Re: to put it all in perspective. . .

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> Yeah, you're right. . . Orlando plays like what I think most of us expected
> the Celtics to look like under Pitino. Rather strange. . .

Orlando is the exception that everyone can point to and say, "Doc
Rivers is doing more with less talent and similar youth." No
disagreement here, he's doing an awesome job. Who didn't have Orlando
at the bottom of the conference at the beginning of the year? What's
interesting is that he's succeeding using non-standard coaching ideas
and rotations.  There's many ways to succeed in the NBA.

I'll focus mainly on the problem of defensive execution because I
believe that's where the majority of the problems lie. I don't want to
get into another discussion of fronting but the root of the problem is
that our inside players can't guard one-on-one. This is quite typical
in the NBA.  I wonder sometimes whether Vitaly could shut down some of
the lesser players in the NBA, which some people have basically
proposed ("don't trap losers") but Amaechi was destroying Vitaly
one-on-one when they tried that against Orlando, so I don't know.
I think he defends big bangers well, which is necessary to compete
for a championship, but that's looking ahead of ourselves. He might
have trouble against the average center in the league, which is 
basically a power forward playing out of position.

So then you trap. The problem is that you need the whole team to
perform as a seamless unit. At times the Celtics have done this
beautifully through the entire game, blowing out some good teams.
Have people noticed this, by the way? It does work when it is done
well, by the Celtics and by many other teams. It's really nice, five
guys working synergistically instead of playing individual one-on-one
games. The problem is that this type of synergy typically comes with
experience. When it breaks down, it's really nice to have a
shotblocker to clean up. It's kind of like the triangle offense; it's
a really nice five person team concept, but when it blows up, it's
nice to have a creative option to go to. A few years back you'd see
some young team decide, "We'll do the triangle offense also" and
they'd have the lowest FG% in the league. I think that's what we have
on defense: a lack of great defensive talent, no shotblocking, and
little experience with team defense. We're second worst in the league
in blocked shots. Detroit is the only worse team and they give up
basically the same FG% as we do. They win by outgunning their
opponents. Orlando has a pretty decent FG allowed but I'd guess
part of the reason is their shotblocking: 8th in the league, led by
Outlaw and Ben Wallace. My guess is their rotations are pretty bad:
their 3 point differential must be the worst in the league. We really
should be one of the worst halfcourt defensive teams in the league
given our personnel and youth.

So you can blame Pitino the GM for putting together this defensively
challenged crew, which he was mocking as the Washington Generals
(didn't like that myself). He's said he likes to take offensively
talented players and teach them defense because it's better in the
long term. I believe that eventually it will pay off, that if you
let this group grow together over several years you will see the 
team defense develop. But they'll never be a great halfcourt defensive
team without more shotblocking. And in the meantime, Pitino has to
find a way to win with the players he's put together, if he wants
to salvage his reputation. Personally I would go with the press and
see how it works.

I haven't mentioned the whole topic of micromanagement. I don't know
how true it is, because it really is impossible to direct five players
simultaneously with one voice, as much as it looks like he's trying to. 
He's really trying to correct when a player is out of position, not
direct each movement. It's annoying for fans, that's for sure, and it 
could still have a detrimental effect on the players, but I think that
the effects are probably not as serious as you say. Players have been
quoted as saying they used their judgement instead of listening to
Pitino, usually after some reporter asks them, "Why did you leave your
man and give up the game-breaking 3?" And I really doubt that the 
opposing team is listening that hard to pick up signals, because if
you are right, the inability to simultaneously listen and think should
mess up their offensive execution as much as it messes up our defensive
execution. You could be right though. It's pretty much impossible to
discern what kind of effect his vocal direction has. Other coaches
have certainly succeeded without it.

Alex