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Re: '97 draft blew C's ill wind
Pitino has been wrong more than right. Draft picks or trades, he pulled the
trigger and has to face the music, bottom line. This particular team is
lacking many fundamental offense and defense basics. I thought he was a
teacher? This team will probably get better next season, it may be due to
luck.
At 09:52 PM 2/7/00 +0800, you wrote:
>'97 draft blew C's ill wind
>
> Pitino's choice of collegians turned
> out to be all wrong
>
> Sunday, February 6, 2000
>
> By Bill Doyle
> Telegram & Gazette Sports Staff
>
> Denver's trade of Chauncey Billups and Ron
> Mercer to Orlando last week was another chilling
> reminder of how unproductive Rick Pitino's first
> draft as Celtics boss was.
> The Celtics drafted Billups with the third
>pick
> and Mercer with the sixth in 1997. Pitino
> immediately labeled them his team's backcourt of
> the future. Billups turned out to be a shooting
> guard in a point guard's body, so 3.5 months into
> his rookie season he was sent to Toronto in a
> deal that brought veteran point guard Kenny
> Anderson to Boston.
> Anderson is enjoying his best year in a
> Celtics uniform this season and he's even begun
> to play better defense, but the Celtics are paying
> a premium for his five assists a game. He still
> has three full years remaining on his $49 million
> deal that will pay him $9.2 million when he's 32
> years old. The Celtics can only hope Anderson
> remains productive because his salary makes
> him untradeable and the team can't afford to pay
> a second point guard much.
> Mercer has so far been the third-best player
>
> in the '97 draft behind Tim Duncan and Keith Van
> Horn, the top two picks. Pitino has said the only
> time he overruled his staff on a draft day was in
> taking his former Kentucky star. Mercer didn't
> disappoint the Celtics with his play, but they
> decided they couldn't afford to keep him. That still
> amounts to a draft-day mistake.
> Mercer's trade to Denver in August has
> been a bust for Boston so far. Guard Eric
> Washington was cut in training camp. Pitino
> pointed to Danny Fortson's rebounding as a key
> to the team's success while he missed the first
> 25 games with a stress fracture in his right foot,
> but he's played little since he's been activated.
> Foul trouble has cut into his minutes, but Pitino
> also insists he can't find more time for him.
> Fortson is reportedly on the trading block and it
> appears he will sign elsewhere when he
> becomes a free agent at season's end.
> So that will leave forward Eric Williams as
> the only player left from the Mercer trade.
> Williams has been a disappointment in his return
> to Boston and saddles the Celtics with another
> lucrative, long-term contract. When Pitino talked
> about the team's nucleus for the future last week,
> he didn't mention Fortson or Williams.
> Boston does get Denver's first-round pick
> sometime over the next three years, however.
> Any help there won't come for a while because
> Boston probably won't exercise that option until
> 2001 at the earliest.
> In Pitino's defense, however, there weren't
> many better alternatives available in the '97 draft.
> Duncan and Van Horn, the two best players
> available, were taken by the time the Celtics
> selected and the '97 draft has turned out to be
> very weak.
> In hindsight, Pitino would have been better
> off drafting Brevin Knight instead of Billups and
> trading the sixth pick for a veteran. Better yet,
> Pitino could have beaten New Jersey to the punch
> and sent both picks to Philadelphia for the second
> pick and taken Van Horn, even though he's tailed
> off this season. Either move would have been
> criticized at the time, however.
> Duncan, Van Horn and Mercer are the only
> members of the '97 draft ranked among the
> league's top 50 scorers this season. Duncan and
> Van Horn are the only two ranked among the top
> 50 rebounders. Knight is the only one ranked
> among the top 50 in assists (12th, 7.4 per game).
> The Celtics are well aware of the lack of
> production from the '97 lottery after Duncan and
> Van Horn. They also have Tony Battie, the fifth
> pick, and Fortson, the 10th.
> Tracy McGrady, Maurice Taylor and Derek
> Anderson may blossom into NBA stars, but the
> '97 draft may become better known for such
> disappointments as Billups, Antonio Daniels, Tim
> Thomas and Adonal Foyle.
> On Monday, Denver sent three potential free
> agents -- Mercer, Billups and Johnny Taylor, the
> 17th pick of the '97 draft -- to Orlando for Tariq
> Abdul-Wahad (11th pick in '97), Chris Gatling, $3
> million and a first-round pick.
> Denver expected Mercer to leave as a free
> agent at season's end and figured it could sign
> Abdul-Wahad for about half the $9 million annual
> salary Mercer wants. Orlando got rid of Gatling's
> long-term contract and moved ahead of Chicago
> as the team with the most salary-cap money
> available. The Magic will have $18 million to
> spend on such potential free agents as Duncan,
> Grant Hill, Eddie Jones, McGrady, Taylor and
> Mercer. And the weather is much better in
> Orlando than Chicago.
> Denver threw in Billups to create even more
> salary cap room for Orlando. The Nuggets hope
> to re-sign Billups, a Denver native, this summer.
> Mercer averaged 18.4 points for the
> Nuggets, but they took a few swipes at him after
> the deal was made. Some claimed he was too
> selfish for a Denver offense based on movement.
> (Anderson made similar statements after Boston
> traded Mercer last summer.) Kim Hughes, the
> Nuggets' player personnel director, claimed bad
> habits on the court prevented Mercer from being a
> good defender.
> Billups could end up as the worst third pick
>
> of the 1990s unless Baron Davis, last year's No.
> 3, beats him out. Other No. 3s in the '90s
> included Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Penny Hardaway,
> Hill and Jerry Stackhouse. Mercer belongs closer
> to the top than the bottom of the last decade's
> sixth picks. Other sixth-picks ranged from Walker
> and Tom Gugliotta to Calbert Cheaney, Sharone
> Wright, Doug Smith and Felton Spencer.
>
>