Re: Pitino Quietly Confident

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

> Pitino is quietly confident
>
> He'll keep optimism on Celtics to himself
>
> By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 8/20/2000
>
> According to Pitino, players expected to fill key roles on the squad
> have worked diligently this summer. Battie has received tutelage from
> Kiki Vandeweghe, and Walter McCarty has scheduled a few lessons with the
> former NBA forward. Battie may be ready for a breakthrough year and
> Pitino thinks he will compete hard to start at center. Vitaly Potapenko
> has been in the gym every day; Pitino said he's working ''as if it's a
> Rocky movie.'' Adrian Griffin has started running as he rehabilitates
> his ankle injury. Pierce foresees a breakout year for himself.
>
> The themes of training camp will be conditioning and competition. If the
> players don't arrive fit, preseason workouts might be torturous and the
> season won't take shape as expected. Pitino wants the players rounding
> into form by early September.
>
> Members of the Celtics staff are in constant communication with the
> players to make sure that happens. Pitino believes he has the personnel
> to put forth a quick, athletic team.
>

> For better or worse, Boston has
> invested in first-round picks, believing the 2001 draft could be one of
> the best in the past decade.

> As Pitino sees it, Pierce is the Celtics' only tradeable commodity.
>

> ''Why would I blow up the team
> and start to go in a different direction? It's easier to replace myself
> than it is the team.
>
> ''Blowing up the team at this stage and being a very young basketball
> team is not the way to go.''
>

There is a lot to like about the news in the Globe article.  It is nice to
get confirmation that Pitino at least cares about his first rounders and the
possible strength of the 2001 draft, as well as the fact that he views
Pierce as valuable but not untouchable. Fourty-eight minutes of veteran
point guard defense won't hurt. A team that has finally played together
three years without getting "blown up" should help. More depth and bodies at
the shotblocking positions isn't bad either, provided they also muscle up on
defense and crash the boards.

The only part that worries me a little is that Pitino plans to address
problems by ramping up the headless chicken outbreak. Well okay, but it is
at least debatable whether or not this prescription fits the illness. The
key is that we all believe really hard that last year's team was actually
out-of-shape, even though they were reportedly the best conditioned/prepared
team Pitino claimed he had seen in the first two days of camp drills and,
unlike this year, veterans had participated in two summer leagues.

What if we burn out again before opponents do? What if veteran opponents
don't flinch in the face of a fourth season of poultry-in-motion? You can
spin it all you want to, but at the time Pitino announced last year he would
turn more to man-to-man defense  the Celtics FG%-allowed had already peaked
at .470. But don't worry I'm convinced now that this was all Danny Fortson's
fault...even though he was the "11th man" on the team in terms of total
minutes played behind Walter McCarty and had a 100 more rebounds in 700
fewer minutes than Battie.

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