Re: to put it all in perspective. . .

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

Howdy Alex,

I wouldn't mind more pressing - if it DID yield results. At this point,
however, I have little faith in it. I can see where you're coming from in
saying that perhaps he has played too much slow-down. I actually agree, but
in a somewhat different way. 

I don't think the team exploits it's fast break opportunities very well at
all. Part of that is due to their problems on the boards, but I think a
large part is how the offense is structured. Perhaps there is too much
string-pulling from the sidelines or perhaps the players are just not
accustomed to fast-breaking, but for whatever reason the opportunities that
they do have aren't exploited enough. Many a time Vitaly (of all people)
will be down court setting up and the pass will never come. 

Granted, what I've had to say does not address their defensive
deficiencies, but I think you know roughly where I stand on those issues. I
haven't followed the Magic this year but the one game I did see they ran
the break very well - consistently and relatively efficiently. I honestly
don't remember what kind of defense they employed, but if it works for them
it could work for us - "monkey outbreak" or whatever. I agree, given the
make-up of our team (particularly the youth) we should play up-tempo, but
there are different ways of doing so.

As to Pitino, I was honest earlier this year when I said I would prefer
that he learn rather than leave. I have to be honest now and say it has
come to the point where I really would prefer him to leave. I appreciate
what you have to say about the changes in coaching, you really have a valid
point there, but continuity for continuity sake is not always the best
policy. I will be the first to grant that Pitino enjoyed success in NY and
I don't think it should be discounted (although I imagine a young
shot-blocking talent like Ewing is tailor made for the system). 

The impression I get however is not just that the team and the league were
different back then but also that Rick himself was different too. I really
can't imagine, despite his success at BU and Providence, that Rick was SO
inflexible his first time around the pro league. He's a different person in
many ways now - his stunning success at Kentucky and resulting
"deification" seem to have changed him for the worse as far as being able
to respond to changing circumstances. 

I really am beginning to feel that a great deal of what most of us find
objectionable in Twon can be traced to tendencies encouraged by Rick (even
though Rick does not necessarily like the consequences) - Twon's feeling
that he needs to "step up" and try and do everything on his own, his
inability to think on the court (after all, and I don't mean this
sarcastically, if you're thinking on the court then you're not listening to
the constant stream of directions from the bench), his inability to play
defense (again, the system effectively precluded that), and even his
relative lack of development where the fundamentals are concerned (this
seems to be a trait shared by many of Pitino's products). When I look at
Twon I have to agree with Holley that he'd be better off with another
coach, and if that is true of Twon then I have to be honest and say it is
probably true of the rest of the team (excepting Waltah of course - he
wouldn't be in the NBA otherwise). Naturally, the problem is WHO that other
coach may be. . . sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you
don't. Given Gaston's track record I don't think anyone can say with
confidence that any successor would be any better. Unfortunately, I'm at
the point where I don't think they could cause much more harm: our players
are not developing, they are not learning how to play team defense, they
don't have a team offense and their roles seem to change with every
perceived crisis.

Thanks for the comments. Let me just say that I always enjoy what you have
to say even if I don't necessarily agree with it. Meeting people like
yourself through the list makes it all worth while.

All the best - TomM
----------
> From: Alex Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>
> To: Thomas Murphy <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>
> Subject: Re: to put it all in perspective. . . 
> Date: Friday, February 11, 2000 8:54 PM
>
SNIP
> 
> I still hope that Pitino doesn't leave because I think that a coaching
> change will probably have a bad effect on the young players. And I still
> think that Pitino can coach basketball - he gets rave reviews from guys
> like Mark Jackson, Charles Oakley, even Bill Russell, and many forget
> that he succeeded at the pro level with the Knicks. If you discard that
> success as "He just had good talent", you can argue the same with Larry
> Bird and Indiana. He's not getting it done this year and I couldn't be
> sure why, but I have a feeling that he's trying to make this team play
> too much slowdown halfcourt offense and defense when the personnel is not
> appropriate. I know it probably doesn't thrill you to imagine even more
> "monkey outbreak" defense but that is what made us to beat bad teams
> and the occasional good team in '97-'98, and covered up for the fact that
> we had no defense in the middle. 
> 
> Alex
>  
> > I hope Pitino isn't of the mindset to continue to try and trade Fortson
-
> > but my gut tells me he'd rather have Rodman than Fortson on this team -
I
> > can only imagine that Fortson has actually told Pitino what he thought
> > rather than what Pitino wants to hear - that cancer! ;)
> > 
> > Cheers - TomM