Re: Rockets OverPower Celts: Houston 105-Boston 96

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

On Fri, 20 Mar 1998 16:27:02 -0600, Nancy wrote:

>Bill says:
>
>> Edney: Played for 3 minutes, which shows just how desperate Pitino's
>> situation is (since Rick would never play Tyus if he didn't have too).
>
>Then Greg says:
>
>> If Bill's assessment regarding Edney is true, as many have alluded to, then
>> there is no chance he will be back.  What did he do wrong, or is he just
>> not that good (or both)?
>
Nancy followed up with:
>I think Bill has been a bit harsh on Edney.  Sure, we all know that
>Rick has a thing for "shooting point guards" which means Tyus
>is like the ugly stepchild of the family and never gets PT.  
>But when Tyus gets into the game, there's all kinds of ball movement
>and none of that standing around the guys do when "other people" play
>the point.  Tyus is a decent backup point guard - a TRUE point - which 
>unfortunately has no place in Pitino's system.

Bill sez:
I wasn't being harsh towards Tyus.  I think that Rick has been (that
comment was really a criticism of Pitino).  Rick loves to encourage
his players to shoot jumpers (even DeClercq is getting into the act),
and, as Nancy points out, that just isn't Tyus's way (though he has
improved a little).  Personally I wouldn't mind seeing Tyus get some
playing time in the last month.

I also think that Pitino places a lot of emphasis on player's behavior
in practice.  Of course I have no idea how hard Edney works in
practice (though it's hard for me to believe that he's spent many days
shooting 500 jumpers).  Things that we know little about may have a
lot to do with it

Bill Cooper