Re: Credit Pitino with the loss

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> In other games, Pitino has played Dana a lot although he wasn't hitting the 
> broad side a barn. Therefore, if it seemed as if he was hot and you felt he 
> was necessary part of your team, this would be the time to play him. It is 
> true that I was basing my "hot" judgement on single jumper. However, I also 
> saw the way he did it and he did it without hesitation. I would prefer they 
> didn't play Dana at all. But if they had to do it, you would think this would
> be the time...

This is exactly what I'm talking about. You'd be happier if Dana
didn't play at all. But when Pitino does exactly what you ask for and
barely plays Dana, you criticize him. Don't you think that this is
completely unfair? Didn't Kenny have a better game than Dana? Wasn't
it better for Kenny to get more minutes then, regardless of whether
Dana hit a single jumper without hesitation? And Dana certainly can
miss jumpers without hesitation too; I really doubt that you can tell
whether a player is "hot" from how a single shot looks. The criticism
of Pitino is really getting ridiculous; I mean, go ahead if you think
the record is subpar, but do any of us really know so much about
basketball that we can really second-guess details such as
substituting "hot" players? Can any of us coach at anywhere near the
NBA level? (If you can, you're probably in the wrong job.) I like when
people offer their observations of how the players are doing, how the
game went, who they like, etc. etc., but all of this writing about
"Pitino can't coach, if only he would take my advice the Celtics would
win" is absurd. Can you imagine if some random guy who knew pretty
much nothing about your job was telling people how you were incompetent
and how he could do your job better? Wouldn't you think they were a
bit foolish?

Alex

> 
> DJessen33