Re: Keep or trade Antoine

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

A power above us gave this talent to the wrong man.

At 04:07 PM 12/3/99 EST, you wrote:
>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
>
>