Re: perspective

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Jim Hill wrote:

> Hi Josh,  I agree that we have the talent at many positions.  That includes
> the bench.  I would like to keep a core of Walker, Mercer, Pierce, VP and
> Battie.

Hi Jim. I view it as a foregone conclusion that Rick Pitino will break up our
five young lottery guys this summer, even though every one of them now shows
great potential and every one will be 24-years-old or younger next season
(Bird's rookie age).

There is NO WAY Rick Pitino will take any significant part of the blame for the
team's humiliating underpreparedness to play against NBA teams. The young
players will take the fall.

In the eyes of Il Duce, I believe Paul Pierce may have become this year's
Chauncey Billups. Antoine Walker is another guy who could get traded for chump
change (salary cap space), although I wonder how much Chicago covets him now.
Maybe Pitino is just venting/threatening/motivating, as Josh believes. I would
be very disappointed and actually less of a Celtics fan (wow, what a concept!)
if Pitino breaks up our young team at the end of the season.

Right now, I can't recall any Celtics team ever being this deep over their
heads playing in the NBA. The Pitino/Tarkanian analogies are starting to hit
home.

Having said this, I still would have made the trade for Vitaly Potapenko rather
than drafting another small forward or clueless rookie point guard. Put another
way, Battleship Potapenko's attitude, skills and upside are preferable to that
of any free agent or college center. Plus he matches up well with every center
in our division, except maybe Zoey.

Joe

N.B. The VP nickname is in reference to a pretty famous Sergei Eisenstein B&W
flic called "Battleship Potempkin" made in the mid-1920s. Sorry to be so
freaking Paris artsy-fartsy, but I just kind of like the nickname.

****