Re: Moves

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

I don't think Pitino is dumb.  He won't trade Pierce for a mediocre
big man.  Jones and the "Ukraine Train" couldn't block a shot between
them, and the idea of those two on the same frontcourt as Tony Battie
is downright Kafkaesque.  No, Ricky P.  lamented all of last year
about the team's need for a scroring 3.  He got one of the best
scoring 3s to come out of college since...since I can remember.  This
guy might be an all-star in his own right.  Pitino would be out of his
head to trade him for anything less than another player with
comparable upside.  Antwan Jamison maybe?  Keith Van Horn?  That's who
I'm thinking of.  Shit.  Pitino knows who Pierce is.  He may have
thought to swap him for Mash and somebody else, but Chris Wallace
probably spoke up against it.  What is this thing Pitino has for
Mashburn?  anyway,  Here's what I think will go down:

1)  Travis for Tony, and goodbye Bananna Boy.
2)  Popeye signed, and then traded for a center. or not. 
3)  Shintzius signed, and maybe somebody else
4)  Dontae Jones traded for Funyons
5)  Antoine signed to a six year 70 M deal and thank you, Basketball
Gods.

Walker will play 4, backed by Battie
Center to be named later, backed up by DQ/Shinzius
Pierce at 3, backed up by Walter
Ron at 2, backed by Pierce and Minor
Kenny at 1, backed by Dana (unless we can trade him.)
IR:  Ellison, 





---peter delevett  wrote:
>
> I'm pleased to see that we signed Popeye, even though I agree it
virtually
> guarantees we won't be signing Stewart (unless, as Warwick
theorized, there is
> some sort of sign-and-trade afoot). Perhaps Pitino worried he
wouldn't be able
> to outbid Toronto. All things being equal, I think I would rather
have had
> Stewart on the team than Popeye, given his height and shotblocking,
but make
> no mistake: Popeye will make us better. He is a tough rebounder and
a good
> post defender despite his size. Adding him and Pierce (with a full
season of
> Kenny) will help us win more games.
> 
> We still have a gaping hole at center, but if you really think about
it, the
> Travis trade didn't hurt us much here. (Yes, I am backing off my
earlier
> criticism of this move.)  We lost our only 7 footer but gained a big
man
> (Battie) who's more athletic and about an equal rebounder and
shotblocker. In
> the best of all worlds, Battie really is close to 6'11 and will be
able to
> provide decent minutes at center (remember that by the end of last
season,
> Travis was only a backup anyway). The worst case scenario is that
Battie WON'T
> be able to play the 5, in which case Walker will have to slide to
the 3 to
> give Battie & Jones playing time. In this scenario, I would look for
us to
> trade Pierce, hopefully for a decent big man (I would, say, take
Potapenko if
> there were other goodies thrown in; he is 6'10, 280 and last year
scored more
> than 7 ppg in just 17 minutes, although his rebounding numbers are
> frighteningly low and his shotblocking is nonexistent -- Jones and
Battie
> would help out there). In fact, Pitino might already have this
scenario in
> mind. As I said before, don't look for Pierce in green; however, I
will
> continue to hold out hope. If it comes down to it, I'd rather try to
trade
> Battie (or Popeye) for a journeyman center. Big 4 + Popeye + decent
center +
> our bench = playoffs.
> 
> Keep Pierce!
> 

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