Re: to put it all in perspective. . .

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

Just a few notes:

----------
> From: Alex Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>
> To: Thomas Murphy <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>; celtics@igtc.com
> Subject: Re: to put it all in perspective. . . 
> Date: Saturday, February 12, 2000 12:21 PM
> 
> 
> > 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 agree with what you have to say here. I don't want to come across as a
"traditionalist" who says that there is only one way to play in the NBA. On
the other hand, the virtue of "experimenting" should not lie solely in
novelty - Doc is actually making it work - Pitino is not. One must adapt to
the reality principle.

> 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.

I have some doubts about your assessment of the overall the effectiveness
of our players playing defense one-on-one because I think that it is like
most skills - you need practice in order to perfect it. It seems to me that
we have rarely tried it. This reminds me of a trait of Pitino's that I
dislike: In certain instances he claims to try something, and if the
results are not 100% perfect right away he drops it (Twon to the 3,
man-to-man, Fortson in the starting 5 etc.). Then he goes to the papers and
says "well, we tried "X" and it didn't work". Yet with his pet
"experiments" (and players) his patience is inexhaustible. I think others
will back me on this observation.
 
> 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.

No doubt, when it works it's great. Now, how frequently does it work? How
does this diminish the overall effectiveness of the strategy? Does it work
better in spurts? I'm not saying that the strategies he employs should
never be used, but I think it is clear to everyone that his means of
implementation of them is flawed - whether its due to a lack or misuse
personnel or otherwise. Regardless, it still represents a form of moral
cowardice to ALWAYS blame the players, whether in a more obvious sense
("the Washington Generals") or less obvious manner ("they're too young" -
which again deflects attention from the fact that he hired them - as he
does in today's Herald).
http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/sport/parq02132000.htm

> 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

I think this is a key point, and I owe my articulation of it to your
intelligent prodding of my position. I recall reading in Bskball (not that
he is a guru or anything) that Pitino's system is dependent upon a number
of different sets which determine where each player should be on the floor,
and that his constant yelling is traceable in many cases to his changing
the set. So in other words, he can and does order all 5 players to a new
set with one word and is doing so in many cases. So by micro-management I
don't mean principally the kind of "nagging" that every coach MUST do
("Paul, you've missed your man" etc.) but the fact that the entire defense
is run by means of these "sets" as called out from the bench, which removes
the room for individual player judgment (I think that you will find that
those players who ignore Pitino's "sets" are the ones who end up on the
pine - hence Twon and Waltah, although no one will mistake them for
defensive demons, always know where to go and therefore stay on the floor,
whereas a Fortson may not). This system of bench dictated sets also gives
the other team a crucial advantage if they have done their scouting and
know that "direction X" means trap the post etc. 

So if I'm correct in making this observation then it seems to me that
Pitino does micro-manage in a way foreign to most teams, where my
understanding is that the coach sets certain strategies and may even call
out switches in strategy during the action but it is not a constant means
of arranging EVERY player on EVERY defensive set and dictating EVERY
movement. I'm no expert however and would welcome any further observations
on the topic of how Pitino coaches from the sidelines and whether it
conforms or differs from the practices of other teams.

-TomM