Re: Now the pressure's really on Rick.

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> But anyway, you know it's killing the Celtics front
> office that Pitino gave them a year of excuses about the schedule, nobody
> being in shape, nobody coming in for workouts, not enough people knowing
> the system...blah, blah, blah, and Larry Brown has an offense that can be
> described as "get the rebound, give the ball to one player, and get out of
> the way," a defense that wasn't devised by a PHD candidate in physics at
> MIT, and yet he takes the Sixers into the second round. 

It's easier to design this offense when you have Iverson, don't you think? 
But I have to appreciate what Larry Brown has added to his team in terms
of defense and veterans, which I think has more to do with their success.

> Did you hear Brown
> last Sunday say that of all the job offers he got two years ago, the Sixers
> were in the worst position to succeed. Whether that's true or not is
> debateable, but if you hired Pitino, that comment hurt. George Lynch?!?
> Matt Geiger?!? Eric Snow?!? Perhaps there's somebody in the Celtics front
> office saying I told you so this afternoon.

I would agree with that but change the assessment when Philadelphia lucked
into the 2nd pick of the draft in 1997. And of course Brown is going to
say that, because it makes him look better. 

People were screaming at Pitino because he supposedly was interested in 
Geiger. How is it Pitino's fault that Geiger is now succeeding in 
Philadelphia?

Anyways, Brown has done a very respectable job building the 76ers but
he's had different building blocks to start with, as I've noted in a 
previous post. So far, Pitino has outperformed him the first year and
was badly beat by him in the second. I'm willing to wait a few years
to see who the eventual winner will be (unless the 76ers play their 
way into the Finals or a championship this year, in which case I'll
concede that Brown has done an amazing job).

> 
> Paul M.
> 
>