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Michael Holley finally says it.
I've been waiting for someone in the Boston area papers to call Pitino on
his "brilliant" performance as GM and coach, but May & Co. are too chicken
to come out and just say that the emperor has no clothes - they prefer the
roundabout route. Only Michael Holley is man enough to plainly state what's
obvious - that Pitino has failed. I disagree with Holley on the Potapenko
trade, but at least he's not hiding behind others' quotes and snide asides.
(Highly recommended reading for card-carrying members of the Pitino
personality cult.)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/042/sports/It_s_time_for_Celtics_boss_to_c
onfess+.shtml
It's time for Celtics boss to confess
By Michael Holley, Globe Columnist, 2/11/2000
Rick Pitino should say aloud what he knows to be true. I
am sure he has
come close to saying it before. Maybe he has pushed the
words to the
edge of his tongue, dared them to leap, and then reeled them
back to a place
of safety.
Hey, Rick. Push them off.
When the president and head coach of the Celtics does that,
we will have the
necessary audio for what we already know to be a visual
wreck. There are so
many ways to say it.
He can say he has failed.
He can say he is not going to lead the Celtics to the
playoffs (never mind an
NBA title) before he leaves Boston.
He can say he has failed.
He can say he has made some crippling moves since becoming a
celebrated
executive and coach in the spring of 1997.
Or he can say he has failed.
I don't think failure is anything to be ashamed of, because
the experience
usually makes you better. I have no doubt Pitino will be
stronger from his
Boston failure. It's too bad that's not the case for the
franchise that employs
him.
Pitino has played Ali to the Celtics' Frazier - ''Down goes
Frazier!'' - since he
has been in town. The team's sad 21-28 record at the
All-Star break,
following a Pitino playoff guarantee, is merely the public
face of Pitino's
behind-the-scenes chaos.
To his credit, Pitino almost acknowledged his failure to PBS
talk show host
Charlie Rose during a program that aired Wednesday night.
Rose asked
Pitino if he ever had dreams or nightmares about Tim Duncan.
This is what
followed:
Pitino: ''Not nightmares. I think more dreams. I think, if
you said to me today
...''
Rose: ''Yeah?''
Pitino: ''... As much as I love going back to Boston ... If
you said to me today,
`Would you leave Kentucky knowing that you would not get Tim
Duncan?' I
probably would say, `No, I would not leave Kentucky.' ...
Turning this thing
around to the championship level without Duncan is very
difficult to imagine.''
Or, he could have said he failed.
I don't consider myself a narcissist, but I wish Rose would
have invited me to
join the interview. I would have asked Pitino why he left
Lexington, even
though he had less than a coin flip's chance of getting
Duncan. How many
people switch jobs because they are banking on a lottery
that hasn't even
happened?
The loss of Duncan is not why Pitino has won 42 percent of
his 181 games
here. It is not Paul Gaston's fault. It is not Antoine
Walker's fault. It is not the
fault of the fans, the fault of the NBA lockout, or the
fault of M.L. Carr.
Pitino's liberal spending and bad decisions are the major
reasons the Celtics
are looking up at, of all teams, the Orlando Magic. It is as
if he puts his
personnel thoughts on a compact disc, slides it into the CD
player, pushes
''Random Play,'' and goes with whatever he gets.
His three-year anniversary doesn't come until May, but
Pitino has already
traded away three lottery picks (No. 3, No. 6, No. 8).
That's three lottery
picks exchanged for no playoff appearances. Bobby Grier, Dan
Duquette,
and Harry Sinden have presided over playoff teams since
Pitino has been
here. But if any of them had done what Pitino has done, the
commentary
would be unmerciful. There are volumes of Pitino's words
which, when put
together, provide a vivid portrait of his Boston struggles.
''I have to tell myself to chill out. Antoine and Ron are
going to be great
players. They make mistakes, but I have to remember how
young they
are. That's when I tell myself to chill out, to settle down.
Both of them
could still be in college.''
He said that about Walker and Mercer in March 1998. A year
later, he began
exploring trades for both players. Before sending Mercer to
the Nuggets last
summer (in another unsuccessful deal), he traded for center
Vitaly Potapenko.
This is where talk of a budget becomes humorous. He overpaid
Potapenko,
who was a backup in Cleveland, and tried to get Mercer on a
discount. If he
hadn't traded for the center, he would have had the cash to
sign Mercer, and
he also would have been able to keep his first-round pick.
''So you don't have to worry about killing me because I'll
kill me. The
best bridge to hang from is the BU Bridge.''
He said that in March 1999. He said he would do that if this
year's Celtics
don't make the playoffs. (Rick, let's not take this failure
thing too far: You ain't
gonna make the playoffs, but please don't take your life.)
Obviously, the Celtics are not going to make the playoffs.
They will finish with
a losing record this year, and it will be the first time in
Pitino's career that he
will lead a team to three consecutive losing seasons.
His team will not win now because he still doesn't know how
to communicate
with his players. He lurks on the sideline, coaching as if
he were watching over
pawns rather than players. Many of the pros who play for him
regularly tune
him out. He complains about his team's lack of defensive
talent, even though
he built the team. For three seasons, he has been promising
a team that will
defend tenaciously and play unselfishly. He hasn't delivered
yet: The Celtics
allow the highest field goal percentage in the league (.473).
''I think when you are young and talented, what you need is
practice.
And I am positive that we'll get the necessary practice time
and become
a very good basketball team. I think we have the necessary
ingredients.''
That was last April. I don't agree that this team has the
ingredients, but if
Pitino believes that it does, what does the awful record say
for him?
Pitino draws a $7 million annual paycheck from the Celtics,
and many people
don't walk away from salaries like that. But I will be
surprised if he is here
next year and shocked if he is here in two seasons.
''Danny is going to get 13 or 14 rebounds a night.''
He said that about Danny Fortson in November. Three months
later, he
couldn't find playing time nor money for the ferocious
rebounder. Fortson
averaged five rebounds and was dealt to Toronto for
nondescript point guard
Alvin Williams.
The spring day Pitino held his FleetCenter press conference,
the parquet floor
was taken out of storage and some of the title banners were
lowered. Now
we know they were lowered in half-staff sadness rather than
joy. Pitino
arrived. He brought his charisma, savvy, and exciting system.
The system failed.