Re: Overreactions

["Jim Meninno" <jim_meninno@hotmail.com>]

>From: damekmo@teleport.com
>...don't be too hard on us raving impatient maniacs. My patience started 
>wearing thin on draft day....

Yeah, draft day 1977, maybe.

>How many games did this team win last year? And as far as I can
>tell Ricky thinks Moiso, Blount and a couple of half-assed free-agents are 
>going to catapult the team into the playoffs. This team has two players 
>with any chance of ever getting near an all-star game. One made it and then 
>decided to eat his way into oblivion. The other? Who knows. Everybody else 
>on this team is interchangeable with every other half-assed, mediocre 
>player in the NBA.

Actually, Paul, you make a lot of sense, and even though I'm probably one of 
the most patient fans you'll find on this list, or anywhere else, I can 
completely symathize with where you're coming from.  A couple of things to 
keep in mind, while you still have one, though, is that the Blount and 
(apparently) Brown signings actually do address needs, and most of the teams 
in the league have no more than two players that are "anywhere near an 
all-star game".  It's more than enough to get you to the playoffs, as long 
as those interchangeable parts fit together correctly, and the "all-stars" 
play like all-stars.  And, there's a lot of water to pass under the bridge 
before we start thinking about anything more than playoffs.  That probably 
sounds completely opposite to my "glass is half full" assessment that I 
posted earlier today.  I guess that's because I've lowered my expectations 
from last year, when I confidently expected major improvement, and playoffs. 
  Will the Celtics improve this year?  Well, I certainly hope so, and I 
think they will.  Whether that is enough to get into the playoffs or not is 
almost irrelevant.  Why?  Because the position they will be in next year, 
with multiple picks and one of their two stars on a rookie contract, and the 
other free of base year issues and players like Moiso and Potapenko having 
trade value as well, will be more advantageous to make moves, whether making 
additions to the core that got them to the playoffs, or doing another 
complete overhaul.  You know, if the kind of trade you're talking about is 
out there, of course I'd like to see it happen.  But do you really think 
that teams are calling up to offer franchise players for Paul Pierce and a 
pick?  I don't.  Oh sure, they're calling.  But, if they're offering Austin 
Croshere for Antoine Walker, I hate to think what they're offering for Paul 
Pierce.

>...You know, if it's true that Larry Brown is actually trying to trade 
>Allen Iverson, then doesn't "I don't want to trade Adrian Griffin," make 
>you think that Pitino is delusional? Let's pretend that Elgin Baylor 
>started calling other gm's, wondering what he could get for Lamar Odom and 
>a first round draft pick? How about Odom, some stiff and a draft pick?

Now, Paul, you're not serious, are you?  You don't actually think that when 
Pitino is quoted as saying he "doesn't want to trade Adrian Griffin", that 
means he is untradeable.  Period.  Not for Allen Iverson.  Not for Lamar 
Odom.  No, of course you don't really think that's what Pitino meant.  
You're too smart for that.  But you had me going for a minute there, you 
rascal.

Jim
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