Re: Pitino Urged/Latest Trade Rumor... It's Time For Celtics Note s

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

On Tue, Sep 12, 2000 at 10:23:55AM -0400, OzerskyJA wrote:
> How would Houston be "a great, great fit" on this team?  We already
> have two heavy-duty scorers in Pierce and Walker, the former duplicating
> Houston's skills to some extent.  We wouldn't have a center, and we would
> have major chemistry problems.  Houston wants to be the man, and here he
> would be in a situation just like the one with the knicks (playing alongside

Anderson shoots just about as often as Houston.  The difference is that
Houston makes more of his shots.  Let's take a look at the stats for last
season:
Houston
in 82 games, 38.6 mpg, 1271 FG attempts, 614 FG made (48.3% FGA)
Anderson
in 82 games, 31.6 mpg, 986 FG attempts, 434 FG made (44.0% FGA)

FG attempts per game: 15.5 for Houston, 12.0 for Anderson
FG attempts per 30 minutes of play: 12.0 for Houston, 11.4 for Anderson

So, their frequencies of taking shots are not all that different.

While the Celtics have a lot of offensive firepower as they are now, I think
they do have a problem scoring consistently.  Houston could definitely
benefit the Celtics in this regard.

Now consider Houston's 43.6% 3-point percentage last season (40.5% career).
If Houston were on our roster, Walker might even consider taking less 3
pointers, knowing that Houston shoots them so well.  (Ok, so I'm stretching
a little here.)

So if you combine Houston, Walker and Pierce with a point guard who can run
our offensive the way Pitino wants, and a defensive minded center, I
think the potential for good chemistry is there.

I am curious about your mention of the opt-out after next year.  From all
the sites I have looked at (NBATalk, Patricia Bender, etc.), I have seen
no mention of that.  If he doesn't have an opt-out, then I would want to
make this trade.  It is risky (like you said, it leaves our PG and C position
in question), but we get rid of the Anderson and Potapenko contracts and get
Houston until 2003, who is worth it.

Francis