The Case Against Pitino, part I

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

Boston Sports Guy, a local internet columnist, has made what I think
is pretty much the most comprehensive case to be made against Pitino
as a GM.  I disagree with almost every point, but I have to admit they
are arrayed impressively, in a specious way.  Tomorrow is his coaching
critique, a subject where I think Pitino can't seriously be questioned
as a coach, other than nitpicking (get the ball to Vitaly, be harder
on Antoine, etc.)  Here is his Part One:


If you're a sports fan who follows that motto, you can usually avoid a
considerable amount of anguish. For instance, when the Patriots were
floundering during the first half of the 1993 season -- Year One of
the Bill Parcells Era -- Pats fans desperately tried to keep the faith
as the losses mounted. After all, it was Bill Parcells! The guy had
two Super Bowl rings! Things were going to turn around eventually,
right? Well, they did. The Patriots ended up winning four of their
last five games in '93; they even reached the playoffs twelve months
later.

Six years later, Rick Pitino is getting the same leeway from Celtics
fans that Parcells received from Patriots Nation. His credentials are
impeccable -- superb coaching jobs with Providence College and the New
York Knicks last decade, followed by a miraculous stint at Kentucky in
which the Wildcats went from Division One doormat to national
champions in seven years. By 1997, Coach P had taken his rightful
place in the Coaching Pantheon along with Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, Pat
Riley and Phil Jackson; all A-list coaches who could turn ground beef
into filet mignon and make Gabe Kaplan's coaching job at Cadwallader
State in "Fast Break" look like child's play by comparison.

After two years of Mega Liar Carr, Celtics fans were unanimously
excited to have Pitino aboard -- for the first time since Reggie Lewis
died, it felt like we had a real NBA team again. You can't argue with
success, right?

Right?????

Well, almost two years have passed since Coach P took charge... and I
don't like what's happened to my favorite basketball team. I'm tired
of cutting Pitino slack, I'm tired of watching the same mistakes and
I'm tired of waiting for Pitino's Tony Robbins/Gordon Gekko magnetism
to translate into some wins. His personnel moves have been shaky at
best -- cynics could argue that Coach P has butchered just about every
move he's made. His coaching performance has been shaky at best --
cynics could argue that Pitino's free reign has turned the Celtics
into Clippers East (just from the way guys are glaring at each other
on the court and gunning for their own stats). 

What else is there? Should we get swept away by Rick Pitino's excuses
-- "We're a young basketball team right now... we don't have enough
good listeners... we were really hurt by the amount of practice time
we missed... we need to get everyone healthy... the guys are learning
to play with one another... the dog ate my homework..." -- or should
we take an unbiased, calculating look at his performance since the
Celtics brought him aboard in May of '97?

Just from the e-mails I've been receiving over the past three weeks,
the "unbiased, calculating look" at Coach P is long overdue,
especially since he's gone relatively unmarked by the usually
over-zealous Boston media since he arrived in town. The fans are
restless. The players are restless. More importantly, I'm restless.
I'm disappointed and confused and so frustrated that I'm almost ready
to hop on the Bruins Bandwagon as we head into April. And it's all
Pitino's fault.

They say you're not supposed to argue with success... but when your
basketball team is 8-15 and doesn't even own its first round pick next
year (unless it falls into the Top Three), it's time to speak up.

****** ****** ****** ****** ******

There are two ways to evaluate someone in Pitino's position:

1. How is he running the team?
2. How is he coaching the team?

Sounds pretty simple, no? Granted, the 1999 C's are as young and
inexperienced as any Celtics team in recent memory. They were hurt by
all the practice time they lost during the lockout; to make matters
worse, the NBA forced them to play 15 of the first 22 games on the
road this season, a deadly stretch that ruined everyone's confidence
within four weeks (and that's not even an excuse). These problems are
noted.

Anyway, we're splitting this up into two parts: What follows is an
honest evaluation of Rick Pitino's performance as "Director of
Operations" and "Head Coach" since he was hired by the Boston Celtics
in May 1997 (for $55 million over ten years).

PART ONE: HOW IS HE RUNNING THE TEAM?

Let's grade all the major moves Pitino and hand-picked assistant Chris
Wallace have made (and almost made) since they took control of the team:

1. THE 1997 DRAFT
The Celtics held the 3rd and 6th picks in a draft with two "sure
things" -- Tim Duncan and Keith Van Horn. By all accounts, Boston and
Chicago came inches away of pulling the trigger on a major deal --
Boston would have sent both '97 first rounders and a '98 first round
pick to Chicago for Luc Longley and Scottie Pippen -- but Chicago
backed out at the last second and insisted on Eric Williams as well.
Needless to say, that trade would have been a disaster for Boston;
basically, they would have given up Kenny Anderson, Ron Mercer and
Paul Pierce for a run-of-the-mill center and an All-Star forward in
his early-30's.

As it turned out, the Celts tabbed Colorado guard Chauncey Billups
with the 3rd pick and Kentucky guard Ron Mercer with the 6th pick;
they were incredibly fortunate that Vancouver (picking 4th) and Denver
(picking 5th) passed on Mercer, undoubtedly the third-best player from
that draft. You can't argue with either selection -- even though
Billups didn't pan out in Boston, he was the right pick at #3 (it's
not Boston's fault that he couldn't convert to the point guard
position), and Mercer looks like a future All-Star at the 2-spot.

GRADE -- B-minus. Under the circumstances, the best they could do.

2. THE SIGNINGS OF ANDREW DECLERQ, BRUCE BOWEN AND TONY MASSENBURG 
After the draft, Pitino dipped into the free agent market for three
role players at relatively cheap money. DeClerq turned into a
serviceable big man off the bench; Bowen is a decent 10th man;
Massenburg was gone within two months. 

GRADE -- C-plus. None of these players really helped the team, but
they didn't really hamper Boston's salary cap flexibility, either.
DeClerq was a relatively good signing at cheap money ($5.1 million for
3 years).

(NOTE: To be fair, we have to mention that Pitino & Wallace were
severely handicapped when they came to Boston by all of M.L. Carr's
moves in the mid-90's -- between Dana Barros, Greg Minor, Pervis
Ellison, Dee Brown and Dana Radja, the franchise was basically
hamstrung by dreadful contracts. One near-trade that summer -- Radja
for Clarence Weatherspoon and Michael Cage -- would have helped the
cap immensely had Radja not failed his physical in Philly. As it
turned out, Boston had to buy out the majority of Radja's $42 million
contract).

3. SIGNING TRAVIS KNIGHT TO A 7-YEAR, $21 MILLION CONTRACT
This one had NBA executives shaking their heads all over the league,
especially because Boston had to renounce the rights of David Wesley
and Rick Fox to make it happen (Fox's veteran leadership definitely
would have helped over the past two seasons). At his best, Knight is a
seven-footer who can run the floor and crash the offensive boards --
he's perfect playing alongside a big center like Shaquille O'Neal. But
what he couldn't do in Boston was precisely what they signed him to do
-- block shots, play good low-post defense, rebound, and do everything
else you want your NBA center to do consistently. 

This signing would have been an unmitigated disaster had Boston not
been able to trade Knight back to L.A. for Tony Battie this January --
the Batman might be a work-in-progress, but he can run the floor,
block shots, and crash the boards... which is more than Knight could
ever do (and as Rick Majerus would say, the Batman has a huge upside).

GRADE: D-minus. The only thing that salvaged this from being an "F"
was because Boston was able to salvage Battie out of it.

4. SIGNING CHRIS MILLS TO A 6-YEAR, $27 MILLION CONTRACT
Maybe the strangest move of the Pitino Era -- not only was there
little or no foresight here, but Boston basically gave away Eric
Williams to Denver for two second round picks just to clear up enough
cap space for Mills.

It's impossible to imagine what Pitino and Wallace were thinking here.
Mills is a great role player, a good defender... and somebody who
almost certainly wasn't worth such a big contract (in fact, he
couldn't even get playing time on the Knicks during their aborted
playoff run last spring). Amazingly, Mills never played a game in
Boston -- everyone involved realized that it was a massive
miscalculation and that Mills' body couldn't have survived six years
of PitinoBall.

Once again, Boston was able to salvage a bad mistake, swapping Mills
for Walter McCarty and two throw-ins before the '97 season. But why
sign Mills in the first place?

GRADE: F. Inexplicable. 

5. TRADING CHAUNCEY BILLUPS, DEE BROWN, & TWO THROW-INS FOR KENNY
ANDERSON & POPEYE JONES
On paper, the deal made sense: The Celts were dumping Brown's enormous
contract and giving up on a rookie who was clearly incapable of
playing point guard at the NBA level... in return, they were getting
an All-Star point guard who was signed at relatively cheap money ($5
million per year) for the next five seasons, not to mention an injured
rebounder who could potentially help down the road. (For the record, I
was ecstatic about this deal last February).

One problem: The Celts didn't do their homework on Anderson. His knees
are shot, he's lost a step, he can't play defense, he appears to be on
the "other side of the hill" in his NBA career, and he's woefully
inept playing Pitino's "balls-to-the-wall" pressure defense -- to the
point that the Celtics have basically stopped pressing with Anderson
on court. How come the Celtics didn't know this? Didn't something
click for them when Portland seemed so desperate to unload Anderson
last season (especially because he was losing playing time to rookie
Alvin Williams)?

In short, the Celtics committed over $8 million PER YEAR over the next
four seasons to two point guards -- Dana Barros (signed before Coach P
arrived) and Kenny Anderson -- who aren't even in the top two/thirds
of the league at their position. So far this season, the following
point guards have enjoyed huge games against the Celts -- Damon
Stoudamire, Rod Strickland, Darrell Armstrong, Randy Brown, Bobby Sura
(Bobby Sura????), Mark Jackson, Lindsay Hunter, Mookie Blaylock, David
Wesley, Nick Van Exel, Mike Bibby and Tim Hardaway. The
Anderson/Barros combo has outplayed the following point guards --
Darrick Martin, Charlie Ward and Eric Murdock. That's it.

Given Anderson's advancing age, chronic knee problems and utter
inability/desire to play defense, the Billups trade has to be
considered the biggest misfire of the Pitino Era.

GRADE: D. We're cutting Anderson a tiny amount of slack here because
he's going through a messy divorce, which MIGHT explain why he's
looked like utter dog-doo all season. Emphasis on the word "MIGHT."

6. TRADING TRAVIS KNIGHT FOR TONY BATTIE 
The only "good trade" of the Pitino Era, hands down.

GRADE: B-plus.

7. DRAFTING PAUL PIERCE
Pitino and Wallace deserve NO credit for this one; Pierce basically
fell into their laps at #10 after his inexplicable free-fall from the
#1 spot. If they didn't take Pierce, there might have been a riot at
the Fleet Center that night.

One interesting "What could have been?" note, along the same lines of
the "Pippen/Longley trade" from the year before -- supposedly the
Celts were extremely enamored with German rookie Dirk Nowitzki, to the
point that Sports Illustrated's Jackie MacMullan wrote two weeks ago
that Boston would have taken Nowitzki over Pierce if both guys had
been sitting there at the #10 pick. This warrants mentioning only
because Nowitzki has FLOUNDERED in Dallas this season.

GRADE -- A. On the other hand, M.L. Carr couldn't have messed up that
pick. 

8. RE-SIGNING ANTOINE WALKER TO A $70.9 MILLION, SIX-YEAR CONTRACT
EXTENSION
Another no-brainer. Regardless of how you feel about Antoine, the
Celtics had to tie him up after the lockout. At the very least, he has
some trade value. And he's a helluva dancer.

9. RE-SIGNING WALTER MCCARTY AND POPEYE JONES TO THREE-YEAR CONTRACT
EXTENSIONS
The McCarty signing was okay (three years, $6 million)... it's
Popeye's signing that has everyone scratching their heads. In short,
the Celts committed $9 million through the 2001 season for a guy who
limps like Jerry the Bartender from "Inside Moves." Yup. It's a fact.
The Celts knew that Popeye was coming off knee surgery... they
apparently examined him... he practiced for about two weeks, hobbled
around for a few games, and now he's probably out for the season.
Don't let Pitino's spin control fool you here -- the Celtics were
counting on Popeye for this season, not next season. Unfortunately,
Coach P pushed him too hard in practice, his knee didn't hold up, and
now Popeye's facing a second knee surgery.

It all makes you wonder one thing: What's going on with this team?

GRADE: C-plus for McCarty's signing, F for Jones's signing.

10. TRADING DECLERQ AND A PROTECTED 1999 #1 FOR VITALY POTAPENKO
If Coach P ever goes down in flames in Boston, this deal will be his
Waterloo -- it's the make-or-break trade of the Pitino Era. There are
two ENORMOUS potential downsides here:

* If the Celts continue to flounder for the rest of the season (as it
stands right now, only four teams have less wins in the NBA), they
could potentially fork over the #4 or #5 pick in the draft to
Cleveland in June. Pitino may been right when he said that "this team
didn't need to get any younger," but that #1 pick certainly has more
value than Potapenko ever will. Was Potapenko really the best they
could do?

* Is Potapenko HONESTLY that much of an improvement over DeClerq?
Let's look at each of them...

--POTAPENKO: Physical big man... only about 6-foot-10... extremely
strong... not likely to get lit up for 40 points by the Bryant
Reeves/Rick Smits centers in the league... decent touch around the
basket... not a shotblocker... only 23 years old... seems to play
hard... will grab you between 6 and 11 rebounds every night... as a
center, he's a notch below Matt Geiger, Erick Dampier and Bryant
Reeves right now... as long as he's in the lineup, Boston can't run
the full-court press because he's not mobile enough (even Pitino said
this)... thanks to a lucrative contract extension from the C's, VP's
due to make $33 million over the next six years.

--DECLERQ: More of a power forward than a center... only about
6-foot-9... likely to get lit up for 40 points by the Bryant
Reeves/Rick Smits people in the league... mediocre touch around the
basket... not a shotblocker... ALWAYS plays hard (nobody in the league
plays harder)... will grab you between 8 and 12 rebounds every night
if he gets the minutes (he's a better rebounder than Potapenko)... the
quintessential big man for Boston's full-court press... due to make
$1.7 million next year.

One more thing to consider here: Boston signed Potapenko and Walker to
long-term deals this year for a combined $104 million over the next
six years. Neither of them are particularly good rebounders; neither
of them are great defenders. Yet those two players will be fighting
those "battles in the paint" for the Celtics for the next six seasons,
barring a trade.

So you make the decision: Was the "upgrade" from DeClerq to Potapenko
worth 1) sacrificing your first round pick in '99 (as long as it's not
in the top three) and 2) tying up your salary cap by paying Potapenko
three times more than DeClerq would have earned next season?

GRADE -- Incomplete. I think we all need to see more of Potapenko
before we judge this one. Right now, I'm leaning towards a
"thumbs-down," but that might change... there's also a chance that the
C's could land in the top three of the '99 draft and keep their pick,
which would be an unbelievable stoke of luck (can you imagine???).
Also, I think Antoine Walker has about as much chance of being in a
Celtics uniform next season as Dino Radja does... but that's another
story. 

IF the Celtics can move Walker this summer for a bigger power forward
who can take some of the rebounding/shotblocking load off Potapenko
and IF they don't get too screwed with the position of the draft
choice... then I like the deal.

Two big "ifs."

Here are the facts...

Pitino and Wallace lucked out with the Pierce/Mercer picks and lucked
out when Chicago backed out of the Pippen/Longley deal. They misfired
-- almost comically -- with the Mills/Knight signings, especially when
they had to sacrifice the rights to Rick Fox, David Wesley and Eric
Williams in the process (salvaging Battie and McCarty from those
blunders softened the blow a little here). They tabbed Billups with
the #3 pick and gave up on him after 50 games. They apparently based
their evaluation of Kenny Anderson off of his old Georgia Tech game
tapes. Out of all their free agent signings, only DeClerq remotely
panned out... and he's playing in Cleveland. They even re-signed one
of their own players (Popeye Jones) for three years without knowing he
was still limping around on a bad knee. 

My three biggest problems with the Pitino Regime:

* Where's the grand game plan here? 
Why structure your team around speed, youth and defense... then trade
for Potapenko and Anderson???? Even Pitino recently admitted that he
can't press with Walker, Anderson, and Potapenko on the floor; isn't
that 60% of the starting lineup? So what kind of team is this? Even
last year, the Celts seemed to have a "balls-to-the-wall" identity...
now everyone just seems confused. 

* Does this team have a scouting department or anyone with experience
evaluating NBA players? 
Chris Wallace gets the brunt of the blame here -- remember, Boston
actually sacrificed a #2 pick to lure this guy away from Miami. So
when do we get to see some personnel savvy? Why the miscalculations
about Mills, Knight, Billups and Anderson? And why, despite all the
no-name bodies been brought in over the past two years, have DeClerq
and Bowen been the only ones who had any semblance of an impact?

By contrast, if you look around the league, you notice that many NBA
teams have found guys with marginal value and turning them into key
cogs. Philly picked up Eric Snow and George Lynch -- two starters --
for basically nothing. Milwaukee signed a terrific veteran shooter
named Dell Curry. Denver picked up young legs Johnny Taylor and Keon
Clark. The Bulls found Dickey Simpkins (he had a double-double against
the C's yesterday). The Trail Blazers added solid veterans Jimmy
Jackson and Greg Anthony. And the list goes on...

Meanwhile, the Celtics have been asleep at the wheel, save for the
Tony Battie trade. Which reminds me... 

* How come the Pitino Regime seems to have a nasty habit of screwing
up badly... and then salvaging the mistake by pulling the trigger
quickly on another deal? 
Out of the last four trades that Boston has made, the first three
occurred because the Celtics were trying to salvage something from a
bad mistake (Mills, Knight, and Billups). Not a good habit to get into
if you're a professional sports team.

As for the fourth trade -- Potapenko for DeClerq and the #1 -- it will
be impossible for Pitino and Wallace to weasel out of that move if
Potapenko doesn't work out, for two reasons: You can't gain back a #1
pick after you've already traded it, and you can't trade a lousy
center if he's making $33 million over the next six years. At best, it
might be a good deal for the C's; at worst, it's the biggest fiasco of
Pitino's reign, bar none.

****** ****** ****** ****** ******

The ultimate test for the Pitino/Wallace regime will come this summer;
you could almost describe it as a final exam. Here's the problem, in
three steps: 

STEP #1: Boston's best three young players are Antoine Walker, Paul
Pierce and Ron Mercer. All of them are potential All-Stars.

STEP #2: Unfortunately, they seem to have irreconcilable problems
playing on a basketball court together -- not only do all three of
them work best with the ball in their hands, but Pierce and Walker are
both suited best for small forward.

STEP #3: One of them has to go. The Celts need to swing a deal this
summer in which either Walker, Pierce or Mercer is dealt for a power
forward who can rebound, score inside and/or block shots. Name the
player who fits the bill here -- Chris Webber, Antonio McDyess, Tom
Gugliotta, PJ Brown, Lorenzen Wright, Brian Grant, Rasheed Wallace,
Vin Baker -- if they're available, the Celts will be considering them
this summer. 

Based on everything that happened with the Celtics over the past two
years, are you convinced that Rick Pitino and Chris Wallace will make
the right move? If your answer was "no," I have two words for you...

Me neither.






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