[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: On Bird & Pitino
I thing you are wrong. You are equating that a good team + anybody =
winning... Let's apply it to the Lakers, good team + Rambis or Del Harris =
losing
That shows you even if you have a great team but you can't get it to run in
a good way, you will lose. Bird does it well but comes up short of going
to the finals but he wins every season. Still, there's always a promise
shown in every season he coaches because of his ability to steer his team
thru great team work and fundamentals....that's so unlike Pitino's.
----- Original Message -----
From: Niles, Shawn <SNiles@vanderweil.com>
To: 'Andy Shaw' <shaw@transmeta.com>; <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 4:30 AM
Subject: RE: On Bird & Pitino
> 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
>
>