Re: Pierce shows world of improvement

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Kevin Lok wrote:

> I wish Celtics (and the NBA) could get more of such players.
>
> ``He has a tremendous passion and love for the game, which drives him
> to constantly work to improve himself as a player.
> ``He's not satisfied to simply be good. He's hungry to get better.
> That's refreshing to see in a young athlete.''
>
> >From The Boston Herald
> Pierce shows world of improvement
> by Mark Cofman
> http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/sport/celts08161999.htm
>
> As a rookie last season, Paul Pierce made a name for himself as one of
> the NBA's brightest young stars. Lately, the Celtics swingman has been
> making a name for himself far away from the bright lights of NBA
> arenas.
> Pierce joined Vancouver star Shareef Abdur-Rahim in conducting a youth
> clinic recently in Taipei, Taiwan. Both players flew to Japan last
> week to take part in the weeklong Nike All-Asia Clinic in Tokyo. Now
> he's in Korea for the last leg of the tour.
> The three-day Taiwan event, which combined basketball training with
> educational workshops and recreational activities, was part of the
> NBA's Summer JamVan Program. It marked the first clinic staged by the
> league in the Far East.
> ``It was a great experience to be in Taiwan and to see a different
> culture,'' Pierce said before beginning the second leg of his trip to
> Japan. ``It's great to know kids here love basketball and the NBA.
> ``There was so much enthusiasm. I was also highly impressed with the
> level of their basketball skills.''
> Sounds familiar. The Celtics were highly impressed with the level of
> Pierce's skills last season, during which he averaged 16.5 points, 6.4
> rebounds and 1.71 steals per game while ranking 10th in the league in
> 3-point shots (84) and accuracy (.412). They were further impressed by
> his diligence this offseason in developing greater ballhandling and
> perimeter skills.
> So impressed, in fact, they dealt talented off-guard Ron Mercer to
> Denver last week in a six-player trade. Celtics coach Rick Pitino and
> general manager Chris Wallace would not have pulled the trigger on
> that deal had they harbored any doubt Pierce could flourish in
> Mercer's old spot.
> ``One of the great things we saw in Long Beach was how hard Paul
> Pierce was working to improve his game,'' said Pitino, referring to
> the Fila Pro Summer League last month. ``He was coming in every
> morning to work out and then worked out with a friend on his own each
> and every night - and I mean every night. That was in addition to our
> team workout.
> ``We also found out Paul had improved his ballhandling dramatically
> and could make the transition from (small forward) to (off-guard). We
> feel very comfortable moving him back there.''
> For his part, the 6-foot-6 former Kansas star feels equally
> comfortable with the move to the backcourt, though it comes at the
> expense of Mercer's departure. The two had become friends during their
> one season together with the Celtics.
> ``I think in our system the (small forward) and (off-guard) are doing
> a lot of the same things on offense,'' said Pierce.
> ``The biggest change is probably defensively, where you're going to be
> defending (off-guards). But I don't think that will be a big problem
> for me.
> ``I've worked hard to improve my all-around skills. Right now I'm just
> looking forward to coming back for my second season.''
> He's coming off of a strong first one in which he finished second to
> Toronto's Vince Carter in Rookie of the Year balloting.
> Pierce has enjoyed a fruitful offseason as well. He led the Fila Pro
> Summer League in scoring for the Celtics (23.6 points per game),
> participated in Alonzo Mourning's benefit game in Miami, conducted his
> inaugural basketball school in Brookline last week and then embarked
> on his journey to the Far East.
> ``He's a terrific young man,'' said Pitino. ``He has a tremendous
> passion and love for the game, which drives him to constantly work to
> improve himself as a player.
> ``He's not satisfied to simply be good. He's hungry to get better.
> That's refreshing to see in a young athlete.''

Tom Murphy (I believe) noted that Ron Mercer was often guarded by small
forwards last season. Recently I reviewed several games (mostly to check
out Calbert Cheaney, and to watch Pot and Pierce's career high games) and
discovered to my surprise that Mercer was guarded almost exclusively by
opposing forwards by the end of last season. It seemed the consensus among
NBA coaches was to have their guard cover the team's best remaining shot
creator (Paul Pierce) and suffer the consequences of his rebounding
advantage. I even saw point guards (Mark Jackson for example) get assigned
to cover Paul Pierce, after he predictably abused Mullin and Miller on his
way to a career high game. I assume most teams concurrently felt that
Mercer posed no threat to dribble or draw fouls, so they put a slightly
slower player on him.

The second comment I'd like to make (inspired by Kevin Lok's post of the
Cofman article) is about "Rich" Pitino. To RP's credit, he more or less
consistently says positive things about his players to the press (at least
until recently). Often he gets ridiculed for what sounds too gushy - as
with his comments about Ringo or Chiquita Boy - but I think it is good
policy to leave negative things in the locker room.

But (a big BUT) you really only need to watch Celts broadcasts to know
just how sarcastic and nagging (no better term I can think of) Pitino can
be during his slightly creepy, stream-of-consciousness, sideline
monologues. Pitino tends to wander out as far as the scorer's table to
follow (and express opinions) on the action, so you pick up his voice
quite clearly on television. Some of his comments sound like standard
coach-speak, others are vaguely surreal ("now get that rebound, Tony!" as
the ball is descending into his hands), and others single out players for
loud criticism and are filled with venom. For example, with five minutes
left in a 20+ point blowout win over the Wiz, I heard Pitino scream at
Pierce after a made basket, "NOW PLAY SOME DEFENSE, PAUL!!!" You had to
hear the tone of Pitino's voice (mostly sarcastic and mocking) and how
loud he said it to see how abusive it sounded, given that the Celts had a
huge lead and the game was nearly over.

Against Indiana (a blowout loss) a few days earlier, Pitino did the same
thing to Pierce. Bear in mind that this was a week where the team was
playing relatively well (they scored over 100 in both games) and Paul
Pierce had twice broken his career scoring mark. I guess all this really
illustrates is that Pitino was no longer kid gloving Pierce by the end of
his rookie year. On the other hand I don't blame Pierce for hanging his
head when walking back to the bench, even with the injured Antoine
(wearing some funny looking outfits BTW) clapping his hands like a madman.

My point isn't to criticize Pitino. There's NOTHING wrong with a love-hate
relationship between coach and player in Boston (obviously, Red Auerbach
was dangerously obnoxious and vocal during the games). A coach's
abusiveness needs to help push each Celts players into building a fierce
bond with all their teammates, not with the coaching staff.  In any case,
Pitino has had a clear rule since college that neither players nor coaches
should ever say anything negative outside the locker room. Michael Holley
claims this is why Antoine overreacted when Peter May "quoted" Pitino as
saying he was disappointed by his absence from the voluntary workout
before the lockout, even though Pitino had never approached Antoine about
it or made it a big deal.

In any case, you need only watch the games to deduce that the relationship
between Pitino and the players isn't even remotely as gushing with
new-agey, lovey-dovey, positive reinforcement as you'd guess from reading
his quotes. Pitino is an insane perfectionist who gets visibly pissed off
when things aren't done right, REGARDLESS of outcome or context. I have no
problem with RP as long as he realizes (I totally assume he does) that you
can't bully and psychologically manipulate adult professionals as easily
as you can a group of teenagers.

Joe

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