Wayne Turner

[opi@unesco.org]

I'm still surprised Pitino would move so quickly to cut Wayne Turner, bearing
in mind that he was injured for the latter part of training camp and can be
excused for having major butterflies in his NBA debut against Toronto. It
seems to me Wayne Turner played at least a minor role in encouraging Kenny
Anderson to push the ball up, think pass first, and play real defense. I'd
love to know Turners's reaction to the surprising news.

I guess no one will accuse Pitino of playing favorites with Kentucky alums
anymore. It's a shame Damon Jones got scooped up by Golden State to back up
Blaylock, Starks and Vonteego Cummings. Doug Overton isn't exactly the sort
of 3rd string point guard you'd expect to groom for the future, nor is he a
solid playoff-hardened veteran in the Derek Harper, Terry Porter mold.

I glanced at the rookie stats at NBA.COM, which reinforce the view that
Adrian Griffin is one of the elite rookies. Of course, Lamar Odom (20.3 ppg 9
rpg 3 apg) leads 8 rookies averaging in double figures thus far, but a lot of
the marquee guys including Odom (plus Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Steve Francis,
Rip Hamilton, Quincy Lewis) are shooting under 40% from the field.

Joe

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