RE: On Bird & Pitino

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

I'm not a great post Bird era fan but he has the best court vision and
understanding of how the game should be played with the exception of Magic
Johnson, that I have ever seen. He would in my estimation have these dudes
hustling more and playing defense much better. I also believe we would have
won 3-5 more games to this point. He may or may not have the patience for a
young inexperienced team, but he is a very very rare talent. I could have
played point during his years, just get the ball over the line and into his
hands, then his basketball savvy took over. 

At 03:30 PM 2/10/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Anyone who thinks Bird is a great coach probably just thinks that because of
>the love affair with Bird of the eighties. Just because Bird was a great
>player, some people feel that automatically makes him a great coach. Wrong. 
>
>The Celtics would not be any better off right now if they had Bird instead
>of Pitino. Pitino still has to, three years into his tenure here, try and
>get rid of outrageous contracts. He still has guys like Ellison and Minor
>who don't even play but have huge contracts. No one ever mentions the
>extraordinary moves he made to get rid of the contracts of Radja or Dee
>Brown. It is always focus on the negative. Larry's team is just now getting
>old. They were not over the hill when he took over the team. Unathletic? Who
>is unathletic besides Rik Smits(Stik Spits)? Certainly you can't call
>Miller, Jackson, or Rose unathletic. 
>
>The fact is Bird inherited a veteran, poised team that even M.L. Carr could
>have coached to victory. Bird has done nothing special. He has never had to
>deal with his guys being injured. That alone is a huge plus. Pitino has had
>to go for extended period of times without a few of his best players. Where
>is Birds championship ring as a coach? He has nothing more to show than
>Pitino does. And now that he realizes his team is getting older, he is
>quitting. If you ask me, he realizes that he is not a good enough coach to
>rebuild a team. So he decides to run. I have never seen a more overrated
>coach. Everyone needs to get over this fixation with Larry. And who said
>Indy never did anything before Larry got there? They have been in the
>playoffs almost every year in the 90's including the conference championship
>a couple times. Bird has not helped them do anything they couldn't already
>do before.
>
>Only a fool would take Larry over Rick. Watch what happens when Rick can
>finally get some salary cap relief and his hands are untied. Then all these
>fair-weather fans will say how great a job Pitino did rebuilding the team.
>
>One more quick side note while I am on a tirade: Larry reminds me of Phil
>Jackson. Just another overrated coach who happens to have a good record
>because of the teams he  coaches. Phil never would have won anything without
>Michael and he would not be winning now without Shaq and Kobe. Phil will do
>the same thing Larry is doing now. He will jump ship at the first sign of
>trouble just to preserve his image as a good coach. Just like he did in
>Chicago.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Andy Shaw [mailto:shaw@transmeta.com]
>Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2000 2:27 PM
>To: celtics@igtc.com
>Subject: Re: On Bird & Pitino
>
>
>|   Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 13:11:17 -0600
>|   From: "Gene Kirkpatrick" <gkir@tjc.tyler.cc.tx.us>
>|   
>|   I disagree that Bird is a better coach, etc.  He was able to start at
>|   the top with a seasoned team.  That the players respected him helped
>|   immensely, but he had a good 7'4" center, the best clutch shooter in
>|   basketball, a very good point guard, two banger forwards plus Jalen
>|   Rose, one of the better small forwards around.  Balance.  
>
>Are you kidding?
>
>Bird has brought a bunch of over-the-hill, unathletic, moderately
>talented veterans, and made them the best team in the East.  Those
>guys never did anything before Bird got there, and they've been vastly
>over-achieving since he got there.
>
>Bird has done more with less than any other coach in the league.  He
>should get coach of the year, without a doubt.
>
>-Andy
>
>