Re: Celtics profitability (was Re: Bowen waived)

[Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- Alex wrote:
Well, Pitino is not entirely honest about this, in my opinion. He says,
"We can't afford to pay him" when he means "We don't want to pay him."
That is, the player wants far more than he's worth to the team.
--- end of quote ---

To put it in more exact terms, Fortson wants more than he's worth to PITINO, not the TEAM. He's a worth quite a bit to this team. But the simple fact, echoed by the organization's unofficial mouthpiece Tommy Heinsohn, is that Pitino doesn't like Fortson as a player at ANY REASONABLE PRICE. 
Heinsohn has aired several times now what undoubtedly were Pitino's sentiments about Danny : "He can't learn the plays, he doesn't fit the system, he wants too much money". Regarding the latter, IMO it's pretty clear that no negotiation, other than a perfunctory inquiry about the possible asking price,  has taken place between DF's agent and the Celtics, simply because Pitino doesn't want to negotiate anything, he wants DF gone.(This reminded me of a line from "Goldfinger": "I don't expect you to talk, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!") Pitino grudginly plays DF because 1) he has to showcase DF to get someone better than Alvin Williams in return; and 2) Danny is just too effective to be completely ignored - he outrebounded the Trailblazers at the offensive end all by himself. 
And therein lies the root of the problem with Pitino: he's all about getting and fitting special-type of players (e.g., McCarty) into his "system", and not adapting the "system" to the players he has. He's failed because 1) unlike in NCAA, he can't sweettalk blushing moms into signing their teenage sons into servitude at Kentucky; 2) the "system" doesn't work  in the NBA, with or without those special "system" players, for the reasons I and others have written about on this list ad nauseam, and he apparently doesn't know how to coach any other way.
 

P.S. A question to those to whom Sean Marks is an upgrade over Fortson and  to whom Fortson is no better than McCarty: have you seen Danny play, like, ever? For more than a 2-minute stint in a "headless chicken outbreak"? You could make Shaq look bad in these circmustances.