Re: McDonough: Pitino Staying And May Trade The Pick

[Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU>]

At 09:52 4/8/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Boston Globe
>4/8/00
>Will McDonough
>
>There isn't anyone who could do a better job coaching this team, and
>Paul Gaston knows that.

I think Will McDonough is a lot better at slugging football players than
covering basketball - which is a long way of saying "I disagree". Pitino's
shtick is like a cheap perfume - overpowers you at first, but fades
quickly, unless you're locked in a room with him and can't escape (the
situation of college players). For me, the suspense left in the season is
to see whether Pitino can reach the lofty 33-49 mark achieved by the
much-beleaguered M.L. Carr, who, lest we forget, did it with the following
impressive lineup at his disposal:

Dana Barros 
Dee Brown 
Dino Radja 
Todd Day 
Rick Fox 
Pervis Ellison
Eric Montross
Eric Williams
Doug Smith 
Greg Minor 
Junior Burrough
Alton Lister 
David Wesley 
Thomas Hamilton

It's a good thing that we got rid of folks like Fox, Wesley, Day (all of
whom will be in the playoffs) and Radja (who'd probably *still* be the
Celtics' best low-post player today).  

Since the "youth" argument will invariably be brought up in defense of the
Greatest Coach in the Universe, let me jump ahead and note that M.L. Carr's
team was *younger* than this year's team. 

League Rank    Mean Age    Oldest player         Mean Age - oldest player

'95-'96
 4. Boston   	26.421  		Lister 		25.589     
 
'99-'00
 7. Boston   	26.780  		Ellison 		26.365