the plot thickens (Bird, Pitino, etc.)

[Marc Lamphier <lamphier@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp>]

This is starting to sound even more complicated, read the latest from the
Globe:

*********


  Pitino: Boston move unlikely

  By Peter May, Globe Staff, 04/05/97

  Rick Pitino made two things clear yesterday. He is not likely to leave the
  University of Kentucky to take over the Celtics. And Larry Bird must be
  part of the Boston management team for him to even consider the move.

  ``The chances of me leaving Kentucky are extremely remote,'' he said in
  a telephone interview following a book signing in Lexington, Ky. ``If I
  was interested in the Boston Celtics, it would not be without Larry Bird.
  It could not go without Larry Bird.''

  The prospect of a Bird-Pitino management team has had some Celtics
  fans salivating, especially since it was revealed that Bird contacted
Pitino
  on two occasions to discuss the job. The latest chat was Wednesday.

  ``I told him I was happy where I was but that I would think about it. But
  I made my feelings known to him,'' Pitino said. ``I'm infatuated with
  the situation here.''

  Pitino said his conversations with Bird were more memorable for the
  tone than for the substance. He said Bird catalogued what he thought
  were the problems in Boston and became more upset as the conversation
  continued.

  ``He was not too happy,'' Pitino said. ``I came away from that
  conversation frustrated myself, frustrated at seeing how the franchise is
  now. I don't know what Larry is interested in, but I sensed he was
  unhappy with the way things are there now. The way the organization is
  being run. I think the world of Larry Bird. He's intelligent. He was a
  great player. But here he is, gathering information about coaches, and
  M.L. [Carr] is still there. That's odd.''

  Efforts to reach Bird yesterday were unsuccessful, but last week he said
  he wanted more of a role in Boston or would seek employment
  elsewhere. He was authorized by chairman of the board Paul Gaston to
  sound out potential coaching candidates. Pitino was at the top of his
list.

  What would it take to get Pitino to Boston? ``If I was [coaching]
  somewhere else, I'd be there tomorrow,'' he said. ``My pride level
  would go through the meter. I love Boston. It's closer to family. But I
  also understand that to be happy in life, you have to be happy with your
  work. I have the perfect situation here.''

  OK, how about away from Kentucky? He almost took a lucrative job
  last summer with the Nets and will undoubtedly be romanced again this
  spring. Already, rumors have the Lakers interested; Pitino talked to them
  a couple of years ago.

  He used a timeworn cliche - ``everyone has to be on the same page'' -
  but he went on to elaborate. He said he didn't have that in New York,
  because he and Al Bianchi were philosophical opposites. He saw the
  same thing happen to Pat Riley and Dave Checketts in New York.

  ``When Red [Auerbach] was in charge, he had everyone on the same
  page,'' Pitino said. ``That was the one common denominator. There was
  one goal: to win it all. That's what the Celtics have to do. That's what
  any organization has to do to be a championship organization.''

  He went on, ``That is the way it is here. Top to bottom, there is
  teamwork. There aren't a lot of situations like this, and judging from
  what Larry said, that's not what's going on in Boston. But that's the
  way he wants it to be, too. I don't care about total power. I'm too old
  for that. I care about winning. Period. I don't care about credit or
  anything else. Just winning. If I went to the Celtics, I would want a
  system, top to bottom, that believed those same things.''

  Pitino will be in Boston Monday to sign copies of his new book,
  ``Success is a Choice: Ten Steps to Overachieving in Business and
  Life.'' He already has blisters from signing more than 4,000 copies in
  two days in Louisville and Lexington.

  ``It was a labor of love,'' he said about the book.

  On Monday night, from 7-8:30, he will be at the Boston University
  bookstore to sign the book and then do a round of local interviews
  Tuesday.

*****************

I bet he'll get non-stop questions about the coaching job and about Bird at
his book signing.

- -Marc