Re: OK, I've collected my thoughts...

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

"Berry, Mark S" wrote:

> Having said that, if you're going to gamble in the draft, I would think you
> could
> do a lot worse than taking a shot on an athletic 7-footer who runs like a
> deer, is left-handed (always a plus for big guys) and can play three
> positions if needed.

Well, are you referring to Waltah? :-)   He is approximately the same size and
weight as Moiso, plays three positions, and fits the rest of the description
above except that he has two left hands. :-) Until proven otherwise, I think we
should regard this as a predictable Pitino athleticism-over-brains type of draft
pick. Let's admit this deal has several "deja-vu-all-over-again" precedents.
Explosive but inconsistent athleticism can prove to be utterly valueless,
whether you are talking about the high effort McCarty or the top-three lottery
pick caliber Tony Battie, both locked under longterm contract. Or Keon Clark for
that matter. Pierce is looking more and more like a lucky pick (Pitino didn't
even work him out) in an unbroken string of draft day El Bustos that fit a very
similar pattern.

Plus anyway that you do the math, all Pitino had to do was pick up the phone and
he could have had the big OO (or Sesar), a Dallas lottery pick next year and 3
million in cash. Or Courtney Alexander.

One can come up with all kinds of upbeat scenarios, but I'll be happy if Moiso
has a more productive year next season than Courtney Alexander or Danny Fortson
(the two people we essentially dumped so far just to get him). Honestly, I do
hope he outplays both those guys. We'll see.

> I was frustrated last night because I thought there were deals to be made to
> make us better,
> and we didn't make them. Milwaukee added Jason Caffey and Joel Przybilla to
> a team that only lacked interior defensive presence (sound familiar?), and
> they only gave up Jason Collier and a future first-rounder, while dumping
> unwanted Tractor Traylor and J.R. Reid. Watch out for the Bucks. That's the
> kind of deal I would have liked to have seen the Celts make.

You're absolutely right here. Milwaukee is heading toward glory days with three
legitimate All Stars on the roster (Big Dog, Cassell and Ray Allan) and now a
role-playing center and power forward at least as promising on paper as anything
the Celtics have ever had under Pitino. But Milwaukee has nothing to crow about
compared to how so many other teams in the East have helped themselves. Look at
Orlando. If they get Duncan to join Eddie Jones or Grant Hill on the roster--and
who wouldn't want to play on a team with so many unselfish, hustling
overachievers, a great player's coach like Doc Rivers plus an additional 10+
million in cap space to spend after they sign you?--they can actually challenge
the Flakers in the finals (on paper). We should applaud our Eastern rivals and
realize that our Celtics President was a bit over his head last night.

An 8th seed looked like a relative no-brainer last season compared to the
upcoming season. Until proven wrong, I'm just happy that this draft quite
possibly sealed Pitino's fate next year as well as Gaston's will to keep the
franchise. I'm flabbergasted that none of Boston's supposedly tough
sportswriters failed to ask Pitino whether drafting Moiso is an admission that
he jumped the gun in signing Battie last year to the long-term deal, or whether
the Ron Mercer for Eric Williams straight-up deal (since Pitino could apparently
care less about next year's draft picks) looks bad in retrospect given that
Williams probably may end up with a higher, longer-term salary than Mercer.

For a team president that whines so much about cap constraints, why on earth do
we even have an Eric Williams, Kenny Anderson and Knight/Battie added to the
roster under his watch? If you look back on the spin (e.g. "Spintino") these
trades were actually made largely in order to shed bad contracts. Correct me if
I'm wrong but those three contracts (around 15 million?) eat nearly one half of
our cap for the next three years or so. Pitino is over his head. I say they
invite him back to Miami to "consult" with the Hurricanes AD, then secretly ship
him to Cuba in the popular "Elian" holloween costume.

****