Re: Saving for the future?

[Francis Hsu <francis@ai.mit.edu>]

On Fri, Sep 01, 2000 at 04:16:17PM -0400, Alexander Wang wrote:
> It's interesting that the Celtics' three picks in 2001 have supposedly
> turned them into a team that's more concerned about the future than the
> present. In particular, if Fortson had been released instead of traded for
> a low 2001 pick, we probably wouldn't be hearing any "analysis" of this
> sort. In reality, I remember that Gaston evidently told Pitino that he was
> tired of the patient approach. Pitino may have added a low 2001 pick this
> offseason but he is surely focused on the present.

I'm very much in agreement with your opinion on this.  Does anyone think
that Pitino should have tried to give up more for Croshere and/or O'Neal
than what was rumored to have been offered?  We had little in the way to
attract the big free agents, so what Pitino has done so far is about all
we could realistically expect in my opinion.  And I think that rumors tend
to confirm that he's willing to trade those draft picks if it would
substantially increase our chances to get into the playoffs this season.

That being said, if the Celtics make it into the playoffs, it probably will
be barely making it.  So Pitino's butt is still going to be on the fire
because the Celtics could regress and not make it to the playoffs the
following year.  So if you can't do much more to improve the present
situation, your next priority would probably be to put yourself in a better
position for the following season.

Francis