Derek Strong

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Whether this deal makes any sense or not depends on whether Strong can
still play like he used to. For instance, consider his 97-98 season
when he averaged 12.7 ppg and 7.4 rpg in 28.2 mpg. Pitino wanted him
originally for his toughness; I heard that he supposedly he did a nice
job containing Alonzo Mourning in the playoffs one year so I would
guess that he could put in some minutes at center.

I wouldn't want to give up a real asset for him but it's Pervis! When
did Pervis become an asset that we couldn't lose? Orlando would probably
even waive him as soon as they get him, so we could get him back if we
wanted. 

We are not giving up any salary cap flexibility, because we have no
salary cap flexibility. In fact, stockpiling at positions builds trade
flexibility. Look at Portland over the past few years; they never
stopped adding quality talent regardless of their depth. And it has
paid off; they can make trades like the Rider+Jackson for Smith trade,
or assorted backups for Pippen.

Strong would at worst take the place of Marty Conlon: a backup PF in
case of injuries to our real players. And we don't have much depth at
PF/C despite what some people have written. Who do we have?
  Potapenko
  Battie
  Fortson 

Walker is supposedly going to move to 3 for a lot of his minutes.
McCarty is not really much of a tough power player. Eric Williams does
not have the size to defend. Plenty of teams have 6 or more big men on
their rosters. And wouldn't it be nice to have a tough power forward
on the pressing unit instead of McCarty? 

Alex