Players fitting the system

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

There's a lot of talk about how Pitino has added all these players that
don't fit his system. The common idea seems to be that Pitino wants to 
have ten lean, long-limbed runners in his rotation, and the Celtics don't
seem to be heading in that direction. However, I was thinking back to the
days when he was coaching the Knicks, and it seems like a lot of his top
players weren't types that you would think of as fitting his system either.
Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley don't seem like "Pitino players", and Mark
Jackson was considered slow, yet the Knicks succeeded in playing Pitino
ball. My guess is that Pitino is going to stick with his system even with
the new players. He's going to employ the press to take advantage of the
Celtics' conditioning and depth, and to mask their halfcourt defensive 
deficiencies. He'll also have the Celtics run even more with the rule 
changes (and also because of the additional depth).

On another note, I think that this is by far the most optimistic that Pitino
has been since he's been here. He's not leaving himself any room for excuses.
He's not complaining about how the salary cap has constrained his
roster or left him with players he doesn't want, or the poor conditioning 
of the players, or the youth of his team, or lack of practice time. He's 
talking about how outstanding he thinks his team is going to be, he's 
guaranteeing playoffs, he's gushing about his new additions. It's really 
a striking difference.

Alex