Re: to put it all in perspective. . .

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> I forgot to mention that Denver also got a 1st round pick back from Orlando
> in addition to Abdul-Wahad and Gatling - but then we got an exhibition game
> with Toronto! Hoo-boy!! 

Come on Tom, you're trying to compare the Mercer to Orlando trade with the
Fortson to Toronto trade? Of course they got more for Mercer; they gave up
a probable lottery pick AND Fortson to get him in the first place. The pick
that they got back is lottery protected and if they take it this year I 
think they have to send back a future 1st rounder too. 

If you to compare trades, the real question is would you rather have 
Gatling, Abdul Wahad (who will be a free agent), and the lottery protected
Magic first rounder, or Eric Williams (who is a big salary liability),
Alvin Williams, and the less restricted Denver pick? It's not such an 
easy call, I don't think. I guess it depends a large degree on where the
picks end up. I'm not a big fan of non-lottery first rounders; they're
nice for plugging holes or taking long-term projects but they don't help
your team that much except possibly in the long run. What if the Denver
pick ends up #6-8 in 2001, say, and we get lucky with another Paul Pierce
type talent? On the other hand, it could conceivably even be out of the
lottery if Denver improves.

> If our payroll were/is such a problem, why didn't we give away Eric
> Williams (as Joe suggested)? I guess that question constitutes it's own
> answer. Gee and to think when the Denver deal was done last August, I
> thought Williams was the one we'd try and dump - not Fortson!

It's impossible to give away huge cap liabilities like Eric Williams 
without including some positive assets. Pitino would dump him in a second
if anyone would take him. As for dumping Fortson for payroll issues, 
I think if things had worked out as originally intended with Antoine
moving to SF, then Pitino would have no hesitation signing him, and he
had to know that from the beginning. So it's not a case of "we just 
aren't go over budget" regardless of what he says; it's a case of "he's
projecting to be our third string center and it's just dumb to sign
him for any money at that role." He just cut his losses instead of
compounding his big mistake by adding more salaries.

Alex