Re: Jim Donaldson: Pitino All Over The Map

[Dan Forant Sr <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

For punishment, this writer should be made to re-run 2-3 years of game film
before Pitino got here. It was sad. Mr. Donaldson must completely soak his
pillow at nite with drool! This is an example of the negative Boston area
press. New York writers who can be cranky at times do it with more class
than these small time scribblers.

At 07:07 AM 8/5/99 -0400, you wrote:
>        Providence Journal 
>
>        8.5.99 00:02:14
>        JIM DONALDSON
>        Celts' new direction? This Pitino guy has been
>        all over the map
>
>SMITHFIELD -- Watching the promising Patriots on a
>pleasant, sunny, summer afternoon, but thinking about
>the Celtics and what promise to be long, cold, dismal,
>winter nights ahead . . .
>
>What do you think the always-cerebral, never-emotional,
>profoundly-patient sports fans of New England would be
>saying if the Patriots had had the third and sixth
>picks overall in the draft two years ago and now, at
>the beginning of training camp in 1999, neither one was
>still on the team?
>
>Nothing printable in a family newspaper, that's what
>they'd be saying.
>
>Yet Rick Pitino continues to be cut even more slack
>locally than Hilary gives poor, psychologically-damaged
>Bill.
>
>The Pats get rid of Chris Canty, taken with the 29th
>pick in the first round in the '97 NFL draft, and
>everybody says how stupid they were to have taken him
>in the first place.
>
>Ricky bids bye-bye to two picks in the top six in just
>two years and nobody says a word.
>
>Yes, Canty was a bust. A mistake. A bad pick.
>
>But, in '96, top pick Terry Glenn (7th overall) played
>a critical role in the Patriots' surprising drive to
>the AFC championship, setting an NFL rookie record for
>receptions with 90. And, in '98, first-round choice
>Robert Edwards (18th overall) stepped right in for
>Curtis Martin and ran for 1,115 yards and 9 touchdowns.
>
>Then we have the Celtics.
>
>In '97, their vision apparently blurred by the tears in
>their eyes following the disappointment of losing Tim
>Duncan in the lottery, selected Chauncey Billups with
>the third choice overall and Ron Mercer with the sixth.
>
>Billups lasted just half a season before Pitino dumped
>him and brought in Kenny Anderson. The Celts now would
>love to unload Anderson, but nobody else is willing to
>take on him or his excessive salary.
>
>Mercer, one of Pitino's beloved Kentucky kids and a
>truly promising young player, managed to stick around
>for two years. Now, he, too, will be joining Billups in
>Denver.
>
>In return, the Celtics got a rebounder in Danny
>Fortson, along with Eric Williams -- a guy they got rid
>of two years ago. And that was before he had
>reconstructive knee surgery.
>
>This year, lest we forget, the Celts traded away the
>first pick in the draft (12th overall) for hulking
>center Vitaly Potapenko.
>
>Can you imagine if the Patriots made picks like that?
>
>While Ricky P. wheels and deals -- or should it be deal
>and reels? -- away his top picks, the Pats get
>criticized for having too many draft choices still on
>the team.
>
>I used to -- and I stress used to -- call Pats coach
>Pete Carroll ``California Clueless.''
>
>That was before he took two injury-riddled teams to the
>playoffs; before, two years in a row, he kept in
>contention teams that could have packed it in during
>midseason slumps.
>
>Now I have to wonder if Pitino has a clue.
>
>The Patriots at least appear to have a plan. Whether it
>works, in what is a crucial year for Carroll and player
>personnel director Bobby Grier, remains to be seen.
>
>But what, exactly, is Pitino's plan?
>
>He has guaranteed the Celtics will make the playoffs
>next season, yet his approach to achieving that goal
>has been as scattershot as Antoine Walker's jumper
>during those games when disgruntled fans were booing
>him out of the FleetCenter.
>
>Billups and Mercer were not merely high choices. They
>were Ricky P.'s first picks. They were supposed to make
>a statement.
>
>But the statement turned out to be: ``See ya!''
>
>Those two high picks should have been the future of the
>Celtics. Instead, after just two years, Mercer and
>Billups already are a part of the past.
>
>And now there is talk that Walker may be following them
>out of town.
>
>A year after being given the maximum allowable contract
>under the collective bargaining agreement -- a 6-year
>deal worth $71 million -- Walker is being shopped by
>the Celts.
>
>Since Carroll and the Patriots have had to live in the
>considerable shadow of Duane Charles Parcells, perhaps
>Pitino should be reminded of the Tuna's philosophy of
>how to build a championship team:
>
>``It's trying,'' said Parcells, ``to put a philosophy
>in place and to find people who can make you
>successful. Watch how good teams have been built. You
>have to have a consistent philosophy and know what
>you're looking for. Now, if don't know what you're
>looking for, you've got a problem. You have to get good
>players, they have to play well, and they have to stay
>healthy.''
>
>Carroll's problem the past two years has been that his
>good players haven't been able to stay healthy.
>
>Pitino's problem is not only lack of patience and
>consistency, but also that, more and more, it seems as
>if he doesn't know what he's looking for.
>
>
>
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