Bulpett

[opi@unesco.org]

Well, I have to admit Jim Mennino and Alex Wang may have been right to
question the big deal I was making about Pitino "passing the buck" on
player personnel transactions. According to the Bulpett column, filed
from "Beaverton", it looks like both Wallace and Pitino have softened
their stance on trading Fortson before the Thursday deadline. We'll see.

Excerpts below:

"Asked to handicap the chances Danny Fortson would be moved, Pitino
said: ``I couldn't guess. I don't have anything to do with that.
(General manager) Chris (Wallace) handles the calls. All I say to Chris
is, `If you have something that you think is good, bring it to me. If
not, don't even waste my time.' ''

Fortson had 18 points and seven boards in 18 largely trash-time minutes
at Golden State on Friday, but he was the primary backup center in
Saturday's 94-91 loss to Seattle, getting five points and eight rebounds
and playing strong defense on Vin Baker (Potapenko surrendered Baker's
late eight-point burst) in the same amount of time.

``If Danny can just learn the little nuances of the offense, I think he
can give us a big lift because he goes after the offensive glass,'' said
Pitino.