Re: The Proverbial Bad Penny

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Hi:

One thing I suppose you can say for Penny Hardaway is that the Orlando
frontcourt still managed to get their share of good shots despite a
lineup of geriatrics (Dominique, Grant, Schayes), journeymen (Strong,
Outlaw, Austin) and rookie mid-first-rounders (Harpring, Doleac). At
least they played well enough to finish tied for the best record in the
east, despite a frontcourt that was inferior on paper to the Boston
Celtics, IMHO.

On the court, I love the idea of three quick athletes with the vision to
thread a pass (Penny, Antoine, Pierce). I'm telling you, slick passing
is totally contagious at any level of basketball. I also agree with the
list consensus that Pitino could con Penny with the line "don't worry,
we have Dana Barros starting at point guard" and then use Dana primarily
as the perimeter shooter/defender we'll need.

Off the court, I have strong reservations about Penny Hardaway just as
Josh Ozersky does. The reason you could bring in
Parish/DJ/Maravich/RayWilliams/Wedman type former "ball hog" veterans to
the 80's Celtics was because you had Larry Bird ready to kick anyone's
butt if they didn't get with the (winning) program.

But the 1999-2000 Celtics nucleus is way too young and almost certainly
more impressionable. The kids have fallen in line behind a dominineering
"college" coach because they don't know another system. The minute a
headstrong, whiny yet proven All Star veteran like Penny challenges or
undermines Pitino, things could get a little nasty. All Penny really has
to say is: "Hey Rick, how come we have better personnel here than in
Orlando yet we're not even in first place??"

Who's going to step up and tell Penny to shut up, be patient, and get
with the program for the sake of the team? The captain, Antoine Walker?
The phenom, Paul Pierce? I find that very hard to picture.

Joe


------

Josh Ozersky wrote:

> I guess I was thinking about the "not enough
> basketballs" syndrome, but without Ron and Kenny, I
> guess three big time scorers wouldn't be too many.
> But I still would see ego problems:  Antoine wants to
> be the man and will even take responsibility for
> losses (which Penny won't) and Pierce may chafe at
> being third bananna (so to speak.)