Re: Bad Mouthing Dino

[S Farrell <sfarrell@dixie-net.com>]

Adam A Suchocki wrote:
> 
> For the record, I think Dino has screwed up by not going public and either
> showing up for the physical or stating what exactly he is doing, but on
> the other hand, his side of all of this is getting run over, and I'm a
> little annoyed at Pitino's propaganda attacks and such...
> 
> First, the papers reported that Dino's wife was due to give birth to their
> first child any day now (the expected date was in three days for what it's
> worth).  Supposedly no one can find Dino - has anyone checked the local
> hospitals to see if Zeljanna has checked in to one.
> 
> Second, in an interview several days before the trade, Dino went on record
> as saying he had been told that the Celtics would not trade him.  He
> stated that he appreciated them being up front with him and telling him
> where he stands, because he has had serious problems with previous
> organizations telling him he's part of the future and then constantly
> dangling him on the trade blocks.  He seemed to truly have believed
> Pitino's claim that he would not be traded this year.

Pitino merely stated he was not looking to trade Radja

 
> Dino had also publicly claimed he only wanted to play for the Celtics,
> because it was a personal challenge to rebuild after the last few years
> and prove the team could win.  He said he might retire to Europe if
> traded.  Pitino then comes out with "spin control" and starts throwing
> around the "Club Med" joke, trying to make it look like DIno was making
> unrealistic demands.  If you were suddenly told that the team was going to
> trade you to one of four unknowned places, and they asked you where you
> would like to go, 99% of the league would answer a contender first, then
> somewhere warm, preferably both.  Dino didn't ask to be traded, or even to
> be traded to a warm contender, he was asked for his preference of where to
> play, because now the team that said it wouldn't trade him was definately
> going to trade him.
> 
> Pitino's details of the "infamous" talk between Wallace and Radja the day
> before the trade keep changing.  First he claimed that they asked Radja to
> stay the summer, and his refusal lead to the trade.  Then he states that
> Radja was told in the conversation that the Celtics had four trades
> involving him on the table, and they wanted his input as to where he would
> like to be moved to.  The first is pretty irrelavent if the second was
> part of the conversation, but Pitino threw out the fact that Dino wouldn't
> stay the summer the instant news of the trade surfaced (though somehow the
> initial report was that Dino refused to stay the summer, and later reports
> said Dino was going to go to Croatia for a few weeks, and would spend the
> rest of the summer in Boston - and this seems in keeping with Antoine
> Walker, who is spending part of the summer in Chicago).
> 
> Again, I feel Dino is screwing up big time by not at least contacting
> Boston and Philly and talking.  At the same time, I feel Pitino has
> handled this much worse than he should have.  First, if he told Dino he
> would not be traded, he should have handled the dealings with Dino much
> better (instead of publicly ridiculing the guy for being upset that Pitino
> went back on his wod.  Second, he should have given Dino a chance to work
> things out (and take the physical) before launching his media attack.  I
> think he may have made it less likely for Dino to show up by attacking
> him.  Dino is already set for life (he was before he ever entered the
> NBA).  He has made it clear he was playing for pride, not money - and I
> think if management had taken a different tack with Dino, all of this
> could have been avoided - but I think Pitino went on the offensive from
> the beginning, because he wasn't sure how the press would treat his
> trading of his only legitiamte post player for an undersized powerforward.
> If he had dealt with Dino more squarely, Dino would probably have gone to
> Philly right away (assuming his wife isn't in labor) or made apublic
> announcement that he was retiring.  Now all we have is two parties
> unwilling to deal with eachother, who might be stuck with eachother for
> another three years.  Although the specifics of the deal may have shown
> good management sense, the handling of it was truly bush league.

It does not matter where Dino wants ro play or whether he wanted to be
traded.  This is a business and Dino is bound by contract to report
where he is told to report. Dino has shown a poor attitude here by not
complying with his obligation.  

We shouldn't blame Pitino for being a business man.  That is a quality
that will make the Celts a respectable organization once again.