Re: RP show - Feb 6, 2000

["John Lyell" <johnlyell@hotmail.com>]

Interesting. From this it sure sounds like Fortson will be gone by the
deadline. Do we need to get a player to keep or the cap room to shop the
market ?

Fortson for Mo Taylor would be an possibly although it has been rumored
Taylor wanting to return to the motor city. But if we could make him an
offer him a good offer. Although I am not sure Taylor is really what we need
as he has not shown he is a real physical inside player.

Some other possibilities: ?

Jerald Williams ?
Brian Skinner ?
Adonal Foyle ?
Rick Fox ?
Kendall Gill ?
Wes Person ?
Alan Henderson ?
Gary Trent ?










----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Wang" <awang@mit.edu>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2000 10:09 AM
Subject: RP show - Feb 6, 2000


> 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
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