Re: Peter May On Fortson & Blount

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

*	1) Can Pitino's defense ever work at the NBA level, especially now
that 
*	> every opponent is used to it? Ideally, next season we'll see a
similar 
*	> athleticism on defense as his exciting and entertaining first year
team, 
*	> but > with a lot more firepower on offense. In the worst case,
Pitino's 
*	> "poultry-in-motion" defense will continue its marked decline in 
*	> effectiveness with each passing season. From the rest of the
league's 
*	> perspective, familiarity just breeds contempt of the Boston
defense. 
*	> > 2) Can Pitino actually coach any talented athlete to make
intelligent 
*	> (Celtic-like) decisions on the court and not jack up bad shots or
show 
*	> zero > signs of improvement or understanding as the seasons
unfold? Pitino 
*	> basically has a blank canvas in the talented Moiso. I dread to see
his 
*	> development mirror that of Walker, Mashburn, Mercer,Waltah etc. 

Joe,

Two interesting points here. I'll disagree with one, and agree with the
other.

1.	I don't think the "poultry-in-motion" (clever) defense has seen a
marked decline in effectiveness. I think the Celtics' defense has shown a
marked decline as they've gotten away from the press. Of course, that has to
do with poor personnel decisions (Potapenko, Kenny, Fortson), but that's for
another argument. In truth, Pitino's teams historically become more
effective as time goes by (including his Knicks teams), despite the fact
that opponents almost certainly become more familiar with the press. So I
think a return to the first-year pressing style is a good thing.

2.	Now, can Pitino coach talented athletes to make intelligent
decisions? That is an excellent question. I'm a Pitino backer, but I've
always believed that his greatest strength was taking marginally talented
players and making them better than they should be. Providence, his early
Kentucky teams, even those Knicks teams-those were his best coaching jobs.
On the other hand, I thought his system tended to make some of his
ultra-talented Kentucky teams a little more vulnerable. They occasionally
shot themselves out of games against inferior opponents. The system teaches
pressing, harassing defense and quick, aggressive offense. Sometimes, that
defense leads to easy baskets and the offense leads to hurried, ill-advised
shots. I remember a game during McCarty's freshman season at UK (not a UK
fan, and don't really know why I remember it, but...), after the game they
asked Pitino about something he said to Walter. Pitino said he was
chastising him for passing up a 3-pointer on the break. "Son," he said,
"This is Kentucky. We take that shot." And that was Walter McCarty, not
Jamal Mashburn or Tony Delk. Pitino is willing to live with the ups and
downs of the system, but I do think you raise a legitimate concern, Joe.

Mark