Re: Ramifications Of Paul Pierce's Near Death Experience

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

Yeah the ship's in sad shape for sure. Pitino will get bored for sure now
that he has wrecked an organization and has no backups for anyone in case
of these seemingly dumb things our players do. I have no pity for Pierce,
he should not have been where he was. If he cares so little about life he
doesn't deserve one. The joint was littered with the low life's that
frequent our cities nowadays. The only hope for the Celts this season is to
fight hard for last place and hope for a miracle in the draft. And stay out
of the gutter.

Dan

At 05:47 PM 9/25/00 -0400, you wrote:
>- According to BSG:
>http://home.digitalcity.com/boston/sportsguy/main.dci?page=pierce
>who's doing a fine job with his hourly updates of the Pierce situation:
>Paul is probably out for the season, as he suffered a collapsed lung
>and badly lacerated diaphragm. Fortunately it wasn't punctured,
>probably thanks to the thick leather coat that he was wearing,
>which may have spared his life by blunting the weapon thrusts
>in the vital areas of his body.
>
>- Thank God, Pitino didn't trade away those three draft picks to
>the Trailblazers for Jermaine O'Neal. Can you imagine the Stern Man
>walking up to the microphone at next year's draft and announcing:
>"Welcome to the 2001 NBA Draft. With the first selection in the draft,
>the Portland Trailblazers select Eddie Curry.
>
>- Does the drafting of Jerome Missing over Courtney Alexander
>look worse and worse?  You better believe it baby! If you had
>Courtney here, you just stick him in the starting lineup for Pierce,
>he'd get you 15 - 20  a night, and things wouldn't be so gloomy.
>
>Criminy, they spent all summer looking for a quality shooting guard
>because they bypassed Alexander, and now it comes back to haunt
>them even more.
>
>- The pressure is off Pitino. He's been given a year's reprieve
>with Pierce's lost for the season. Whatever you think of Paul
>Gaston, no one can accuse him of being unfair or heavy-handed
>toward those he has chosen to run the Celtics.
>
>Now Pitino himself could opt to leave at the end of the
>season, but I don't see Gaston putting undue pressure
>on Pitino to have the Celtics in the playoffs or disposing
>of him after this year.
>
>Hopefully, Pitino will be cognizant of this year's free pass and
>not go out and trade away a top five pick for some average
>veteran to replace Pierce.
>
>No, I have some faith that Pitino will play it cool this season,
>and sell it to himself, the fans, the media, and the little Pitinoette
>groupies that:
>
>"It was going to be a struggle to make the playoffs this season
>with both Antoine and Paul here. Without Paul, who's one of the
>best young players in the game, an outstanding young man,
>and our most consistent outside threat, it's very unrealistic to
>think that we can make the playoffs. That's not to say, we won't
>try 100 percent of the time, hustle, and leave it all out on the court,
>but
>realistically when you lose a player like Paul Pierce, it's a
>major setback. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of
>Chris Wallace and the Mercer and Fortson trades, we are well
>prepared for the future with our three first round draft picks
>and the return of a healthy Paul next season."
>
>Yeah, Pitino's spiel will be something like that.
>
>- Looking forward to the Holley Lama's column on Pierce, when he gets
>back from covering the Olympics. Holley loves Paul, Toine, and Mercer,
>so as he fights throught the tears he must be shedding as this moment,
>I expect one hellzapoppin of an interesting column. Maybe the Globe will
>
>recall him from the Olympics and put him right on the story.
>Ray
>
>