Re: several points

[damekmo@teleport.com]

Holy Mary mother of God!...Finally reason and sanity concerning the "ML
Question." Josh..I couldn't agree more. I'd like to comment on one point:

> You can't judge him by the team's record,which in any  case is as you
>know has >a reverse gear.

There seems to be, and there has been for a while now, some confusion on
this list about losing. Here's the problem: in order to lose, and let's
face it, that's the point of the whole year, in order to lose you have to
screw up. That means that everyone, coaches included, have to screw up at
certain points during a game. Now, you can screw up in many ways, but
ultimately the important thing is to make sure that you don't take
advantage of any situation which might get you a victory. Seems simple and
pretty obvious. I know you all realize this, but the question I have is,
knowing this, why do some of you continually bitch, moan and gripe about a
coach who is actually doing what he's supposed to do. And Josh's point is
simply that since this is such a bizarre year when losses are actually
victories it's absurd to judge a coach's competence by the number of wins
he gets, or even how well the team plays. He's supposed to look bad. The
team is supposed to look like crap. Get it? Why is this so hard to accept.
Defense?...screw it; they might actually win games if they played good
tough defense. Look, you want to judge how well he's doing as a coach?
Perhaps you look a player development...period. Are players getting better?
Are their skills developing? And in any case, look at all the "injuries"
this team has had. And thank God they've had them. Absolutely nobody knows
what ML could do with a full roster, two high draft picks, and the desire
to win every night. And let me say once again, Larry Bird has done nothing
for this franchise since he retired. Watching games on tv in Florida
doesn't actually count as a deep committment. What makes him qualified to
ride the "white" horse into town and save this franchise? I don't buy the
Bird crap, and the stories about Carr being nothing but an incompetent
towel waving clown began the day he took the job as Head of Bsketball
Operations. This guy, for some reason, was going to be labeled a failure no
matter what he did. How long did that idiot Dave Gavitt have his job? Did
he ever pull off anything coming close to the Montross trade? Coffee damn
it, I need more coffee!

Paul M