Re: Pitino/Cousy

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

Re reclamations:  I don't think how you can deny
credit to Pitino and his staff, along with the players
themselves, for the improvements made before our eyes.
 The stats are bullshit as usual.  Tony Battie was
much better this year than he was with Denver or LA,
much surer of his role, more aggressive on defense. 
Greg Minor went from being a one-dimensional mid range
scorer who couldn't cover his own shadow to being as
good on D as Bruce Bowen, and added three point range
to boot.  (Or was just beginning to.)  Dana Barros had
been a one dimensional player his whole career, and
Pitino made him into a point guard and a defender, a
fact Dana acknowledged publically saying his career
might have been different if he had had this sort of
coaching earlier on.  Dee Brown, as far as I can tell,
he had no effect on whatsoever.  Antoine is his
greatest challenge, and I think he definitely was
playing much better in the latter part of the season,
and not just in the "i'm in a groove" way of some
athletes, but in a much more intelligent and skillful
way that bespeaks good coaching.  The only player I
think Pitino has yet to really improve on this team
still is Walter.  I think Pitino believes that Walter
can be much more than a headless chicken on the press.
 I think that Walters salary is meant for the player
he can be, and is partially designed to give Walter
confidence, and to head off salary disagreements
should he blossom.  Pitino said that this past year he
thought that Walter had regressed since college.  And
how about Andrew DeClerq?  Here was a guy who was just
a goon, a 12th man on the Golden State Warriors, and
by the time Pitino was done with him many on this list
thought he was the second coming of Dave Cowens,
practically, and hated to give him up.

You know, no matter what happens with Rick Pitino in
boston -- if his GM moves blow up in his face, if he
is driven from the team in disgrace, whatever -- the
guy can still coach.  You can't take that away from
him.  Pointing to last season just underlines it,
because he didn't have the chance to do any coaching,
except on the sideline and after games.  Give credit
where credit is due.

re announcers:  I love listening to the Cous.  I've
learned more about basketball from him than from
almost anybody, and I think his accent and personality
are totally irreplaceable.  On other teams I like Walt
Frazier's rhyming Knicks broadcasts, Walton on CNBC as
a commentator but not as a color man....Dr. Jack
Ramsey (Miami)  is truly boring, but you learn a lot
if you can stay awake listening to him.  John Andrese
(Nets, Knicks)  is underrated I would say.  I honestly
can't remember what some of the other team's
announcers are like, but the ones that work in
hoop-poor markets are usually hard to listen to. 
Hubie Brown is like taking a graduate course in
basketball Xs and Os, and about as interesting. I
guess I like Tommy and Mike Glenn the best, and then
the Knicks crew.  
--- j.hironaka@unesco.org wrote:
> Dorine wrote:
> 
> > I don't think I'd give him all that much credit
> for those people
> > - Dorine
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Way Of The Ray
> > To: celtics@igtc.com
> >  Pitino has rejuvenated the careers of Barros,
> Minor, Dee Brown and
> > Toni
> > Battie. Up next is Cheaney, and the two Erics:
> Williams and
> > Washington.
> > Also, if undrafted free agent Wayne Turner
> blossoms, that's another
> > notch in his belt....
> > Ray
> 
> FWIW, I'm not sure even Pitino himself would make
> this spin (that he's
> helped the careers of these players). All Pitino's
> really done is gotten
> them to gradually adhere better to a particular
> "system". I guess you
> could further make the claim that Pitino "helped"
> Barros become a true
> point guard, but most likely not that he has helped
> Barros improve his
> career stats in any category (maybe fewer turnovers?
> I don't know). I
> won't take the time to look it all up, but I have a
> feeling that the
> other veterans (Minor, Dee Brown) mentioned have all
> had superior stats
> and shooting percentages (playing on better teams,
> in fact) in the years
> prior to Pitino's arrival. I was less sure of this
> claim in the case of
> Tony Battie, so I looked it up his "El Busto" era
> stats:
> 
> Rookie year:  8.4ppg 5.4rpg 0.83spg 1.06bpg in 23.2
> mpg
> Pitino year:    6.7ppg 6.0rpg 0.58spg 1.42bpg in
> 22.4 mpg
> 
> But with "stahtah" minutes, Battie averaged 9.9
> points, 10.1 rebounds
> and 2.5 blocks over eight games near the end of last
> season. Before we
> get too excited, you can usually find at least one
> solid 5 to 10 game
> stretch from virtually ANY professional NBA player,
> just as you can find
> hot stretches from even the lousiest journeyman
> major league baseball
> player.
> 
> Battie's overall numbers suggest that he needs to be
> a more consistent
> player this year, and it wouldn't hurt if he had
> teammates who can light
> a fire under everyone.
> 
> Joe
> 
> Regarding Cousy, I think we'll miss his decency and
> wry humor plus
> whenever he announces a game, you somehow feel more
> confident you are
> rooting for the good guys. Having said this, I
> absolutely agree with Dan
> Forant that Cousy has been "mailing it in" on a
> somewhat regular basis.
> To start with, Cousy has hands down the most
> somniferous voice I've ever
> heard on television. It actually makes me pass
> out...I've nearly fallen
> asleep before halftime on a few occasions, and I'm
> the kind that really
> pays attention to everything that goes on in a game.
> It's not the
> quality of content in what Cous says, but the
> delivery. I wonder if
> anyone else relates to what I mean?
> 
> If you've ever re-watched Bird's 60 point game it's
> almost like a comedy
> sketch how dull his game narration is, even the
> dramatic last two
> minutes which seem to catch Cousy off guard (even HE
> sounds like he's
> about to fall asleep listening to his own voice).
> FWIW, I watched a lot
> of Celts videos with opposing team announcers last
> season, and actually
> prefer this (or at least, I don't mind). I guess the
> guys who impressed
> me were Doc Rivers, Hubie Brown, Reggie Theus.
> Cheryl Miller also has a
> lot of natural charisma in my opinion. Who else do
> you guys like?
> 
> ----------
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