Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V7 #283

[bird <bird@pixi.com>]

>From: Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>
>
>So now Pitino plans on "losing" Danny Fortson for nothing? I can't 
>believe Spintino would talk up Jerome Allen and Haywood Workman as 
>adequate replacements.

Try as I might, I can't be that suprised.  Two players for you, Joe: 
Alvin Williams and Sean Marks.  And remember, we wanted Workman to 
begin with.  Well, now he's ours for the taking, and Blount 
"replaces" Marks as the Big Man Project.  I wish I knew more about 
Blount: is he 6-10, 220 or 7-1, 260 -- or some other combination?

>I'm hoping the writer Kevin McNamara mistakenly used Fortson's name 
>rather than attributed Spintino's own words outside quotation marks. 
>The two free agents Pitino mentions are actually probably Ellison 
>and Overton.

Hoping that a sportswriter made a mistake in an article is like 
hoping the sun will come up each day -- you've got a good chance of 
being right.  Let's hope so.

I wouldn't mind seeing Bimbo Coles or Wahad on the team next year. 
Whether they'll seriously help us is debatable, but at least they're 
a cut above the usual acquisitions.  Big guards who can defend -- 
sounds about right.  (If you must play headless chicken at least do 
it right.)  I would have liked to see us go after a big man, but 
maybe Moiso and Blount will blossom into good NBA players.  Foyle 
would've been OK, but failing that, what about a guy like Brad Miller?

More and more, I think the make-up of next year's squad will largely 
be the same.  Minus Fort, Overton, Pervis and maybe another guy or 
two (if we trade), plus one or two "free agents" like Coles or Wahad 
or whatever.  Rounding out the 15-man roster (where does this idea 
that Pitino will limit himself to 12 guys come from?) with the summer 
league guys, like Blount.  Essentially staying with the nucleus and 
not a complete overhaul.

This may not be the worst thing (though it does mean that a few of 
these guys, new acquisitions as well as the old guard, _must_ improve 
their game in order for the C's to win more games -- simply staying 
put and adding new players will not get it done.).  But, what I see 
missing as far as player management is some deal that is clearly in 
our favor.  It doesn't have to be a blockbuster (i.e. 
Walker-for-Iverson -- which is not a good move), maybe just something 
as simple as clearing out some bad contracts we have or some sort of 
free agent that we sign to an exception with the promise of a payoff 
a year or two down the line.  (I guess you'd need an owner willing to 
do that.)  Something.

I usually don't go in too much for player speculation (when I think 
"rotisserie" I think of food), but this month-long hiatus is murder.

Regards,

Bill