9/6/2004 01:01:14 PM|||Shep|||Somehow, the Rapid City Journal got the jump on this story... Evidently Eric Piatkowski is from Rapid City, and my guess is he's the biggest name to come out of there since... well, ever.

ePiat (clever, no?) is going to the Bulls for Mt. Mutombo. Coming with Piatkowski are F Adrian Griffin and PG Mike Wilks.

Fantasy Impact

Mutombo will be marginalized by backing up the Ming Dynasty in Houston. Yao increased from 29 to 32 minutes last season, and that leaves Mutombo with only 16 minutes; down from his 23 in Zoo York. With only 5.6 and 6.7 rebounds to his name - despite a tremendous 1.9 blocks - most of Mutombo's fantasy value is jettisoned like rocket fuel after launch.

Piatkowski on the other hand, will probably be given some good minutes splitting time at both SF and SG positions with Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and Eddie Robinson. He's got more experience than Deng and Gordon (obviously, since they're rookies), so he might even get to start at the 2 spot. With he and Hinrich at the guard spots, that gives the Bulls a strong inside-outside combination (if Curry and Chandler can step it up to provide the "inside" portion).

Piatkowski's numbers should look something like his seasons with the Clippers where he had 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist with good (aka helpful) FG, 3P, and FT %'s (47, 40, 82, respectively).

Count it.
|||109449103447724552|||Moving Mountains (Mutombo for Piatkowski)