scratch that potential. On the other hand, he is 23 years
old and could still mature. In that case, he should be virtually
untradable. I mean, try to imagine Antoine in peak physical condition
with a great ethic, coming into the season after working with the
coaches in summer leagues and minicamps during the offseason. I think
that Pitino probably has a better grip on which scenario is more
likely, and we can only speculate.

Alex