Re: Penny trade

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> Why anybody in their right mind would make this deal is beyond me. That would
> leave us with no point guard, still without the big man everyone says we need
> and with an off guard who shot 42 % last year, 28% from three and is a
> terrible locker room presence to boot. No thank you.
 
I'm not sure about terrible locker room presence (it's hard to say what 
he actually says to other players and the coach in the locker room) but
he certainly is incredibly immature. It's almost strange seeing the quotes
coming out of his mouth because they are so idiotic - he says that he
should play any position he wants because he's a superstar and then calls
others "childish" when he can't? He sounds very childish himself. On the
other hand, Walker's had a case of that himself, with his "veteran All-Stars
don't attend camps" fiasco. I think it's pretty impossible to construct a 
winning team in the NBA out of players without egos who don't say stupid 
things to the media occasionally, unless you luck into some mature ego-free 
superstar. These guys never get traded. 

If you look at the four teams in the playoffs, only San Antonio is free 
of players that I can think of who have been immature or egotistical at 
some point. NY has Sprewell and Camby, Portland has Rider (and others), 
Indiana has Jackson (celebrates) and Miller (trash talks); I believe Rose
had some problems before too. And San Antonio was accused on being a bunch 
of wimps when Malone (whines during offseason) knocked out Robinson.  

The other point about not having a point guard and big man are valid, 
but you always go for talent over need in a trade of this magnitude, 
because a superstar can completely change your team. For instance, San
Antonio kept Duncan even though he interfered with Robinson at first.
It's pretty certain that they could have acquired several very strong
players to fill complementary needs to Robinson instead, but it would
have been a bad move. It is true that Penny would be more appealing in 
a trade if he would play point guard, especially on this team. And you
should never judge a player solely based on his last year's stats 
(unless he's a second year player I guess). Unless injuries have limited
his physical abilities, there's no reason to think that last year or the
injury-marred year was a more accurate representation of Penny's skills 
than the rest of his career, which is stellar in terms of stats. 

So why would anyone in their right mind make this deal? (and even cranky
old Bob Ryan endorsed it). Because talent wins in this league, and Penny
Hardaway has loads of it. I can think of two trades in the last year 
that are good illustrations of what Pitino would hope to pull off with
this sort of trade: Sprewell and Webber. Sprewell is still an idiot and
a whiner but he helps his team win. Webber talked about how he was going 
to leave Sacramento as soon as he could but he helps his team win. 
Perhaps a change of venue for Hardaway would help Penny also, and 
the Celtics too.

Alex