Re: Holley On WEEI & More Pitino

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Hi Josh:

    Look, if the Celts 1) traded Antoine Walker for the rights to rookie
Elton Brand and 2) Brand turned out to be as intimidating, productive
and unselfish a rebounding/defensive force as Jayson Williams or Charles
Oakley (despite Brand's much noted 6-7 height and lack of mobility),
then IMO Rick Pitino will have succeeded in turning the Celtics into a
perennial 42-46 win team for the next decade, with marginally less
overall talent on paper than JWilliam's Nets (with Van Horn and friends)
or Oakley's Raptors (with Vince Carter and friends). By keeping Antoine
Walker, well "duh!" we of course risk that the kid won't ever improve
even as he matures, but at least we as intelligent basketball observers
can imagine someday entering meaningful future playoff series confident
that we are led by a revolutionary, multi-dimensional and basically
unstoppable 6-9+ force of nature.

    On this particular issue, Josh, I'd have thought my impeccably
orthodox views should no longer have to be explained by now. :-)  As for
Mike Dynan's typically kind words, all I will say is "puhlease, don't
make the mistake of encouraging me any further!" I happen to be aware
that I already risk coming across as a classic "get a lifer", as in: "oh
brilliant, here comes yet another Celts list post from that guy in Paris
who apparently can't figure out something better to do on his free
time."  Sorry, but I truthfully can't think of anything I intensely love
more than my wife, family and the Boston Celtics basketball team. :-)
When you take the time to read all those Bill Russell tributes, you
remind yourself of every value and reason why each of us are permanent
Celtics fans. I can't wait to read on this list about how the evening
went.

Joe

p.s. Back when I was the editor of a UN press-release service, our
tongue-in-cheek motto was "All the news that fits, we'll print!" I guess
I still have retained the habit of ranking way up there when it comes to
word-count, as with this unnecessarily drawn-out and possibly
self-indulgent post.

-------
Josh Ozersky wrote:

> I take back what I just wrote about Joe's impeccable
> orthodoxy.  How in Red Auerbach's name could you
> imagine that Rick Pitino would trade Antoine Walker
> for Elton Brand?  In a million years?  Why would he do
> that?  As for Penny, the guy is everything we don't
> need, including an 85 million dollar salary demand
> this offseason.
>
> --- j.hironaka@unesco.org wrote:
> > Way Of The Ray wrote:
> >
> > > Holley mentioned on the Big Show, that he heard
> > the C's may try
> > > to get back in the draft.  That's all he said
> > regarding that.
> > > Holley thinks Pitino has put a lot of pressure on
> > the players with his
> > > make the playoffs comment.
> >
> > Hi Ray:
> >
> > I think Holley can be a bit of a
> > new-agey-gadfly-Spike-Lee-basketball-groupie type
> > who so far seems a lot
> > more in the loop with Celts players than with
> > management. But if his opinion
> > is accurate, I imagine this could mean seeking
> > Chicago's top pick for
> > Antoine Walker and then drafting 6-7 power forward
> > Elton Brand or your pick
> > of point guards. Despite how desperate Chicago is to
> > spend their cap money
> > on this weak FA crop, I'm still not that sure they
> > even covet Walker all
> > that much. At least the Chicago writers and certain
> > players don't seem to
> > like him much.