Re: The Case Against Pitino, part I

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

As with Josh, I really disagree with this guy's analysis, although
he's clearly put some thought into his writing. But he's clearly 
decided to cast every move by Pitino into a negative light. I'm more
of a believer that Pitino's had mixed success but that he certainly
hasn't done anything to cripple the franchise (unlike quite a few
of ML Carr's signings).

> 1. THE 1997 DRAFT
<snip> 
> GRADE -- B-minus. Under the circumstances, the best they could do.

Since when does someone get a B- for doing the best possible job?

> 3. SIGNING TRAVIS KNIGHT TO A 7-YEAR, $21 MILLION CONTRACT
 
> GRADE: D-minus. The only thing that salvaged this from being an "F"
> was because Boston was able to salvage Battie out of it.

One thing that Pitino said when he made all these signings is that
he wanted young players with upside who wouldn't be untradable if
things worked out. I really didn't believe him after Knight started
playing so poorly; I was convinced that he'd be unable to unload him.
But it turns out that Pitino was right about this, and no less a 
talent evaluator than Jerry West still thinks Knight is a valuable
commodity. I can't really fault Pitino for this after the Battie trade.

> 4. SIGNING CHRIS MILLS TO A 6-YEAR, $27 MILLION CONTRACT
 
> GRADE: F. Inexplicable. 

Yeah, this was probably the biggest mistake Pitino made in my opinion,
because I really don't think McCarty is that valuable. The cap room
in this case could have been useful in trades or in this year's free
agency.

> 6. TRADING TRAVIS KNIGHT FOR TONY BATTIE 
> The only "good trade" of the Pitino Era, hands down.
> 
> GRADE: B-plus.

My god this is a harsh grading system. The overall effect of this
whole Knight/Battie thing was that Pitino traded $2M+ in cap space
for a (somewhat tarnished) lottery pick. I'd say that's pretty good,
especially considering the potential that Battie is showing recently.
The only A this guy gives is for the drafting of Pierce, and probably
only because Pitino gets no credit for it because it was a no-brainer.
But, I guess it means that at least a few of the GMs ahead of him
have no brains.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to the big offseason trade that Pitino
has been promising. I'd guess that Walker is the one to go because
 1. He has the big salary that'll allow the Celtics to receive a talented
    higher-salary veteran in return, and
 2. Walker and Pitino really don't seem to see eye-to-eye. Walker really 
    contradicts Pitino quite a bit in the media which is really not a 
    good thing, in my opinion. Pitino will say something like, "I want
    Walker to develop a Mailman physique and dominate inside" and Walker
    will tell the media that he doesn't really think that's a good idea.

Alex