Pitino's stupid things? Okay.

["Christopher J. Littlefield" <cjlitt@erols.com>]

Pitino's worst moves:  I think they were stupid, ill-conceived, and
hasty.  This list is qualified by my separation of all his personnel
decisions from his undisputed coaching ability. Last year's team did far
more than it should have been capable of.  Anything I say has nothing do
do with his coaching.  His learning curve in personnel matters has been
steep, as well, but my _feeling_ is that he took what little he had to
work with and proceeded to further hamstring himself in the areas which
he himself admitted needed the most improvement, cap flexibility and
talent-level.   

The stupid moves

1)  Signing Travis Knight for $20 mil
Spent money unnecessarily on a below-average talent that forced him to
cut Rick Fox, the team's anchor, who wanted nothing more than to be part
of the rebuilding.  

2)  Signing Chris Mills for $33 mil 
Traded Mills for Thomas, McCarty, and Jones.  Jones was cut.  Thomas
brough some value back in the Anderson trade, but basically trade was
for McCarty.  Could we have used that additional cap space this year? 
Did we need a small forward that bad?  I guess not bad enough
to keep him. 

3)  Trading Eric Williams for 2 2nd round draft picks and then moaning
because he needed 'another scorer' 
C'Mon.  We'll never know what happened here, but when the trade went
down, teams _called_ Boston to tell Pitino that they would have
paid _much_ more for Williams.  Maybe we could've gotten another 1st
rounder, maybe gotten Keon Clark.  Who knows.  Additionally, the cap
room generated by Williams' trade was not necessary to sign Mills.  It
was for Edney.  So we traded Williams for Edney.  Was that smart?

4)  Additionally I question the signing/trading of Tony Massenburg, but
it's not as bad as the first 3.

These mistakes took place right at the start of the Pitino tenure and
were hastily made, ill-considered decisions.  
That qualifies them but does not, in any sense, justify or rationalize
them.  

I think they were stupid moves, and not just in retrospect.  Knight was
never going to be the banging center Pitino
was raving about him becoming.  Did anyone think otherwise?  He needed
scoring.  Why get rid of Fox and Williams?  


Just so folks don't think I'm Pitino bashing, here are some things I
think he's done well:

1)  Extricated himself from his long-term errors by trading Knight and
Mills
2)  Trading for Anderson, the real barometer of this year's team.  As
his knee goes, so goes the team.  If he works out, this trade, along
with Popeye, is a steal!
3)  Signing Walker as soon as he could, and not pulling the trigger on a
deal before the lockout was over.  
4)  Mercer
5)  Dwayne Schintzius.  No, really!  This guy shocked me.  If he can
contribute like he did last night on a daily basis, he's a steal too.  
6)  And yes, he can coach.  

I hope I've clarified my position. 

Chris









Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 11:29:29 -0500
From: Daniel Forant Sr <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>
Subject: Pitino & Stupid Things??

Let us all hear of the stupid things Pitino has done. Funny, I thought
he
was bringing us back from the dead if I remember correctly. Last season
was
exciting and he made many a better team than us really sweat to beat us. 

>Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 19:51:33 -0500
>From: "Christopher J. Littlefield" <cjlitt@erols.com>
>Subject: Numbers for Big D and Pierce
>
>Dwayne Schintzius has Eric Williams' 55
>
>Pierce has Kevin Gamble's and X's 34.  
>>Oh, yeah...in case anyone cares, Eric Williams is reported to be in the
>best shape of his life and ready to go in Denver.  I wish him all the
>best.  Of all the stupid things Pitino has done, this was the one that
>stuck in my craw the most, and still does.  
>
>
>Chris
>