Sunday, March 05, 2006

I kinda hate to ask this.

Does Chauncey Billups' performance lately vindicate Rick Pitino, at least somewhat? (But where is Ron Mercer now?)
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6 comments:

maz said...

RE: Billups

No.

9:37 AM
B said...

Umm, what?

You mean, does Billups maturing into the kind of player he was projected to be before the draft vindicate Pitino's trading him part way through his rookie year for Kenny Anderson and spare parts? Are you asking whether it vindicates Pitino that he made a predictable, safe pick before he pissed it away?

9:47 AM
t.s. said...

No. Yes.

And who cares if a pick is "safe" if it turns into a player playing this well? At any rate, I don't remember it being that obvious at the time.

10:01 AM
B said...

OK, in complete fairness I am willing to give Pitino a little props (although only a little) for being the person to draft a player who now, 8 years later, is an MVP candidate. I’m more inclined to credit Billups himself for become a great players, and Joe Dumars for recognizing the great fit he could have with the style the Pistons wanted to play.

I significantly limit my props for Pitino, however, because:

- The consensus was that Billups was a guaranteed top 10, likely top 5, pick in the draft. He was one of two top PG prospects (with Antonio Daniels) in a draft without any real 1s after those two. He was rated so highly largely because scouts projected him to become a great defender and outside shooter, which has largely come true.

- The only question marks on Billups' pre-draft scouting report were about his ability to ever become a Isiah Thomas-esque fast-breaking, drive-and-dish point. People thought he wouldn't and indeed he hasn't. It's not surprising that he has flourished in a defensive-oriented team that tries to slow down the game to limit the number of offensive possessions each team has and scores all their points in the half court.

- If Pitino-the-GM had the sense to pick a top prospect about where he was going to go in the draft he also made two lousy decisions:
1) he picked a player poorly suited for the up-tempo, full-court-pressing style that he spent his first season trying to implement
2) he grew impatient with the inevitable growing pains that every point guard experiences coming into the pro game, as well as said player’s incompatibility with Pitino-the-coaches game plan

The famous result of Pitino’s trading away Billups 6 months later was the ultimate in buying high and selling low. Billups had value on draft night exactly because of his future potential in the right system. Make this post about how much credit goes to Joe Dumars for signing Billups as a free agent almost four years ago and I’ll be much stronger with my praise.

10:46 AM
t.s. said...

OK. I never liked Pitino anyway, so to Hell with him. Perhaps I gave up on Billups too soon, so it's nice to see him turn himself into who he is now, though I wish he weren't a Piston.

10:48 AM
maz said...

I think B had the exact right take on the Pitino/Billups situation. But here's a longer version of my "No." response from earlier.

I don't think any of us can say for sure why Pitino selected Billups. But in my book, you don't get any points for drafting a player and trading him away less than a season later for a mediocre has-been, unless said draftee truly sucks. Most players take time to develop, particularly at the point guard position. And remember, Billups was a shooting guard in college who people projected at the point position in the pros. In that respect, he was similar to a current Celtics player -- Delonte West, who is still learning the point position, but has become a solid contributor in his second season.

To be fair to Pitino, a lot of people gave up on Billups. If I'm not mistaken, he played for four teams before landing with the Pistons. Plus, as B points out, it took the right coach, team and situation to make it work. Billups might never have fit with Pitino's "system," regardless of how much he developed.

That being said, it seems to me that Billups represents everything that was wrong with the Pitino regime. If you were to sum up Pitino's problems in one sentence, it might read like this: an utter failure to identify/aquire/develop quality players and put them in a system suited to their strengths. How many mediocre players did Pitino overpay? How many impatient moves did he make? How long did he try to force players to play a particular style before Jim O'Brien took over and led the same team to a conference finals?

In Billups case, Pitino got frustrated and gave up on the #3 pick in the draft in less than one season. He never gave him time to develop, nor did he put him in a position to succeed. And when he decided to ship him out of town, he did so impatiently and without getting good value. As B put it, a classic example of buying high and selling low.

2:10 PM

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