Re: will they get better?

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Assuming it's the young players who are mostly to blame, it's clearly harder IMO
to make excuses for Walker and Mercer (than Pierce, Battie, Potempkin), since
Toine and Ron have played the Pitino system since they were 18 years old.

As you say, basically these guys are NBA freshmen. They are sort of  our "fab
five". Age is not an excuse, but when things are going this bad for young
players, it's helpful when home town fans give the kids a lift. I'm under the
impression that there were several  momentum swings against Minnie where a
little encouragement might have helped us turn the entire game around.

My present fear is that Rick Pitino will 1) break up our presently slumping
young nucleus in exchange for some end-of-career veterans he trusts (I'm
thinking Patrick Ewing and Mark Jackson); then 2) take next year's team to a
mediocre 45 win + playoffs season; then 3) "quit on top" without too much green
egg on his face. After maybe a two-year hiatus, he will return to the college
basketball, midnight madness, rah, rah, pom, pom adulation scene.

The day Pitino's gone, we will at least be able to take solace in the fact that
Red Auerbach was able to overturn RP's executive decision to have cheerleaders
traipse their heels all over our parquet floor. But if I were RP, I'd prefer to
stay an additional few years in Boston. Correct me if I'm wrong, but RP still
remains the highest paid employee of Thanks Dad Gaston. At the end of this
miserable month, Pitino will find another 500,000 dollar check in his mailbox
(wow, nick of time to pay the electricity bill!), just as he has for every month
during the lockout.

Man, I feel like I'm turning into a Paul M. disciple. This might be another one
of those rant & rave posts I'll later regret having sent. I hope that's the
case.

****

Steve wrote:

> I think if you put any of our op three on a veteran team they will be great.
> The celtics do not have a veteran team where these players can look to for
> help. The leadership on the team is coming from  Walker who (if he stayed)
> who be a rookie this year, Mercer and Pierce would be seniors. I really do
> not know if trading them now would be a good idea. However, I am in favor of
> trading one if it makes the team better. I guess you really can not make the
> team any worse now. I say just stick with these guys. Let them mature and
> hopefully they will. They have pretty much been thrown to the wolves..