Re: Pitinospeak

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

For what it's worth, I don't think Kenny Anderson will
be traded.  I think Pitino sees beyond this year.  In
his Bulpett interview he says, Kenny has to learn
what's going on.  He's always waited until he was done
dribbling to pass.  This suggests to me that Pitino is
not ready to give up on Kenny's great talents as a
passer, which are a challenge to him as a coach to
harness.  Realistically, there aren't any better point
guards that are available to us.  I think this whole
season was a freaky thing.  We never should have had
to watch these games, with guys learning the plays on
the job.


--- Michael Gooen  wrote:
> How can anyone take Pitino's mutterings about Mercer
> and Battie
> seriously?  Perhaps no one remembers last year when
> Pitino was wringing
> his hands over Walker's anticipated contractual
> demands -- and then
> gleefully signed him to the maximum deal as soon as
> he could. 
> 
> Someone suggested that there aren't many teams that
> have multiple
> high-salaried players.  That's simply not true. 
> Forget about the
> obvious big-market (NY, LA) and multi-billionaire
> owned (Portland)
> examples.  How about Cleveland?  Shawn Kemp got one
> of the last $100M
> contracts.  Ilgauskas got the same $71M as Antoine. 
> I believe Person
> got $43M over 6 years and Sura got $35M over 5.  And
> Brevin Knight and
> Derek Anderson are eligible for extensions this
> summer -- don't tell me
> Cleveland will be forced to dump them.  
> 
> I believe all this budgetary talk is pure posturing.
>  In this day and
> age, you can't build a contender on the cheap.  The
> key, as I pray
> Pitino has realized, is to extend players who have
> upside as Celtics,
> trade value, or both (thus, no more Greg Minor, Dana
> Barros or Kenny
> Anderson contracts).  On that score there should be
> no problem giving
> Mercer something comparable to the contracts Kerry
> Kittles and Allan
> Houston got (say, $50M over 7 years) and giving
> Battie somewhat less
> than Potapenko (say, $30M over 5 years).  If
> Pitino's not entirely sure
> where Mercer and Battie fit in (something I can
> understand, given the
> apparent inability of the Medium Three to coexist on
> the floor and
> Battie's inconsistency), why sign them now?   Even
> next summer, the C's
> will still be able to offer more than any other
> team.  Heck, it's
> probably a better than 50-50 chance that the
> Clippers get something for
> Lorenzen Wright in a sign-and-trade (maybe Kenny and
> Popeye?). 
> 
> Let's just see what happens this summer.
> 
> Michael Gooen
>
_________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free @yahoo.com address at
> http://mail.yahoo.com
> 
> 

_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com