Re: What is self-evident

[opi@unesco.org]

DJessen33@aol.com wrote:

> A few things that are now self-evident:

> 2) Fortson wasn't looking that good in preseason.

I'm not sure that is entirely accurate. He played exactly 20 minutes in both games
but averaged 4.5 offensive boards and 11.5 rebounds before his injury. On a team
with nobody averaging much more than 7 rebounds per game, it makes sense that he'd
project as a starter.

> Then, 2 hours before the
> news came out about his injury, Pitino comes out with his season opening
> lineup with Fortson at the four and Walker at the three. I think he already
> knew about the injury and blew smoke to appease Mercer fans and give Celtic
> fans hope for the future. I like Fortson. But he may be fed up with Pitino
> and may not resign.

I hope we wait until the end of the season.

If we do this trade, Derek Strong is taller at 6-9 240 pounds an older than
Fortson at 32.

This season Strong is averaging 2.0 ppg and 1.3 rebounds in 4.3 minutes. Last year
he shot .422 and averaged 5.1 ppg and 3.7 rpg. Over his 9-year career he is a .432
shooter averaging 7.1 ppg and 5.0 rebounds in 19.2 minutes.

Obviously, Fortson is no longer the 4th leading rebounder in the NBA, but he is a
tough inside force averaging .615FG% with a variety of moves. He'll turn 24 at the
end of March.

It must be tough for Fortson to read these rumors directly in the papers what with
so many games to go. Slick Rick should pull him aside and say "We love your game
and work ethic Danny but it's all about money. We just don't feel you're worth
paying to the level of El Busto's 5 million or Eric Williams' 6 million. It's a
business decision, but at least Orlando is in our division so we'll see you often"

I think the only reason we would float this trade rumor now is because Pitino has
the worst FG% defense in the NBA and he desperately needs to acquire and give more
minutes to the type of "monkey outbreak" athletes who made it work much better two
years ago like Walter McCarty. The truth of the matter is you need superior
athletes like Walter to run the outbreak at the NBA level. It doesn't seem to work
on its own when your players are mostly only equal in athleticism to other NBA
pros. Walter can switch and trap like a headless chicken from guards to centers
without giving up much height or speed. The problem is that he can't really
rebound, shoot straight or play man defense at any position well enough to belong
on another NBA team.

When Josh Farber urged us to vote on our opinion of the trade, he left out the
most obvious choice: "fire Pitino instead".

Does anyone on this list honestly think a Cowens, Silas or Bird would be so
trigger-happy to dump a Fortson after 15 games?  I could see this coming a mile
away but hope the Fortson experiment at least continues to the end of the season.
When is the trade deadline by the way? Should we expect a deal really soon?


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