RP show - Feb 6, 2000

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Most interesting comment this week: Pitino is not looking to trade anyone
because they are working hard and have great attitudes, with one exception:
Danny Fortson. Danny is not happy with his situation and it's difficult
to find him minutes, so if Pitino would trade him for equal value, for
the Celtics' benefit and his own. Goodbye, Danny.

- He gives the team an A+ for effort. However, they are young so the team's
execution needs improvement. They'll take quick bad shots at times still.
To improve their offensive execution, they have to get it into Kenny's hands
right away, because he's the coach on the floor. He's more likely to get 
them good shots and make good decisions. The defense is currently tough 
during the fourth quarter, but it needs to be tough the whole game.

- He talked about the last play in the Miami game. Pierce came up a screen
too early in the play and didn't have an open look. He compounded the error
by taking an ill-advised fallaway shot instead of what he was supposed to
do, drive and dish to Kenny on the right. After Griffin got the rebound
and gave to Walker, Walker dribbled back and took a 3 falling away. Unlike
the many critics who felt he should go up with it and take the midrange
jumper (which is not Antoine's shot), he preferred Antoine to drive to the
basket and create. But he wasn't upset with that shot, and he said that
Bird has done the same thing in games when he was in his prime. Pitino was
upset about that 3 pointer after the missed free throws.

- They replayed a shot about Pitino talking about non-negotiables at the
beginning of the season. Put the team #1. Think pass before shot. Think
defense before offense. Think like Bill Russell, who evidently had just
talked to them about things like making good passes instead of trying for
great ones (Jason Williams could benefit greatly from this advise) and 
running the floor as a big man. Pitino evaluated the progress of the team.
The team is learning to pass better than it ever has. He said that Pierce
has trouble thinking pass before shot because he was such a great scorer.
Everyone is putting team before self, and they are generally taking Russell's
advise. They still don't put defense before offense.

- Bob Lobel asked about the love-hate relationship between the Fleetcenter
fans and the Celtics. Pitino said that he comes from a "different school"
than the Fleetcenter fans. Booing only hurts the team. He said, for instance,
that the fans at Kentucky would never boo their own. He cited the example
where Walker missed three free throws and they booed him, saying that it
probably makes him tighten up, thinking, "Man, if I miss another one they're
going to get on my case." Booing the home team hurts players' self esteem
and hurts the team. He said that last year, he could understand since the
team was selfish and didn't play hard. But this year, "Antoine Walker
deserves nothing but applause and praise." 

- He went out of his way to refute trade rumors again. At the beginning of
the year, he said that he told Antoine, "Unless Michael Jordan says that
he'll give me 5 years, I won't trade you." Pitino told him to listen to
everything he said and give him total effort, and promised not to trade him.
He told him to ignore the rumors ("the Internet is out of control") because
Pitino couldn't control them. He said that his relationship with Antoine
has progressed: from father figure, to disciplinarian, to coach, and now
good friends. He said that as long as he is coach, he won't trade Antoine
Walker. 

- He said that he told the whole team that he wasn't looking to trade them
because he liked the effort and attitude. With the exception of Fortson, 
as I mentioned at the beginning of the post. He said that he loves the
nucleus of Vitaly, Antoine, Griffin, Pierce, Anderson and wants them to
grow together. He does want to see more out of Tony Battie. He said that
last year, he didn't like the team so he did want to trade, and "polished"
up his players to improve their value. He admitted that it's his style.
But he said that this year he genuinely liked the nucleus of the team,
and that they were continuing to improve.

- The Coaches' Clinic was on last second shots. He showed how New Jersey
ran last second plays against a couple of other teams. They tried to
get it to Marbury for a drive to the basket, and their second option was
to get it to Van Horn. Since the Celtics knew that, during the last second
play earlier in the year, Overton denied Marbury the ball. When Van Horn
came out for the pass, Walker, who Pitino said has a "tremendous basketball
IQ", knew it was coming and made that big steal. He also showed how many
teams have plays where the inbounder takes the shot.

- He showed the last-second play that the Celtics' ran in Miami and
Indiana (same play). The ball is in Anderson's (1) hands coming from
midcourt. The four other players are on the left side of the court,
Vitaly (5) and Antoine (4) at the high post, Pierce (2) and Griffin (3)
further down. Pierce sets a low screen for Griffin to cut baseline down
the right side of the court. The opposing team is usually reluctant to
screen because they don't want to put their 2 on the 3. The 4 and 5 
go down and "decapitate" Pierce's defender, and he comes off the screen
to hopefully get an open look. After Anderson makes the pass, he goes
right, where Griffin screens his man to give him space. Pierce is
supposed to hit him for the jump shot. In the Indiana game, Barros was
the 2 and Anderson was actually open, but Barros didn't see him.

- To make the playoffs, which would be a very positive experience, they
need to get it done on the road. The team is improving and a lot of road
games are close, and if they keep improving they will win those. He 
mentioned how he doesn't play a second unit anymore; he keeps either 
Walker, Pierce, or Anderson on the floor to avoid scoring droughts. It
means that the bench players get less minutes though.

Alex