Re: what to do?

[opi@unesco.org]

Cecil Wright wrote:

> Anyone who knows anything about basketball could tell you that a stress
> fracture of the foot is one of the most serious injuries to rebound from.
> So Pitino is easing Fort back, so as not to cause a re-injury, to give him
> time to learn the plays and let him round into game shape.  For that reason,
> Joe is talking about Fortson leaving at first opportunity because he doesn't
> like his minutes.  Premature or what?

I did try to take this into account. I remember before x-mas that Pitino said
there is nothing wrong with Fortson's foot, it is just his conditioning that was
the determining issue. Then over the past weekend, Fortson pretty much hinted
that he "wouldn't mind" having more time actually on the court.

I don't object to Pitino bringing Fortson along slowly, but I do object to how
he is being used. Unless he starts getting his first power forward minutes soon,
it might take him until the end of the season to really get the hang of it.

One nice thing about Fortson this summer is that he didn't seem to show the
slightest concern about having financial security like what Battie go. But I do
know he wants to play for a winning team AND that he feels he deserves to get
starter minutes somewhere. Fair enough, I say. After all, he was the NBA's
fourth leading rebounder last year.

Pitino needs to be careful not to jerk this kid around with token backup center
minutes. Every NBA player has some pride and Fortson seems to have a ton of it.
He'll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Pitino, of
course, knows this and will probably handle things appropriately.

What finally irks me (other than the losses) is that this Griffin injury seems
like a perfect situation to finally make Walker guard small forwards (in a Kevin
McHale-type role) and give Fortson, not Eric Williams, some "emergency" starter
minutes. If this experiment doesn't work out, then fine. It angers me to see
Slick Ricky's recent backtracking and double-talking in the newspapers  ("I
expect Fortson to be the leading rebounder PER MINUTE.") Geez, that must be a
thrill for Fortson to hear in his free agent season. That's like saying Todd Day
was a leading scorer PER MINUTE.

I'm sure Pitino didn't quite mean it that way, but gimmeabreak already!

Joe

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