Re: Interesting notes from Mitch Lawrence

Couldn't you spin it the other way and say this means that Antoine, Paul and Kenny would look pretty damn good playing next to someone like Alonzo Mourning? There are very few *dominant* players in the NBA right now. Shaq, Mourning, Garnett. I'm not sure Duncan even makes it into that group. These are guys who can turn any team into a playoff team by themselves. I'm not going to fault our players for not being of that caliber. I'm not going to assume that Antoine and/or Paul are that talented that the only thing keeping them from that kind of dominance is their desire/work ethic/selflessness/whatever. They are talented, but maybe not THAT talented.

The bottom line is that we have absolutely no idea exactly how good these guys have the ability to be. We haven't seen them play on any other pro teams, with any other players. If I read you right, you are saying that there's no point talking about another coach until you get new players. What I am saying is that Pitino has made this very easy. He is in charge of everything. He acquires players. He decides on the strategy to use and he implements it. If this team is not successful, there is one person to blame. Will the next coach/gm/president (however many people that is going to be) want to keep these players? Why don't we at least give them the option? Personally, I thought that 3 years was enough for Rick to prove himself, and he failed. Keeping him for this year is being generous, and I really hope he takes advantage of the opportunity and turns the team around. At the end of this year, though, it is time to stop fooling around. Just like the year that Pitino was hired, this year's draft and contract situations will align in a way to make a complete restart possible. The draft picks will be lower, but in a deeper draft, and the contracts are nowhere near as bad as having Pervis, Dee, Dana and Dino all signed long term. There is also no asset on this team that will lose value by waiting until the end of the year to use it, and it just doesn't make sense to make more moves that the new administration will have to live with.

P.S. The little wake-up call this list got a few weeks ago has done wonders. The big difference has been that we are hearing from a lot of people we weren't hearing from before. We're not just hearing the same old opinions, from the same people (like myself), over and over again. Keep it up everyone!