May sez

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Jim Meninno wrote:

> Serious questions, I didn't pay that close attention to Pitino before
he came to the Celtics.  Did he scream as much at Kentucky?  At New
York?  Is it at all related to how well (or poorly) the team is
playing?  Is it reasonable to assume that he will scream less if the
team is doing what he wants?
>

Good question, Jim.  Obviously, any NBA head coach committed to winning
(sorry ML) would have had a lot to scream about last year. But in the
past, I've always heard Rick Pitino characterized as an outstanding
motivator, not as a screamer per say. Even last season, he was ridiculed
by Peter May for using excessive positive reinforcement when talking
about his squad "DeClerq is a jump shot away from being outstanding"
etc.)

But having said this, I'll admit I totally share some of the concerns
expressed mainly by "Paul M"  in the past weeks. For example, I honestly
don't think Pitino's halfcourt sets will EVER be aesthetically pleasing
for Celtics fans who grew up watching the Bird/DJ inspired championship
offense. If we still love our Celts, then we all just have to freakin'
get used to it IMO.  I think I'm echoing Kim Malo's sentiment (?) that
you can't really pin the "shoot-from-anywhere-if-you're-open" philosophy
on any one player. Let's not kid ourselves. Pitino is not a
laissez-faire guy. His players take marching orders directly from the
boss.

But unlike "Paul M" (perhaps), I really think it's a no-brainer that the
Celtics have the talent/experience to improve as dramatically as the
Knicks did in their second Pitino-coached season (52 wins). The Celts
are likely to immediately add three new forwards to play alongside
Antoine Walker (Popeye, Hotplate and Pierce), any one of whom is an
upgrade over the incumbent starter (Greg Minor). If Kenny Anderson can
deliver even late-career Tiny Archibald numbers (13ppg 10ast) over an
entire season, then I think the Celtics should win 60% of their games,
regardless of whether any of our other young stars improves dramatically
over last year. And if Antoine and Ron do improve, then I say "watch out
Fakers" because our 22-year-old kids are coming out there to kick your
sorry butts.

Warwick once posted an URL with an outstanding review of Pitino's basic
coaching philosophy. I'll post it again:

http://www.bbhighway.com/Talk/Coach%20Library/Reviews/Videos/RPitino_review.asp




Cheers guys,


Joe

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