Greg said:
> If this is a
> steal, Pitino is a genius. However, if this is a blunder, the press will
> eat him alive and he will return to college basketball.
It won't be known if this is a steal until either Potapenko leaves at
the end of the season, or he stays and we see how he develops. He's
only 23.
No matter how the trade works out:
1) The press will eat Pitino alive, and others in the press will praise him.
In general, sportswriters (especially in Boston) like to think they
know more about sports than the people they're writing about. Putting
others down is their way of "proving" that to themselves.
2) Pitino will NOT return to college basketball, at least not until his
Celtics contract ends. He's not going to quit just because a low-stakes
trade went bad and the press said bad things about him. Come on!
3) Pitino is still a genius. He has proven himself in the past.
A total failure in this trade won't change that. This is a relatively
low-stakes trade.
Even geniusses don't have perfect records, because true achievers have
to take risks to really excel. This is clearly a risky trade as he's
giving up 1 or 2 decent backups, but if it goes well, it will be a major
boost... a definite medium loss for a possible major boost. Pitino
believes that's a risk worth taking. Even if it doesn't work out,
doesn't mean it wasn't a risk worth taking.
Personally I agree that Potapenko doesn't fit well into the uptempo system,
and long term I still like Battie out there running the break and pressing,
but others on the list have said Potapenko has a good mean streak and is
quite fierce down low, and if that's true, he can plug the hole that used
to be unpluggable when a physical team comes in and starts bullying the C's.
Jon Mc