Re: more on the trade from sportstalk.com

[opi@unesco.org]

Danny Fortson will surely profit from the tutelage of Oakley and Davis. Toronto
has gone from being a team that had seemingly mortgaged its future (last year's
#5 pick etc) for these Jurassic big men, to suddenly being a younger team with
seemingly a longer playoff horizon. Of course Fortson may not get much PT this
year and cross back over the Canadian border.

Alvin Williams sounds like a more versatile Bruce Bowen. He'll join a bench
filled with headless chickens who all shoot .410 from the field, so he'll be
right at home. The nicest way to spin it is that he could be another Adrian
Griffin-type role player and overachiever, except that he projects as having
point guard skills with his speed, unselfishness and defense. At 6-5 he needs to
take advantage of his theoretical ability to shoot threes over defenders.

I'm surprised Pitino couldn't extract an additional first-round pick out of
Toronto, since they seem to give them away like candy to everyone else. At least
we will now have new fans from New Zealand, unless Marks gets cut right away.


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Cofman reports that Pitino wants to press more, in today's Herald:

Don't be surprised if you notice a few changes in the Celtics' style of play next
week when they open a six-game road trip in Utah after the  All-Star break.

Celtics coach Rick Pitino, still horrified over his team's defenseless
performance in a 131-113 loss to the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday night at
Continental Airlines Arena, is contemplating a return to his roots.

Translated: More fullcourt trapping pressure.

``One of the things we really wanted to work on this season was our man-to-man
defense,'' said Pitino. ``We wanted to get away from some of the (pressure
defense) and improve on our ability to defend straight up.

``But obviously that was ambitious. We just don't have the ability to stop
opponents consistently with man-to-man defense. The mistake I made was not going
back to pressing the way I did a couple of years ago.''

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