Pitino as talent evaluator

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

John Lyell wrote:  "Pitino & Wallace do not have a proven track record as
far as talent evaluation."

I think that Pitino and Wallace have an excellent record as far as
evaluating talent.
Obviously Billups was a mistake, but look at what Wallace (and Papile) found
with Bruce Bowen,
Adrian Griffin, and now Mark Blount, and you can see why he has such
leaguewide
respect as a scout.  As for Pitino, remember when we chafed at the idea of
trading
Antoine for Dale Davis and either Jalen Rose or Austin Croshere?  That was
before
either of the latter two guys' breakout seasons.  Everyone thought that
Pitino was a 
crackpot for offering two and half picks for Jermaine O'Neal, and then
Donnie Walsh,
who is one of the most experienced and highly-regarded GMs in the NBA,
traded his
best big man for him.  I guarantee that O'Neal turns out to be really good.
He may be
a screwup who never performs up to potential, but I am sure that you won't
be hearing
any "he couldn't even get off the bench in Portland" type jabs.  Likewise,
everybody 
mocked Pitino for trying to trade Battie for Rodney Rogers, whom Peter May
dismissed
as a "lazy slug," but the very next year he won the Sixth Man award.
Moiso sure looks like 
the real deal to me, from what I've seen of him; and the Potapenko trade, so
often brought up
to blast him ("we traded Andre Miller for a backup" etc. etc.) wasn't about
talent, 
but getting a legit big man to shut down the lane.  I would say that
Pitino is probably about a good a judge of horseflesh as anyone.  That's not
to say that
he's a great, or even a very good, GM; but as a talent-evaluator I don't see
how you can 
fault him.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	John Lyell [SMTP:johnlyell@hotmail.com]
> Sent:	Saturday, September 09, 2000 2:02 PM
> To:	Jim Meninno; celtics@igtc.com
> Subject:	Re: Pack/Cheaney for Herren/Stith?
> 
> Stith definitely is on the down side, but was a decent player in his
> youth. Your logic makes sense. If it is true hopefully his evaluation of
> Herren is correct, unlike his history with Mills, Knight, Mccarty,
> Williams, Battie, Cheaney, etc.
>  
>  
> Pitino & Wallace do not have a proven track record as far as talent
> evaluation.  Howard Eisley would have been a nice fit.
>  
> I would take a chance at Pepe Sanchez apprenticing under an Anderson or
> Brown.
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 	----- Original Message ----- 
> 	From: Jim Meninno <mailto:Jim_Meninno@hotmail.com> 
> 	To: celtics@igtc.com <mailto:celtics@igtc.com> 
> 	Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 7:00 AM
> 	Subject: Re: Pack/Cheaney for Herren/Stith?
> 
> 
> 
> 		----- Original Message ----- 
> 		From: John Lyell <mailto:johnlyell@hotmail.com> 
> 		 
> 		I am not sure I like this one. Hasn't Stith had a lot of
> injury problems (as if Pack hasn't) and Herren is an unproven commodity.  
> 		 
> 
> 	I don't remember much about seeing either of these guys play but,
> judging from his statistics, Stith seems to be on a downward slide in his
> career not very different from the one Cheaney is on.  There could only be
> two reasons for making this trade.  First could be that Stith's contract
> expires after this year (if the reports are true that he has two years
> left I would doubt the trade happens).  In effect, that would get them out
> of the "Calbert Cheaney mistake" a year earlier.  Second could be that
> Pitino would rather have Herren, who has potential to improve to a useful
> NBA point guard, rather than Pack, who has talent but is aging and almost
> never healthy.
> 	 
> 	If it were up to me I would do it for reason two.  I.e., if I had
> seen enough of Herren to believe that he had a promising future as an NBA
> point guard, I'd make the trade.  If it was just for reason one, to get
> rid of Cal, I wouldn't do it.  Cheaney's not the worst guy to have on the
> end of your bench.  When he was signed last year, he was probably seen as
> being the fifth starter and Griffin as the spot player.  Then Adrian came
> in and earned the starting job by working his ass off in pre-season and
> winning some early games with amazing clutch defensive plays.  Right now,
> I'd say that Griffin, Cheaney, Williams and McCarty are going to fight for
> one starting position.  I don't think Stith would be in that mix if the
> trade happened.
> 	 
> 	Jim
>