Re: Draft

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Way Of The Ray wrote:

> From: "John Lyell" <johnlyell@hotmail.com>  | Block address
> To: "Celtic List" <celtics@igtc.com>
> Subject: Draft
> Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 09:01:21 -0800
>
> It looks like we may end up in the 8-11 range in the draft especially
> with the run we have going.
>
> (You are correct, Sir. Perhaps, even higher if the C's were
> willing to package one of next year's picks with the current draft
> choice.)

Knowing that Pitino will likely leave after this year, I wouldn't be shocked
if he mortgaged a future pick to move up in the draft to get (hip, hip,
hurray!) a Chris Mihm type of "answer". Pitino likely wouldn't draft Kenyon
Martin since his leg probably won't heal for a year.

What's amazing (to date at least) about the Y2K draft is that a number of
potential top-five prospects have either made it public that they intend to
stay in school (Stromile Swift, Terrence Morris and prepster Eddie Griffin I
believe) or seem likely to do so (Notre Dame's Troy Murphy and possibly
Florida's Mike Miller and DePaul's Quentin Richardson). Aside from this, the
lion's share of the most hyped former McDonald's All Americans from 1998 and
1999 will probably also remain in college, in part because they haven't
developed polished games yet (Carlos Boozer, Donnell Harvey, Dan Gadzurik,
maybe even Joe Forte etc.)  Incidentally, I'm wondering how any guy named
"Joe Forte" could NOT have Italian blood? :-)

If you actually believe the papers, next year's eligible NBA draft class
shapes up as one of the greatest in decades, partly and obviously because it
includes the deepest pool of prep centers in several decades. The second
ranked center, Tyson Chandler of Compton CA, has had his game compared by
The Sporting News to that of both Alcinder and lately even to Wilt
Chamberlain. Yet there are at least five true HS centers (6-11 and above)
who apparently can play even with Chandler in the 2001 Prep class including
a cousin of Ralph Sampson, another African-born 7-footer who outplayed him
once, not to mention the one guy who has been put in a separate class by
himself (Eddy "Shaq" Curry) compared to all the others. Incidentally, this
year's incoming Freshmen class is also considerably more-hyped in print than
the last several classes.

I hope we hold onto to the ping pong balls for next year's NBA draft, rather
than go for instant gratification by trading one of our picks. We'll soon
enough see what Pitino does. I'm not an expert, but I think this year's
draft is slightly better than the disastrous Mercer/Battie draft, but
incredibly lame at the top. I believe that a highschool player like Gerald
Wallace (not that he's announced any intention) will be the most remembered
name in this draft.

If Billy Donavan can succeed so spectacularly at Florida, then surely other
major college programs should spare no effort to try to recruit Rick Pitino
THIS year, because it is 99% for certain IMO that Pitino would build a
championship program. Even though some Boston fans also still believe in
Pitino's chance for success as an NBA coach, I think if you asked Pitino
himself he would admit his system can't work next year or ANY year at the
NBA level. At least, you can tell by his spin control ("wanting to make a
difference in young people's lives" etc).  In college, the system (now
called "Billy Ball") forces turnovers and tires out opponents that generally
lack players with NBA skills or instincts on the bench. But in the NBA, we
as Boston fans are forced to endure the same wide-open 3-pointers and layups
that Donovan and his players admit they have factored into their system. The
problem is that it is magnified by around 200% or so by NBA talent,
seemingly whether they be veteran talent or journeymen.

The Celtics are not going to make the playoffs in any year under Rick Pitino
if the system (yes, the system) continues to give up an astonishing .471FG%.
To put this in perspective, compare this to the average FG% of a typical NBA
player these days.

When Pitino looks at that statistic each day, I believe he realizes in his
private heart that the Celtics are lucky (despite our complaints and
expectations) not to have one of the two or three worst records in the NBA.
The stamp of the entire Pitino era has been his too large focus on teaching
an empirically failed defensive system. It is not as though Pitino has shown
a special aptitude or interest in successfully teaching the fast break and
NBA halfcourt sets, nor has he coaxed his team to play anything other than a
random, inconsistent and -by Celtics standards- at times disgusting mode of
play. Instead Pitino has reinforced certain avoidable bad habits from last
season when he let Kenny or Antoine run (and eventually shape) the present
personality of our offense. I'm not blaming those two players....they are
having fun and competing hard. I'm blaming the coach.

****