Rick Pitino show

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

A summary of this Sunday's RP show. I missed the first few minutes 
of the show. Whenever I quote it is a paraphrase.

He first discussed the losses to NJ and Cleveland. Cleveland didn't 
bother him because he felt it was a game they didn't deserve to win. 
The Nets game bothered him because they made mental mistakes
down the stretch to lose a game they deserved to win, by not
doing things like boxing out. The missed free throws (by Pierce, 
for example) in that game didn't bother him because those will happen, 
although of course he will keep making everyone practice free throws.

Lobel brought up the free throw shooting of the team and Antoine's
in particular. Pitino said that Antoine realizes he is at the
point where he needs help and he is working with the shooting coach
Andy Enfield. 
   Pitino had a brief discussion with Enfield. Pitino joked, "Antoine 
was shooting 63% from the line last year, and now we hired you and 
he's shooting 50%." But then he said that because of the lockout, 
Andy didn't get a chance to work with the players during the offseason 
and his work with the players is only just beginning. 
   Enfield pointed out five problems with Antoine's free
throw technique (Pitino: "Five problems? Now I'm depressed. I 
thought it would be two or three"). One problem was that he falls
away, both from the line and from the field. Enfield said that Antoine 
would struggle for a bit because every player he's worked with goes 
through an adjustment period, but that they are working for Antoine's
long term benefit both at the line and from the field. 
   Pitino in general said that "I'm old-school" and that whenever he
has a weakness, he works on it until it's no longer a weakness, so
of course it bothers him when players have a weakness like free throw
shooting.

The coaching session was about trapping down on post defense. 
Pitino: "Ideally when the other team throws it into the post, you have
Bill Russell defend him and stop him from scoring. We don't have Bill
Russell, we have Eric Riley, Schintzius, Battie, and Declercq. It's
not the strength of our team so we have to trap down." Pitino didn't 
want to call it "doubling down" because he wants to keep the
idea of a trap (and steal) in the minds of his players, rather than
the idea of doubling down and giving up an outside shot. 
   The defensive rotations involved reminded me that every player has 
to perform his role well or else things will break down giving up an 
easy open jumper or a dunk. The Celtics really don't have this down yet.
Good passing teams (Sacramento) have shredded this defense.

Finally, Lobel brought up the trading deadline. Pitino didn't foresee
making any changes, but mentioned that, of course, he'd consider
any offer over the next few days that would improve the team. He said
that he really didn't envision trading Anderson, Mercer, Pierce, or
Walker. If he did, he would want a trade that would provide equal value
on offense, with better defense.

- Alex