Re: Cuttino Mobley

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

I think Mobley would be a great fit for us at SG.  He could also play PG in
a pinch.  Not sure if we will be able to put a deal together which is
attractive enough to outbid the other teams.  I agree that gaining Cuttino
would enable PP to move back to SF where he flourished as opposed to SG
where he struggled to defend.

Am wondering what RP will do with the Fort.  He must have impressed some
basketball people (though apparently not many on this list) with his effort
over the last few weeks of the season.  Was it enough to convince a team to
bite and give us something decent in return?

Cecil
For the best in online shopping, please visit
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----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Murphy <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>
To: Celtic list <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 1:26 PM
Subject: Cuttino Mobley


> Just thought I'd throw this out there to see what people think. Obviously,
> our (lack of ) defense is a key reason why we had such a poor season. It
> seems to me there are at least two ways to address this problem.
>
> One would be to get a defensive stopper like a Mutombo - likelihood: nil.
>
> A second way to address our weaknesses defensively is to improve our
> perimeter defense on penetrations. This requires hard work and quickness.
> Pitino trotted out some stats at the end of the year showing that opposing
> big men shot something like 52% against us - but let me tell you as one of
> those who watched and suffered through many of the losses, many of those
> opportunities were generated by penetration and our resulting "rotation"
> setting up easy dunks and lay-ups. The best way to prevent penetration is
to
> get quicker, and although Pierce may be quick for a SF I think his
> transition to SG has yielded at best mixed results. If Twon is going to
> remain at PF (which is all I can envision Pitino doing unless he trades
him)
> why not switch Pierce back to a position where he will have the advantage
in
> quickness rather than a disadvantage (and where he can use his hops much
> more effectively by rebounding and blocking shots around the hoop like he
> did his rookie year).
>
> That would mean that we should look to acquire a quick SG and Mobley might
> just be the ticket. Houston will have a hard time retaining him and they
> still have a hole at PF. Houston also has a $4.5 mil trade waiver,
allowing
> them to accept up to $4.5 mil more than they trade. So what do I hear for
a
> sign-and-trade deal for Mobley?
>
> -TomM
>
> his stats:
>
> 6-4 190, explosive 1st step, good three point shot (which would also help
us
> out since we are 26th in the league at 3pt%), 2nd year out of RI
>
> 30.8 mpg .430 fg% .356 3pt% .847 ft% 0.7 2.8 3.6  tot reb 2.6 apg 1.07 spg
> 0.40 bpg 2.3 to/g 2.1 pf/g 15.8 ppg
>
> and from http://www.bskball.com/Rumors.htm
> 04/21-HOUSTON AND CUTINO- The Rockets, despite a horrible set of injuries,
> had a decent year, the expectation were low, and the team had a chance to
> really try on their young guys, and many showed genuine NBA skills, and
some
> look to be superstars in this league. One of those young guys is Cutino
> Mobley, arguably the best 6th man in the league and he has a wicked first
> step, making him tough to defend. As a second round draft choice, he did
not
> get the luxury of shoe companies knocking down his door, and second
rounders
> get few guarantees from their teams. Despite more than enough reasons to
> play it safe, Cutino has set out to destroy all his critics, and has done
> and excellent job. Now that free agency approaches for "Big Cat", Houston
> has reason to fret...Chicago loves Cutino and he may be the 3rd or 4th
> player they talk to......And lets not talk about teams like Orlando, or
> Indiana, who may be willing to let Cutino start versus being 6th man and
pay
> him much more than the $900,000 he made in Houston this year. Just like
> Cutino, there is more than enough reasons to say he's gone, there are a
lot
> of reasons he stays..... Houston can not offer him much in salary this
> year - unless Hakeem retires, which could create some room for Cat, but
> because he is not full bird righted until next season, he'd have to agree
to
> at least a 1 year deal, which could be the bargaining chip (sign now, get
> paid later), also there is the closeness that has developed between Cutino
> Mobley and Steve Francis, and Houston is not about to chase away the
> Franchises' boy. Cutino himself commented to our own Bill the Rocket Guy,
> that "God doesn't like greedy people", which made Bill smile and hopefully
> if he was serious...will make a lot of Rockets fans happy too.
>